Lesson video

Hi, everybody! My name is Mrs. Tweedie, and I am here to teach you today's poetry lesson.

You'll need a quiet space to work, plenty of fresh and creative ideas, and someone or the screen to talk to.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today is: I can listen to and discuss "BEwARe!".

Our keywords are here.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Onomatopoeia.

This is a type of word that sounds like what it describes.

Rhythm.

This is the pattern of sounds that makes a poem flow and sometimes feel musical.

Description.

This is using words to help someone imagine what something is like.

Imagination.

This is forming a thought or picture of something or someone that is not actually there.

Today we'll be reading "BEwARe!" by James Carter.

Let's start by introducing the poem.

James Carter is a poet.

Say, "Hi, James!" This means he writes poems. He thinks that daydreaming is very important.

(Mrs. Tweedie exclaiming) Hmm.

I wonder how many of you like to daydream.

It allows us to think creatively and use our imaginations.

I love it when I can see children's imaginations are being sparked.

We use our imaginations when we read.

Let's find out what James Carter likes to read.

We asked him, "What are some of your favourite books?" Listen to his answer.

<v ->Here are three children's books I absolutely love.

</v> This one, "The Black Island", was my favourite book as a child because it was funny, it was exciting, it was thrilling, and something happens at the end that you are not expecting.

Maybe they have it in your school library.

This one here is "Where the Wild Things Are".

This is a really famous children's book from America.

How do I describe it? It's strange, it's thrilling.

It's about a boy who goes on a kind of supernatural journey and he meets these wild things and.

I shouldn't tell you anymore.

Perhaps you might find it in your school library.

And this one here, it's a new book, newish book, and it's called "Stanley's Stick".

And it is about creativity and how you can take nothing and make something absolutely brilliant out of it.

Maybe that's also, it's called "Stanley's Stick" by the way, it's also in your school library.

<v ->Thank you, James.

</v> Now, James Carter has written lots of poems. His poems are often about animals, nature, space.

Let's hear from James Carter about what inspires his poems, where that spark of imagination and inspiration comes from.

We asked him, "What inspires you most?" Let's hear what James had to say.

<v ->So ideas, for me, come from talking to my daughters,</v> watching them growing up, them handing me a conker or something, or maybe pointing, "Daddy, I want to touch the moon," something like that.

But increasingly, as I get older, I find I'm inspired most of all by the natural world.

I love nothing more than climbing a hill or walking through a wood, seeing a conker drop, watching a heron skate over a river, things like that.

So, where do I get my ideas from? It's called the world.

<v ->Wow, wasn't that fun hearing from a real poet?</v> A real answer to a real question.

Thank you, James.

Now, one of James Carter's poems is called "BEwARe!".

'Beware' means to watch out and be careful of something dangerous.

I wonder if anybody's ever said "Beware!" to you, or maybe you might have seen a sign saying "Beware!" somewhere near where you live.

Let's discuss: What do you think this poem will be about? Talk to somebody near you or to the screen and pause the video now.

Welcome back.

Let's check your understanding.

James Carter likes writing poems about which of these? A, cars, B, animals, C, nature, D, food? Pause the video now as you decide.

Welcome back.

How did you get on? Which of these does James Carter like writing poems about? Animals, well done, and nature, well done.

Now, we are going to play a little game.

It's called Guess the Animal!.

Under this purple box, there is an animal, and I'm going to give you some clues to try and work out what animal it is.

Are you ready? Okay.

Three clues are coming.

You are going to guess as soon as you know the animal that I'm describing.

"I am enormous," says the animal.

Hmm.

I can think of a few enormous animals.

Let's have another clue.

"I have big ears." Hmm.

An enormous animal with big ears.

Have you guessed it? Here comes another clue.

"I have a long trunk." (gasps) Have you got it? Guess the animal? Well done! It was an elephant.

Well done.

Let's have another go.

"I live underwater." Hmm.

Well, I can think of lots of things that live underwater.

"I have no bones." Hmm.

Well, I know that all the fish I know have bones because I know what a bone skeleton of a fish looks like.

So it can't be a fish, but it lives underwater.

"I have eight legs." I think I've got it.

Have you? Guess the animal? Shout it out.

Well done! An octopus! And that prefix oct-, oct-, oct-, always means eight when it's at the front of a word.

You used the clues in the description to help you guess the animal.

These clues were like a puzzle or a riddle.

Let's check your understanding.

The animal is a cat.

Choose a clue that would help you solve the riddle.

A, I can bark, B, I like swimming, C, I have whiskers.

Which would be a clue if the animal were a cat? Pause the video now as you decide.

Welcome back.

You were right, it was C, I have whiskers.

Well done.

Cats can't bark, and cats often don't go into water, and they certainly don't like swimming.

They have whiskers.

James Carter, our poet, tries to create pictures in our heads.

Now I'm going to read the first four verses of "BEwARe!".

I want you to close your eyes and listen carefully to the words.

"There's a.

jaw-snapper teeth-gnasher river-swimmer dives-for-dinner fish-catcher back-scratcher cave-seeker winter-sleeper forest-dweller grizzly-fella sneaking, lurking here and there.

you beware-" Now discuss with somebody near you or to the screen.

What pictures did you see in your head when you were listening to me read the poem? Pause the video now.

Welcome back.

Did your partner think the same as you, or did they have a different picture in their head? This poem is like a riddle.

Each line gives us a clue about an animal.

The first clue is "jaw-snapper." This makes me think the poem could be about a crocodile.

In the second verse, the clue "back-scratcher" makes me think the poem is not about a crocodile but an elephant.

Let's listen to "BEwARe!" again up to the end of the fourth verse.

Listen carefully for any other clues about the animal as you listen to "BEwARe!" read to you again.

<v ->This poem, this next poem,</v> is a special type of poem invented by the Vikings.

It's called a kenning.

Everybody say, "Kenning." And these kennings are lovely little things.

They're like little riddles and they've only got two words per line, and the second word ends in -er.

Everyone please say, "-er." "There's a.

jaw-snapper teeth-gnasher river-swimmer dives-for-dinner fish-catcher back-scratcher cave-seeker winter-sleeper forest-dweller grizzly-fella sneaking, lurking here and there.

you beware - it's a BEAR." <v ->Welcome back.

It's time for Task A.

</v> I would like you to discuss with your partner, somebody near you or the screen, which animal you think James Carter's poem "BEwARe!" is about.

Which clues from the poem make you think that? And you can use John's sentence scaffolds here to help you.

"I think "BEwARe!" is about.

." And you can fill in the sentence.

"The clue," and you can fill in the clue, "makes me think this." Pause the video now as you enjoy this discussion.

Welcome back! This child says, "I think 'BEwARe!' is about a bear." (gasps) I think he's right.

"The clue 'grizzly-fella' makes me think this." Yes, "grizzly" is often an adjective that we would give to a big bear.

This child says, "I think 'BEwARe!' is about an alligator.

The clue 'teeth-gnasher' makes me think this." Yes, I can see why they might think this.

"Gnashing teeth" is often attributed to crocodiles or alligators.

This child says, "I think 'BEwARe!' is about a shark.

The clue 'fish-catcher' makes me think that." Yes, I can see why they would think that too.

All these ideas are valid and justifiable from words that James Carter uses in the poem.

Let's move to exploring the poem in more detail now.

We are going to listen to James Carter, the real poet, read the whole of his poem, "BEwARe!".

Enjoy! Wow, what a treat.

Thank you, James, for reading us your very own poem.

Now each clue helps us to imagine the animal in our head.

River-swimmer, cave-seeker, grizzly-fella.

These are just some of the clues that James Carter gives us that lead us to the answer.

The animal is a bear! Well done if in Task A you predicted that accurately.

You can see a photo of some bears here.

You can see their gnashing teeth, their swimming attributes, and their grizzly features.

Now it's time to discuss.

What do you notice about the title of the poem, "BEwARe!"? You can see it here on the screen in green.

Pause the video as you talk to someone near you or to the screen.

Welcome back.

This child says, "There are a mixture of uppercase or capital letters and lowercase letters." Oh, yes.

B, E, A, R are all uppercase.

W and E are lowercase.

This child says, "If you just read the capital letters, it spells BEAR!" Oh yes! Capital B, capital E, capital A, capital R, that spells capital BEAR.

Wow, great spot.

If you found that, well done.

James Carter has chosen to write it like this.

The way he has written the clues is interesting too.

I'm going to look at the words that he has chosen in the first verse.

I'm going to count how many words there are on each line.

Here I go.

"There's a.

." One, two words.

"Jaw-snapper," two words.

"Teeth-gnasher," two words.

"River-swimmer," two words.

"Dives-for-dinner," three words.

Hmm.

Now it's your turn.

You are going to look at the words James Carter has chosen in the second verse.

You are going to count how many words there are on each line.

Here's the second verse.

Pause the video as you count the words on each line.

Welcome back.

How did you get on? Fish-catcher is two words.

Back-scratcher is two words.

Cave-seeker is two words.

Winter-sleeper is two words.

Well done if you've got all of those right.

Let's check your understanding.

Is this true or false? The lines in the poem "BEwARe!" are very short.

Pause the video now as you decide.

Welcome back.

This was true.

They are very short, often consisting of just two words.

James Carter has created new words by joining words together with a hyphen.

Can you say hyphen? Well done.

There's the hyphen joining together the two words jaw and snapper.

It's like a little line.

There it is again, joining together the words winter and sleeper.

There it is again, joining together the words grizzly and fella.

The hyphen joins together two words to create a new word.

Joining two words with a hyphen helps to give us a quick and clear description.

These words immediately create a picture in our imagination.

Absolutely.

I can imagine exactly what a jaw-snapper looks like or a winter-sleeper or a grizzly-fella.

Some words in this poem are examples of onomatopoeia.

Look at these words again.

Jaw-snapper, winter-sleeper, grizzly-fella.

Can you discuss with someone near you or to the screen which word out of these is an example of onomatopoeia and sounds like what it describes? Jaw-snapper, winter-sleeper, grizzly-fella.

Pause the video now.

Welcome back.

You are right, it was snapper.

If we say this word with expression, "Snapper!" our mouth opens and closes quickly like teeth snapping together.

Now you have a go.

Well done.

Did you feel your mouth opening and closing quickly like teeth snapping? This is an example of a word that is an onomatopoeia word.

It sounds like what it describes: the action of snapping.

Let's check your understanding.

Which word is another example of onomatopoeia? A, sleep, B, snap, C, snake? Pause the video now.

Welcome back, and it was B, snap.

Well done.

Now we are going to clap the syllables, the beats of the words, from these words.

Jaw-snapper, (Mrs. Tweedie clapping) winter-sleeper, (Mrs. Tweedie clapping) grizzly-fella.

(Mrs. Tweedie clapping) Well done.

Now let's count the syllables as we say each word again.

Jaw-snapper.

(Mrs. Tweedie clapping) That one had three syllables.

Winter-sleeper.

(Mrs. Tweedie clapping) That one had four syllables.

Well done.

Grizzly-fella.

(Mrs. Tweedie clapping) That one had four syllables again.

Most of the words in this poem have three or four syllables.

The words often end in the same sound.

The short lines and the sounds the words make create the rhythm of "BEwARe!", the poem.

The rhythm feels lively and quick.

Let's check your understanding.

The rhythm in "BEwARe!" feels.

A, slow and calm, B, lively and quick, C, bouncy and happy? Pause the video as you decide which one of these is correct.

Welcome back.

B, lively and quick is how the rhythm feels.

The rhythm of the poem helps build up excitement.

We are excited to find out what the poem is about.

The way we read the poem can make it even more exciting.

We are going to read the first verse together.

I will say a line and then you will repeat it.

My voice will start in a whisper, but it will get a little bit louder with each line I read.

Off we go.

"There's a.

jaw-snapper teeth-gnasher river-swimmer dives-for-dinner." Did you hear how my voice got louder and louder, starting from a whisper? I hope you enjoyed it.

Now it's time for Task B.

You are going to read a verse of the poem or the whole poem aloud, whichever you prefer.

Here are some things to have a go at whilst reading.

With a partner, you might take it in turns to read a line each.

You might start reading in a whisper like I did.

Get a bit louder with each line or verse until you shout the final word "BEAR".

You could use your hands to pat the rhythm of the words on your knees.

You could use your fists to punch in front of you as you say each of the syllables in a word.

You might choose to stand up and stomp the words as you say them.

All of this is to say have fun whilst you read aloud this fantastic poem by James Carter.

Pause the video now for Task B.

Welcome back.

Did you love that? I love this poem.

It's so much fun to see.

Did you read it out loud? What did you have a go at? Did you stand up? Sit down? Use your fists? Your hands? Your face? Well done.

Let's summarise our learning today.

James Carter tries to create pictures in the listener's head.

Descriptions using onomatopoeia, verbs and nouns help to imagine how the bear sounds, looks, and moves.

Words can be spoken with expression to add to the excitement of the poem.

Poems feel different to read depending on their rhythm.

The way we read a poem can make it entertaining for people listening.

I have loved teaching you today's lesson.

I really look forward to seeing you for some more poetry soon.

Bye-bye!.