Lesson video

Hi, there.

I'm Mrs. Howley.

This is my friend Cedric.

And we're both very excited because today, we get to build up our toolkit ready for describing using all of the senses.

In this lesson, we're going to explore how writers create vivid description using all the senses.

We're going to build up our toolkit.

We going to start with a game.

Then we're going to do some shared reading.

Then we're going to explore the text and build up our toolkit.

For this lesson, you'll need an exercise book and some paper, a pen or a pencil, and of course your brilliant brain.

Pause the video now if you need to collect anything and then press play when you're ready.

Cedric and I are going to play a game now using the senses.

Cedric, you need to pick something in the room, okay? And I'm going to ask you questions using the senses.

And then we're going to try and guess what it is that Cedric has chosen.

Okay, are you ready? What could we ask him first? Hmm, what does it sound like? He said it can make a crunching sound.

Okay.

What does it smell like, Cedric? It smells sweet, okay.

What does it taste like? It tastes refreshing.

What does it look like, Cedric? Green and smooth.

What does it feel like Cedric? Soft and silky.

Have you got any ideas? Hang on a minute, Cedric Were you thinking, were you thinking of this apple? Well done.

Maybe you could play the senses game at home with a teddy or a grownup.

We're going to do some reading in this lesson so we can find out how other writers create vivid description.

How they get the reader to feel like they're there while it's happening.

We're going to have to use our brilliant reading strategies.

So get your magnet eyes ready to look at the letters, make the sounds, and then blend them together.

Look out for your tricky words as well.

And don't forget, if you get to the end of a sentence and it doesn't make sense, go back and read it again.

Let's have a look at the text.

Now remember, we want to build up a toolkit for description.

So we'll think about that while we're reading.

I'll help us with some of the tricky words.

The first word is one of our tricky words.

It's the word the.

The, w, oh, split diagraph, ave, waves.

The waves crash, ed past tense verb crashed.

The waves crashed and the seagulls screamed.

The waves crashed and the seagulls screamed.

The king felt the salty water hit his face.

The king felt the salty water hit his face.

This piece of text is from the Magic Paintbrush story.

You might have heard that story before.

But don't worry if you haven't, we'll investigate it together.

The waves crashed and the seagulls screamed.

The king felt the salty water hit his face.

The sea was, one of our tricky words.

The sea was cold.

The sea was cold and biting.

The sea was cold and biting.

One huge wave started to come closer.

The dark, the dark waters swelled.

If it says swelled it means get bigger and bigger.

The dark waters swelled and they started to hit the boat.

The dark waters swelled and they started to hit the boat.

I feel like this is very vivid description.

I feel like I'm there.

Let's have a look at how this writer has created that vivid description.

Now, Cedric, can you remember what are the different senses we can use to describe? Smell, that's right.

Taste.

Can you remember another one? Sight, touch, and hearing.

Sound.

Absolutely right.

Let's see what this writer has used.

Let's start with that first sentence.

The waves crashed and the seagulls screamed.

I can hear the screaming and the waves crashing.

They've used the sense of hearing.

Brilliant.

Let's have a look at the next sentence.

The king felt the salty water hit his face.

I can feel it hitting my face, but also I can taste the salty water.

They've used two senses there, the sea was cold and biting.

That's the sense of touch, what we can feel.

And what have we got in the last two sentences? Let's have a look.

One huge wave started to come closer.

The dark waters swelled and they started to hit the boat.

This is what the character can see.

The dark waters.

I love the way this writer has used all of their senses in that description.

Let's have a look at the next section of this Magic Paintbrush story.

Now remember, you can download the text and follow it along, or I can help you read it on the screen.

So, people yell, past tense verb ed.

Yelled.

People yelled and the king turned white.

He felt, he felt sick, sick as the boat, as the boat rocked from side to side.

He felt sick as the boat rocked from side to side.

The freezing waters began to touch his toes.

The freezing waters began to touch his toes.

Cedric, where has he gone? Cedric, I'm going to read you this section through.

See if you can hear where the writer is using senses.

People yelled and the king turned white.

He felt sick as the boat rocked from side to side.

The freezing waters began to touch his toes.

Let's see.

People yelled.

That's what I can hear.

The king turned white.

That's what we can see.

He felt sick as the boat rocked from side to side.

That's what the character is feeling.

That's really helping me feel like I'm there.

The freezing waters began to touch his toes.

That's our feelings again.

Cedric, that's a really good idea.

I'm going to draw a picture now to help me build up my toolkit of how we describe using the senses.

I'm going to unpick the example that we've looked at.

Okay, so I'm going to draw my waves, and that big wave that's described in the text that we can see, that the writer describes.

I'm going to draw the boat.

I'm going to draw some of the people on the boat.

Think about how they're described in the text.

I'm going to draw the king.

I'm also going to think about how the writer has used the senses to describe those things.

So in the sky, we've got the seagulls.

And that is the sense of sound.

We can hear that, the bird screaming.

Screaming.

So I'm using some words from the text as well to build my toolkit.

We've also got the way the king looks.

His appearance.

So it's what we can see.

It tells us he goes white.

And the boat is rocking back and forward.

And we can hear the sound of the other passengers.

We can see the great wave in the text, and it talks about the dark waters.

What can we taste in the text? It tells us that the king is hit with the salty water in his face.

So we can taste that.

I wonder what other evidence you can get from the text to add to your picture.

Why don't you have a go now at drawing a picture like mine, adding some detail to it from the text.

How has the writer used the senses? Pause the video and have a go at your toolkit challenge.

Press play again when you're ready.

Cedric, I can't wait to use all of my senses to describe when I'm writing the story of Awongalema now.

I'm going to use sight, my hearing, hang on a minute, I'm going to sing our senses song one more time so I can remember.

Can you join in? ♪ Seeing, hearing, touching things ♪ ♪ Smelling and tasting too ♪ ♪ I can use my senses ♪ ♪ Use my senses ♪ ♪ You can use them too ♪ I can't wait to write about all of the animals gathered under the Acacia tree.

Yes.

The lion running up the mountain.

The mountain spirits.

Yes, all of the animals at the end gorging on all that delicious fruit.

It's going to be fantastic and we can't wait to see you soon.

Bye.