Lesson video

Hello everybody, I'm Ms. Corbett.

And welcome to today's lesson, "Writing facts." I really love reading information and then learning from it.

It makes me so excited and proud to be a reader.

So I hope you're looking forward to that, too.

For this lesson, you will need your listening ears.

Can I see them? Well done.

Your looking eyes, and your thinking brain.

You will also need a copy of the "Looking After Cats" information text.

As well as that, you need something to write with and something to write on.

And it would be great if that paper could have lines.

I think we are ready to get started.

But first, let's make sure you have all of those things.

Pause the video now.

Great, have you got your information text? Have you got your paper to write with? And have you got something to write with as well? I think we are ready to get started.

And here is the outcome for today's lesson.

I can write simple facts about something that I have learned.

And these keywords will help us to get there.

First, I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Are you ready to use your loud and proud voices? My turn, then your turn.

Fact.

Information.

Statement.

Question.

Question mark.

Thank you so much for joining in with me.

Now, a fact is something that is known to be true or proved, like the sky is blue, grass is green.

Information is facts learned about something or someone.

Like we might learn a lot of information, which is a group of facts about cats.

A statement is a type of simple sentence that expresses a fact or an opinion and ends with a full stop.

A question is also a type of simple sentence, but it asks the reader something.

Asking them for an answer, ending with a question mark.

A punctuation mark used at the end of a question is called a question mark.

Now we've looked at those, we're ready to start our lesson and see if we can come across those keywords in our first learning cycle, learning facts.

A book that gives us information about a topic is called a non-fiction book.

Here's an example of a non-fiction book about cats.

We have a copy of it with us, and it's called "Looking After Cats." Non-fiction books contain facts.

A fact is a type of statement.

A statement is a type of simple sentence that can be a fact or an opinion.

"Cats spend lots of their time sleeping" is a fact because it's something that is true.

It's proven to be true.

"I love it when my cat sleeps on my bed." Is that a fact or is it an opinion? That's an opinion.

It's how someone feels about something.

Today we will be focusing on facts.

A fact is a statement that is known to be true or can be proved.

For example, "Cats drink water." We all know that that's true.

Either cats do drink water or they don't.

It can be proved right or wrong by looking into it or researching.

We call this a fact.

So, true or false, a statement expresses a fact or an opinion.

So remember, a statement is a type of sentence.

And does it express a fact or an opinion? Is that true or false? Can you show me in five seconds? Let me see your thumbs, five.

Let's see.

That is true.

A statement can be a fact or an opinion, but today we are focusing on facts.

Reading information books can help us to learn about the topics we are interested in.

Here is a page from an information book, "Looking After Cats." This page contains lots of facts.

Let's read the page and see what facts you can remember.

As I'm reading, I want you to be trying to remember everything that is a fact, something that is true.

Are you ready? This page is all about feeding cats.

"Feeding your cat is very important.

"Cats need to eat every day to stay healthy and strong." Straight away, that is two facts.

Feeding your cat is important, and cats need to eat to stay healthy and strong.

What do cats eat? "Most cats eat special cat food "that you can buy from the shops." Another fact.

"They can eat dry biscuits or tinned meat or fish." Fact.

"Did you know that many cats are also great hunters?" Also a fact written as a question.

"They like to hunt for their food outside, "and they try to catch small animals "like birds, mice, and voles." More facts there for us.

What do they drink? "Cats should drink water to stay hydrated.

"Make sure your cat always has access "to fresh, clean water in a bowl.

"And remember to check and refill the water bowl every day.

"Find a quiet and safe space for your cat "to enjoy their food and drink daily." That page was full of facts and information brought together all about feeding cats.

Let's see what you can remember.

What animals do cats like to catch? Birds, moles, voles, mice.

I'll give you a clue.

Three of them are correct.

Maybe, if you want, you could look back at your information page to see.

Pause the video now.

So, what animals do cats like to catch? Cats like to catch birds, voles, and mice.

This is where looking back at our reading and writing will be really, really important because moles and voles sound quite similar.

So that is why it's really important to reread things because it can be difficult to remember lots of facts because it is often a lot of new information for your brain.

And we can reread pages to help us learn and remember information.

I'm going to reread what cats like to eat because that was the question we just looked at.

"Most cats eat special cat food "that you can buy from the shops.

"They can eat dry biscuits or tinned meat or fish.

"Did you know that many cats are also great hunters?" Here it is.

"They like to hunt for their food outside, "and they try to catch small animals." Can you see that these names of the animals are underlined? "Small animals like birds, mice, or voles." So rereading that, and also underlining it and pointing to it, helps those facts to stick in our brain.

So now is your first task.

I'm going to read you the information page all about sleeping.

You might want to have it in front of you so you can go back to it and maybe underline some key information.

Because then you're going to answer these questions.

How long can cats sleep for? Where do cats sleep? And when are cats most active? And if you cannot remember that information, you can reread the page and you can point to or underline key information.

Let me help you by reading the page first, and you can listen out for the information that will answer the questions I've asked.

"Sleeping.

Cats love to sleep.

"They can sleep for a long time.

"Did you know that cats can sleep for up to 16 hours a day? "Where do cats sleep? "Cats like to sleep "in lots of different places around the house.

"They might sleep in a cosy cat bed, "a sunny spot by the window, or even on your bed.

"When do cats sleep? "Cats are usually most active early in the morning "and in the evening.

"This is often when they feed, hunt, and play.

"They spend the rest of the time sleeping.

"If you see your cat sleeping, "it means they are happy and comfortable.

"They need lots of sleep to stay healthy and energetic, "just like we do." I'll read the questions one more time.

How long can cats sleep for? Where do cats sleep? And when are cats most active? Pause the video now.

Amazing job.

Let's see if you've got the answer.

So how long do cats sleep for? There it is.

"Did you know that cats can sleep for up to 16 hours a day?" So the answer is cats can sleep up to 16 hours a day.

Where do cats like to sleep? There's the information, "lots of different places," and then a list of things.

"Cats like to sleep in lots of different places, "such as a cat bed, a sunny spot, or even your bed." And when do cats sleep, and when are cats most active? "Cats are most active early in the morning "and in the evening." We can see that we have retrieved, pulled out all of that information to learn.

I know I've learned quite a lot of facts.

Did you manage to answer all of those questions? Well done if you did.

Let's move on to the second part of our lesson, writing facts.

We will be writing facts now, so here is the success criteria for that.

Write three facts.

For each fact, use a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end.

And use the information page for spelling of key words.

Because we are writing facts all about cats, some other spellings might be a little bit difficult, which is why it's so great to have your information pages nearby.

Here are the information pages that we have read already, all about sleeping, feeding, and playing.

Facts can be written in simple sentences.

A simple sentence is about one idea, and it makes complete sense on its own.

For example, "Cats need food to survive." That's one idea, and it makes sense on its own.

Here's another example.

"They can hunt for their food outside." "Cats drink water to stay hydrated." Three examples of three facts, all separate ideas making complete sense on their own.

So they are facts written as statements.

These are simple sentences that start with a capital letter.

Can you show me your capital letter? And end with full stops.

Can you show me a full stop? Full stop.

Well done.

So can you identify the facts for me written as a simple sentence? We have got feeding.

Feeding your cat is very important.

And dinner time.

Pause the video now and find the fact, and explain why it's a fact.

Off you go.

Well done if you spotted feeding your cat is very important.

Feeding on its own isn't a fact, but it could be used as a heading in our writing.

And dinner time, I spotted as a caption to one of the photographs.

Simple sentences contain at least one noun and a verb.

Here is one sentence.

Cats drink water.

Can you identify at least one noun? Remember, a noun is a naming word.

And a verb, which is a being or a doing word, in this sentence.

Pause the video now.

Let's see.

Cats is the name of something, so it is a noun.

Drink is an action, it is something that we do, so it is a verb.

And water is the name of a thing, so it is a.

Can you tell me? Noun.

Well done.

This is a fact.

Cats drink water.

It is a true statement.

Have a look at this information all about playing.

Here is a sentence.

"Many cats like balls, string or toy mice." There it is.

"Many cats like balls, string or toy mice." A comma has been used to separate the first two nouns because this sentence is listing what cats like, what type of toys they like.

Balls, string, toy mice.

So we have put balls, string or toy mice.

You can separate nouns with a comma, but when it comes to just before the last noun you can use and or or.

And then we don't need a comma.

Let me test you.

Can you select the sentence that has the correct punctuation? Cats hunt for small animals like birds voles and mice.

Hmm, I can't see any commas there.

Cats hunt for small animals like birds, voles, and, mice.

Okay, there's a comma in between my first two nouns.

Then there's a comma in between voles and and.

And then there's a comma in between and and mice.

Cats hunt for small animals like birds, voles and mice.

So there's just one comma there between the first two nouns in the list.

Can you find which one has got this correct punctuation? Pause the video.

Did you get it? Well done if you said Cats hunt for small animals like birds, voles and mice.

The comma is used to separate the first nouns in the list, but as you are coming up to the final noun, you don't need one.

We are going to write some facts that we have remembered down.

First, think of and say one fact that you have learned for each information page.

Remember, it's not a memory test.

You can look back at them to help you.

And maybe ask someone nearby to read them for you.

Then say each fact in a sentence.

So you need one fact about sleeping, one fact about feeding, and one fact about playing.

Can you pause the video now and say those facts in sentences? Fantastic.

I've got my facts in my head, so I was wondering if you could help me with my writing first.

I am ready to write my three facts.

I have got my success criteria in front of me.

I have my pen, and I have my lined paper.

My first fact is going to be about sleeping.

So, I have also got my information page all about sleeping in case I need to look for any spellings.

So my first fact is, did you know that cats sleep for 16 hours a day? That's a did you know fact, so I need a question mark at the end.

Did you know that cats sleep for 16 hours a day? So I need to start my sentence with a capital letter.

A capital D.

D-I-D, did.

Finger space, you.

That's a common exception word.

Y-O-U, you.

Did you know.

Oh, I know that know has a silent K at the beginning.

So my N is being made by a K and an N.

Kn-ow, my O-W likes to be at the end.

Did you know that.

Th-at, that.

Cats.

Can you sound that out for me? And don't forget that S at the end to show there's more than one.

C-a-t-s, cats Did you know that cats sleep? Sound it out for me.

S-l-ee-p, sleep.

Did you know that cat sleep for, f-or.

16, hmm.

I could either write the number or the word.

I think I'm going to write the number.

I can squeeze it in here.

A 1 to show the 10 and 6 more, 16 hours.

Hmm, I'm not sure how to spell hours, so I'm going to look back at my information page to help me.

16, there's my number, hours.

Oh, that's another sneaky silent letter.

Good job I checked.

So I've got it next to me to copy.

I'm going to leave a line in case I need to fix any mistakes.

Silent letter, ou-r-s.

16 hours a d-ay, day.

D-ay, day.

I'm going to read it back.

Did you know that cats sleep for 16 hours a day? I've asked a question, so what do I need? A question mark, fantastic.

My next fact is going to be about playing.

And I am going to write about what cats like to play with.

Cats like balls, string and toy mice.

I've decided to list things there.

So I have listed nouns, so I might need a comma.

I wonder if you can help me remember where my comma needs to go.

First of all, starting my sentence with cats.

I've already written cats, but I'm starting it, so it needs a capital letter.

C-a-t-s.

Cats.

Cats like.

Hm, like.

L-I, split diagraph, like.

Cats like.

Okay, my list, balls.

B and then all.

The all in ball is a common exception word, A-L-L.

And they like to play with more than one, so I need an S at the end.

Cats like balls string.

Before I go onto my next noun in my list, what do I separate them with? A comma.

Thank goodness.

Cats like balls, string.

Ooh, that word's got quite a lot of sounds in.

Can you stretch it for me? String, s-t-r-i-ng, string.

Can you sound it out for me again? S-t-r-i-ng, string.

Cat like balls, comma, string.

The other thing I wanted to list was toy mice.

I'm only listing one more thing, so before my final noun, I need the joining word and.

A-n-d, and.

I'm going to write mice.

M-I, my split digraph, S.

And in a split digraph, when you hear the S, it's not being made by the letter S, it's being made by the letter C, mice.

Cat like balls, string and mice.

I finished my sentence.

It's not a question so I just need a full stop.

My final fact is going to be cats can hunt for food to eat.

But I'm going to let you get on with your writing now whilst I finish.

So I haven't quite written three facts, but I have my final fact to write.

I have used the capital letter, and I've had a full stop here and a question mark here.

And I've used my information page to help me with my spelling.

I can't wait to see your writing.

Thank you for helping me with mine.

Now you are going to write three facts that you have learned from the information text, just like I have.

And I think you'll do an amazing job because you did a great job at helping me.

Don't forget to check your success criteria.

You need three facts.

Each fact needs a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end.

And remember you can use the information pages to help you remember the facts and the spelling of some words.

I hope you enjoy your writing.

Off you go, pause the video.

Well done.

Here are three facts that I've seen that you might have written down.

For sleeping, some cat sleep for nearly 16 hours a day.

Cats like to eat voles, mice and birds.

I love those nouns in a list.

And playing keeps cats active.

Let's check the success criteria.

We've got three facts.

Each fact has a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

And I have used the information pages for words like hours, active and birds.

Well done.

Now it's time for our final learning cycle.

Writing did you know questions.

A question is another type of simple sentence that asks the reader for an answer.

For example, "Do you like cats? "What do you feed your cats?" A question always ends in a question mark.

Can you spot the question marks? There's one, and there's the other.

So what punctuation mark does a question always end with? Is it a comma? Is it a question mark? Or is it a full stop? For this one, I'm going to give you five seconds to decide.

Ready? Five, four, one.

Well done if you were thinking question mark.

Non-fiction books often teach us new information about a topic.

And they can contain questions that start with the words did you know.

This means that questions can be another way of writing facts.

'Cause we are asking the reader whether they knew that fact already.

Can you spot a did you know question on this page? The page all about feeding, so you could look closely on the screen or you could look at it in front of you.

Can you search for the words, did you know? And then maybe try and read the question together.

Pause the video now.

Well done if you spotted it.

Did you know that many cats are also great hunters? Question mark.

To write our own did you know questions, it can help to think of a fact that you find really interesting and that you didn't know before.

I find it really interesting that cats need a quiet and safe space to eat their food.

I didn't know already that this was important, so I can turn this fact into a did you know question.

So you always start these questions with did you know.

Can you see the capital letter? Because it's the start of a sentence.

Did you know.

Then add your interesting fact.

Did you know that cats need a quiet and safe space to eat their food? Then finish with a question mark.

Did you know that cats need a quiet and safe space to eat their food? And do you notice, now I've added that question mark and I've written it as a question, the way I say it changes differently.

Changes a little bit.

The fact would just be read like this.

Cats need a quiet and safe space to eat their food.

When it's written as a question, did you know that cats need a quiet and safe place to eat their food? You see I go a little bit higher to show that I'm asking a question.

So in which order should these things take place, our steps to writing our did you know question? Start your sentence with did you know.

Finish with a question mark.

Add your interesting fact.

So which comes first? Which comes second? And which comes third? Pause the video now.

Fantastic.

We start our sentence with did you know.

And we've got our capital letter.

But we don't have our question mark just yet because we haven't finished because next we add our interesting fact.

And then we finish with our question mark.

I will have a go at asking a did you know question about cats.

I will start my sentence with, did you know, so a capital letter, did you know.

And notice the spelling of know.

It has a silent K at the start.

Then I will add an interesting fact.

Did you know that playing stops cats from feeling bored? Finally, I will remember to use a question mark when I write it down, but I can practise that when I'm talking.

So I'm going to say my whole sentence with my punctuation.

Capital letter, did you know that playing stops cats from feeling bored? Question mark.

Now it's your turn to have a go at asking a did you know question about cats.

Remember start your sentence with capital letter, did you know.

Add an interesting fact.

And remember to use a question mark when you write it down, but can you practise saying it just like me? 'Cause we are not writing it down just yet.

I can't wait to hear your fact.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic.

I heard lots of great examples.

Did you know that cats eat dry or tinned food? Question mark.

Did you know that cats like to hunt and pounce? Question mark.

Fantastic.

So now you are going to write that did you know question.

Don't forget to follow these steps.

Start your sentence with did you know, the capital letter at the start.

Then add your interesting fact.

It's all part of the same sentence so you don't need a new capital letter.

And then you finish with a question mark.

Pause the video now.

Let's see how you got on.

Here are some, did you know questions that you might have come up with.

Capital letter, did you know that cats are related to lions? Question mark.

Did you know that cats can see in the dark? Question mark.

And did you know that cats can give hugs by rubbing their head on you? Question mark.

Now I'm guessing that those facts are not the did you know questions that you've written down.

So I would like you to pause the video and write one more did you know question by copying your favourite fact question down.

Don't forget your capital letter and your question mark at the end.

My favourite is, did you know that cats are related to lions because I love lions.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic.

What a busy lesson of learning.

We have learned that rereading key information can help us to learn and remember it, which shows we are real readers now.

We have learned that facts can be recalled from information in books.

We have learned that a fact is a statement that is true.

We have learned that facts can be written in simple sentences.

A comma is used to separate two nouns in a list.

And all questions must finish with a question mark.

Don't forget, keep hold of your facts.

Make sure you keep them because it's really important that we can remember them and show them off.

Well done for such amazing learning and I hope to you again soon.

Bye.