Lesson video

Hi, super storytellers! My name is Ms. Cashin, and welcome to this English lesson.

This is lesson six of unit five, and in this unit so far, we have been creating our very own recycled story.

And that story is based on, Baba Yaga, which we heard in unit four.

Remember if you ever want to hear the story of Baba Yaga again, you can always go back and listen to it in lesson one of unit four.

I'm very excited to get started on our lesson today, because we are almost ready to write our story.

Today, we're going to be thinking deeply about the opening of the story.

We know because we're amazing storytellers, how important it is to hook the reader in with a really exciting opening.

So we're going to think about that today.

So let's see what we're going to do to help us to box up for purpose today.

We're going to start with a spelling activity.

Then, we're going to speak through the opening of our recycled story.

So if you have your map that we used in lesson one, that would be a brilliant thing to have for this activity.

Then we're going to box up the opening of the story by thinking really carefully about all the things we want to tell our reader about when we write our opening and what the purpose of each of those sections is.

These are the things that you're going to need for our lesson today.

You're going to need an exercise book or a piece of paper.

And like I said, it would be absolutely fantastic if you could get your map from lesson one.

You're going to need something to write with, a pen or a pencil, and you're going to need your brilliant brain.

If you don't have some of those things, you can go and get them now.

Fantastic, we are all ready for our learning.

So let's have a look at our spelling activity for today.

We are learning about contractions.

A contraction is when we take two words and we put them together into one word.

I'm going to show you what I mean.

Oh, magnetise, can we read the word or the words 'should not.

' Should not.

Sometimes, when we have these two words, we can put them together into one word.

If I was going to say, I should not go to the shops.

What else can I say? I should.

I should, I shouldn't go to the shops.

Let's have a look at how we spell 'shouldn't'.

I shouldn't.

There it is! My 'not' has been moved to the end of the word should.

So I've got 'should', and then 'n' and instead of my 'o' I have an apostrophe where the 'o' would have gone.

My turn, your turn.

Shouldn't.

Shouldn't.

Fantastic! Let's have a look at our next words and what contraction we can make.

Ooh, can we read those words? My turn, your turn, could not, could not.

What might we say instead of could not? If I said I could not believe my eyes, I could not believe my eyes.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

I hope you got that, superstars.

Let's have a look at how we spell 'couldn't'.

There it is, just like with 'shouldn't', I've got the word 'could', then my 'n', and where the 'o' should have gone, I have an apostrophe before the 't', so it's, couldn't.

My turn your turn, 'couldn't' and I can hear, I don't have my 'o' from not.

Couldn't.

It's disappeared.

Let's have a look at our next contraction.

Would not, ohh, I would not do that.

How could I take 'would not' and contract it? I would not do that.

I would not.

I wouldn't do that.

My turn, your turn.

Wouldn't, wouldn't.

Fantastic! Right? Let's have a look at how we would spell the contraction 'wouldn't'.

There it is, and it's just like 'couldn't' and 'shouldn't', I've got the word 'would', I don't have a finger space anymore, then I have my 'n', the apostrophe where the 'o' would have gone, and my 't'.

So we need to remember when we're spelling our contractions, that the 'o' is the letter that has gone away.

And that is replaced with our apostrophe.

We are now going to have some sentences that don't have a contraction.

I wonder if you could figure out what the contraction should be and write it down.

Let's have a look at our first sentence.

Magnetise, I'm going to read it.

Magnet eyes on the first word, she.

She could not stand by and see the animal suffer.

Can you read it one more time? She could not stand by and see the animal suffer.

'Could not' is in turquoise so you know that's the word we're looking at.

Pause the video now, and see if you can write down the contraction that 'could not' will become.

Well done super speller, let's have a look at what that contraction becomes.

She couldn't stand by and see the animal suffer.

Have a look at 'couldn't'.

You can now pause the video again and see, did you get it right? So you can give yourself a big tick, or did you make a mistake? And then you can copy it again.

Well done spelling, superstar.

Let's have a look at our next contraction.

Here's the sentence, I'm going to read it.

Get your magnet eyes on the first word, he.

He would not give up.

He would not give up.

Pause the video and see if you can figure out what contraction comes out of 'would not'.

And see if you can write it down.

Well done spelling, superstars.

Let's have a look and see if you were right.

There it is, he wouldn't give up, 'would not' not has become 'wouldn't'.

Pause the video again and check that you've got your apostrophe in the right place.

Check you spelt it just like I have.

You can give yourself a big tick if you have, and if you haven't, here's a chance for you to look again.

Well done spelling superstars! I wonder if you have the energy to do one more, let's have a look.

You should not ignore those who need help.

Ah, now we're thinking about this in our recycled story, that we should help people if they need it.

You should not ignore those who need help.

Pause the video to see if you can figure out what the contraction is and how you would spell it.

So you can pause the video now.

Well done spelling, superstars, let's have a look.

There it is, 'Shouldn't'.

'Should not' became 'shouldn't'.

Pause the video again to see if you have spelt 'shouldn't' right.

Well done spelling superstars, such hard work already today.

Now you're going to watch me, Ms. Cashin, speak through the opening of my story, and then you can go and speak through the opening of your story.

So I've got my story map here to help me.

And I'm just going to talk through the opening, which is only the first three pictures, so it takes us from the beginning up to when the precious thing is stolen away.

So when I go through, I'm going think about telling that story out loud in full sentences.

And I might even think about some of the language I want to use along the way.

I might not read it through perfectly, 'cause I'm really thinking about adding those details as I go, so you don't need to read it out perfectly either.

You just need to have an idea of where your story's going and what you want to tell the reader about in the opening.

So what have I got here? Oh yes, this is my characters, my characters and my setting, let me have a look.

Once upon a time, there lived a young girl named Ellie and she lived with her mother, her father and her adorable grey wolf pup, Buster.

They lived in a small, cosy igloo, surrounded by towering, snow-capped mountains and whirling snowflakes.

One day, her mother and father were about to go to work.

Before they left, they said to her, 'Remember, stay in the igloo with Buster, never leave.

And especially, don't go down to the bottom of the mountain, or the powerful, enormous Yeti will come and get you and Buster and eat you both up.

' Now in my story map, I then jumped straight to when she's at the bottom, so I need to think about what happens in between and add that detail in myself.

So, one day, Ellie was bored at home, with Buster, and she decided to go on a walk.

She left the igloo and walked out down the path and across the snowy landscape, until she found herself at the bottom of the mountain.

She was admiring the incredible sights, when behind her, when she wasn't looking, a white snowy owl sweeped down, and picked up Buster in its claws.

I'm going to leave it there at a point of drama.

So my reader will be thinking, 'What is going to happen next?' Now that you've watched me talk through the opening of my story.

It's time for you to do the same with your very own recycled story.

You might even do it two or three times, 'till you're totally confident with the order that things are going to happen.

So you can pause the video now, to speak through the opening of your story, up to when the precious thing is stolen.

Well done for going and reminding yourself of your recycled story.

I'm sure it's such a fantastic story.

Now, we're going to box up the opening of our stories.

So you're going to watch me do it first.

And then you will have a go at doing it with your very own recycled story.

I have already done the pictures for my boxing up, and you are going to do this in a moment.

I boxed up my opening into five sections.

So I'm going to think now about the purpose of each of these sections, and how they're going to really hook the reader in, so they want to read more.

So here, the purpose of this section is to introduce the characters.

Oh, there we go, get my pen working.

I want to introduce the characters.

Here, I want to introduce the setting, so straight away, my reader knows, who my characters are.

They're going to know how important the precious thing is, and they're going to really feel like they are in that wonderful scenery setting.

So you can use this section to really make the reader want to find out more about the world your story's in.

Now this is the conversation, where our main character is told not to leave their home, but we know that they're going to.

So here we want to introduce the monster.

So the reader knows that the monster is there, and they might get a bit tense about it.

This is when they're going to leave.

And there's a journey, and this is going to be quite tense.

This is a bit in the story where our reader will be thinking, 'Oh, what are you doing? You should be staying in your house!' but they've left, so they'll be feeling quite tense.

And then this is when the precious thing is stolen, and this is the most tense part of our opening.

So we've started quite relaxed and calm, especially with our setting.

We're feeling really calm and happy, hearing all about the setting.

We get a little bit more nervous hearing about the monster, even more nervous when our characters leaving and then when they're stolen, our reader's really going to want to read more.

So now I've thought about the purpose of each section, I'm going to go through and jot down any key words or phrases that I think can really help me with each section.

So here, I want to introduce the characters, so I want to introduce Ellie and like I said, she is young.

So I've got young Ellie and I've got my capital E for Ellie.

She lives with her mother and father.

And Buster, I want my reader to know how special Buster is so I can call him cute, I can call him lovable, I can call him sweet.

Oh, I quite like sweet, he's a really sweet wolf pup.

Sweet, I'm going to use my sounds s-wa-ee-t, sweet, so sweet pup, Buster.

The setting, I've already got lots of ideas about my setting I had when I talked through it with my map.

So I liked all towering mountains, and I also had my cosy igloo.

I'm going to leave it there, when you do your setting, you might have lots more ideas.

Right, when the monster is introduced, I've got Ellie's mum looking quite stern here.

So she might call him the terrible Yeti or the terrifying Yeti, the monstrous Yeti, so many good ideas.

I think she called him the terrible Yeti, terrible.

Too quick.

My writing there, y-e-t-i, Yeti.

Fantastic.

Right, when she leaves, I want it to be quite tense.

So I'm going to think about where she goes.

So she's going to go on a path first up to the bottom of the mountain.

I don't think I need that, I think I'll remember that, but I'm going to remind myself to talk about her going along the path with Buster, because I want the reader to go 'No, you're only on the path, you could go back! You don't have to take Buster with you.

' So I think those details going to be important for my tension.

So on the path with Buster, 'with' that's one of our words, we just need to know it, it's one of our high frequency words, with, w-i-t-h, with Buster.

Fantastic.

And then, when Buster is stolen, I might think about how Ellie is feeling.

And I want to describe this owl, I might say a powerful owl.

And Ellie could feel shocked or devastated.

I quite like shocked, but I'm going to leave devastated for later on in the story.

So shocked, I'm going to use my sounds, sh-oc-k, shocked, e-d at the end, shocked.

Now that I've boxed that my opening and I thought really carefully about the purpose of each part and how I want the reader to feel.

I am really ready to start my writing, in our next lesson.

So I'm really excited for you to go and do this as well.

So it's now time for you to box up your own recycled story.

Remember, we're going to start with, introducing our characters.

Then we're going to introduce our setting.

Then we're going to introduce some tension because our reader will find out about the monster.

Then our character is going to leave.

And then that precious thing is going to get stolen.

So you can follow the same structure as me, and think about those key words and phrases that you want to have all ready for when you do your writing in our next lesson.

So you can go and do your own boxing up now.

Well done for completing your boxing up for purpose.

You will have such a fantastic idea of writing your opening now.

And I bet it will really hook the reader in with all that tension building and building, as we go further and further through the story.

I have got a challenge for you.

What language do you want to include in your writing? Now you've got lots of brilliant language, but I wonder if you could circle three of your favourite words, which three words that you've written down today, are you the most proud of, and you want to use the most? So you can pause the video now, to do your challenge.

I am so impressed with you.

You have had the energy to go and do your challenge, even after you did your box up plan, you are a super star.

And now when you do your writing, you will be able to think carefully about all that brilliant language that you want to use the most.

I would love to see some of your box plans, and I would love to see some of the key words and phrases that you thought about to make your opening as fantastic as you can.

So remember, you can always share your work with Oak National.

If you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational, and #LearnWithOak.

In our next lesson, we're using our box plan to write up our opening, so I am very, very excited and I hope to see you then, super storytellers.

Bye!.