Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name is Miss Barron.

And as you know, I love stories and I love making up new stories from ones that I already know.

And that is what we have been doing in this unit.

We have been recycling our story from unit one, "monkeys and the hats," to make it our own.

And today we are going to start writing that story.

So I am really excited for today's lesson.

Today we're going to be writing the opening of our recycled story.

When we introduce our character and say what the problem is that our character faces.

And we know that we've been learning all about problems that matter, don't we? And so today we're going to think really carefully about that problem for the character and really make it matter to them.

So this is what today's learning is going to look like.

Today we are going to look at a toolkit for problems that matter.

Now that just means we're going to have a think about some things that really great writers do to make problems matter for characters.

And we're going to have a go at using some of those in our own writing.

We're going to sing a song about the problem, then we're going to do some shared writing and then some independent writing so that you can write your story too.

So this is what you're going to need in today's lesson, you are going to need something to write on, an exercise book or a piece of paper and something to write with, a pencil or a pen.

So pause the video now and go and get those things if you need to.

As I said, today we are going to be writing the opening of our story.

Introducing the character and the problem that they face.

And to help us do that, we're going to sing a song first.

So I'm going to teach you the song, and then you're going to get a chance to sing it about the problem that your character faces in your story.

It goes like this.

♪ I've got a problem I care about.

♪ ♪ Care about, care about.

♪ ♪ I've got to problem I care about.

♪ ♪ It's really hard to solve.

♪ ♪ Some monkeys took my paper planes.

♪ ♪ Paper planes, paper planes.

♪ ♪ Some monkeys took my paper planes.

♪ ♪ They won't give me them back.

♪ ♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ Tell them to, tell them to.

♪ ♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ What am I going to do now? ♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ Sell today, sell today.

♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ This is a disaster.

♪ ♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ Copy me, copy me.

♪ ♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ I'm really fed up now.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ Angry, angry.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ I'm throwing down my plane.

♪ So that's my song about the problem that my character faces in the story.

Now you can take that same song and change it and make it about your character really easily.

All you need to do, is change the word paper plane.

So let's do that.

We're to sing the song again.

And this time I'd like you to join in with me, but instead of me saying paper planes, I'm going to pause and do this with my hand.

And that's your signal to change the words, paper plane, to tell me what your character has had taken.

So for example, instead of singing, ♪ The monkey stole my paper planes.

♪ ♪ Paper planes, paper planes.

♪ You might sing, ♪ The monkeys stole my party dresses.

♪ ♪ Party dresses, party dresses.

♪ Or you might sing, ♪ The monkey stole my foot balls.

♪ ♪ Foot balls, foot balls.

♪ Okay? Alright, let's have a go at that.

I want you to join in with me.

So let's go from the top.

Are we ready? ♪ I've got a problem I care about.

♪ ♪ Care about, care about.

♪ ♪ I've got a problem I care about.

♪ ♪ It's really hard to solve.

♪ ♪ Some monkey stole my ____ ____ ♪ ♪ ____ ____, ____ ____.

♪ ♪ Some monkey stole my ____ ____.

♪ ♪ They won't give me them back.

♪ ♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ Tell them to, tell them to.

♪ ♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ What am I going to do now? ♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ Sell today, sell today.

♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ This is a disaster.

♪ ♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ Copy me, copy me.

♪ ♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ I'm really fed up now.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ Angry, angry.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry throwing down ____.

♪ Well done.

Fantastic job.

Now, maybe that's one that you would like to have a go at again.

So you might like to pause the video here and rewind.

Listen to my song again and practise it a bit more about your character and the problem that your character faces.

Changing that phrase, paper planes, for whatever it is that your character loses to the monkeys.

So have a go at making that simple change to make this problem song, work for your story.

Pause the video now and do that.

Now, because we're going to start writing about the problem for our character today.

I thought it would be a really great idea to think about how great writers make story problems matter.

And so I was talking to some of my writer friends the other day and they were saying, "Miss.

Barron, there are four things that you need to do to make sure that the problem matters in your story.

Four things." So here's what they are, the first is to make sure that the problem is hard to solve.

The problem needs to be hard for the character to solve.

The second thing is that we need to show what the character thinks about it.

Then we need to show what the character feels about it.

And we've done a lot of work on our feeling words, haven't we? Words like happy, delighted, sad, worried, angry.

So we never ready to use those.

And finally, what the character does about it.

So four key things, we make them problem hard to solve.

We show what the character thinks about it, how the character feels about it and what the character does about it.

So we are going to be trying hard to do that in our story writing over the next few lessons.

I think our song actually shows those four things really clearly.

Let me show you how, sing the first verse with me.

♪ I've got problem I care about, ♪ ♪ Care about, care about, ♪ ♪ I've got a problem I care about.

♪ ♪ It's really hard to solve.

♪ So that verse is telling us that the character has got a problem that's hard to solve.

That was the first thing on our list.

Wasn't it? Now sing the second verse with me.

♪ The monkey stole my paper planes.

♪ ♪ Paper planes, paper planes.

♪ ♪ The monkey stole my paper planes.

♪ ♪ They won't give me them back.

♪ That verse tells me what the problem is.

So the problem is that the monkeys have stolen the characters things, in my case, the characters planes.

So those first two verses in our song tell us that the character has a problem that is hard to solve and tell us what the problem is.

The problem is that the monkeys I've stolen their things.

So let's look at what the next two verses in the song tell us.

The next two verses, let's have a look at them.

Sing them with me.

♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ Tell them to, tell them to.

♪ ♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ What am I going to do now? ♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ Sell today, sell today.

♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ This is a disaster.

♪ So those two verses are telling us what the character is thinking, aren't they? Those two verses tell us the character's thoughts.

The character is thinking, "they won't do what I tell them to do.

What am I going to do now? What am I going to sell today? This is a disaster." That's what the character's thinking.

So those two verses showed that.

And that was the second thing in our list of four that we need to remember, wasn't it? Now let's have a look at the final two verses.

Sign them with me.

♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ Copy me, copy me.

♪ ♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ I'm really fed up now.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ Angry, angry.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ I'm throwing down my plane.

♪ So these two verses show all three.

They show what the character is thinking.

They show the character's feelings and they show the characters action at the end.

So just let's have a look a bit more closely.

So here's some more thoughts of the character, in pink.

When the character says, "all they do is copy me, copy me, copy me.

All they do is copy me." That's what the character is thinking.

And then let's looking at our lines in purple.

♪ I'm really fed up now.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ Angry, angry.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ Those lines are telling us what the character is feeling.

Fed up and angry, those are feeling words, aren't they? So there we find out what the character is feeling about this problem.

And then finally the line, "I'm throwing down my plane," is an action line, isn't it? It tells us, what the character does.

So remember our four things for problems that matter? First, the problem needs to be difficult to solve.

And we know that we've got that, don't we? The monkeys have stolen our characters things and it's really hard to solve because we don't know how to get them back.

Then we've got the character's thoughts about it.

So in our song, the character is thinking, "they won't do what I tell them to, what am I going to do? What am I going to sell today? This is a disaster." Then we've got the characters feelings, how the character feels about the problem, "I'm really fed up now.

Now I'm really angry." And then finally, what the character does about it, "throwing down my plane." So there's how the song shows the four key things that make problems matter.

And we're going to hopefully have a go at using those things in our writing over the next few lessons.

So let's start our writing today.

Let's write the opening of our story.

We're going to introduce the character and the problem that our character faces.

Okay, so now we're ready to start writing the opening of our story.

You can see that I've drawn some pictures here on the side, just to help remind me what happens in this section.

You might like to do the same thing too.

So let's just have a look at them together.

First, the character was walking through the forest on their way to market to sell their things.

Then they fell asleep under a tree and the monkeys stole their things.

So those are the key pictures that are going to help us with our writing today.

So let's start.

We're going to start our story by introducing the character.

So I'm going to start by saying, "once there was a paper aeroplane maker." Now your sentence might be the same as mine if you've chosen the same character or you might have a different character.

So you might say, "once there was a toy dinosaur maker," or "once there was a football maker, once there was a party dressmaker," whatever your idea is, that's what you're going to write down.

So let me show you how I'm going to write my sentence.

I'm going to start with our story opener word, "once." Watch how I write it.

"Once," capital letter remember, at the beginning of my sentence.

Once, finger space, there, once there was, there.

So watch me write this word, there as a sight word.

There, T-H-E-R-E, there.

Once there was, finger space.

Once there was a paper aeroplane maker.

Now I'm going to show you how to write that.

Paper, paper aeroplane maker.

Now this is a long word and I can help myself by breaking it down into two parts.

Aeroplane, aero-plane.

Let's write "aero" first, aero, watch carefully this is a tricky one to spell.

Aero, A-E-R-O spells aero.

Plane, now we can sound this one out.

Have a go with me, P-L-A-N-E, plane.

P-L-A it's a split diagraph, N-E.

Once there was a paper aeroplane maker.

M-A, split diagraph again, A-K-E-R.

Once there was a paper aeroplane maker.

Full stop.

That's my first sentence to introduce my character, read it with me, once there was a paper aeroplane maker.

Capital letter at the beginning, full stop at the end.

I want you to write your first sentence to introduce your character.

So you're going to start in the same way, once there was a ____ and then you're going to tell me about your character.

So once there was a ____ maker.

Here's some key words to help you.

In case you chose one of the ideas that we talked about at the beginning of the unit.

Toy dinosaur maker, party dress maker, football maker.

There is your sentence stem.

Then once there was a ___ maker.

Pause the video now and write your first sentence.

Fantastic job.

You are ready to write your next sentence.

So now we're going to write an action sentence to say what our character was doing.

Now, I think I want to say, "Dizzy Lizzy." I'm going to name her, Dizzy Lizzy was ___ through the forest.

What could my verb be? I could say Dizzy Lizzy was walking through the forest so I could use the verb, walking.

I could use, skipping or I could use marching.

Marching tells me she was in a hurry.

Skipping tells me she's happy.

Walking tells me she's calm and relaxed.

I want her to be skipping because she's singing her favourite song.

So I know she's happy.

So my sentence is going to be, Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

Now let's tap it out on our heads.

Top it out with me.

Ready? ♪ Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

♪ Now on our shoulders.

♪ Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

♪ Now on our nose.

♪ Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

♪ Now lets count it on our fingers.

♪ Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

♪ Seven words.

All right, I'm going to write that down here just to remind me.

So, Dizzy Lizzy, capital letter, because it's the beginning of a sentence and because it's her name.

Names of people always have capital letters.

Dizzy, D-I-Z, double "Z" a happy sounds better with a Y.

Dizzy Lizzy, L-I-Z-Z-Y again, double Z happy sounds better with a Y.

Dizzy Lizzy was.

.

was skipping, sound out skipping with me, S-K-I-P-P-I-N-G, skipping.

S-K-I-P-P-I-N-G.

And it's double P in the middle of skipping.

Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through, through.

Now watch me right through, it's a tricky word.

Through, T-H-R-O-U-G-H spells through.

Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

Now sound out forest with me, we can do this, because we wrote this word yesterday.

Let's go.

F-O-R-E-S-T forest, well done.

F-O-R-E-S-T forest.

Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest, what do I need at the end of my sentence? A full stop, well done, thank you for reminding me.

There we go.

Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

Read it with me.

Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

Is that seven words? Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest, yes it is.

And I've got a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end.

Fantastic.

Now, I would like you to write your sentence about what your character was doing in the forest.

Here are some words to help you.

Walking, dancing, marching, skipping.

Now remember we decided that the character felt happy at the beginning of the story.

So try and choose a word that shows that she is happy.

It could be one of the ones on your screen, or you might have a different idea.

So here's your sentence then, ___ was ___ through the forest.

Pause the video now and write your sentence.

Now, time to write our third sentence.

Now we're going to say, where she was going.

We're going to say where the character was going.

So I want to say, she was on her way to market to sell her planes.

She was on her way to market to sell her planes.

Now, tap it out with me on your head.

Let's go.

She was on her way to market to sell her planes.

Shoulders, she was on her way to market to sell her planes.

Nose, she was on her way to market to sell her planes.

Fingers, she was on her way to market to sell her planes.

Ah, I haven't got enough fingers.

That's 11 fingers, 11 words.

I'm going to write it down here.

She was on her way to market to sell her planes, right? That's a long one.

Help me out, capital letter.

She, sight words S-H-E spell she, she was on 0-N, on, her H-E-R her way W-A-Y.

She was on her way to market, to sight word, She was on her way to market, market.

We can sound this one out sound it out with me.

M-A-R-K-E-T market.

M-A-R-K-E-T market.

She was on her way to market, to sell, sound us out, S-E-L-L sell S-E-L-L sell her planes, planes sound it out with me, P-L-A-N-E-S planes P-L-A-N-E-S planes, full stop at the age of my sentence, that was a long one.

Well done for keeping going.

Read it with me.

She was on her way to market to sell her planes.

Is that 11 words? Let's just check again.

She was on her way to market to sell her planes, yes, it is.

Now I would like you to write your third sentence about your character on the way to market to sell their ___ Now it's your turn to write your sentence, to tell the reader where your character was going.

So I've given you some sight words to help you his, to, her.

But I think you can sound out the rest of the words.

So I haven't given you any more words, you're going to start.

She or he was ___ and tell the reader where they were going.

Pause the video now and write that sentence.

Now I want you to have a go at writing two sentences on your own.

The first sentence, is to tell the reader what the problem is.

So you're going to start a crowd of monkeys ___ and then you're going to tell me what they did.

So you might choose from one of these words to help you, stole, took, robbed.

So you could say, for example, if it was my sentence, a crowd of monkeys stole her planes.

I'd like you to have a go at writing a sentence to say what the monkeys did for your story.

So pause the video now and do that.

The second sentence I would like you to write on your own, is a sentence to show what the character is thinking about the problem.

So we've just written our problem sentence.

The monkeys have taken the character's things.

Now I want you to write a sentence, to show what the character is thinking.

So you might want to choose one of the ideas from our song at the beginning of the lesson.

If you do, I've given you three options to choose from, so you could choose, what am I going to do? You could choose, this is a disaster, or you could choose, what am I going to sell today? Those are three ideas for you.

You might want to choose one of those, or you might have another idea of your own, if you do, that's great.

Now have a go at writing that sentence, pause the video now and do that.

Well done for writing your final sentence to show what your character thought about the problem.

You have done such amazing job today with your writing, well done.

Now, this was my sentence that I wrote to share what my character was thinking.

This is a disaster! That's what Dizzy Lizzy was thinking.

And look, it has an exclamation mark on the end to show her strong feeling, she is really angry.

This is a disaster! That's how she says it.

So there's our exclamation mark on the end.

Now, we're going to re-read and edit our work like all good writers.

So read mine with me, let's go.

Once there was a paper aeroplane maker.

Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the forest.

She was on her way to market to sell her planes.

A crowd of monkeys stole her planes.

This is a disaster! Now, is there anything I want to swap out or delete? Um, I don't want to swap anything.

I don't want to delete anything.

I think I might want to add something.

I might want to add an adjective to describe the forest.

So, oh I wonder what adjectives could I use to describe the forest? Can you tell me some ideas? Go on to your screen now.

Wow, thank you for your help, some fantastic ideas.

I heard leafy, I heard dark, I heard thick.

So we could have a leafy forest, a dark forest or a thick forest.

Oh, I think I'm going to go with leafy, because it makes it seem like it's more like summer and dark and thick make it sound more scary.

And I don't think it's scary in that forest.

I think it's going to be like summer and she really enjoys walking through it.

I'm going to use leafy.

So sound is out with me leafy L-E-A-F-Y, leafy.

Skipping through the.

here we go, it's going to go here, isn't it? L-E-A-F-Y there we go, happy E sounds about with a Y at the end.

So, now my sentence reads, Dizzy Lizzy was skipping through the leafy forest.

Oh I like that because it paints a clearer picture for me about what that forest was like.

So there is my finished piece.

So you just saw me reread and edit my work.

I would like you to do the same thing now.

So first you're going to read your work through.

Next, you're going to use SAD to think if there's anything you would like to swap, add or delete.

So I added an adjective to describe the forest didn't I? And then you are going to five-finger check your sentences.

And that's checking for things like capital letters and full stops, finger spaces and spellings.

Now then, here are just some ideas to help you, if you would like to add an adjective to describe the forest like I did.

So here are some words, you might like to choose from thick, dry, leafy or quiet.

Those are the words on your screen, or you might have another idea for an adjective to describe the forest.

If you do, fantastic.

So have a go at adding an adjective into your writing.

It could be to describe the forest, or it could be to describe your character, or perhaps the things that your character makes.

Pause the video now and re-read and edit your work.

That brings us to the end of our learning today.

Well done for all of your hard work on your writing.

I hope you're enjoying writing your story.

I can't wait to read it at the end of the unit.

So let's finish with our problem song.

Now I'm going to pause again, instead of saying paper planes, and go like this, so that you can say whatever the monkeys took from your character.

Ready, sing with me, let's go.

♪ I've got a problem I care about.

♪ ♪ Care about, care about.

♪ ♪ I've got a problem I care about.

♪ ♪ It's really hard to solve.

♪ ♪ The monkeys took my ____.

♪ ♪ ____ ____, _____ _____.

♪ ♪ The monkeys took my _____ ____.

♪ ♪ They won't give me them back.

♪ ♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ Tell them to, tell them to.

♪ ♪ They won't do what I tell them to.

♪ ♪ What am I going to do now? ♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ Sell today, sell today.

♪ ♪ What am I going to sell today? ♪ ♪ This is a disaster.

♪ ♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ Copy me, copy me.

♪ ♪ All they do is copy me.

♪ ♪ I'm really fed up now.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ Angry, angry.

♪ ♪ Now I'm really angry.

♪ ♪ Throwing down my ____.

♪ Well done.

I hope you enjoyed singing that song at the end of the lesson, and you carry on telling your story and singing your song.

So I will see you in the next lesson, bye.