Lesson video

Hi everyone, my name is Miss Voyle and I am really excited to be teaching you your reading lesson today where we are going to be exploring character, setting and plot in the story, "The Planet in a Pickle Jar".

For this lesson, you need a copy of the 2023 Flying Eye Books edition of "The Planet in a Pickle Jar", written and illustrated by Martin Stanev.

Pause the video and get your copy of the book now.

Great.

Now I know you have the book with you.

During this lesson, you'll need to be listening and looking carefully and there will also be tasks where you need somebody to talk to.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is, I can explore the story through discussing the characters, setting and plot.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn, your turn.

Character.

Setting.

Plot.

Perspective.

Great job, well done.

You will be hearing these words lots throughout today's lesson and we will be discussing their meanings.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be exploring character and setting within the story and in the second part, we will be exploring the plot.

So let's begin with exploring character and setting.

"The Planet in a Pickle Jar" is the title of the book we are going to be reading today.

Let's find out a little bit about it.

"The Planet in a Pickle Jar" is a children's story which is told through narrative writing and illustrations.

It is a narrative fiction text which contains magical elements.

The story also contains important and meaningful messages about real life issues.

Martin Stanev is the author and illustrator of the story.

Who are the main characters in the story? A character is a person or animal in a story.

The main characters in the story are the grandma who we can see in the middle of the illustration, and her two grandchildren.

We do not learn the names of the grandchildren as they are the narrators of the story.

This means that the story is told from their perspective.

Let's check your understanding.

Who are the narrators in "The Planet in a Pickle Jar"? A, the grandma, B, Martin Stanev or C, the grandchildren.

Pause the video now and select your answer.

The answer is C, well done.

The grandchildren are the narrators in "The Planet in a Pickle Jar".

Why is it important to pay close attention to the words and the illustrations within a story? The narrative writing within a picture book is only one element of the storytelling.

This is especially true if the narrators are characters themselves as the story is being told from their perspective.

Illustrations are used as a key element of storytelling in certain books.

They often communicate messages that the words don't.

At the beginning of "The Planet in a Pickle Jar", the illustrations show a different story to the one being told by the narrators.

So it is really important to pay close attention to the words and the illustrations in this book.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? The narrative writing always tells us the whole story in a book.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false, well done.

When the narrators are also characters, the words are from their perspective.

This means that we might not be hearing the whole story.

Illustrations are also used as a key element of storytelling and we can find things out from looking at the illustrations carefully that we might not be able to find out from the words.

The setting of the story is where the story takes place.

There can be more than one setting in a story.

It's now time for you to read the beginning of the story up to page eight where the illustration shows the grandma in the ocean.

Pay attention to the different settings, the illustrations show and how this differs from the narrative writing.

Pause the video, read this section now and come back and press play when you are ready.

Welcome back, I hope you really enjoyed reading the beginning of "The Planet in a Pickle Jar" and exploring all of the wonderful illustrations.

Let's check your understanding.

How do the grandchildren feel about their grandma? A, they think she is really fun and exciting, B, they think she is boring and dull or C, they think she is witty and funny.

Pause the video and select your answer.

The answer is B, well done.

The grandchildren who are the narrators, think that their grandma is really boring and dull.

True or false? The illustrations show the grandma in one setting living a very quiet and simple life.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false.

Well done.

The illustrations show the grandma living a life that is far from quiet or simple.

It's time for your first task.

Explore pages one to eight of the story again.

How do the illustrations tell a different story to the narrative writing? Your sentence starters are, the narrators' perspective of their grandma is and here you would want to explain what the narrators, the grandchildren, think about their grandma.

Your next sentence starter is, the illustrations show, this suggests and here you would want to explain how the illustrations show a different story to the one the narrators are telling.

Pause the video to explore these pages and discuss this with your partner now.

Welcome back.

You were fantastic at comparing the narrative writing to the illustrations and spotting how they tell a different story.

Let's take a look at a good response.

The narrators' perspective of their grandma is that she lives a very simple life.

They describe her as dull and they find the things that she does boring.

The illustrations show the grandma in a variety of vibrant settings doing unique activities.

This suggests that there is more to the grandma than the grandchildren see.

Well done for reading the beginning of the story and exploring the narrative writing and the illustrations.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where we will be reading the rest of "The Planet in a Pickle Jar" and exploring the plot.

What do we know so far about the story of "The Planet in a Pickle Jar"? Let's remind ourselves.

The characters are the grandma and her grandchildren.

The grandchildren are the narrators of the story, which means that the story is told from their perspective.

At the beginning of "The Planet in a Pickle Jar", the illustrations show a different story to the one being told by the narrators.

The narrators think their grandma lives a quiet and simple life and they find her boring.

The illustrations show the grandma in a variety of vibrant settings doing unique and exciting activities.

I hope you are feeling excited to continue reading the story.

It's time to continue reading from page nine up to page 16.

The illustration on this page shows a room filled with jars.

Pause the video to read this section now and come back and press play when you are ready.

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed reading this section.

What happened? I'd like you to pause the video again and discuss with your partner to see if you can summarise what happened in this part of the book.

Let's recap together.

The grandchildren listened to their grandma and became worried about looking after the world.

They went in search of their grandma, but could not find her.

While trying to escape a leopard, they found a secret door.

The door led to a room filled with jars that contained special items. Let's check your understanding.

How did the grandma captivate her grandchildren? Captivate means to attract and hold the interest or attention of someone.

A, by letting them play whatever they wanted, B, by giving them lots of treats or C, by explaining how the world's natural wonders are being damaged by human activity.

Pause the video and select your answer.

The answer is C, well done.

We know that at the beginning of the story, the grandchildren found their grandma boring, but when she explained how the world's natural wonders were being damaged by human activity, she managed to captivate her grandchildren.

They were engaged and interested in what she was saying.

True or false? The room full of jars only contained the world's natural elements.

Look carefully at the illustration on pages 15 and 16 before selecting your answer.

Pause the video now to decide whether this statement is true or false.

It is false, well done.

The jars also contained items that were personal and meaningful to the grandma, like her grandchildren, yarn for knitting, a book and even a slice of cake.

This lets us know even more about the grandma's character and the things that she liked or loved and held dear.

It's now time for you to finish reading the book and I am sure you are really excited to find out how it ends.

Continue reading the story from page 17 up to the very end.

The illustration on this page shows the grandchildren holding jars alongside their grandma.

Pause the video to read this section now and come back and press play when you are ready.

Welcome back.

I hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading the rest of the story.

What happened in this final part? Pause the video again to see if you can summarise this with your partner.

Let's recap together.

The grandchildren entered a sanctuary full of natural wonders.

They found their grandma and were reunited with her.

The grandma explained that she was getting older and needed their help in protecting the planet.

The grandchildren began to help by pickling the world's wonders in jars with her.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? When the grandchildren entered the sanctuary of natural wonders, their perspective of their grandma changed.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is true, well done.

Seeing the world of natural wonders their grandma had built made them realise that she was far more interesting than they had thought.

How do the grandchildren respond to their grandma's request to help her? A, they tell her it's too dangerous and she should stop, B, they say the planet doesn't matter and they don't want to help or C, they join her in pickling the world's wonders to protect the planet for the future.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

The answer is C, well done.

The grandchildren join their grandma in pickling the world's wonders to protect the planet for the future.

It's time for your final task and it is another talk task.

Reflect on what you have read.

Share your opinions and discuss them.

Likes, what caught your attention and why? Dislikes, was there anything that you didn't enjoy in the story? And puzzles, was there anything you found surprising? Pause the video and discuss these questions with your partner now.

I loved listening to your discussions and hearing all of your different opinions.

Let's share some examples of what I heard.

For likes, what caught your attention and why? One person said, "The illustrations were my absolute favourite part, because they are so vibrant and I could uncover so much about the story through exploring them." I feel the same way.

I love the illustrations in this story and I found it really fun trying to uncover meaning from the illustrations that the words weren't telling us.

For dislikes, was there anything that you didn't enjoy? One person said, "It made me sad to think about how parts of our world are being damaged or destroyed.

I would like to see as much of the world's wonders as possible." That's understandable.

Hopefully reading this story has made you consider ways that you could protect the planet for the future.

And for puzzles, was there anything you found surprising? Someone said, "I found many of the magical elements of the story surprising.

I didn't know which animals or natural wonders would be uncovered next." This is true.

We encountered so many different natural elements of the world through the story, including a variety of different animals, and it wasn't clear what would happen next, because the setting changed so often and we met so many different creatures.

Well done for discussing and sharing your opinions on the story.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

"The Planet in a Pickle Jar" is told through narrative writing and illustrations and it includes magical elements.

The grandchildren are characters and the narrators of the story, which means it is told from their perspective.

At the beginning, the illustrations show a different story to the one being told by the narrators.

The story contains multiple settings and it moves quickly between them.

And the plot follows the grandchildren as they uncover their grandma's desire to protect the world's wonders.

Well done for your hard work in today's lesson.

I have loved sharing this story with you and I hope you have enjoyed reading it.