Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to lesson three in our unit about Persephone.

Today, we are going to be looking at our story again, and you're going to have a go at telling the story yourself.

You can use your story map and your actions from your stepping to help you.

It's going to be a really fun lesson.

Then we're going to take a closer look at the ending of our story.

And we're going to do a deepening activity that helps us to explore how all the different characters were feeling at the end of the story.

Before we get started, I wanted to share something that I had spotted today.

Just outside my window is a little spider.

Now, normally, I hate spiders and I don't want them near me, but luckily this one is outside and also it's really tiny.

Now, I've been fascinated because I've been watching it build its web and capture its prey inside.

And it kind of reminded me a little bit of Hades setting a trap and getting Persephone, and getting her to eat those pomegranate seeds, so she would have to stay for some of the year.

Maybe he's a bit spider-like in the way his character behaves.

Have you seen any interesting creatures today? And do they remind you of any of the characters in our story? For this lesson, you're going to need something to write on, something to write with, and of course your brain, but you've got that already.

If you don't have a pen or pencil or a piece of paper, pause the video now, go and get it and press play when you're ready to go.

In today's lesson, we're going to start with a wonderful word warm-up.

So, we're not going to be looking at our same spellings today but we're going to be focusing on words that link to our story.

After that, we're going to hear the story one more time.

And this is going to help us because the next stage is speaking the story.

You're going to use what you've seen me do, plus your story map and you're stepping to help you really expressively tell the story in your own words.

After that, we're going to do a deepening activity, and we're going to focus on the end of the story for this unit of work.

We're going to think about what makes it a satisfying ending and how the characters all feel at the end of this story.

I can't wait to get started.

For our wonderful word warm-up, we're going to be looking at three adjectives, and thinking about which adjective best describes each of the gods in our story, Persephone.

The adjectives we have are powerful, distressed and cruel.

And the three characters we are describing are Demeter, Hades and Zeus.

I'd like you to pause the video in a second, and have a go at thinking about which adjective you think best describes each of those characters.

There could be an argument made that each word could describe more than one of the characters.

You just have to decide which one you think is the best argument.

So, remember, match them up but also think of a reason why you've chosen that word to describe that god.

Pause the video, press play when you're ready to go.

Fantastic, okay, I'm going to talk through a little bit I was thinking, and you can see if you thought the same thing as me.

I started actually with the word cruel 'cause I thought that was the easiest one to match.

For me, the adjective cruel best describes Hades because his actions in the story aren't very nice.

Him stealing Persephone and even in the end, though he lets her go back for six months of the year, it's quite selfish for him to have her down there at all.

So, I would say that he is the cruellest character.

Perhaps, you could describe Demeter as cruel because she has an impact on the whole world, making everything die and making it cold, even though it's just something that happens to her.

So, perhaps that's cruel behaviour too.

For the word powerful, the character of Zeus jumped into my mind.

He is described as king of all the gods, which makes me think that he has the most power.

But when I really thought about it, I realised that even though he might be powerful, he wasn't able to convince Demeter to stop the seasons going to winter.

She wasn't able to convince Hades to give Persephone back full time.

He was able to reach a compromise, and perhaps it's due to him that there is a solution to our story, which means I think he is quite powerful.

But I also think Demeter's hugely powerful because of her control of the seasons.

And Hades is powerful because he was able to steal Persephone away and keep her in the underworld.

But I'm going to stick with Zeus as the best fit.

Finally, we've got the word distressed.

I think this best describes Demeter and her behaviour because she was so upset about her daughter, Persephone, going missing to the underworld that she stopped all life on earth.

Her emotions had an impact on everyone in the story and with a main problem, so I think that adjective best describes her.

Did you think similarly to me, or did you think of something different? We are going to listen to our new story one more time.

This time, try and listen for things that you didn't really notice before.

I'd also like you to pay really close attention to the end of the story because that's what we're going to be focusing on for the rest of the unit.

Let's begin.

"Demeter was the goddess of life.

Everything grew and lived on earth because of her.

Demeter had a daughter called Persephone, who she loved more than anything.

One day, Persephone was picking poppies in a field of corn when Hades, the god of death, appeared in his chariot.

He picked her up, and took her down under the earth to his home.

When Demeter couldn't find her daughter, she was really sad.

She looked everywhere but couldn't find Persephone, and became so sad that she stopped smiling, stopped speaking and stopped making life on earth.

The world became cold, nothing would grow.

Nothing could be born and everything began to die.

Down under the earth, Persephone was sad too, and missed her mother.

Hades wanted her to stay and marry him but she said no, and refused to eat or drink anything.

But after a few days, she was so hungry that she ate just six pomegranate seeds.

Up above on earth, Zeus, the king of gods was worried.

The earth grew colder and colder and nothing would grow.

He asked Demeter to make life again but she shook her head, 'Not without my daughter,' she said.

So, Zeus went to talk to Hades.

'You must let her go,' he said, 'or everything on earth will die.

You cannot make her stay unless she has eaten some food from this place.

' Hades smiled, 'She has eaten six seeds from a pomegranate, so now she will stay.

' Zeus thought about it for a while.

'If she has eaten six seeds, then she will stay with you for six months of the year.

And for six months of the year, she will live life on earth with her mother.

' So, from that time to this, Persephone spends half of the year under the earth.

During this time, Demeter is sad, and the world grows cold and nothing will grow.

This is the time we call winter.

For the other half of the year, Persephone returns to her mother, who happily makes new life on earth.

The world grows warm and everything can grow again.

This is the time we call summer." You're now going to have a go at speaking the story yourself.

For this, I would like you to combine using your story map to prompt you but thinking about some of the actions that you did in your stepping of the story.

Could you add them in whilst you're saying to add more expression and excitement to your telling of the story? You don't need to tell it in exactly the same words as I did.

I would like you to tell it in your own creative and descriptive words.

Having your story map right there with you can help to prompt you as you go.

If you practise it more than once, it could be an extra challenge to try and tell the story again without looking at your story map as much.

This is all to help us to start remembering all of the characters and the key events, and the settings of the story, so that when we go into writing later on, it's all right there ready in our head for us to use.

Some top tips for you are to use a pretend microphone.

That could be anything, it could be a pen if you want, to project your voice outwards nice and clearly, so that everyone can hear you.

And if you can, find someone that you can perform with.

It could also be a teddy if there's no one there that you could perform to at the time.

Pause the video here.

Have a go at performing the story.

Remember, it doesn't need to be perfect the first time around and it's absolutely fine to make some mistakes.

I know I do when I'm telling stories for the first time.

Maybe practise a couple of times, so that you start to feel more confident.

Press play again when you've had a go.

Let's have a quick talk about endings.

We're going to be focusing on endings for the rest of our unit, and the ending of this story is a really juicy one.

We're going to be using an endings toolkit to help us.

And this helps us to understand what makes an ending a really good ending to a story.

Now, it says here endings that satisfy us.

And the word satisfy means that it leaves us feeling like it's a complete story, and we're happy with how it ended.

That doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be a happy ending but just that it comes to a solution that makes sense to us and we understand.

So, there are different ways that a writer or an author can make an ending that satisfies its readers.

One of them could be have a solution that rewards the main character in some way.

It could be to include a solution which surprises or satisfies the audience.

It could be show how the good qualities of the main character led to the problem's solutions.

Show the consequences of the solution for the characters.

Or finally, end with a memorable scene or event.

Now, not all of these are going to apply to every ending, and they won't all apply to this one for Persephone, but some of them will.

Have a little think for a moment, which parts of this endings toolkit apply to the ending of Persephone? Hmm, have a solution that rewards the main character in some way.

I would say that that half applies because Demeter and Persephone end up back together, don't they? Even if it's just for six months of the year.

Include a solution which surprises or satisfies the audience.

I was definitely surprised when I realised that it was explaining that Demeter controlled the seasons by her mood, and that's why we have summer and winter.

And I found that quite satisfying.

I'm not sure that the next one applies as much.

But I think the one that says show the consequences of the solution for the characters is very true.

It shows us doesn't it, that Persephone spends half the year with her mother, and the impact of that means that it's summer.

And half the year with Hades, and the impact of that is that it becomes winter.

So, we see mostly the impact that it has on Demeter, and probably then Persephone.

We probably don't see as much with the impact it has on Hades.

It doesn't tell us about Zeus but we know that Zeus will be happy when it's summer too, don't we? For our deepening activity today, we are going to imagine what the characters are thinking and feeling during the different seasons described at the end of the story.

Can you remember the two seasons that Demeter controls at the end? That's it, summer when she's happy, and winter when she's sad.

Now, we're given a bit of an insight, aren't we, into how Demeter's feeling because it's reflected in the seasons.

But it would be interesting to really get inside her head and to know what she is actually thinking and feeling at those times.

On top of that, we don't really get to see what Zeus or Hades are thinking at these moments in the end of our story.

So, today, we're going to use our imagination, basing it on the text to come up with their thoughts and feelings during the ending.

So, we're going to start off by thinking about how our characters feel in summer.

We're just going to focus on Demeter and Hades for now, okay? So, during summer, how do we think Demeter feels? I've given you two sentence stems there that you could use to help you.

When my daughter returns, I feel hmm.

This means that I will.

So, for that second sentence, I would like you to think about what does Demeter do when she feels sad? What happens to the world around her? I'm going to show you this one quickly, how I did it, and then you're going to have a go afterwards.

Okay, I'm going to show you how I would do this deepening activity.

So, to start off, I'm going to write at the top what lesson I am in.

So, I'm going to say I'm in lesson three.

And I know that my learning objective for this lesson is to deepen the ending of the story.

Okay, now, I'm ready to get started.

I can decide whether I want to draw a picture of Demeter, or I just want to do a speech bubble for her with her name underneath.

It's completely up to you, okay? I'm sure that there are many talented artists listening that can do a better job than that.

I'm going to put her name underneath.

It's completely up to you if you would like to spend a bit more time.

And then I'm going to do a really big thought bubble for her there, okay? So, using the first sentence stem, it says, when my daughter returns, I feel.

Okay, let's have a think about how she's feeling at that moment.

Is it a sad moment where she's reunited with Persephone, or a happy moment? I think it's a really happy moment.

And I'm going to try and think of a synonym for happy that's a little bit more interesting.

I'm going to choose the word ecstatic.

So, I'm going to write that.

When my daughter returns, I feel ecstatic because, ooh, let me think about why she feels ecstatic.

Because we have been separated for so long.

Do my full stop.

Next one says, this means.

Ooh, there's a little mistake there.

This means that I will.

Can you remember what Demeter does in the story when she sees her daughter again? I'm going to put I will let new life grow again and it will become warmer.

There we go.

Now, I'd like you to have a go at writing your thoughts and feelings for Demeter during summer.

Pause here and once you've done your first one, press play and we'll move on to the next one.

Great job, we're ready to move on.

Now, we're going to think about how Hades is feeling during summer.

Remember, this is when he is all alone in the underworld, and Persephone has left him to go and be with Demeter.

Let us think about here how he would feel.

The first sentence stem says, when Persephone is gone, I feel.

Perhaps, you could choose loneliness, maybe he's angry.

The next sentence says, I show this by.

So, whichever emotion you choose for Hades, I want you to think about how he would physically show that emotion.

Rather than just saying he is sad, think about how he would show it.

If he is angry, perhaps he would clench his fist, he would furrow his brow and he would shout, okay? I would like you to have a go at doing the same thing as I showed you for Demeter for Hades for this one.

So, underneath, you can just draw a little picture of Hades or just write his name, draw a speech bubble, and then use these sentence stems to describe what Hades is thinking and feeling during summer.

Pause here and press play when you're ready to move on.

Great job, let's move on to winter now.

Let's think about Demeter in winter first.

So, now remember, Persephone has left her.

She's gone back to Hades in the underworld for six long months, half of a whole year.

How is she going to feel? The first sentence stem says, when Persephone is gone, I feel.

Have a think of some words.

We know she feels sad.

Can you think of any synonyms that are perhaps a little bit more interesting than the word sad? Afterwards it says, I change the seasons by.

We know at this point, Demeter changes the seasons from summer to winter because she is so upset.

I would like you to be really descriptive with your writing here and tell me what would happen to the flowers, what would happen to the sun, and what would happen to the weather during winter? Pause here and have a go at doing that again, maybe on a new page if you need more space.

And then press play when you're ready to do our final one.

Great job, you are doing so well and working really hard at deepening the ending of our story.

I'm really impressed.

Let's move on to the last one.

The last one we're going to do is Hades during winter.

Now, remember, this is when Persephone comes back to the underworld to join him.

How is he going to feel at that moment? The first sentence says, when Persephone returns to the underworld, I feel.

I think perhaps he would feel gleeful, or perhaps even ecstatic or joyful or over the moon.

This one says, this makes me want to.

What do you think Hades wants to do when he feels full of life and energy and happiness? Just like before, draw a little picture of Hades, or write his name and put a speech bubble next to him, and use these sentence stems to describe what Hades is thinking and feeling during winter at the end of our story.

Pause here, press play when you're ready to finish off.

Great job, super stars.

You have done a brilliant amount of work today, and I'm really impressed.

I'm just going to talk you through one final challenge task if you would like to really push yourself today.

For this challenge task, it says, what do you think Zeus is thinking and feeling during the different seasons? I want you to have a think, during winter, I think Zeus is mm because.

And during summer, I think Zeus is mm because.

You can just say this out loud if you would prefer.

But if you'd like to write it down underneath as your challenge, that would be great too.

Pause here, have a go at your challenge task, and press play when you're done.

You have done such brilliant work today.

I think you should give yourself a pat on the back.

We are starting to get to grips with our ending at a really deep level.

And I'm really impressed by your thoughts and ideas that you've put down on the page.

I can't wait to see you in our next lesson.

I would really love to see your work.

If you're happy to share it with me, please ask a parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

You just need to tag OakNational, and use the hashtag #LearnwithOak.