Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

It's Mr. Brown here with your English lesson, and we are writing.

We are writing the first section of our non-chronological report on the Great Fire of London, and this section is going to be about how the fire started.

So we've got lots to do.

Let's get going.

The outcome for today's lesson is: I can write a section of a report on the Great Fire of London.

The keywords we will use in our learning are: fronted adverbials, subheading, and statement.

Let's have a go at saying those together.

My turn.

Your turn.

Fronted adverbials.

Subheading.

Statement.

Very good.

Well done.

Here's the lesson outline.

We will start by looking at preparing to write, focusing on all the preparation we need to do, and then we will move on to writing a section.

The sections of a non-chronological report are structured in this order.

Let's remind ourselves.

We have the introduction, section one, and section two, and in this lesson we are writing the first section, which will be about how the fire started.

The section on how the fire started will inform the reader about when the fire started, where the fire started, what happened, and who was involved.

You may have a plan to help guide you when you're writing this section, but if you don't, there is no need to worry, you can use this one.

Here is a plan of three bullet points that will guide you to write this section.

When we write, we always try and do these things.

Plan and say each section before we write it.

Use punctuation where we know the rules.

Vary our sentence types.

Write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting.

Sound out words to spell them accurately.

And read our sentences out loud to check they make sense and edit to improve our writing if necessary.

Let's check our understanding.

Which of these do we always try and do when writing? A, write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting.

B, write as quickly as we can.

Or C, write as many commas as we can.

A, B, or C? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back, everyone.

So which do we do when we are writing? Well, it's not B, we don't try and write as quickly as we can.

Rushing our writing will lead to mistakes.

C, writing as many commas as we can? You don't get any prizes for writing more commas than someone else.

You use a comma when you need to if there's a punctuation rule that means that you need a comma, but we don't want to want to just write as many as we can, which means the answer is A, write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting.

When writing a report, you'll be telling your reader lots of information.

You'll be writing lots of statements.

A statement is a type of simple sentence that expresses a fact or an opinion, and most often ends with a full stop.

In a report, your statements will be facts and not opinions.

This section of your report will be mostly statements, but how can you make those statements feel varied and interesting to read? Let's check our understanding first.

Which of these is a statement? A, were you aware that the fire started in 1666? B, the fire started in 1666.

Or C, in my opinion, the fire was a terrible accident.

Which of these is a statement, A, B, or C? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

So, A, B, or C? Now, A we can see has a question mark at the end.

Were you aware is a question starter, so that is a question.

B, you can see those words, the fire started in 1666, do appear in A, so A is a question and it has a statement within it, but because it's phrased as a question, it becomes a question.

Whereas B, that is a statement.

C is an opinion, which is a type of statement, but we want factual statements.

So B is the correct answer.

Well done if you said B.

When writing, you should always try to vary your sentence types.

This will help to keep your writing interesting for the reader.

Now a good way to do this is to use fronted adverbials at the start of your sentences.

Another of our keywords popping up there.

A fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma.

There are different types of fronted adverbials, and a writer can vary between them in a piece of writing.

We are going to use fronted adverbials of time and fronted adverbials of place.

Now there are other types of fronted adverbials and we will discover those on our learning journey maybe at different points in year two or beyond, but we are going to focus on fronted adverbials of time and place.

Which of these types of fronted adverbials will we try to use in our writing? A, time; B, character; C, place? Which two of these we're looking for, which two of these will be fronted adverbials we will try to use in our writing? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back, everyone.

So congratulations if you said A and C, time and place.

They're the fronted adverbials that we are trying to use.

Fronted adverbials of time tell the reader when the events in the statement happened.

For example, on Sunday the 2nd of September, 1666, the Great Fire of London started.

You can see on Sunday the 2nd of September, 1666, that's the fronted adverbial of time and it has a comma after it just like every fronted adverbial.

Then we have the statement with a full stop, the Great Fire of London started.

There will be lots of times in your report that you will need to tell the reader when something happened, and fronted adverbials of time, well, they allow you to do this.

Fronted adverbials of time should be as factual as possible when used in a non-chronological report.

For example, on the night of the fire, before midnight, after four days, quickly.

The fronted adverbials of time should be factual and not descriptive ones that may be used in a piece of narrative fiction writing.

So here's an example of some fiction writing based fronted adverbials of time.

In a heartbeat.

A moment later.

As fast as lightning.

Now these are excellent fronted adverbials of time, but not for the piece of writing that we are doing, not for a non-chronological report.

They are too narrative or fiction-based.

We are looking to use things like on the night of the fire, before midnight, after four days.

These are perfect for us.

They are very factual.

Let's check our understanding.

Which of these fronted adverbials of time would not be suitable to use in a non-chronological report? A, on the night of the blaze.

B, on Sunday, the 2nd of September 1666.

C, shortly after the fire had started.

Or D, in the blink of an eye.

Pause the video and decide which one would not be suitable to use in a non-chronological report.

Welcome back.

Okay, congratulations if you said D.

Yes, D is far more fiction-based than the others.

It's much more descriptive, in the blink of an eye.

Whereas the others are very factual.

On the night of the blaze, shortly after the fire had started.

So well done if you said D.

Let's have a go at a talk task.

I would like you to complete these sentences with a fronted adverbial of time, then say the sentences out loud.

On Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666.

Before long.

After four days.

These are the fronted adverbials of time that you can use, and here are two sentences that do not have fronted adverbials at the beginning.

One of them is a fire began in a bakery on Pudding Lane and the other is the whole bakery was on fire.

Your job is to put a fronted adverbial of time in front of those sentences, and then say them out loud.

Okay, it's over to you.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see which fronted adverbials of time that you chose.

So on Sunday the 2nd of September, 1666, a fire began in a bakery on Pudding Lane.

Perfect.

Works really well to tell the reader when the fire began on Pudding Lane, it was Sunday the 2nd of September, 1666.

And then before long, the whole bakery was on fire.

Very nice.

Before long, the whole bakery was on fire.

Works perfectly.

Well done.

Fronted adverbials of place tell the reader where the events in the statement happened.

For example, in Thomas Farriner's bakery, the Great Fire of London started.

That's the fronted adverbial of place with a comma afterwards and then there's your statement with a full stop.

There will be lots of times in your writing that you will need to tell the reader where something happened, and fronted adverbials of place allow you to do this.

Fronted adverbials of place should be as factual as possible when used in a report, for example, on Pudding Lane, in England's capital city, or nearby.

Let's have a go at another task, shall we? Complete this sentence with a fronted adverbial of place, then say the sentence out loud.

So here's your fronted adverbials of place that you can choose.

On Pudding Lane, in England's capital city, nearby.

And that's your sentence.

A fire began in Thomas Farriner's bakery.

So pause the video and choose which fronted adverbial of place you are going to use now.

And welcome back.

Okay, let's see.

So I have chosen two different fronted adverbials of place to show you how you can use multiple options.

So in England's capital city, a fire began in Thomas Farriner's bakery.

Or, on Pudding Lane, a fire began on Thomas Farriner's bakery.

They both work really well.

Well done if you chose either of those.

Look at the different types of fronted adverbials.

Do you notice something they all have in common? Rapidly, instantly, frantically, desperately, surprisingly, shockingly, astoundingly, devastatingly, sadly.

They all end in ly, and they're all adverbs because they describe a verb.

So these are adverbs that describe a verb and they all end in ly.

You can try to use one of these in your writing today too.

Okay, time to check.

Circle the fronted adverbials in these sentences, then decide which type of fronted adverbials each one is, time or place.

So A, on Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666, the fire began in a bakery that belonged to a man called Thomas Farriner.

Before long, now we're on to B.

Before long, the whole bakery was alight and Thomas and his family had to escape or risk being trapped in the burning building.

And C, on Pudding Lane, the fire started to spread.

I would like you to circle the fronted adverbials and then make a note whether they are time or place.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see if you managed to get these right.

So there's your fronted adverbial, on Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666, and it is time.

It's a time fronted adverbial.

B, before long, time again.

And C, on Pudding Lane.

What do you think? Yes, it's place.

Well done.

Time for a talk task.

Say the first two sentences of this section of your report out loud.

Use a fronted adverbial at the start of each sentence.

Use the plan below to help you.

You can see there is a plan, three bullet points.

I would like you to use that plan to say the first two sentences of this section of your report out loud.

And I would love it if you could use a fronted adverbial at the start of each sentence.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back.

Let's take a look at an example.

But first, did you check your sentences? Did you include a fronted adverbial of time and place? If not, you might want to edit your sentences and have a go now.

Here's an example.

On Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666, so there's my fronted adverbial of time, the Great Fire of London started.

Inside a bakery on Pudding Lane, and there's my fronted adverbial of place, Thomas Farriner forgot to put out his oven and a spark started a devastating fire.

Well done if you were able to include a fronted adverbial of time or place in your sentences.

Let's move on to writing a section.

Here is the success criteria that we will be using today.

Let me talk you through it.

The first is we have included a subheading.

I have written a subheading.

That's the first thing that we'll be focusing on.

I have informed the reader of the key information about how the fire started.

So that is telling them when, where, what, who, ensuring that they know everything they need to know about how the fire started.

I have used at least two fronted adverbials with commas.

We've been practising those lots in today's lesson, so I can't wait to see how you include them in your writing.

And the last thing in our success criteria, I have read my writing back to check for any mistakes.

Such an important part of the writing process, reading your writing back, checking for mistakes and editing if necessary.

So it's time to have a go.

We need to complete the first part of our success criteria, which is to write the subheading, and then we're going to write the first sentence on how the fire started.

So here is my writing.

How did the fire start? That's my subheading, and you can see it is underlined as well.

I've included it, so therefore I can tick off I have written a subheading before I've even started my first sentence.

How amazing is that? Already something ticked off in my success criteria.

Let's read my first sentence.

Were you aware that the blazing inferno started in a bakery? Really nice.

I've started with a question to the reader, that will engage them straight away, and I have told them some key information about where the fire started and I've done it as a question.

Let's keep reading.

On Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666, the fire began in a bakery that belonged to a man called Thomas Farriner.

So that tells me I can definitely tick off that I have informed the reader of the key information.

Have I used a fronted adverbial? Ah, on Sunday the 2nd of September, 1666, I have, but my success criteria says I've used at least two fronted adverbials with commas, so I maybe can't tick that one quite yet.

Time for you to have a go.

I would like you to write and underline your subheading and then use the success criteria and your plan to write the section on how the fire started.

Here's your success criteria.

Remember, we are trying to tick off every single part of that success criteria.

It is over to you now.

Write your section on how the fire started, including a subheading now.

Welcome back, everyone.

I am sure you did fantastically well.

Make sure before you do anything else that you have read your writing back to check it makes sense, and to edit any punctuation errors or anything that is necessary to be tweaked or improved.

Then I want you to check your success criteria and tick each box when you've completed the success criteria.

Let's have a look at an example.

How did the fire start? Okay, great, well, that's my subheading, so I can tick that off already.

Were you aware that the blazing inferno started in a bakery? On Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666, the fire began in a bakery that belonged to a man called Thomas Farriner.

Unfortunately, Mr. Farriner had forgotten to put out the fire in his kitchen and the fire soon grew out of control.

Before long, the whole bakery was alight and Thomas and his family had to escape or risk being trapped in the burning building.

On Pudding Lane, the fire started to spread.

So I know I've included a subheading that was underlined, so I've ticked that off already.

I'm now going to focus on fronted adverbials because I think I have included at least two.

I've got, yeah, on the Sunday, the 2nd of September, 1666.

Before long, that's a time fronted adverbial.

On Pudding Lane, that's a fronted adverbial place.

And then I've got unfortunately, which is a fronted adverbial as well.

So I can definitely tick that off.

I can definitely tick off that I've informed the reader of the information that they need to know, when, where, what, who.

I've got all of that in there.

So now it's just reading my writing back to check for any mistakes.

And I did that by reading it to you, so I can tick that off as well.

Let's summarise our learning today.

The first section of a report should inform the reader about how the fire started.

The first section of our Great Fire of London report should inform the reader of how the fire started.

A subheading, well, that's a mini heading given to a specific section of a report.

And fronted adverbials are sentence starters followed by a comma.

Well done today.

Excellent work on writing the first section of our report, but it's not finished yet.

We have the second section to write too, and that will be about how the fire spread and how it stopped.

Brilliant work today.

I will see you again very soon.