Lesson video

Hello everybody, it is me, Miss McCartney.

And in today's lesson, we are going to continue to think about our explanation, how birds fly.

But we are going to learn about something called subordinating conjunctions.

Now I'll let you into a little secret, Miss McCartney loves subordinating conjunctions because they help us to add extra details to our writing.

Shall we get started and find out what they are? For our lesson today, you will need a piece of paper or something to write on, a pencil or something to write with, and your wonderful storytelling brain.

If you need to go and collect anything to make sure you're super prepared, pause your video now.

Fantastic, now that we are ready, let's have a little look at what we're going to be learning today.

We are going to start with our "what if game." I'm going to ask you two questions, and I would like you to think about the consequences.

Then we are go into find out exactly what subordinating conjunctions are.

And we're going to practise using them in our own sentences.

At the end of the lesson, we are going to think about where our subordinating conjunction goes in our sentence, and how we can swap our sentence structure.

Let's get started.

We are going to play a little game called "what if" to help us to think about the consequences of what could happen.

So my first, what if question to you is, what if no birds could fly? What would happen if no birds could fly? Hmm.

What if no, birds could fly? Pause your video now, and practise speaking your answer.

Brilliant, come a little bit closer and whisper your answer to me.

Brilliant, I heard a really wide range of answers so well done everybody.

A really interesting answer that I had, was if birds couldn't fly, then lots of plants would not be able to grow because birds help to pollinate some plants.

Fantastic, they carry some seed's plants.

That is a brilliant answer.

Okay, my second question is, what if all humans could fly? What if all humans could fly? Hmm.

I would like you to pause the video, and practise speaking your answer really eloquently.

And that means really clearly.

Pause your video now.

Brilliant, come a bit closer again and tell me what you think might happen, if all humans could fly.

Ahhh, I really like this answer.

One of our learners said that, "If all humans could fly, "perhaps we wouldn't just live in one country "all year round, when the weather changed, "we might move to different countries." I would love it if that happened.

Well done, you have really thought about the consequences of what might happen.

I am super impressed.

Let's get started and find out what subordinating conjunctions are.

Now first of all, let's practise saying it because we've got two very long words.

My turn, your turn.

Subordinating conjunctions.

Your turn.

Fantastic, now a subordinating Conjunction, joins a subordinating clause to another clause in a sentence, and we are going to find out exactly what that means.

Today, we are going to explore four subordinating conjunctions.

My turn, your turn.

When, your turn.

If, your turn.

That, your turn.

Because, your turn.

Excellent, really great pronunciation.

Now the first thing I would like you to do, I'm going to read the two sentences on the slides, and I would like you to hunt for the subordinating conjunction.

So, they could be when, if, that, or because okay.

when birds fly, they are the guardians of the sky.

They look after the sky.

Second sentence, lots of birds migrate because, they want to find the best food supply.

Pause your video and point to the two subordinating conjunctions.

Excellent, I could see some learners getting really close, and re-reading the sentences to hunt for the conjunction.

So in our first sentence, "when" was our subordinating conjunction.

"And when birds fly" is the subordinating clause.

It is attached to the subordinating conjunction, and it does not make sense by itself.

So "when birds fly" is the subordinating clause and "when" is the subordinating conjunction.

Let's have a look at number two, and see if you've got that one right.

Lots of birds migrate because, well done.

"Because" is our subordinating conjunction.

Let's find our subordinating clause.

Our subordinating clause will be joined to the word because, and that clause does not make sense by itself.

Lots of birds migrate.

Does that make sense by itself? Yes, so that is our main clause.

Migrate means that when the seasons change, the birds move location.

Lots of birds migrate because, they want to find the best food supply.

That "because they want to find the best food supply" is our subordinating clause.

You have done such a great job.

We are now going to look at each of our subordinating conjunctions, and then practise using some sentences that have that conjunction.

Are you ready? Brilliant.

Okay, the first subordinating conjunction we are going to look at is "when" You can see "when" is highlighted in pink.

I'm going to read Miss McCartney's example.

When birds flap their wings, that's our subordinating clause.

They push against the air.

It is now your turn.

I have written "when" with your sentence stem at the bottom.

I would like you to write a sentence that starts with "when" and it can be anything about birds.

It can be from our explanation, or it could be from a story that you know about birds.

Pause your video now, and write down your sentence that starts with when.

Fantastic, let's hear some of your sentences.

Move a bit closer.

Oo, great work everybody.

One of our learners said, "When I wake up, "I hear birds singing." I do as well.

Sometimes it makes me really happy, but if I'm really tired, it makes me a bit grumpy.

"When I look out of my window, I see colourful birds." That was somebody else's sentence.

You have done such a great job using "when" Now, when we use our subordinating clause at the start of our sentence, and our first word is our subordinating conjunction, like "when" then we put a comma after that clause.

So Miss McCartney's example, when birds flap their wings, comma, they push against the air.

Can you look at your sentence? Have you already used your comma? If you have, give yourself a big tick.

And if you haven't, could you try to put it in the right place.

Pause your video now.

Excellent work everybody.

It can be a little bit confusing to know where our comma goes.

But that's okay, because we are going to keep practising and learning together.

Shall we have a look at our next subordinating conjunction? Show me a thumbs up if you are ready.

I can see a sea of thumbs up.

Well done every everybody.

Okay, we are now going to look at the subordinating conjunction "if" Let's look at Miss McCartney's example.

If a bird tilts their wings, they can glide without flapping.

I wish I could glide above the world without flapping.

Now I have started my sentence with my subordinating conjunction "if" So, after my subordinating clause, I have a comma.

If a bird tilts their wings, comma, they can glide without flapping.

It is now your turn to write your sentence.

And this time I want you to try and use your comma after your subordinating clause.

Are you ready? Pause your video, and write down your sentence that starts with "if" Excellent, move closer again.

And I would like you to tell me your sentence.

Okay, fantastic.

I heard one learner say, "If you watch birds carefully." That's our subordinating clause.

"If you watch birds carefully, "you can see them gliding." Shine to you, what a fantastic sentence.

You have done a great job.

I would now like you to check that you have got your comma, after your subordinating clause.

If you have, give yourself a tick and if you haven't, that's okay, you can try and see where it goes and have a go.

So, pause your video now and make sure that your comma, is in the right place.

Excellent learning everybody.

We are really understanding that if we use our subordinating conjunction at the beginning of our sentence, then we need a comma, after our subordinating clause.

And remember our subordinating clause does not make sense by itself.

Okay, are you ready for conjunction number three? Brilliant, our third subordinating conjunction is "that" And you might notice, it is not at the beginning of my sentence this time.

Miss McCartney's sentence is, the baby Eagle was surprised that he could fly.

I would like you to use "that" in the middle of your sentence.

Now you do not need a comma this time because we are not starting our sentence with our subordinating conjunction.

Pause your video now, and write down your sentence using the conjunction "that " Excellent, come a bit closer.

I would love to hear some of your answers.

Whisper them to me now.

Ahhh, brilliant.

Okay, One of our learners said, "When I looked at a seagull, "I noticed that it had webbed feet." What a fantastic sentence.

I would like to give ourselves some subordinating conjunctions shine.

Oh my goodness, what could that look like? Hmm.

I think it will go into the air, and then rain back down on us.

Are you ready? One, two, three.

Do your shine.

Can you feel it raining down? Fantastic.

That makes me feel all warm and ready for our fourth subordinating conjunction.

Can you guess what it might be? Shout it to your screen.

Brilliant.

Our final conjunction is "because" And again, where have I used my subordinating conjunction "because" where is it in my sentence? Will you point to it? Excellent, it is in the middle this time.

So I do not need a comma.

Miss McCartney sentence is, Birds have feathers because they need to keep warm.

Hmm, I wonder what you are going to write in your sentence.

Can you pause your video now and write your sentence with the subordinating conjunction "because" Brilliant, come closer and whisper your sentences to me.

Hmm.

I definitely agree with that one.

One of our learners said, " I want to be a bird "because then I wouldn't need to walk, I" could just fly to wherever I needed to go." That would be so great.

Imagine if we didn't have to walk to school, we could just fly.

That would be so fun.

We could race our friends.

You have used all four of the subordinating conjunctions that we have looked at today.

Subordinating conjunctions are my favourites because they let us add a little bit of detail.

So for example, and Miss McCartney sentence, Birds have feathers.

That would be okay to say, but by adding, because they need to keep warm.

I am telling my listener or my reader, more information.

And that makes me really happy because I can help them to understand and to learn more about the world.

Okay, shall we move on to our challenge for today? You have done so well, I think you are really ready.

Subordinating clauses can be placed, at the beginning of the sentence.

And we practised that with "when" and "if" or in the middle, and we practise that with "that" and "because" Now you can't always swap them around, because it might not make sense, but we are going to practise, swapping the position of "when" today.

Let me read you my example.

When birds fly, they are guardians of the sky.

Or I could say, birds are guardians of the sky when they fly.

Can you see that I have swapped my two clauses around? Now I would like you to have a go.

So the first thing you are going to do, is write your sentence with "when" at the beginning, and a comma after your subordinating clause.

Then you are going to write a sentence with "when" in the middle.

And you don't need a comma, if you use, when, in the middle of your sentence.

Can you have a go at moving the position of your subordinating conjunctions? Pause your video now and practised with "when" Brilliant, come a little bit closer and I would love to hear some of your sentences that have "when" in two different places.

Whisper your sentences now.

Okay, we've got such a great example.

"When I wake up, I hear the bird singing," or the learner has said, "I hear the birds singing when I wake up." Well done.

So to make our writing more interesting for our reader, we can think about where we are using our subordinating conjunctions in our sentence.

You have done such a brilliant job today.

Oh I wonder, when you are speaking for the rest of the day, if you could really think about when you use subordinating conjunctions, and see if you can swap them around in your sentence.

See if they make sense or if they don't.

Brilliant learning everybody.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and @TeachTMcCartney, #LearnwithOak I will see you really soon, and we can practise using some more subordinating conjunctions in our writing.