Lesson video

Hello everyone.

I'm Miss Corbet, and welcome to today's lesson: "Thinking from Lulu's Perspective", and asking questions.

For this lesson, you will need your listening ears, your thinking brains, and your looking eyes.

As well as that you will need your imagination.

Have you got it? Well done.

Because we will be imagining that we are the characters in the story: "Lulu Gets a Cat".

and we're going to then imagine that we are asking those characters questions.

I can't wait, let's get started.

Here is the outcome for today's lesson.

I can think from characters' perspectives and ask characters questions.

And these keywords will help us with that.

First of all, you are going to repeat them after me.

My turn, then your turn.

Perspective, illustration, theme, facial expression, question.

Great repeating, let's see what they all mean.

A perspective is a point of view, so you might think from someone else's perspective, imagining you are them.

An illustration is a picture or drawing in a book.

The theme is the big idea or message that's really important in a text.

A facial expression is a way of communicating through your face.

So you might have a happy facial expression or a sad facial expression.

And finally, a question is a type of simple sentence that asks the reader for an answer and ends in a question mark.

Let's get on to the first part of our lesson: Thinking from a character's perspective.

We know that reading and rereading a story helps us to remember the plot, so the main events, as well as notice details in the text and illustrations that we might not have seen before.

So we are going to read the whole of Lulu Gets a Cat without stopping.

Whilst you are listening, can you think of some adjectives to describe how the feelings of how the characters are feeling throughout the story? Maybe their feelings change throughout the story.

Try and keep that in your mind as you are listening.

I hope you enjoy.

Lulu Gets a Cat, by Anna McQuinn.

Lulu loves cats.

She wants a real one, but mommy says that looking after a cat is a lot of work.

Lulu decides to find out more.

She learns that cats are super at smelling and hearing.

Lulu reads all about how to care for cats.

She pretends that Dina is a real cat and practises looking after her.

At last, mommy agrees, Lulu can get a cat.

Mommy and Lulu find out how to adopt one.

At the cat shelter, they meet Jeremy.

He shows them three perfect cats.

Before Lulu can decide, one little cat chooses her.

Jeremy says that moving is scary for cats, so he gives Lulu a list of things that will help.

Lulu will be back as soon as everything at home is ready.

All the next day, Lulu and mommy shop, what a lot of stuff for a little cat.

Lulu and daddy make a special corner where her cat will settle in.

Finally, Lulu is ready to bring her cat home, but the little cat is afraid.

Her own blanket makes her feel safe.

Lulu tells her not to worry.

At home, the little cat stays in the carry case.

After a while, she comes out and sniffs around.

Lulu watches for now.

She knows her cat isn't ready to play just yet.

Lulu decides to call her cat Makeda.

It's the name of an African queen.

Lulu takes excellent care of Makeda.

One day, Lulu's friend, Teo, brings a special present for Makeda.

Teo and Lulu play with Makeda all afternoon.

At last, Makeda feels right at home.

Her favourite thing is to snuggle Lulu.

Every evening Lulu, reads to Makeda.

Tonight's story is all about a famous cat.

Lulu loves her new little cat and bedtime stories with Makeda are the best of all.

The end.

I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I did.

I really hoped you enjoyed listening to the story, and try and keep some of those adjectives in your head 'cause we are going to use them in this lesson.

Which adjective best describes how Lulu feels at the end of the story? So at the end of the story, she snuggled up with her cat.

She's, they're all relaxed and they're reading books together.

Does she feel upset? Does she feel cross? Or does she feel happy? I'm going to give you five seconds to decide.

Lulu feels, five seconds.

Lula feels happy, well done.

We know that illustrations can give us more information about what is happening in the story.

So let's look at this one here.

Facial expressions and a character's actions, so things that they do can show us how someone feels.

In this illustration, Lulu is smiling at her toy cat.

Lulu has one toy cat on her lap and she's stroking the other one whilst looking at it lovingly.

So how do you think Lulu is feeling? They're the actions and the expressions that she's showing.

So how do you think she's feeling? Pause the video now.

Lulu is feeling? So Lulu is feeling calm, relaxed, happy, loving, great job.

Let's look at this illustration, and now it's your turn to be a bit of a detective and look at what she's doing and her facial expression to try and decide how she's feeling.

So how do you think Lulu feels when Makeda snuggles up on her lap? Lulu feels worried.

Lulu feels loved.

Lulu feels excited.

What do you think? Pause the video now.

What do we think? Lulu feels.

Loved.

Now excited is a positive emotion, and she definitely was feeling excited when she got her cat, but excited, if you are feeling excited, she might have eyes wide, moving around, full of energy.

So I think she's feeling loved, all snuggled up.

You are going to imagine in this lesson that you are Lulu and you are going to think about how she's feeling at different points of the story.

This means you are thinking from her perspective.

Well done.

Remember, that is her point of view.

We use words like I, me, my, mine, we, and us when we are thinking from someone else's perspective, because we are imagining that we are them.

I am Lulu.

My name is Lulu.

My favourite thing is cats.

Using these words is speaking in the first person.

First you will show me how you feel using facial expressions.

Then we will generate some adjectives to describe those emotions.

So we will use the illustrations to help us think from Lulu's perspective.

So I am no longer me, I am Lulu, nice to meet you.

I really want a real cat, but mommy told me they are hard work.

How do I feel? I'm going to freeze-frame.

Now I'm going to tell you how I feel.

I feel determined to learn about cats and show that I am responsible.

If you feel determined, you are not going to give up.

Now it's your turn.

You are no longer you, you are Lulu.

I'm going to close my eyes and I'm going to give you five seconds to turn yourself into Lulu.

Are you ready? five, four, three, two, one.

Hi Lulu, nice to meet you.

You have learned how to look after cats, and mommy has said you can get one.

How do you feel? Get ready to freeze-frame and show me how you feel.

Oh my goodness.

I'm going to tell you how I think you feel, and then you are going to repeat it.

I feel proud of myself, your turn.

I feel excited to choose a cat, your turn.

Great expression.

Now it's my turn again.

I am Lulu.

I can see a cat in the shelter that is looking at me.

How do I feel? Freeze-frame.

I feel in love.

I feel desperate to care for the cat.

Now it's your turn to use facial expressions to show how you are feeling.

You are Lulu.

Hi Lulu.

You have taken the cat home, but it is still inside its carry case.

How do you feel? Freeze-frame.

I'm watching.

I feel hopeful that the cat will like her new home.

Were you feeling hopeful? Or I've seen, I feel curious about when she'll start exploring.

Curious means you are thinking, you just don't know.

Hopeful or maybe curious.

Which one of these facial expressions, and which action can you see in this illustration? So the expressions are frowning or smiling, and the actions are choosing a book and playing with toy cats.

Which ones of those is she doing? Choose one facial expression and one action.

Pause the video now.

Lulu is smiling whilst she's choosing a book.

Well done.

Thinking from a character's perspective helps us to understand and describe how characters are feeling at different points in the story.

We can think from any character's perspective, not just Lulu.

We can think from mommy's perspective.

I am mommy.

I feel proud of Lulu for being responsible.

I am the cat.

I feel nervous about going to a new home.

Now it's your turn to choose a character and think from their perspective.

Describe how you feel and use facial expressions to show your feelings.

You could be mommy, you could be Jeremy, you could be Lulu, or you could be the cat.

You are going to say who you are, introduce yourself.

I am, and then say how you are feeling and why.

I hope you enjoy.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic.

Here are some examples.

I am Jeremy.

I feel confident that Lulu will be a great owner.

I am mummy.

I feel interested to see which cat Lulu chooses.

I am Lulu.

I feel excited to choose a cat.

I am the cat.

I feel certain that Lulu looks kind and friendly.

I wonder which characters you chose to think from, and did you think from their perspective? Show it on your face and use some describing words, adjectives, to show it.

Well done if you did.

Now let's move on to the next part of the lesson.

Asking characters questions.

We know that the theme in the story is what the story is about and often, it might teach us something.

There can be many themes in a story, but one of the themes in this story is responsibility, because Lulu has to prove she can be responsible and learn how to take care of a cat before she is allowed to get a real one.

Asking a character questions can help us to learn more and recognise the themes in the story.

A question is a type of simple sentence that asks the reader for an answer, such as, what is your favourite animal? Do you have any pets? A question always ends in a question mark.

Can you do that with me? Question mark.

Can you see the question marks? Well done.

So true or false.

A question tells someone to do something.

Is that true or is that false? I'll say it one more time.

A question tells someone to do something, true or false? Can you show me your thumbs in five seconds? Two, and zero.

Can I see? Is that true or false? Well done if you are showing me false.

A command tells someone to do something.

A question is asking something.

Questions Ask the reader for an answer.

Here are some examples of some questions.

What is your name? How old are you? Why do you like cats? Do you have any other pets? Questions also start with question words.

What? How? Why do I want Do.

I want to know why Lulu decided to learn more about cats.

So I'm going to ask her a question.

Why did you decide to learn about cats? There's my question word at the start, why, and my question mark at the end.

Lulu is a fictional made up character and she isn't here with me.

So we have to imagine what her answer might be based on what we know of the story.

So I'm Lulu now.

I decided to learn about cats because I wanted to know how to care for them so I could be allowed my own.

This shows us that Lulu is dedicated and hardworking, and also responsible like the theme we were talking about.

So I have got three questions and three answers.

I would like you to match the question to that answer.

Listen for the questions first.

What is your name? How old are you? Why do you like cats? I am six years old.

I like playing with cats.

My name is Lulu, are my possible answers.

So I would like you to look at the question and think about which of those answers could match to it.

Pause the video now.

Let's see, what is your name? My name is Lulu.

Quite often you can find part of the question in the answer like name.

How old are you? Is it I am six years old? Or I like playing with cats? Which one answers that question? I am six years old, which means why do you like cats? Because I like playing cats.

Great job.

We can ask any characters in the story questions.

For example, Lulu's mommy.

How did you decide that Lulu was ready to get a cat? Or Makeda, the cat? What do you like best about living with Lulu? And then like with Lulu, those characters aren't next to me and they're fictional, so I can use what I know about the story to answer the questions.

So Lulu's mommy, we've asked her, how did you decide that Lulu was get, was ready to get a cat? I decided that Lulu was ready to get a cat because she practised with her pretend cats and she went to the library.

Makeda's question to her is, what do you like best about living with Lulu? Let me imagine that I am Makeda.

My favourite thing about Lulu is our snuggles together.

So now it's your turn.

You are going to work with the person nearby.

The first person is going to point to a character from the list.

We have Lulu, Lulu's mommy, Makeda, the cat, and we Jeremy who works at the cat shelter.

And you are going to ask that character a question imagining you are talking to them.

Then the other person has to imagine that they are that character and they have to answer the question pretending they are them.

Then swap over until you've gone through all of the characters and ask as many questions as you can.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic.

Here are some questions that you might have asked.

Maybe to Lulu, you might have asked, why did you call your cat Makeda? Maybe to Lulu's mommy, you might have said, would you let Lulu get another pet? That's a great question.

Maybe to Makeda, the cat, do you miss the other cat from the shelter? Or to Jeremy, did any of the other cats find a home? And I wonder if you managed to answer them as well.

I'm gonna ask you to pause the video now and choose one of these great questions to ask to the person nearby.

Pause the video now.

Amazing job.

What another fantastic lesson.

Brilliant job.

We have learned that a character's facial expressions and actions help to infer, which help give us clues how they feel.

Such as when Lulu is told she can have a cat, she smiled and she was so excited.

Asking questions to the character helps to consider key events and themes.

Illustrations can offer clues as to how characters might feel or what might happen next.

And thinking from a character's perspective, imagining we are them, helps us to understand the story better.

I really enjoyed today's lesson.

Great expression and great vocabulary used as well.

Thank you so much and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye.