Lesson video

Hello, super storytellers, and welcome to this English lesson.

This is lesson eight of unit five, and my name is Ms. Cashin.

If you've already been doing unit five with me, you will know that we're writing our very own recycled story based on the story of Baba Yaga, which we first heard in unit four.

Remember, if you don't know the story of Baba Yaga, or if you'd like to listen to it again, you can always go back to lesson one of unit four and have a listen.

Today, we're going to be writing the middle of our story that builds up to the point that our character sees the monster for the very first time.

And on their way, they're going to meet those three amazing animals, and they're going to get those three special gifts.

The last gift that I got was a bunch of flowers, which I thought was such a lovely present.

I wonder what was the last present that you got? Can you tell me.

I'm sure it was something absolutely fantastic.

Before we do our writing, we're going to do some activities to build up to being ready for our writing.

So let's see what we're going to be doing.

We're going to start with a spelling activity.

Then, we're going to use our story map from lesson two of this unit, to talk through the middle of our story.

If you don't have your story map, don't worry, but if you do, it would really, really help you in today's lesson.

Then, we're going to box up the middle of our story, and we're going to think about the purpose of each of those sections.

Then, we're going to write a middle for our story that builds drama.

We're going to write our first part in this lesson, and we're going to write our next part when we see the monster.

We're going to write that next part in our next lesson.

So let's get started.

Here are the things that you're going to need.

You are going to need some paper, and it will be extra brilliant if you could get some plain paper for your box plan, some lined paper for your writing, and if you have it, your story map.

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

So if you need to get any of those things, pause the video now and go and get them.

Wow, you are totally ready for our storytelling now.

Fantastic.

We're going to start with our spelling activity.

With our spellings, we are looking at contractions, and we looked at that in lesson six of this unit.

When we have a contraction, we're taking two words, and we're putting them together into one word with an important apostrophe.

I've got two words here, magnet eyes, can you read them? Can you say them to me? Will not.

If I said, "I will not do that, "I will not do that," and I took those two words and put them together into one word, what would that one word be? It's not going to be, I willn't.

I willn't do that.

I will.

I won't do that.

Won't.

Won't.

So will not becomes won't, and it's different to the contractions that we looked at in lesson six.

Won't is a very different word.

We don't have the ill sound anymore.

We have W-O-N apostrophe T.

My apostrophe still goes where my O would have gone in not.

Next contraction.

Look at these two words.

Can you read them to me? Amazing.

My turn, your turn.

I am.

If I was going to say, "I am happy," and I wanted to contract I am into one word, what would I say? I, I.

Do you know? I'm happy.

And that's how we spell, I'm.

My turn, your turn.

I'm.

Fantastic.

So there's no not in I am, so we haven't used the apostrophe to replace the O.

We've used it to replace the A 'cause we've lost that sound.

I'm doesn't have the A sound in I am.

So, I'm, we have the apostrophe that replaces the A.

One more.

Ooh, this is a bit of a different one.

Can you read this word to me? Fantastic.

Cannot.

Cannot.

If I was very tired, I might say, "I cannot get out of bed this morning." Cannot is already one word.

If I was going to say it a different way, what would I say? I cannot.

Do you know it? I can't get out of bed this morning.

I'm too tired.

My turn, your turn.

Can't, can't, can't.

Let's have a look at how we would spell that contraction.

There it is.

So I've got can, and my apostrophe where my O would have gone in not, and my two Ns for cannot have become one N.

Can't.

Fantastic.

We've learned three new contractions.

Now, you're going to watch me talk through the middle of my story, and then you'll have a go at doing that yourself.

I've got my story map here.

And in lesson seven of this unit, we spoke through up to when the precious thing is stolen.

I'm going to talk through now the three animals that our main character meets.

I'm going to use the pictures to remind me, okay.

She ran, and she ran, and she ran until she found a polar bear trapped in a cage.

"Help me, help me," said the polar bear.

Kindly, Elly helped him out of the cage.

"You have helped me, so I will help you.

Take this stone," said the polar bear.

"Thank you," said Elly.

She ran, and she ran, and she ran until she found a walrus trapped in a hole in the ice.

"Help me, help me," said the walrus.

Kindly, Elly eased him out of the ice.

"You have helped me, so I will help you.

Take this." There it is.

"Shell," said the walrus.

"Thank you," said Elly.

She ran, and she ran, and she ran until she got to a hair who was completely lost.

"Help me, help me," said the hair.

Kindly, Elly showed the hair where to go.

"Thank you," said the hair.

"You have helped me, so I will help you.

"Take these berries." "Thank you," said Elly.

We're going to stop there, and then, in our lesson nine, we will write the rest of that middle point of the story, up to where she meets the monster.

Now, it's time for you to talk through your story map if you have it.

Remember, you can think through your story map, you can say it out loud how I did, and you can even jot down some words as you go if you would like to.

I've got some sentence stems to help you do this.

So I've got, they ran, and they ran, and they ran until.

Help me, help me.

You have helped me.

So these should really, really help you to structure what happens when your character meets those three animals.

So you can pause the video now, and go and have a go at talking through your story map.

Well done, super storytellers.

Fantastic.

Now, I'm going to box up the middle of the story, and then you'll have a go boxing up the middle of your story.

I've got my box plan of the middle of my story, and I've got six boxes down the side for my pictures, and then I've got six boxes down here where I'm going to think of the purpose of each section, then any key words or phrases that I might want to jot down.

So I've got Elly.

She's running, running and running.

She ran, and she ran, and she ran until she saw the polar bear.

He's given her the stone, and Elly has said, "Thank you." Then, she ran, and she ran, and she ran until she found the walrus.

He gave her the shell, and she said, "Thank you." And then, she ran, and she ran, and she ran until she saw the lost hair.

And he said, "Thank you so much for helping me.

"Here are some berries." And then, Elly said thank you back.

So the purpose of this section is it really builds drama, and that's what we want in the middle of our story.

We want it to build up drama because our reader will be thinking, "When is she going to find Buster?" And when she gets stuck by the polar bear, we might think, "Oh, my goodness! "She's going to have to stop and help the polar bear, "but this stops her getting to Buster." The purpose of this section is it makes us think about the character of Elly, and that she's a really kind character.

It makes me really like Elly, and it makes me think, "She's such a good person.

"I really, really hope she gets her precious thing back." She's running, and running, and running again.

And this is building more drama.

We think she's going to get to Buster, but then she has to stop and help the walrus.

But because she helps him, and she gets her precious thing, we think about her character some more and think, "My goodness, she really is so kind and so generous." So really want my readers to feel like she's very kind and generous there.

Then, she runs, and runs, and runs until she finds the hair, and this is another point of us building up that drama as the reader thinks she's going to find Buster, but she gets stopped again.

And because she is so kind, and we know that because she's helped the hair, she gets those berries.

So that's the purpose of each of these sections, and I want to really think about purpose of each of those sections when I go and do my writing.

I might also now put down some key words that I might want to use.

So she ran, and she ran, and she ran until she saw the polar bear trapped.

I really like the word trapped.

Trapped in the cage.

"Take this stone," he's going to say, and I might say, he could call it a special stone.

He could call it a black stone.

I quite like, maybe he won't tell her it's special, so I'll put black stone.

B-L-A-CK.

Black stone.

So you could go through and write down your keywords for the rest of your boxes.

Now, it's time for you to have a go at boxing up the middle of your story so that you're ready to write about your character running, seeing that animal, helping them, and getting that all important gift that's going to help them later in the story.

Remember, if you want to, you can jot down some key words and phrases as you go.

Well done, super, super storytellers.

Now, you're going to watch me write the beginning of my middle that builds up drama.

I'm going to write just about my first animal, and then you are going to write about your first animal, or if you're really, really going to challenge yourself today, you might write about all three of your animals.

So you'll see me do it, and then you'll have a go at doing it.

I'm going to write about my first animal, the polar bear.

He was trapped in that cage.

You then need to write about your first animal.

And if you really want to challenge yourself, you could write about the other two animals as well.

I've already started my first sentence.

Let's read it.

There's my capital letter at the beginning.

She ran, and she ran, and she ran until she met a polar bear.

She met, M-E-T, a polar bear.

Full stop.

She ran, and she ran, and she ran until she met a polar bear.

Where was that polar bear? He was caught in a cave.

Not in a cave, in a cage.

He was stuck.

I really like that word trapped.

He was trapped in a cage.

He, capital H for He.

He was, that's one of our tricky words.

We just need to know it.

W-A-S.

He was trapped in a cage.

I'm actually going to put an exclamation mark there, so our reader knows how desperate it is that he's trapped in that cage.

Elly's going to need to help him.

The polar bear's going to call out for help.

I'm going to use inverted commas.

If you don't know how to use inverted commas yet, that is absolutely fine.

You can do your dialogue without them.

"Help me." He's going to say, "Help me." "Help me," said the polar bear.

That's the bit that the polar bear has said.

"Help me, help me," said the polar bear.

Said is another on of our tricky words.

We just need to know it.

S-A-I-D.

Said the polar bear.

Now, Elly's going to help him, but I want my reader to know how kind she is, so I'm going to say, kindly, Elly helped him.

Full stop there.

I'm going to read it back.

"Help me, help me," said the polar bear.

Kindly, Elly helped him.

I need a comma there.

Kindly, Elly helped him.

Then, the polar bear's going to say, "You have helped me, so I will help you.

Take this stone." I need my inverted commas there because my polar bear's going to talk.

You have helped me.

I've got help.

I want helped.

So I need that ED suffix.

You have helped me, so I will help you.

Close my inverted commas.

Said the polar bear.

And what's he going to say? "Take this black stone." Take this black stone.

I'm going to change my ending.

Instead of saying, "Thank you," said Elly, I'm going to use showing, not telling.

I'm going to say, Elly smiled.

I'm going to show what happened to her face, and then my reader will know how happy she is.

I'm going to read it from the beginning.

She ran, and she ran, and she ran until she met a polar bear.

He was trapped in a cage.

"Help me, help me," said the polar bear.

Kindly, Elly helped him.

"You have helped me, so I will help you," said the polar bear.

"Take this black stone." Forgot to close my inverted commas there 'cause he's not talking.

Elly smiled.

You've seen me write about my first animal, and now it's your turn to write about your first animal.

Remember to use your box plan so you remember each part.

Your challenge is to write about the other two animals so you have completed your whole middle.

It would be amazing if you could write about the other two animals as well.

I've got our toolkit here.

Capital letters and correct punctuation.

So each time you get to the end of the sentence, go and check, have I got my capital letter, and have I got a full stop, or maybe even an exclamation mark or a question mark? And also be thinking to yourself, does it make sense? If you get to the end of a sentence and it doesn't make sense, you can go back and correct it.

I've got some sentences here to help you because a lot of our paragraphs today are going to be quite similar, so you can use this to help you if you would like to, but you don't have to.

It's up to you, and how much you want to challenge yourself today.

So well done.

You can pause the video now and go and do your writing about your first animal, and if you're being a complete superstar, the other animals.

Well done, super storytellers.

You have done such amazing work today.

I would love to read through some of your writing, especially to find out which animals you've chosen and what special gift they gave to your main character.

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

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

I would love to read that.

In our next lesson, we are going to write up to when the character sees the monster, and what they see the monster doing.

So it's going to be a very scary bit of the story, so I hope you're ready for that.

Bye, fantastic storytellers, and I will see you for our next lesson.