Lesson video

Hello, everyone! I'm Ms. Corbett, and welcome to today's lesson, "Writing a character description of Paddington".

Now, Paddington is such an interesting character, so I think our descriptions of his appearance and his personality are going to be brilliant.

For this lesson, you will need your listening ears, your looking eyes, and your thinking brain.

You will also need somebody to talk to, and as well as that, you need something to write with and something to write on.

Finally, you need a copy of the 2014 HarperCollins Children's Books edition of "Paddington" by Michael Bond, and somebody to read it to you.

Can you make sure that you've got all of your things, and then show me how smartly you can sit? Pause the video now.

Wow! I think you are looking like you're ready to learn.

Let's get started.

And here is the outcome for today's lesson.

"I can use adjectives to describe Paddington's personality and appearance." And here are key words that will help us with that.

Are you ready to repeat them after me? My turn, then your turn.

Character.

Description.

Adjective.

Adverb.

Joining word.

Great job! A character is a person or animal in a story, like Paddington or Mrs. Brown.

A description is when we use words to help someone imagine what something is like, so what it looks like or what type of person or thing it is.

An adjective is what we use in a description.

An adjective is a word that adds detail to or describes a noun.

An adverb is a word that describes a verb, like, "Runs happily," "Stomps angrily." And a joining word is a word that joins words or ideas together.

The first part of our lesson is going to be describing a character's appearance.

Paddington is the main character in the story.

The author, Michael Bond, follows his arrival in London, how he feels, what he enjoys, and how he acts.

When we write a character description, we can describe Paddington's personality and appearance.

The appearance is what someone or something looks like on the outside, and their personality is what they're like on the inside.

True or false? Your appearance describes what you look like on the outside.

Is that true or false? Show me your thumbs in five seconds, five.

And zero.

That is true, so your thumbs should be up.

Your appearance describes what you look like on the outside.

Rereading a story helps us to remember the plot, as well as notice details in the text of illustrations, which can help us to try and describe Paddington's appearance and personality.

Whilst listening, think about all of the things we learn about Paddington.

Can you read the whole story without stopping? I really hope you enjoy listening.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic.

So, how could you describe Paddington, thinking about his appearance? Keep those ideas in your head, because in this lesson, we will write a character description of Paddington.

Here are some things we know about Paddington, but which of these can help us to describe his appearance? So, Paddington.

Paddington carries a jar of marmalade.

He has travelled from Peru in South America.

Paddington is clumsy and messy.

He can speak.

He's a bear, and he has a suitcase, a blue coat, and a red hat.

He is amazed by everything and everyone he sees in London.

Which one of those can help us to describe his appearance? He carries a jar of marmalade.

That's something about him on the outside, isn't it? So, we can use that, what he has, what he holds, what he carries.

He has travelled from Peru, no.

Paddington is clumsy and messy.

I think that's more describing the type of character he is.

He can speak, he is a bear, and he has a suitcase, a blue coat, and a red hat.

That's describing what he looks like.

And the fact that he's amazed is more about his personality.

Paddington and his belongings are nouns.

Can you think of any adjectives to describe them? And listing two adjectives before the noun is called an expanded noun phrase.

We've got Paddington, marmalade, hat and coat or case.

You can try and think of two adjectives to describe each noun.

Adjective, comma, adjective, noun.

It might be "Orange, sticky marmalade." Can you try and think of an expanded noun phrase for each of those nouns? Pause the video now.

Well done.

Here's some that I have heard.

Paddington, "Brown, furry bear." "Short, young bear." "Brown, bright eyes." "Black, wet nose.

""Kind, curious expression." When we're talking about his expression, it's the faces that he pulls.

Now, what about his belongings? "Sweet, fruity marmalade." "Orange, tangy marmalade." "Empty, glass jar," because there's no marmalade left.

"Red, cotton hat." Cotton is a type of material.

"Red, floppy hat." Now, on to the coat.

"Warm, blue coat." "Worn," they sound quite similar.

If something is warm, it means it's cosy.

If something is worn, it means it's a bit tatty.

It might have some holes in it.

"Worn, old coat." "Brown, leather case." I wonder which one of those expanded noun phrases is your favourite.

But they're both very similar because they are two adjectives listed to describe a noun, and the comma is separating each adjective.

And finally, I forgot one, "Full, brown case." We can put these ideas into sentences.

A sentence needs to make complete sense on its own and include a verb.

A verb is a doing or a being word.

"Paddington has," "Paddington is," Has and are being words, so they are verbs.

"Paddington wears," that's a doing word, something he's done.

He's put clothes on, he wears.

"He looks," a doing word.

Starting our sentences in different ways helps make our writing less repetitive.

So, think carefully which verb you will use to make sure it makes sense, Paddington, or he, or you could use Paddington Bear.

Here are two of our phrases in sentences.

"Paddington is a brown, furry bear." There's my sentence, full stop.

Now, I've got a new sentence, so I have a capital letter.

"He has a red, floppy hat." My sentences have a noun, which is 'Paddington' and 'bear' in the first and 'he' and 'hat' in the second.

My sentences have a verb.

"Paddington is," "He has." And my sentences have an expanded noun phrase, "Brown, furry bear," "Red, floppy hat." You can see that the word 'a', or 'a', has been added.

"Paddington is a brown, furry bear." "He has a red, floppy hat." You might need to add words like 'a' or 'the' to it to make sure it makes sense.

Every sentence must make sense on its own and include a verb.

So, what must a sentence include? A sentence must make sense on its own, include an adjective, include a verb, start with a capital letter, and end with a punctuation mark.

Pause the video now and decide.

A sentence must include.

A sentence must make sense on its own.

A sentence must include a verb.

And a sentence must start with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark.

Our sentences today will end in a full stop.

A sentence might include an adjective, but it does not have to, like, "I can see stars in the sky." There's no adjective there, but it makes sense on its own, it has a capital letter and a full stop, and it has a verb, 'see'.

We can join two of our simple sentences together to create a compound sentence when the two ideas relate to each other.

We can use the joining word 'and'.

What is it? Joining word 'and'.

Here are two simple sentences.

"Paddington wears an old, blue coat." Capital letter, "He carries tangy, orange marmalade." Now, I want to join those two ideas together.

"Paddington wears an old, blue coat and he carries tangy, orange marmalade." The joining word replaces the first full stop and the second capital letter which starts the second idea, because we don't need two full stops or two starting capital letters, 'cause now it's just one longer sentence.

You are going to write descriptive compound sentences to describe Paddington's appearance.

Here is the success criteria: I have used expanded noun phrases to describe a character's appearance.

I have joined two ideas together using 'and'.

I have used a capital letter to start my sentence and a full stop to end my sentence.

And I have read back my writing to make sure it makes sense.

So, let's see.

Has this sentence met our success criteria? Capital letter, "Paddington has a black, wet nose, and He has a curious, interested expression." I can see expanded noun phrases, "Black, wet nose," and "Curious, interested expression." I have joined two ideas together using 'and'.

I have used a capital letter to start my sentence and a full stop to end my sentence.

I'm going to get my finger on my first.

"Paddington has a black, wet nose, and," (gasps) why is there a capital letter in the middle of my sentence? 'He' isn't a proper noun.

(gasps) I know! I forgot that my 'and' replaced my second capital letter.

So, I've got my full stop, but I have too many capital letters, so I need to change that.

Now, I have done it correctly and I have read my writing back to make sure it makes sense.

I will use the expanded noun phrases to create a compound sentence to describe Paddington's appearance.

Here are some examples.

I am going to choose "Short, young bear" and "Black, wet nose" as one example.

"Paddington is," there's my verb, "A short young bear, and he has a black, wet nose." That's just one example.

Will you please help me to write another example? Thank you.

I am ready to write a description about Paddington's appearance.

I have my success criteria here, and I also have my word bank with my sentence starters, my verbs, and my expanded noun phrases.

I've already started, so let's read what I've written so far.

"Paddington," there's my sentence starter with a capital letter, "Is," there's my verb.

"Paddington is a brown, furry bear." Now, I want to join another description to that, so I want to add the joining word 'and'.

"Paddington is a brown, furry bear and," 'and'.

Now, because I'm joining, even though it's a new idea, I do not need a capital letter unless I'm going to use the proper nouns.

But I think I'm just going to use 'he', 'cause I've already used Paddington, so I don't need to write it again.

'He,' but without the capital letter.

H with an E spells 'he'.

I don't need the capital letter because I haven't started a new sentence.

I've joined my ideas together using 'and'.

"Paddington is a brown, furry bear and he," do I want to say what he has, what he looks like, what he wears, or what he carries? I think I'm going to talk about what he wears.

"He wears a warm, blue coat." If I wanted, I could choose different adjectives.

"A cosy, blue coat," "A comfortable, blue coat." But I think I will do, "A warm, blue coat." "And he," my verb 'wears', really look closely at the spelling of wears.

I'm going to underline it so I can copy it easily.

W-E-A-R-S.

"He wears," that E-A-R spelling is the same E-A-R spelling as in 'bear'.

"He wears a warm, blue coat." "A warm," I'm copying it, "Blue cuh, oat, coat." Okay, I'm going to read it back to check.

"Paddington is a brown, furry bear and he wears a warm," (gasps) what do I need to separate my adjectives? A comma.

"He wears a warm, blue coat." Let's check my success criteria.

"I have used expanded noun phrases to describe a character's appearance." "Brown, furry bear," "Warm, blue coat." "I have joined two ideas together using 'and'.

I have used a capital letter to start my sentence," then I'm going to check that my full stop's in the right place and I haven't missed any.

"Paddington is a brown, furry bear and he wears a warm, blue coat." And by doing that, I have read back my writing to check it makes sense.

Thank you for helping me with my description.

I think you're ready to write yours.

Now, you have helped me.

I wonder, can you plan your compound sentence? And you can use the word bank below to help you.

You are going to use the word bank below to write compound sentences to describe Paddington's appearance.

You have your sentence starters at the start, your nouns, 'Paddington', 'he', or 'Paddington Bear'.

Then, your verbs, and then you're choosing an expanded noun phrase to match your verb.

Then, you're going to use the joining word 'and' to join it to another idea.

Don't forget to check your success criteria and use the word bank to help you.

Pause the video now.

Amazing job.

Here are some of the sentences that I have seen.

"Paddington wears a warm, blue coat and he has a curious, interested expression." "He has a red, floppy hat and he has dark, brown eyes." So, we have used expanded noun phrases, "Warm, blue coat," "Curious, interested expression," "Red, floppy hat," "Dark, brown eyes." Both sentences have joined together two ideas using 'and', and we have remembered that our capital letter starts our sentence, our full stop ends our sentence.

We haven't got any extra full stops or capital letters in the middle of our sentences.

And we have read them back to make sure they make sense.

Now, it's your turn to check your success criteria.

Pause the video now.

Well done if you managed to meet it straight away, but also well done if you managed to fix some mistakes, 'cause that's how we can learn.

Let's move on to the next part of our lesson, describing a character's personality.

Now, we've described his appearance.

We will describe Paddington's personality.

This would include what his character is like, what he enjoys, what he does, and how he does it, so thinking about his personality.

Here are some things we know about Paddington.

Which of these can help us to describe his personality? I think that he has travelled a long way from Peru, South America.

I think the fact he's very clumsy and messy.

The fact that he is a talking bear is part of his personality, and he shows off his personality through the words he says, and that he is amazed by everything and everyone he sees in London.

From reading the book, we can generate adjectives about his personality.

Can you repeat them after me? Paddington Bear.

Curious.

Confused.

Chatty.

Amazed.

Clumsy.

Polite.

Friendly.

Great! I know that Paddington is clumsy when he slips on the cake and when he floods the bathroom, so I've used evidence from the book to prove that that is part of his personality.

Can you explain why he is described in this way, using the book to help you? Choose one of those adjectives.

"Paddington is.

when he.

." Pause the video now.

Amazing job! You might have said, "Paddington is chatty when he meets the Brown family." To write sentences, we must include verbs.

Let's think about some of the things he does and then add adverbs to show how he does them.

He waits at the station.

He looks around him.

He watches around him.

He eats lots of food.

He slips on the cake and on the water.

How does he do those things? These adverbs can add detail to the verbs to help us imagine what he looked like and what he was doing and how he was feeling while he did those things.

He waits patiently at the station.

He looks curiously around him.

He watches excitedly from the taxi.

He eats messily and he slips clumsily.

Those are all our adverbs that we could use.

Maybe you could take a picture of your favourite adverb.

Adverbs add more detail to verbs and these adverbs describe how the verb is done.

And can you notice, they often end in the letters L-Y.

We can generate a word bank to help us to create sentences about Paddington's personality.

We are going to have some adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.

Our adjectives might be 'curious', 'confused', 'amazed', 'chatty', 'clumsy', 'polite' and 'friendly'.

And then, we have gone through our verbs and our adverbs.

We are going to now put these together to make a sentence.

But we need to think carefully about which ones we're using to make sure our sentence makes sense.

Look at my sentence.

"Paddington is confused and he waits patiently." (gasps) So, I've joined those two ideas together.

Paddington is feeling confused, so I'm then showing what he does when he's feeling confused.

"Paddington is confused and he waits patiently." First, I have named him and described him using an adjective.

"Paddington is confused." Next, I have used the joining word 'and' to join my next idea.

Finally, I have explained what he does in more detail using an adverb.

"And he waits patiently." So, 'confused' is my adjective, 'and' is my joining word, 'waits' is my verb, 'patiently' is my adverb.

You are going to write descriptive compound sentences to describe Paddington's personality.

Let's read our success criteria.

"I have used an adjective to describe a character's personality." "Paddington is amazed." "I have joined two ideas together using 'and'." "Paddington is amazed and he looks at London excitedly." "I have used a verb and an adverb to describe what a character does." "Paddington is amazed and he looks," there's my verb, "At London excitedly," there's my adverb.

"I have read back my writing to make sure it makes sense." Has this met our success criteria? Okay, "Paddington is chatty." There's my adjective.

"He looks at London excitedly." I have used two ideas.

I have joined two ideas together using 'and'.

(gasps) No, my ideas are still separate! So, what do I need to do? I need to remove my first full stop and replace it with 'and', and I need to take away this capital letter starting my second idea.

Let's check.

"Paddington is chatty and he looks at London excitedly." I have used a verb, 'looks', and an adverb, 'excitedly', to describe what a character does.

And we have read our writing back to make sure it makes sense.

I think you're ready to help me with my writing.

Let's get started.

I am ready to describe Paddington's personality.

I have got my success criteria, my lined paper, and my word bank to help me.

Now, I'm going to think about one part of the story, and that's what you need to think about to describe his personality, because we describe their personality by thinking about what they do and how they do it.

(gasps) I'm going to think about when Paddington slipped on all of the cake.

So, when he slipped, if he falls over all the time, is he curious? Confused, maybe.

Amazed? Chatty? Clumsy? (gasps) Clumsy! I'm going to write, "Paddington is clumsy." "Paddington is clumsy." The start of my sentence needs to start with a capital letter.

And Paddington always starts with a capital letter, 'cause it needs a, because it is a proper noun.

"Paddington," Puh, ah, duh, and it's a double-duh.

Puh, add, ih, ng, tonne.

That uh is being made by a letter O, in this case.

"Paddington." "Paddington is clumsy." And I can copy it, there, and you can see that lots of our adjectives ending in the E is a letter spelt with a letter Y.

Cuh le uh mm see.

Clumsy.

"Paddington is clumsy." Now, I want to talk about his actions, so I'm going to join my ideas together using 'and'.

"Paddington is clumsy and he slips messily." My verb will be 'slips', my adverb will be 'messily'.

So, "Paddington is clumsy and," build on the idea, "He slips messily." "And he," I don't need 'Paddington' again because I've already used it.

"He," (gasps) Do I need a capital letter there? No, because I'm not starting a new sentence, so I'm going to cross that out.

I'm going to leave a line that starts new line.

H with an E spells 'he', without my capital letter.

"Paddington is clumsy and he slips," which is there, but we could also sound it out.

Could you sound it out with me? Ss, ull, ih, puh, ss, slips, messily, Mmm, eh, ss, ih, and my adverbs often end in L-Y.

Let's read it back to check, 'cause that is part of our success criteria.

"Paddington is clumsy and he slips messily." Let's check my success criteria.

I have used an adjective to describe a character's personality.

"Paddington is clumsy." I have! I have joined two ideas together using 'and'.

My first idea is, "Paddington is clumsy." And I've built on that by thinking of a new idea that builds on it and explains why he's clumsy, "He slips messily." And I've joined them together in one sentence using 'and'.

I have used a verb and an adverb to describe what the character does.

He slips, that's the verb.

And how he slips is messily because he makes so much mess.

And finally, I have read my writing back to check it makes sense.

Thank you for helping me with my writing, and now it's your turn.

Thank you for helping me with my writing, and now it's your turn to use the word bank to write a descriptive compound sentence about Paddington's personality.

"Paddington is.

and he.

." Pause the video now.

Fantastic job! Here's a sentence that I've seen.

"Paddington is polite and he waits patiently." Has it met our success criteria? I have used an adjective to describe a character's personality, 'polite'.

I have joined two ideas together using 'and'.

"Paddington is polite and he waits patiently." I have used a verb and an adverb to describe what a character does.

He 'waits' is my verb, 'patiently' is my adverb.

And we have read it back to make sure it makes sense.

Can you now check that you have met your success criteria? Pause the video now.

Well done, and that is the end of our lesson.

We know that a character can feel different emotions at different points of the story.

We know that an adjective describes a noun, "Paddington is confused," and an adverb describes or adds detail to a verb, "He slips clumsily." Including a range of adjectives to describe the same feeling stops repetition and makes our writing more interesting.

And two descriptions can be joined together to form one sentence using the joining word 'and'.

You are amazing writers! What brilliant descriptions and use of vocabulary today.

I really hope to see you again soon and hope you're proud of your learning.

Bye!.