Lesson video

From our Awongalema unit.

In today's lesson, we're going to be learning how to write a recycled story with a vivid description.

And we're really going to be focusing on character description today.

We're going to be thinking about how we can describe the characters in the middle part of our Awongalema story.

Do you remember what characters they are? I've forgotten.

I wonder, I wish there was someone here you could help me remember.

Gary the chameleon, what are you doing here? You're always jumping out and scaring me like that.

Now, Gary the chameleon, we're having a little bit of trouble trying to remember who the characters in my Awongalema story are.

I know that it starts with the magic tree that is dead and won't give us any fruit, but, who are the characters who go off to, who are the characters who go off to the mountain spirits to find out what the magic tree's name is.

Do you remember? Aha.

Aha.

And there's one more, isn't there? Ah.

Gary's just reminded me of who my characters are.

Do you remember who they are? Shout them out at the screen at me now.

Of course.

It is the warthog, the ostrich, the hyena and of course the slow snail, who manages to make it all the way back to the animals without forgetting the Awongalema's name, because he doesn't rush, he goes very slowly like a snail does.

Thank goodness that we've remembered that.

I want you to picture one of those animals and I want you to close your eyes and imagine what those animals might sound like.

What sound do you think the warthog would make Gary? He says the warthog might make a sound like a pig, like this, What sound do you think the ostrich would make? Ah, he thinks that the ostrich might go, like a bird or it might have thundering feet on the floor because it runs so fast and so quickly.

And it's so big that it might make the ground shake.

Hmm, what about the hyena? What noise do you think the hyena would make Gary? Ah, Gary thinks that the hyena might snigger or chuckle 'cause he likes to laugh a lot.

And what about the snail? How do you think the snail, what the snail sound like? Woo.

Gary thinks that the snail might make a slithering, slurping sound, as it moves slowly up the mountain and then slowly back down the mountain.

I can't wait to see what kind of sounds your characters are going to make in your shed right today.

Should we get Gary? Great.

In this lesson you are going to need some paper, a pencil, and of course your brilliant brain.

Pause the video now while you go and get those things.

Amazing.

Superstar.

Let's get started with today's lesson.

Here's our agenda for today.

We're going to start off with doing our grammar first of all.

We're then going to review our description toolkit and really think about the five senses that we want to talk about while we're describing our middle part.

We're then going to step through the storymap to remind ourselves of what happens in the middle of the story.

And finally, we will do our shared write of the middle part and we're really focusing on our character description today.

First of all, let's get started with our grammar.

This week, we have been looking at the prefix 'un', my turn, your turn, 'un', 'un', 'un'.

I know that a prefix changes the meaning of a word when we attach it to a root word.

I would like you to write down these words onto your piece of paper now.

Once you have finished that, I want you to pause the video, I want you to underline the root word.

What is the root word from these words? Remember the prefix 'un' is changing the meaning of the word.

The words that we've got here are unpack, unkind, undo, unexpected, unafraid, and uncertain.

Pause your video now while you write those words down and underline the root word.

So how did you do? I can see that all my root words here are highlighted in purple.

So afraid becomes unafraid when I add 'un', when I add the prefix 'un' to it.

That means that you are not afraid.

Pack becomes unpack, kind becomes unkind, expected becomes unexpected, do becomes undo, and certain becomes uncertain.

Did you manage to underline all the root words yourself? Brilliant, let's move on.

Okay, we're now going to review our description toolkit.

So in our description toolkit we have got the five senses.

We have got smell, we have got sight, we have got sound, we have got taste and we have got touch.

So if I wanted to describe the way something smelled, I might say that it was minty or fragrant or fruity.

So for example I might say, ooh, that chewing gum smells very minty.

If I wanted to describe how something looked, I might say, wow, the ostrich looks very beautiful today.

If I wanted to describe how something sounded, I might say that when the warthog crushed into the anthill, it made an awful crash.

If I want to describe how something tasted, I might say, I might say, wow, this fruit falling from the tree tastes very, very sweet.

If I want to describe how something felt through touch, I might say, ooh Gary, you've got a very spiky back.

Today we're going to think about how will you describe the characters in the middle part of your story.

Here I've got some touch.

Here I've got some sound and here I've got some sight.

Think about what words you're going to use to describe your characters, your animals.

You might want to use the same characters as me, or you might want to recycle them, the different animals.

You might say that they feel rough or feathery or soft or slimy.

You might say they sound like they're grunting or sniggering or thumping or crushing.

You might say they look scruffy, what kind of, which animal do you think might look scruffy? I think the hyena might look scruffy.

You might say they look elegant like the ostrich.

You might say they look slow like the snail.

We might say they look quick like the ostrich.

Pause your video now while you write down some words that you could use in your writing.

Let's have a look at our structure now.

We should have already written the title.

What's the title of our story? It is.

Awongalema.

You should have written the beginning part already, which is where we had our setting description about the empty dusty hot watering hole with the magic tree that's asleep and there's no fruit or water anywhere.

We're then going to write our middle part which is where we're going to talk about our four characters, our four animals, and we're going to describe them.

And then finally we will write our end part which is the new setting description of when the tree comes alive and the animals have fruit and water again.

Don't forget, if you really want to challenge yourself, you can choose your own animals that you are going to include in your story.

Now let's really focus and zoom in on the middle part of our story.

Remember, the three fast, the three fast animals are going to race up to the top of the mountain to speak to the mountain spirits.

They might leave dust behind them because they're running so fast.

They might move like the wind or they might be as quick as a flash.

They might zoom up the mountain.

It's up to you to describe how quickly they go up the mountain.

When they get down to the bottom of the mountain, they're going to crush into that anthill.

They might scream in pain.

They might say, Ow! They might feel itchy.

They might feel biting all over their skin from the ants covering them.

They might be screaming or shrieking.

Again, it's up to you to create that vivid description of how they react when they bang into that anthill.

And finally, when the slow animal goes up, I've chosen the snail, it might plod up the hill.

It might go slowly.

It might go quietly or gradually.

And remember it's going down a very dusty path.

So think about the descriptive words that you are going to use in order to tell the middle part.

Okay.

Here's what we're going to be writing today.

We're going to focus on our middle part, which is again, is the four animals going up the hill to speak to the mountain spirits, talking to the mountain spirits, finding out that the name is Awongalema, racing back down the hill, bumping into the anthill, forgetting the name and then going back to the animals.

And then the same thing happens again, and again, and again except this time, the slow animal does not bump into anthill because they are not rushing and they remember the name.

First, we're going to have the warthog.

He's going to race up and then come back down and crush into the anthill.

Then we're going to have the ostrich who's going to race up and then come back down again and bump into the anthill.

Then we're going to have the hyena who's going to race up and come back down and crush into the anthill.

And finally we're going to have our slimy snail very, very slowly go up the mountain and when he comes down again, he's not rushing and he manages to save the day by telling all the animals that the name of the tree is.

Awongalema.

Think about what you can see, what you can smell, what you can feel and what you can hear.

Okay, we're now ready to write our shared write.

As always, you can do this with me or you can have a go doing it after I fin.

After I have finished.

It's totally up to you.

Good luck.

Don't forget when we're doing our shared writing, we think about what we want to say, we say it out loud or in our heads and we think about how to punctuate it.

Am I going to choose a question mark, an exclamation mark or a full stop? Once I know what I'm going to write, I think about how to write it, I write it down and I always read it back to check that it makes sense.

Sometimes it's a good idea to check back your sentences as you're reading them.

So you know that you don't have to change anything.

Okay, can't wait to see your writing.

Okay, so I'm ready to write my bit, my middle part of my story now but I want to think about what senses I want to really, really describe when I do my middle.

Of course I know I want to describe sight, what we can see.

I want to describe sound.

I want to describe touch, what I can feel.

I want to describe smell and I could describe taste as well.

But I'm going to mainly stick to these four.

Okay.

So, in this part of my story is the middle part.

They've asked, who wanted to go to the mountain gods, to go and talk to the mountain gods to ask for the name of the magic tree and eventually, who's going to go first? Ah, it was the warthog.

Eventually a, hmm, what words can I use to describe the warthog? I could talk about his sight, I could say that is hairy.

I could talk about his sound, I could say that maybe he's grunting.

I could talk about his smell, maybe I could say that he is smelly.

Eventually, a hairy, warthog approached the watering hole, saying I will go.

All the animals groaned because.

Why do you think they groaned? Because he was so, smelly.

Off he trotted up the mountains, I want to describe his sound, grunting all the way.

Now when he got to the mountains, he cried out to the mountain gods, he cried out to the mountain spirits, mountain spirits, mountain spirits, what is the magic tree's name? And the mountain spirits said, his name is Awongalema.

So the warthog raced back down, bumped into an anthill, got covered in ants and he yelped out in pain.

Then the next animal, then he forgot what the magic tree's name was.

So next, what animal comes next? Next, a, hmm, what words can we use to describe the hyena? Maybe he's chuckling.

Maybe he is hunched.

Maybe he looks like he's hunched over.

Maybe he is cackling.

That's another good word for laughing.

He's cackling.

Next, a hunched hyena stepped forward and, what does he sound like? Maybe he cackled.

Maybe he cackled.

cheekily perhaps.

He said, I will go off to the mountains.

So he went off to the mountains.

He went up to ask the mountain spirits what the magic tree's name was.

They said, it's Awongalema.

He raced back down.

Let's think about how does he race back down? What does he look like? Mmh.

He raced back down the hill like a, maybe I'm going to say, like a flash of lightning, 'cause that's describing what he looks like.

Like a flash of lightning.

When he got down, he bumped into the ash, the anthill, and maybe, what sound do you think he might make? Maybe he shrieks in pain.

When he crushed into the anthill, he shrieked in pain.

And then he forgot what the magic tree's name was.

So, after that, a, mmh, what comes next? the ostrich comes next.

How can we describe the ostrich? Maybe the ostrich is tall, elegant, towering maybe, we like the word towering that describes just how tall the ostrich is.

I think I like towering.

After that a towering, ostrich stepped forward and volunteered to go up to the mountains.

Now how do you think the ostrich would move? Maybe the ostrich would.

.

bound up the hill.

Maybe she would run up.

Maybe she would gallop up.

Mmh, pretty sure about that one.

Maybe she would.

stride up the hill.

She galloped, let's do that one in red.

She galloped up the mountain.

Maybe she goes speedily, speedily.

I like that.

What kind of sound do you think her feathers are making? Her feathers maybe they rustled in the wind.

rustled.

in the wind as she ran.

as she ran.

Finally, so she goes up to the mountain, talks the mountain spirits, they say Awongalema.

She runs back down again.

She forgets the name as she bumps into the at, the anthill and then finally, a slimy, sticky snail came forward.

How does he come forward? Maybe he comes forward very slowly.

And then the snail goes up the mountain.

So let's read back what we've read so far.

Remember I've only written the vivid description, so you can fill in the rest of the story as well.

Let's have a read of what we've written.

Eventually, a hairy warthog approached the watering hole.

All the animals groaned because he was so smelly.

I've used some more sound there as well.

Fantastic.

Off he trotted up the mountains, grunting all the way.

Next, a hunched hyena stepped forward and cackled cheekily.

He raced back down the hill like a flash of lightning.

When he crashed into the anthill, he shrieked in pain.

After that, a towering ostrich stepped forward.

She galloped up the mountains speedily.

Her feathers rustled in the wind as she ran.

Finally, a slimy, sticky snail came forward slowly.

So I have described sight.

This one is towering, that's sight.

I have described smell, smelly.

I have described sound, grunting, groaning, cackling, shrieking, rustling.

And I have described sight as well.

I've described touch as well.

Slimy, sticky.

Ooh, and hairy is also touch as well.

Amazing.

So there's my middle part.

I wonder what you will write to describe your characters in your writing.

Pause your video now while you do your own shared write using vivid description to describe what your characters are like, how they move and how they come back down the mountain again.

Amazing.

I saw so much fantastic description there.

I heard you describing what the characters look like.

I heard you describing what they moved like.

I heard you describing how they sounded when they bumped into the anthill.

Fantastic.

I can't wait to see your middle part of the story, so please share our work with Oak National.

If you would like to, please ask your parent or carer, to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

We'll see you next time.

Bye, bye.