Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name is Mrs. Voyle, and today we are going to do some reading together.

In our lesson today we're focusing on a book called "The Children of Lir." So, the first thing we need to do is make sure we all have a copy of that book.

Now for this lesson, you will need a copy of the 2011 Oxford University Press edition of the book, written by Maire Buonocore and Isabelle Arsenault.

Now could you pause the video, while you make sure you go off and get your book ready for the lesson.

Well done.

So, now we all have a copy of the book in front of us.

We are ready to start our reading lesson.

The outcome of this story is to make connections linked to my own experiences and sequence events in a story.

These are the key words in our lesson today.

That means these words are really important.

So, the first word is jealousy.

Can you say it after me? My turn, your turn.

Jealousy.

Well done.

Jealousy is a feeling of envy about what someone else has or what someone can do.

For example, if someone has a delicious ice cream, you might feel jealous of it.

Or if someone was really, really good at gymnastics and you wanted to be good at gymnastics, you might feel jealous of how good they are at gymnastics.

The next word is theme.

My turn, your turn.

Theme.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that appears in a story.

So, when you read your next story, you might think to yourself, what was the theme? What was the big idea in that story? The next word is moral.

My turn, your turn.

Moral.

Well done.

Moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story or experience.

For example, there is the story of the rabbit, sorry, the tortoise and the hare.

And in that story, the lesson is that sometimes slow and steady can win the race.

So, a moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story or experience.

Now, this word is quite a tricky word to say.

The word is chronological, but I think it helps to say it like this.

My turn, your turn.

Chronological.

Well done.

Let's do it one more time.

Chronological.

Well done.

Chronological means it follows the order in which a series of events happened.

That's why I like to do this action, because it's like it's following the order.

For example, if you gave your the events that happened in your day in chronological order.

You might say, I woke up, I had my breakfast, I went to school, I did some lessons.

I had lunch.

You are telling me in order of when they happened.

Sequencing is also placing events in order.

So, let's just practise saying that word.

Sequencing.

Well done.

So, if I gave you some pictures of you brushing your teeth and you walking to school and you having your lunch and I asked you to sequence them, you would have to put them in order.

So, these are the important words in our lesson today.

And in our lesson today, we have two learning cycles.

In the first learning cycle, we are going to be focusing on making connections.

And in the second learning cycle, we are going to be sequencing the story.

So, let's just recap and remind ourselves what do we already know about "The Children of Lir?" I would like you to pause the video and talk with somebody next to you, about what you can remember about this brilliant story.

Oh, well done.

I heard loads of great discussions.

You've remembered so many things.

So, "The Children of Lir" is a traditional tale.

The story is fictional.

That means it's made up, it's not real.

The book is split into chapters, like different little sections and it has illustrations, which are the pictures.

The main characters in the book are King Lir, his four children and the evil Queen.

The Queen is jealous of the king's love for his children.

So, she uses her magic to turn them into swans.

Did you notice there's our key word, jealous.

She's jealous of them.

She's envious.

She wants something that they have.

Traditional tales often have a theme.

That word, which means a big idea.

A theme is a main idea that the writer wants to focus on.

For example, "Snow White." The main theme is jealousy.

In "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," the main theme is courage, because the goats have to be courageous or brave to cross over that bridge where the troll is.

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

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

This is often referred to as the moral of the story.

So, let's check what we've just learned.

Traditional tales, A, are made up of rhyming words.

B, often teach us a lesson based on a theme in the story.

C, always include the character of the big bad wolf and D are fictional, which means they're made up.

Pause the video and choose your answer.

There might be more than one answer.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

The two correct answers are traditional tales, often teach us a lesson based on a theme.

And traditional tales are fictional, they are made up.

"In The Children of Lir," the Queen is jealous of King Lir's love for his four children and she wishes he loved her as much as he loves them.

Can you think of a time that you have felt jealous of someone or something? Can you think of a time where you have felt jealous? It could be that you felt jealous of someone else, because of something they had.

Like that example I gave earlier that they had an ice cream and you wanted one or it could be jealous of someone, because they were really good at something that you wanted to be good at or maybe they went to something that you wanted to go to.

So, pause the video and have a think and a chat with the person next to you if you can think of a time that you felt jealous.

Okay, well done.

I was thinking of a time when I was younger, my brother got to go on a really cool school trip to a theme park and I felt really jealous because I was too young to go and I really wanted to go to the theme park myself.

But there's also been times as an adult that I feel jealous as well.

It's not something we grow out of, unfortunately.

It's okay to feel jealous.

All of us feel jealous sometimes.

It's a natural feeling, but it's not okay to be unkind to someone, because you are jealous of them.

For example, it's okay that I felt jealous of my brother in his school trip, but it wouldn't be okay if I was mean to him or did a nasty thing to him, because I felt jealous.

In this story, the Queen acts in an unkind way because of her jealousy.

Jealousy is a theme in this story.

It's a big idea of the story, "The Children of Lir." So, which of these is a theme in "The Children of Lir?" A, wisdom, being very wise.

B, fairness.

C, jealousy or D, kindness.

Pause the video while you choose your answer.

Well done.

The correct answer is C.

Jealousy is a theme in "The Children of Lir." A story often has more than one theme.

"The Children of Lir" is also about love and family, hope and faith, good overcoming evil.

That means like good winning over evil.

Could you pause the video now and see if you can think of any other themes in the story? Tell your talk partner if you can.

Pause the video now.

Well done, I heard lots of good ideas.

I was thinking that one theme of the story is patience.

Because in the story, the swans or the children have to be so patient, don't they? To return home and turn back into humans.

It doesn't happen quickly.

It happens years and years later.

The moral of the story is a lesson that can be learned.

The moral is often based on a theme in the story.

In spite of the Queen's actions, in spite of the, sorry, the jealous Queen's actions, the children's love for each other and their fathers shines through.

Even though they have been turned into swans for hundreds of years, they stick together and they find their way, back to their home in search of their father.

They have learned to be resilient.

Being resilient means that even when things get tough or you face challenges, you don't give up and you keep on trying.

So, the children are resilient, because everything is tough for them.

They've been turned into swans.

They're in a storm.

They at one stage lose one another.

These are all really difficult challenges that they face.

But despite those difficulties, they don't give up.

They keep on trying.

Now you are readers, you can learn from what you read.

We can learn so much from books and link them to our own feelings and experiences.

Themes, lessons and morals teach us and can make us think about how we would act if we were the character and what we can do in our own lives.

We only get to learn from a book once we have read it and understood it fully.

So, when you are reading independently, when you get to the end of the book and you have understood the book and what it's about, you might learn something from it.

You might make a connection to your own life.

You might think, "Oh, the character in the story felt a certain way "and I felt like that before, "but they were really resilient.

"So I'm gonna try and learn "that next time I face a challenge, "I'm going to learn to be resilient too." So, reading gives us so many brilliant things and one of those things is that they can teach us really important lessons.

So, the moral of this story is to be resilient.

I'm going to think of a time when I have had to be resilient, right? Let me think.

So, let me just remind myself what it means.

It means even when things were difficult, I didn't give up.

Oh, I thought of one.

I was resilient when I wasn't picked to play in a big match for my football team.

I felt really disappointed, but I worked even harder in my training and I didn't give up.

And I was really lucky, because I got picked to play in another match last weekend.

So, if I wasn't resilient, I could have just not got picked for the football team.

And I could have just said, "Right, I'm giving up football.

"I don't wanna do it anymore, "'cause I've not been picked for the team." But instead I didn't give up.

I really practised hard and tried really hard in my training, and then I got picked for my team.

So, I was resilient.

Thinking about the moral of the story can help us to change something in our own lives.

I would like you now for your task to tell your partner about a time when you have had to be resilient.

So, think of a time when something was difficult, but you didn't give up.

How did you feel and what did you do to demonstrate resilience? What did you do when you didn't give up? Here's a sentence scaffold.

I was resilient when um.

I felt um, but um.

So, you are thinking of a time when something was difficult, you didn't give up and how did that make you feel and what did you do about it? You are not writing anything in this task.

You are just talking and remember that it's really important that you listen carefully when your talk partner is telling you their example of when they were resilient, before you tell them yours.

Pause the video now and good luck with this task.

Well done, I heard some amazing examples of resilience.

You are all very resilient people.

Here are some examples of answers.

One person said, "I was resilient "when I was learning to ride my bike.

"I felt frustrated when I kept falling over, "but I got back on my bike every time "and gave it another go.

"And now I ride my bike to school every day." Wow, that's amazing, isn't it? I remember feeling like that when I learned to ride my bike as well, that I found it really difficult at first.

But then when you keep trying, you finally can ride your bike really well.

Here's another example.

"I was resilient when I had "to complete a big project for homework.

"I felt overwhelmed by how much I had to do, "but I broke it down into small steps "and worked on it a little bit each day.

"And then I won a prize in assembly for my efforts." So, even though this project at first felt overwhelming, it felt a little bit difficult.

They broke it up and did a little bit each day and then they won a prize.

They were really resilient, weren't they? So, we're now going to focus in the second part of our lesson about sequencing the story, putting the story in order.

Before we do that, let's have a quick riggle in our chairs or on the carpet wherever you are sitting, because we have got a little bit more learning to do and I want us to be really focused.

Perhaps could we all take a big deep breath or an inhale in through our noses (tutor inhaling deeply) and out through our mouths.

(tutor exhaling heavily) And could you bring your shoulders up to your ears (tutor inhaling deeply) and let go.

(tutor exhaling heavily) Well done.

Okay, so sequencing the story.

The main events in a story are the important things that happen to make a story flow.

What are some of the main events in the story "The Children of Lir." So, the most important parts, for example, I might say one of the main events is that the children are turned into swans.

That's a really important part of the story.

Could you pause the video and with your partner discuss what are the other main events or the most important parts of this story? Pause the video now.

Well done, I heard some really good answers.

Sequencing events may means we put them in the order in which they happened, in order.

A bit like when we spoke about how if we put our day in order, we'd say Waking up, brushing our teeth, having breakfast.

It's the order that they happen in.

This is known as or there's that word chronological order.

Here's an example of the main events from the first two chapters in chronological order.

The first thing that happens is that the Queen is jealous of King Lir's love for his children.

The next thing that happens is that King Lir goes away to fight in a war.

The next thing that happens is that the Queen casts the spell that turns the children into swans.

These are the main ideas in the first two chapters in chronological order, in the order that they happened in.

I would like you now to put these events in chronological order about what happens next in the story.

So, here are your options.

A, the king throws the Queen's wand into the sea, causing a storm.

B, the swans get separated from each other during the storm.

And C, King Lir returns from war and finds out what the Queen has done to his children.

So, which of these things comes first, second and third.

Could you pause the video and put these events in chronological order? Okay, well done.

Let's see how you got on.

So, the first thing that happens here is that King Lir returns from war and he finds out what the Queen has done to his children.

Then he throws the Queen's wand into the sea, because he's so angry and he causes a storm.

And finally because of the storm, the swans get separated from each other.

So, sequencing key parts of the story helps to summarise the whole story.

There are main events in the story, but when we summarise a story, we don't need to include every moment or detail.

The main events are that the swans returns to the lake and find a hermit there.

But a minor detail is that the hermit is playing a flute.

So, we've got main events and stories and minor details.

Again, the main event is the swans turn back into humans.

That's a really important part of the story.

If I was going to summarise it to someone, I can't leave that part out.

But the fact that the humans lie down on the ground, isn't a main idea.

It's a minor detail.

I probably could leave that out if I was summarising the details of the story.

Let's think of another example.

Do you all know the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears?" Yeah, good.

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears," if I was going to think about a main event in the story, it would be that Goldilocks went into the Three Bears House.

That's a really main idea, isn't it? Because that's where she eats the porridge, breaks the chair and gets into the bed.

That's a main idea in the story.

But maybe a small, a minor detail in the story might be that Daddy Bear's chair was green.

That's not really important.

It's a minor detail.

So, let's look at these and decide which of the following is a main event, which is a really important event in the story.

A, the thunder was very loud and scary.

Is that a main idea or a minor detail? B, the swans had no home so travelled for many years.

Is that a main idea or a minor detail? C, they could hear bells chiming on the day of the wedding.

Is that a main event or a minor detail? D, a wedding takes place which breaks the Queen's curse.

Is that a main idea or a minor detail? So, I'd like you to tell me which of these are main events.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

The main events in the story are that the swans had no home and travelled for many years.

And that a wedding takes place, which breaks the curse.

The fact that the thunder was loud and the fact that they could hear some bells are minor details.

They're not main events.

Now, looking at illustrations, which are the pictures can help you to identify the main events in the story.

The illustrator cannot always include a picture of every single moment.

So, looking at what they've chosen to illustrate can help you because they've looked at the story and chosen to illustrate the main ideas.

Remember, the main events are what makes the story flow.

Without these events, the story would not make sense.

For example, if the king didn't go off to war, the story wouldn't make sense, because the Queen probably wouldn't have been able to turn the children into swans, because he would've stopped that from happening.

But the fact that the thunder was allowed, that doesn't change the flow of the story.

That's a minor detail.

So, I'm going to do an activity and then you are going to repeat it.

So, first of all, it's my turn.

You are going to be the teacher and tell me if I'm doing it correctly.

So, let me see what I have to do.

I'm going to look at the illustrations, the pictures in chapter one, and I'm going to tell you what I think the main events are in that chapter.

Okay, so I'm looking at the illustrations, the pictures in chapter one.

So, here's my book.

I'm gonna look at those pictures.

Oh, they're lovely pictures.

Right and thinking about what the main events are.

Okay.

So, I can see an illustration that shows the Queen filled with jealousy as the king smiles at his children.

So, that shows me that picture where the Queen is looking sort of in a jealous way at the king who's happily smiling at his children.

That tells me that a main event is that the Queen is jealous of King Lir love for his four children.

Okay, now it's your turn.

So, you are going to look at the illustrations, the pictures in chapter two.

So, not chapter one, we've just looked at that.

And when you see chapter three, you need to stop.

We're just looking at the pictures or the illustrations in chapter two.

What chapter are we looking at? That's right, chapter two.

So you might say, "Oh, an illustration on this page shows" and describe what you can see.

And then you can tell your partner what you think the main event is in that chapter, based on the pictures.

Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

I heard some of you saying that you saw a picture of the king reading a letter and his children looking sad.

And then you saw a picture of the king leaving with his men to go off to war and waving goodbye to his children.

So, that means that the king going away to war, must be a main event in the chapter.

And I also heard you saying that you saw a picture of the Queen with her wand and a picture of the children turning into swans.

So, another main event in that chapter is that the wicked Queen did a spell which turned the children into swans.

So, it's time for your second task.

In the second task, I would like you to look through the whole of the story of "The Children of Lir" and I'd like you to choose a main event from each of the five chapters.

And then I would like you to write down these five main events in chronological order.

So, first you'll look at chapter one, because that's the first chapter.

And you'll look through using the illustrations to help you.

And then you're gonna think, "I think the main idea in this chapter is this." And then you will write it down, the main event in a sentence.

Then you look at chapter two, look through the illustrations and decide what's the main event in chapter two and then write it down and then continue like that for chapters three, four, and five.

So, by the end of this task, you will have five sentences, which will be the five main events in the story in the order that they happen.

Good luck with this task.

Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

Let's see how you got on.

Here are some examples of the main events you might have written down.

So, you might have decided the main event in chapter one was the Queen was jealous of King Lir's love for his children.

You might have decided the main idea in chapter two was that King Lir left to fight in a war and the Queen cast a spell that turned the children into swans.

You might have thought that in chapter three, the main event was that when King Lir returned the Swans sung their story to him and the king was furious with the Queen and banished her.

That means he sent her away.

In chapter four, you might have decided that the main event was that King Lir threw the evil wand into the sea, which created a storm that separated the swans from each other for a while.

And you might have decided that in chapter five, the main event is that many years later, the swans returned to the lake.

The news of a wedding broke the evil Queen spell at last and the swans changed back into humans.

So, these are the main events in the story.

So, if somebody said to me, "What is the story The Children of Lir are about?" These are the main events I would tell them about.

They have to know about these events to understand the story.

Let's summarise what we've learned today.

We've learned an awful lot, haven't we? We've learned that traditional tales often have a theme that can teach us a lesson about something.

We've learned that the moral of a story can help us to change something in our lives.

We've learned that "The Children of Lir," teaches us to be resilient in the face of challenges, not give up to keep trying.

We've learned that sequencing events in a story, means we put them in the order of which they happen.

And sequencing key parts of the story, helps to summarise the whole story.

So, perhaps this week when you are reading independently, you could stop to think what is the main theme in the story? What's the moral of the story? What's the lesson it teaches you? Can it teach you something? But also, could you think of the main events in that story to tell someone else what that story you are reading is about.

Well done for all your hard work today.

You've learned some really important skills and I think you should feel really proud of yourselves.

Hopefully I'll see you for some more learning another time.

Bye for now.