Lesson video

Hello and welcome, my name is Mr. Santhanam, and this is lesson 8 of 10.

Our learning objective today is all about beginning to write our recycled story.

So that means we're going to be doing an extended piece of writing today using all the skills that we've learned from storytelling so far.

Before we begin, I need some help from you.

I've been looking out of my window up at the clouds in the sky for inspiration, because I know later on that I'm going to be doing a setting description to describe where the gods live up in the sky.

Now I can see that the sky is blue.

And I can see that they're, and I can see that the clouds are white.

But that just seems like such a boring way to describe the sky.

I wonder if you have any ideas or any adjectives that you can use in your description to help me.

If you do have any ideas, write them down on a piece of paper, and we can use them in our setting description later, when we begin the beginning part of our story.

I'm really excited to get started.

Okay, so to get started you are going to need some paper, a pencil, and your brilliant brain! Pause the video now while you go and get those things.

Amazing, I can't wait to get started.

The agenda for today is we're going to start off with a spelling activity.

We're then going to review our boxed up story.

We're then going to generate some ideas to help us with our shared write.

And then finally, we're going to do our shared write of the beginning part of our story.

It's not the part that we're focusing on, which we know as the middle.

But we will just do a beginning part to get us started, and then we'll focus on the middle later.

Okay, let's get started with our spellings.

This week, I know that our spelling sound is 'tch'.

We hear the sound 'tch' in catch, fetch, switch, witch, snatch, watch, patch, sketch, and clutch.

I know that one strategy I can use to help me learn my spellings is to use spelling pyramids.

I'm going the start with the letter on top, I'm then going to do two letters underneath that, and then finally, I'm going to do the 'tch' sound at the bottom.

Switch.

If I was going to do sketch, I would start with 's' at the top, 'k' underneath, 'e', and then finally, 'tch' at the bottom.

Why not try doing a spelling pyramid for all of these words? And then you can check your spelling afterwards.

Okay.

It's time to review our boxed up version of the story.

Okay, so as you can see, I've got my boxed up version here of the story.

I know what things are going to happen in the begging part of my story.

I know what's going to happen in the middle part of my story.

I know what's going to happen in the end of my story.

I also know why I'm including those things there.

So let's just focus on the beginning part of the story today.

I know that we're going to begin this story with the eagle god living up in the heavens with the other gods who don't think that he is very powerful.

So although he loves living in the heavens, he's not very well respected and that makes him a little bit sad.

Below him he looks down onto the forest, which is beautiful.

And he loves looking at nature.

And he cares so much about the animals, especially the birds in the forest.

And that will be our beginning.

We know that we want a character description and a setting description.

We want to explain what the character is like, our main character.

He is not very happy and he has something to prove.

Pause your video now while you complete your boxed up version, and you think about what you want to include in this part of the story.

Remember, it's not the most important part of the story, and we're not going to spend a very long time on it.

We just want to introduce the characters, introduce the setting so that we have a great place to start our really exciting, dramatic middle part of the story.

Okay.

It's now time to generate some ideas for the beginning part of the story.

This is where we're going to have to use our creative brain and think about all the things we want to include, so that when we come to writing later on, we have all those ideas there ready for us.

I would like you to draw a picture of the eagle god up in the heavens.

Think about who is there with the eagle god, what can they see, and what does it look like? I would like you to include two expanded noun phrases in there when you're describing something, and also two fronted adverbials.

Now remember, this could be a fronted adverbial of time, so when is something happening, a fronted adverbial of place, where is it happening, and a fronted adverbial of manner, how is something happening.

If you're not so sure about that, don't worry, you can watch me do it in a moment.

But for now, I'd like you to pause your video and draw your picture of the characters up in heaven.

You might even want to draw the forest below the heavens, as well, just like this picture is showing.

It's up to you.

Okay.

Pause your video while you draw your picture and write your ideas down for your description.

Okay.

So I've done a really quick drawing of the eagle god up in the heavens.

As you can see, he's looking down on the forest.

And you can even see the little bird that's in the forest here.

You can also see all the other mighty, powerful gods that he lives with.

And you can see that he doesn't look too happy.

He's a little bit sad because of how the gods are treating him.

So I've done the beautiful clouds.

I've done the sunlight.

I've done the sky.

You can add in any details that you want to at all.

Now it's time for me to use my drawing and use some expanded noun phrases to describe the characters and the setting.

I might even want to use some fronted adverbials to help me as well.

Okay, so now that I've got my drawing that I've created to help me with my ideas, I now need to think about who else is there, what can they see, what does it look like.

You should have done your own drawing by now, and I'm going to share with you what ideas I've come up with.

I'm then going to use these ideas and put them directly into my shared write.

So I should have come up with at least two expanded noun phrases, and at least two fronted adverbials.

Let's see what I've got.

So for expanded noun phrases, I have said that there are some tough, brave gods.

I have also said that there is a calm, tranquil sky.

I've also said that there are floating, swirling clouds.

And there is a majestic, harmonious forest below the clouds.

Notice how I use a comma to separate items in a list.

So I can use more than one adjective, but I must separate it using a comma.

Let's see what I did for fronted adverbials.

I have said, that for fronted adverbials of place, I could start my sentences with up in the heavens, above the clouds, high in the sky, overlooking the forest.

Or I could use a fronted adverbial of time, for example I could say one sunny morning.

There are lots and lots of fronted adverbials that you could use.

Remember your story is your own, and you do not have to copy mine.

You can think of your own ideas.

But don't forget, when you are using a fronted adverbial, you must use a comma after it to separate it from the main clause, from the rest of the sentence.

Okay.

Now we've got loads of ideas that we've generated, let's put them straight into our writing, and let's get started with our beginning.

Now let's get ready to do our shared write for the beginning part of our story.

I want to start my very first sentence with a fronted adverbial.

I either want everyone to know where this took place, this story, or when it took place.

Let's think.

What fronted adverbials could I use that tell the reader where or when this happened? I could use a long time ago.

I could say far away in the depths of India.

Or I could say many years ago.

I think I'm going to go with far away in the depths, that means in the middle, of India.

I know that after a fronted adverbial I always put a comma.

Far away in the depths of India, where does my story take place? Yes, it takes place in a forest.

There stood a, how do I want to describe my forest? I want to use an expanded noun phrase now.

I could describe it as luscious.

I could describe it as leafy.

I could describe it as majestic.

I could describe it as peaceful.

I want to use two adjectives to use an expanded noun phrase.

I think I'm going to use majestic and peaceful.

Far away in the depths of India, there stood a majestic, comma, because I know that I always separate items in a list with a comma, a majestic, peaceful forest.

Now I want to talk about the heavens.

So what fronted adverbial could I use to talk about the heavens.

Where is the heavens compared to the forest? I know.

Above the forest, comma, there lived many powerful gods.

Now I want to describe the eagle god.

So I'm going to say one of the gods was the, what word can I use to describe the eagle god? Let's see, what adjective can I use? I could say that he is kind.

I could say that he is compassionate.

I could say that he is helpful.

Or I could say he is thoughtful.

What word should I use to describe the eagle god? I think I'm going to go with kind and compassionate.

One of the gods was the kind, compassionate eagle god.

Now I'm going to talk about how he looks down upon the forest.

And how does he look down upon the forest? What fronted adverbial can I use to describe how he looks down on the forest? Does he look down lovingly, patiently, or calmly? I think I'm going to chose lovingly, because that shows you just how much he loves the forest and its creatures.

Lovingly, he watched over the forest each day because he loved nature and all its creatures.

Now I want to describe what the heavens are like, so I'm going to do my setting description of the heavens.

I've described what the forest is like.

I've described what the eagle god is like.

And I've described what the other gods are like as well.

Now I want to describe what the, what the heavens are like.

I want a fronted adverbial to show that I'm talking about the heavens now.

I think I'll go with up in the heavens.

Now I want to have some descriptions about up in the heavens.

What could say to describe up in the heavens? I know, I could talk about the clouds, the flowers, the sunlight.

I could say there is a breeze, it's nice and cool up there.

I could say there are butterflies, even, fluttering around.

I could say that it's like paradise.

Up in the heavens, I'm going to talk about the sunlight, the sun shone all around, and a cool breeze blew amongst the soft, floating clouds.

I want everyone to know that the eagle god enjoys his life in the heavens.

So I'm going to say life was good.

Everything is calm, and fine, and happy before the chaos of the fire comes.

So I've also got my description of the heavens here now.

I've described the eagle god.

I've described the other gods.

I've described what the forest is like.

And I've described what the heavens is like.

I've set the scene, and now we're ready for the action and the drama of the middle.

Don't forget to share your work with Oak National.

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

I'll see you next time.

Bye-bye.