Lesson video

Hello, everyone, my name's Mrs. Riley and I'm here today to do a reading lesson with you.

In our reading lesson today we're going to be looking at a really exciting book called "The Children of Lir".

So for this lesson, you need a copy of the 2011 Oxford University Press edition of "The Children of Lir", written by, and I'm going to try and say their names right, Maire Buonocore and Isabelle Arsenault.

So could you pause the video now while you or your teacher or someone goes and gets that book? Amazing, now we've all got our copies of "The Children of Lir" at hand, we can start our lesson.

The outcome of today's lesson is to explore the features of a traditional tale.

These are the keywords in our lesson.

So these are really important for our learning today.

The first keyword is traditional tale.

Can you say that? My turn, your turn.

Traditional tale.

Amazing.

A traditional tale is a story or stories that are retold again and again in different ways that often include fictional or magical aspects.

We are going to talk about fictional and magical in a minute, but let's just focus on that key idea that a traditional tale is told again and again and again.

That means that lots and lots of people will know if a story is a traditional tale because it's been told by so many different people.

The next word is fictional.

My turn, your turn.

Are you ready? Fictional.

Again, fictional, well done.

If something is fictional, it means it's existing only in a made up story and it's not existing in real life.

So anything about unicorns or dragons or magic spells, we know all of those things are fictional because they don't really exist.

They are made up.

The next word is magical.

My turn, your turn, magical.

Magical is something that is made by magic.

If I got my magic wand and I went bing and magiced frog in my hand, it would be magical because it was made by magic.

A theme is a central idea in a story.

So you might read a story and at the end of it you might say, "What was the main theme?" That means what was the main idea in that story? A prediction.

My turn, your turn.

Prediction is making a guess using what we already know.

So we might look at a front page of a book and we might use what we know, so look at the cover and make a prediction or a guess about what the story is about.

Okay, on our lesson today, we have two learning cycles.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to be learning a little bit more about what are traditional tale is.

And in the second learning cycle we're going to be introduced to the story, the main story we are looking at in this unit, "The Children of Lir".

So look at these stories.

"The Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Jack and the Bean Stalk", "Anansi the Clever Spider" and "The Three Little Pigs".

All of these are traditional tales.

That's because they're very old stories that have been passed down for a long time and have been told again and again.

If you went and found someone on the street you didn't know and you said to them, "Have you heard of 'The Three Little Pigs'? Or Have you ever heard of 'Jack and the Beans Stalk'?" They would probably say yes, because these are traditional tales that have been told again and again.

Can you think of any more traditional tales? Could you pause the video and have a chat with your partner if you can think of any other traditional tales? Pause the video now.

Oh, well done.

I heard lots of good ideas there.

I was thinking of another traditional tale might be the story of "Cinderella" or perhaps "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." These are stories that have been told a long time ago and have been told again and again.

Traditional tales are fictional, there's our keyword, fictional.

And fictional remember means the story didn't happen in real life, it's just made up.

So all those traditional tales like "Jack and the Bean Stalk" and "The Three Little Pigs" are made up.

They are fictional.

The plot, that's what happens in the story, and the characters have just been made up.

Look at these stories again.

"The Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Jack and the Bean Stalk", "Anansi the Clever Spider" and "The Three Little Pigs".

Can you name a fictional character from a traditional tale? The characters are the people in the stories.

So for example, the little billy goats gruff is a fictional character in "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." Can you pause the video and with your partner, see if you can think of any other fictional characters from a traditional tale.

Pause the video now.

Oh, well done.

I heard some of you talking about the Giant from "Jack and the Bean Stalk" and some of you talking about the Wolf in "The Three Little Pigs".

I was also thinking about Goldilocks in "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

So let's check what we've learned.

What type of story is a traditional tale? A, nonfiction, B, a poem or C, fiction? Pause the video while you think about your answer.

Well done, the correct answer is a traditional tale is fiction, which means it is not real, it is made up.

Traditional tales can be set in real or fictional places.

So if you were going to write your own traditional tale, you might put it in a setting of a real place.

For example, it might be set in Buckingham Palace.

And then you are going to make up a story that happened in Buckingham Palace, which is a real place.

Or you might decide to set your story in a magical land in the clouds, which would be a fictional, made up place.

For example, the story of "Anansi the Clever Spider" is set in a West African village such as a village in Ghana.

Ghana is a real place.

So even though the story is made up, it's set in a real place.

An example of a fictional setting could be an enchanted forest.

An enchanted forest is not a real place.

I wish it was, but it's not.

Some traditional tales have magical aspects.

Can we just do some magical fingers? Ready? Magical woo.

We often call these fairytales and they might include a magical setting like a castle in the clouds.

Oh, I'd like to live in a castle in the clouds.

A magical character like a fairy godmother.

I think I'd like to have a fairy godmother.

A magical object like a talking mirror, woo.

Imagine looking in a mirror and it talking to you.

That would be very magical.

These magical elements help us to recognise that these stories are fictional.

They're made up.

If I was reading a story and I thought it was real, a nonfiction real story and suddenly there was a magical mirror that spoke, I'd be like, hang on a second, this can't be real because talking mirrors don't exist.

So these magical elements help us to realise these stories are made up.

They are fictional.

True or false? Some traditional tales have magical aspects.

True or false? Pause the video now.

Well done.

It's true.

Many traditional tales have lots of similarities, things that are the same.

For example, we've got "The Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Jack and the Bean Stalk", "Anansi the Clever Spider" and "The Three Little Pigs".

Can you think of anything that is the same in any of these stories? Have some thinking time.

Can you think of anything that is the same, things that are similar in these stories? Pause the video now and tell your partner if you can think of anything.

Oh, well done.

I heard some amazing discussions there.

Somebody said "Lots of traditional tales have talking animals in them." Like the goats can talk in "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" and the pigs can talk in "The Three Little Pigs".

And I heard somebody else saying that, "Traditional tales often have heroes," so people who are like the goodies, "and villains", they're nasty characters.

So heroes are the good characters in the story.

For example, Cinderella, the billy goats, Little Red Riding Hood.

They are all the heroes.

They're the good characters.

And villains, can we all say villain like an evil person? Villain.

They are the bad characters in the story.

Like the Big Bad Wolf or the troll who hides under the bridge or the giant who is waiting at the top of the bean stalk.

They are villains.

Traditional tales often include what? Do they include talking animals, rhyming words, heroes and villains, facts and figures? What do traditional tales often include? Pause the video now.

Well done, traditional tales often include talking animals and heroes and villains.

Traditional tales often have a theme.

Can you remember theme was one of our keywords.

It means a main idea that the writer wants to focus on.

So if again, you are going to write a fictional story, you might think, what do I want the main theme or the main idea to be? In "Snow White", the main theme is jealousy because the queen is jealous of Snow White and that's why she sends her off to the woods.

In "The Three Billy Goats Gruff", the main theme is courage, which means being brave because the three billy goats gruff have to bravely cross the bridge, even though the mean villain troll is underneath.

In "The Magic Porridge Pot", the theme is sharing.

We know that in "The Magic Porridge Pot" there's so much porridge by the end.

So sharing is a key idea or a key theme in that story.

By the end of the story, we often learn a lesson based on the theme.

So often when we read stories, not only are they really enjoyable to listen to or to read, but also they often teach us a story.

So it's now time for your first task.

I would like you to first tell your partner what your favourite traditional tale is and explain why.

Why is it your favourite? Then I would like you secondly to try to think about the theme of your favourite traditional tale.

So here's a sentence scaffold that I might say to my partner.

I've got an imaginary partner here.

My favourite traditional tale is hmm, because hmm.

The theme of my favourite traditional tale is hmm.

Okay, so you are going to think of your favourite traditional tale, why you love it, and then what the main theme is.

And then you are going to swap and my imaginary partner is going to tell me.

So good luck with this task.

You are not writing anything, you are just speaking and I'm really excited to hear what your favourite traditional tale is.

Pauses the video now.

Oh, well done, I heard loads of really interesting and very different ideas.

So here are examples of what you might have said.

You might have said, "My favourite traditional tale is 'Anansi the Clever Spider' because I like the fact that Anansi is a trickster".

You might have said, "My favourite traditional tale is 'Jack and the Beans Stalk' because I like growing plants and I would like to grow a giant bean stalk." You might have said "My favourite traditional tale is "The Three Little Pigs" because I like it when the wolf is caught in the bubbling pot at the end.

We're now going to look at our second learning cycle where we are going to be introduced to the story "The Children of Lir".

Make sure you've got your books ready.

So the book is called "The Children of Lir".

Looking at the front cover of the book and knowing the title "The Children of Lir", what do you predict this story might be about? Remember a prediction is when we guess using things we know.

So it's not just a completely random guess.

We are looking for things we know to make a guess.

So I'd like you all to pause the video now, look at the front cover of your book and try to predict what it is about.

Remember as well the title is called "The Children of Lir".

Pause the video now and have a chat with your partner.

Amazing, well done.

You might have said, "I predict this book will be about a family of swans who take care of some children who are alone." You might have said, "I predict the swans in this book will have magical powers." "The Children of Lir" is a traditional tale.

Knowing this helps us to make a prediction about the story because we know it's likely to have certain features because we know, don't we, from our learning cycle one, some features of traditional tales.

For example, it might have fictional characters, made up characters, fictional settings like a castle in the clouds, or fictional events.

There might be magical elements like a talking mirror or a magic wand.

There might be talking animals like in "The Three Little Pigs." There might be heroes and villains, goodies and baddies, good characters and bad characters.

And there also might be a theme, a main idea.

We are now going to look through the pages of the book and see if we can identify any features of traditional tales.

So all those things like heroes and villains or magical elements, we are going to look through and see if we can spot any of those features.

So we're going to look at the illustrations first on page two and three.

So perhaps you could quickly get your book ready and turn to page two and three.

We can always see the page at the bottom of the page.

So find page two and three, open it up and have a look at that now.

Okay, so I'm going to do this first and then you are going to have a go.

So first you are being a teacher, while I have a go.

We are gonna swap roles.

So I'll tell you what I can see on page two, just looking at page two and what this makes me think.

Right, let me have a look.

Let me look.

Here's my book, page two.

Oh, I can see a king watching four children playing happily together.

I think they're his children because if I look at my book, they all have red hair.

So I think because they've all got red hair, they're related.

So I think that this is a king looking at his four children.

I wonder if you agree? Now you're going to look at page three and you're going to see what this makes you think.

So for example, you might say, I can see a, hmm, here's a scaffold.

I can see hmm and I think hmm.

So could you pause the video now, just look at page three.

What can you see and what does that make you think? Okay, well done.

You might have said, "I can see a lady and I think this is the queen." Or you might have said, you might say, "I can see a queen and I think she is an evil stepmother." Or "I can see a lady and I think she is a villain because to me she looks a little bit cross and grumpy." Okay, so which of the following best describes what the queen looks like on page three? Oh, I just gave you a bit of a clue, didn't I? Do you think she A, looks tearful, full of tears, sadness? Do you think she B, looks happy? Or C, do you think she looks angry? Pause the video while you choose your answer.

Well done.

You're right.

She looks angry, doesn't she? Now we're going to look at the illustrations, which means the pictures, on pages four and five.

So quickly can you turn the page so that you've got page four and five next to you.

And we're going to look at the illustrations or the pictures.

Here is the list of traditional tale features, fictional characters, settings and events, magical elements, talking animals, heroes and villains and a theme.

They're all the features of a traditional tale.

Can you, looking at page four and five, see or identify any of these features in the illustrations or the pictures? Pause the video and chat with your partner now and see if you can spot any of those features.

Okay, well done.

I heard some amazing discussions there.

Now I think I can spot some of these features because in this picture I can see that a lady who I think might be the queen 'cause she's wearing a crown and she's got lots of kind of bottles and potions around and a magic wand in her hand and she's looking at a sort of scroll, maybe some like instructions.

And in the next page I can see that there is a fish on the ground and there's like a little sparkly bit.

So I feel like she's maybe done a spell on that fish.

So I definitely can see some of these themes on pages four and five.

Okay, so true or false? The Queen can perform magic.

True or false? Well done.

It is true.

The Queen can perform magic.

So we know that there are magical aspects in this story and that tells us the events and characters are definitely fictional.

They are made up because magic, unfortunately, isn't in real life, it is made up.

So let's go through these features again.

So we already have seen that we've got fictional characters that the Queen 'cause she's wearing a crown and she's got a magic wand.

So we know that that's made up.

And we can also see a fictional event because she's doing magic spells and that also means that we can see there are magical elements to this story.

So let's continue looking through the rest of the illustrations in the book.

So we're not reading it at this stage, we are just looking through the pages and looking at all the pictures.

It's one of my favourite things to do when I look at a story is to spend some time just looking at the illustrations.

And as you do that, I would like you to see if you can identify or spot any more of these features.

For example, can you spot any talking animals or any fictional made up settings or any heroes or villains or a theme? So could you now pause the video and look through the rest of the book and look at the illustrations to see if you can spot or identify any more of these features of a traditional tale.

Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

So I heard some of you saying, "Oh look, the swans look like they're talking to each other." So there's talking animals in this story.

And yes, heroes perhaps are the children of King Lir and the villain looks like the Queen.

And a theme looks like it might be jealousy because maybe the Queen is jealous of the children.

And also resilience.

Resilience means kind of when you keep on going even when things are difficult.

Things look quite difficult for the swans in the stories, from looking at the illustrations, but they don't give up, they keep going.

So that means that they are resilient.

And resilience is a key theme perhaps in this story.

So which of these characters is a villain? A villain, remember they're the evil, bad characters.

A, the children, B, the Queen, or C, the king.

Pause the video while you think about your answer.

Okay, perhaps you could all shout out after one, two, three.

Who is the villain? One, two, three.

Oh, that was so loud.

Yes, the Queen is the villain.

So it's time for your final task.

I would like you to use the information you know to make a prediction about what might happen in the story.

So you are going to say, I predict that.

And you are going to compare your prediction with someone else.

Maybe you might have the same prediction or maybe you might have a different prediction.

That's okay because at this stage we are just using what we know about the story from looking at all those illustrations to make a guess what we think is going to happen.

So pause the video now, have some thinking time, what do you think is going to happen? What do you predict? And then talk with your partner what you predict and then compare if they've got a similar or a different prediction to you.

Good luck.

Pause the video now.

Well done, here are some examples of predictions that you might have shared.

You might have said, "I predict that the Queen turns the children into swans so that the King loves her more than his children." Gosh, that wouldn't be very nice of her.

You might have said, "I predict that the king goes on a secret quest and the swans help guide him back home." You might have said, "I predict that this story will teach us to stick together as a family no matter what happens in life." So well done.

We are now going to summarise what we've learned today.

We have learnt that traditional tales are stories that are retold again and again and can be retold in different ways.

Traditional tales can be set in real or fictional places.

For example, I might write a story set in Buckingham Palace, which is real, or a castle in the clouds, which is fictional.

Some traditional tales have magical aspects.

Lots of traditional tales involve talking animals or characters being turned into animals.

Traditional tales often have heroes and villains.

So well done for working so hard in this lesson.

I hope you are feeling the same as me having looked through my book at the front cover and looking at the illustrations, I feel really excited to find out what is going to happen in this story and hopefully I'll see you for some more learning another time.

Thank you for working so hard.

Bye.