Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name's Mrs. Riley, and today we are going to do some reading together.

In our lesson today we'll be focusing on a book called "Yoshi the Stonecutter".

So the first thing you need to do is to make sure you have a copy of "Yoshi the Stonecutter" in front of you.

You'll need the 2011 Oxford University Press Edition of this book that's written by Becca Heddle and Meg Hunt.

Could you pause the video now while you go and get that book? Well done.

So now I know we all have a copy of the book in front of us, we're ready to start our learning.

The outcome of our lesson today is to make connections linked to your own experiences and sequence events in a story.

These are our key keywords for our lesson today.

That means they're going to be really important for our learning, so let's make sure we know exactly what they all mean.

The first keyword is: my turn, your turn, theme.

Theme.

Well done.

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

The next one is moral.

Moral.

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

So if you read a story, it might teach you a lesson and that would be a moral, the moral of the story.

Sequence.

Sequence.

To sequence is to place events in order.

For example, if you had lots of different little photographs of your day and one of them was of you brushing your teeth in the morning and one of you was eating your lunch and one of you was doing your homework before bed, you might put those events in order if you were going to sequence them.

The next one is chronological.

Now this is a tricky word to say so let's break it up like this.

Chron-o-logical.

Well done.

Chron-o-logical.

Well done.

And chronological means following the order in which a series of events happened.

So if, going back to that example, you got your photos and you put them in order of the time they happened, you would be putting them in chronological order.

In our lesson today, we have two learning cycles.

First, we're going to be making connections and then we're gonna be sequencing the story.

But let's start with making connections.

So let's remind ourselves what do we know about "Yoshi the Stonecutter"? Could you pause the video and tell your talk partner what you can remember about this story.

Well done, it sounds like you remember so many things about this story.

For example, that "Yoshi the Stonecutter" is a traditional tale.

It's been told lots of times by lots of different people and lots of people know this story.

The story is fictional.

That means it's been made up.

It isn't a real story about real events.

The book has illustrations, which are the pictures.

The main characters in the book are Yoshi and the spirit.

Yoshi wishes to be rich and powerful.

The spirit, who is magical, grants each of his wishes.

Now traditional tales often have a theme, that was one of our keywords.

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

So if you are an author and you wanted to write a book, you might think, before you start writing your book, about what you want the theme to be.

What's the main idea in the book going to be about? For example, in the story, "The Tortoise and the Hare", the main theme or the main idea is about wisdom, being wise and clever.

In "Snow White", the main theme is jealousy, because the evil stepmother is jealous of Snow White.

And in "The Elves and the Shoemaker", the main theme is kindness.

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

So for example, in "Snow White", we might learn a lesson based on jealousy, or in "The Elves and the Shoemaker" we might learn a lesson based on kindness.

And this is often referred to as the moral of the story.

You might hear people saying sometimes, "What's the moral of the story?" What's the story teaching us? So let's check what you have understood so far.

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

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

C: they always include the character of the big bad wolf.

And D: are fictional.

There might be more than one option.

Could you pause the video and decide which of these are true of traditional tales? Well done.

Traditional tales often teach us a lesson based on a theme in the story, and they are fictional, they are made-up stories.

In "Yoshi the Stonecutter", the main character, Yoshi, is not happy with his life as a stonecutter.

He wants more than he has.

To begin with, he wants to be rich.

Then, when he has money, he wants to be powerful.

Yoshi is greedy.

Greed can come in many forms. Different people can want different things.

Here are some examples: Some people might be really greedy when it comes to food.

They might want to eat more and more and more delicious things.

Sometimes people are greedy for attention.

They want all the attention and everyone to be looking and talking about them.

Sometimes people are greedy for power.

They want to be in charge.

Sometimes people are greedy for knowledge and they just want to learn more and more and more.

Sometimes people are greedy for success.

They want to keep, perhaps, being promoted in their job and earning more and more money.

Some people might be greedy for love, they might want everyone to love them.

And some people might just be greedy for money, they might want to be really, really rich.

Can you think of a time when you have felt greedy for something? And let me just, before you do that, tell you it is okay to feel greedy.

It's quite a common human feeling.

We all feel greedy for things sometimes.

Just yesterday I was at a party with my children and there were so many yummy things there and I was a bit greedy because I kept wanting to eat everything.

There were so many yummy cakes and jellies and all kinds of yummy things.

And it's okay to feel greedy for things, but it's about how we act is the important thing.

For example, it wouldn't be very kind if because of me being greedy at the party, I went up and stole somebody else's cake, that wouldn't be very kind.

So it's okay to feel greedy, but it's just how we act upon it.

So could you think of a time that you felt greedy for something? Pause the video and tell your partner.

Well done.

I heard lots of honest answers there and lots of very different answers about different times you felt greedy for something.

So let's check that we're all listening.

Which of these is a theme, a main idea in "Yoshi the Stonecutter"? Is it A: kindness, B: jealousy, C: greed, or D: revenge? Pause the video while you choose your answer.

Well done.

The correct answer is C.

Greed is a main theme in "Yoshi the Stonecutter".

It's the main idea.

Yoshi is not content with what he has and he always wants more.

Content is another way of saying happy.

So he's not really happy with what he wants.

He's not content.

He always wants more.

We know one of the main themes is greed.

And a story often has more than one theme.

Yoshi is also naive.

This means he doesn't know much and can believe things too easily.

Naive is the opposite of being wise.

So being wise means that you know lots of things and you are very clever.

Being naive is the opposite of that.

It means that you don't know much and can believe things too easily.

Can you just practise saying that word "naive"? Well done.

Now Yoshi thinks wealth and power are the key things to happiness.

But he learns that this is not the case.

That's what makes Yoshi naive.

He's not very wise because he thinks power and money are the main ways to be happy and he realises it's not true.

So themes, those main ideas, often lead us to morals.

That was that keyword as well, wasn't it? Which teaches us a lesson.

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

So we can look at a theme like the theme of jealousy in "Snow White" and we can learn a lesson, that we don't want to be jealous.

Or we can look at the theme in "Yoshi the Stonecutter" which is of him being greedy, and we can learn that we shouldn't be greedy.

It teaches us a lesson, a moral of a story.

And the moral is often based on the theme.

So the story of "Yoshi the Stonecutter" teaches us to appreciate what we already have.

Instead of always wanting more and more and more, we need to appreciate what we already have.

Wanting more than what we already have doesn't always lead to good things.

We should be grateful for things that we already have in our lives, even the smallest things, because they're the small things that we often take for granted.

We don't often appreciate the small things that we've got so many small things to be grateful of, every single day.

So let's check your listening.

The story of "Yoshi the Stonecutter" teaches us: A: to always work hard and try our best.

B: to be grateful for whatever we have.

C: to treat others as we would like to be treated.

Pause the video while you find your answer.

Well done.

The correct answer is B.

"Yoshi the Stonecutter", the story, teaches us to be grateful for what we have.

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 could act if we were the character and what we would do in our lives.

That's why reading is the most brilliant thing you can do because we learn so much and we also learn morals, special lessons.

We only get to learn from books once we have read and understood them fully.

If you just skimmed through a book and there were lots of bits that you didn't understand, you are not going to really learn that much from that book.

So we need to really understand a book fully so we can learn from them.

So the moral of this story is to feel, to be grateful for what you have.

I'm going to think of something that I am grateful for, and remember, it doesn't need to be a really big thing.

It can be a little thing.

Let me think.

Hmm.

I'm just grateful for the warm toast I had for breakfast this morning.

It helps me appreciate that I have access to food that I can eat in a safe environment.

I'm also grateful because I had delicious honey on my toast and I'm grateful for all the bees that made that delicious honey for me.

So that's a small thing that I'm grateful for this morning.

It can just be as simple as a piece of toast.

Thinking about the moral of this story can help us to appreciate what we have in our lives, all those little things.

So for your task, we are going to focus on this for a second, and I would like you to tell your partner something that you are grateful for and what does this help you to appreciate in your life? Here's a sentence scaffold.

"I am grateful for mm.

It helps me appreciate mm." And remember, it doesn't need to be a big thing.

It can be any little thing, no matter how small, anything you can feel grateful for.

So pause the video and complete this task now.

Wow, that was so lovely to listen to.

I heard so many lovely ideas.

Here are some examples I've seen.

Someone said, "I'm grateful for my family.

It helps me to appreciate how lucky I am to have a loving and supportive family." I heard someone else saying, "I'm grateful for my favourite teddy.

It helps me appreciate how lucky I am to have something that comforts me and makes me feel safe." Because even though a teddy might seem like a small thing to you, some people might not have a teddy and they might really want one.

So all these small things, it's important that we're grateful for them and we are not, like Yoshi, always just wanting more and more and more.

So now we're going to focus on sequencing the story.

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

The main events are the important things that help the story to flow.

So what are some of the main events in the story of "Yoshi the Stonecutter"? What are the important things, the main events? Can you pause the video and tell your partner now? Well done.

Placing events in a sequence means we put them in the order in which they happened.

Can you remember earlier we were talking about if we had those photos of our day, brushing our teeth, eating lunch, doing homework, and we put them in order of when they happened? It's called chronological order.

It's when we put them in order of when they happened.

Here's an example of the main events from page two to nine in chronological order.

So first, Yoshi is not content.

He's not happy with his life as a stonecutter.

He then wishes to become a rich person and finds that his wish is granted by a spirit.

Next, his wish to be a prince is granted by the spirit.

These are the main three events in pages two to nine and they are in chronological order, that's the order in which they happen.

I would like you now to put these events in chronological order: Yoshi wishes to become the Sun, Yoshi wishes to become a rock, and Yoshi wishes to become a cloud.

So which of these happens first, second, and third in the story? Pause the video now.

Well done.

The correct answer is, or the correct order is, first, Yoshi wishes to become the Sun, and then a cloud blocks him and he realises the cloud's more powerful so then he wants to become a cloud, and then he is having an effect on everything but the rock stays strong.

So he thinks the rock's more powerful, so then he wants to become a rock.

When we sequence key parts of a story, it helps us to summarise the whole story.

There are many events in the story, but when we summarise a story, we do not need to include every moment or detail.

For example, the main event, an example of a main event might be that Yoshi used his power as a cloud to flood the roads and villages.

That's quite a main idea in the story.

However, a minor, a small detail, is that the grass turned green.

If I was retelling or summarising this story to someone, I would tell them that Yoshi used his power as a cloud to flood roads and villages, 'cause it's quite an important part.

But I don't need to tell them that the grass turned green.

Another example, a main event is that Yoshi returned to being a stonecutter at the end.

That's a really important part of the story for somebody to understand it.

But I don't need to tell them the small detail that he had a bent back.

They don't need to know that in order to understand the story, it's just a small detail.

So which of the following is a main event? A: The rock was huge and solid.

B: Yoshi became a powerful rock.

C: Yoshi drank water from a cup with jewels on it.

D: Yoshi realised the Sun was more powerful than a prince.

So which of these are really important? Which are main events? There might be more than one.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

The main events are that Yoshi became a powerful rock and Yoshi realised the Sun was more powerful than a prince.

They're the two main events.

The fact that the rock was huge and solid or the fact that the cup had jewels on it are minor details.

So looking at the illustrations can help you to identify the main events in the story.

The illustrator, that's the person that draws the pictures for the story, cannot always include a picture for every single moment.

So looking at what they've chosen to illustrate can help you because they will have chosen to illustrate the main events.

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

Without these events, the story would not make sense.

For example, in the story of "Snow White", which hopefully, you know, because it's a traditional tale, one of the main events is that Snow White goes to live with the Seven Dwarves.

Now that's a really important event and without that the story wouldn't really flow.

So main events are what help the story flow.

The story of "Snow White" wouldn't make sense if you didn't know that key fact, that key fact that she goes to live with the Seven Dwarves 'cause she has to run away from the Wicked Queen.

Okay, so I am going to look at the first picture in the story map on page 24, and I'm going to tell you what I think the main event is.

So I'm turning to page 24 and I'm going to look at the first picture in the story map.

And looking at that first picture, I'm going to tell you what I think the main event is.

Okay.

Right, so.

The illustration shows Yoshi with his tools, looking a bit fed-up and the spirit is watching him.

So that's what I can see happening in that first picture.

So I think the main event is that Yoshi was fed-up with his life working hard as a stonecutter.

Now it's your turn.

You are going to look at the second picture in the story map on page 24.

So everyone needs to be on page 24.

I've looked at the first picture.

You are looking at the second picture in the story map and you are gonna tell me what does that illustration show? And then you are going to tell me what the main event is in that, from looking at the illustration? Pause the video now.

Well done.

Well hopefully, you saw in that second picture that Yoshi is standing and looking at quite a grand house and he's smiling and the spirit is sort of standing and watching him.

So I think that the main event is that Yoshi is jealous of the rich man and wants to be like him.

It's now time for the final task in today's lesson.

I'd like you to look at the story map on page 24.

Hopefully you are all on page 24 because we were just looking at it a second ago.

You are going to use the pictures and you are going to sequence the main events in chronological order.

So you are going to look at each picture, what's the main event in that picture? Write a sentence about it.

Look at the second picture.

What's the main event? Write a sentence about it.

So by the end of this task you will have eight sentences, and in each sentence, each sentence will be the main event, the eight main events in the story.

And by the end of the task, that means you will have summarised the whole of the story of "Yoshi the Stonecutter", which is amazing.

So looking at page 24, using the pictures, sequencing the main events in chronological order.

Could you pause the video now while you complete this task? Well done.

Let's look at some examples of what you might have written: Number one, Yoshi was fed up with his life, working hard as a stonecutter.

Two, Yoshi visited a rich person's house and a spirit heard him make a wish to turn him into a rich person.

Three, Yoshi was not content with being a rich person anymore.

So the spirit granted his wish to become a prince.

Four, the Sun made Yoshi the prince too hot.

Five, Yoshi wished to become the Sun because it was more powerful than a prince.

Six, Yoshi wished to become a cloud because it was more powerful than the Sun.

Seven, Yoshi wished to become a rock because it was more powerful than a cloud, but then someone began to cut into the rock.

Eight, Yoshi returned to being a stonecutter because he realised that power doesn't always bring happiness.

Gosh, so Yoshi wished for so many different things and he kept getting his wishes, but in the end, he ended up where he started, as a stonecutter.

Let's summarise what we've learned today.

Traditional tales often have a theme, a main idea, that is central to the story.

The theme often leads to a moral that can teach us a lesson about something.

Thinking about the moral can help us change something in our lives.

Like in this story, we might decide that we don't want to be greedy and we want to be grateful and appreciate the small things that we have.

When we sequence events in a story, we put them in chronological order.

Sequencing the main events of the story helps to summarise the whole story.

And that's what you just did in that task, you summarised the whole story of "Yoshi the Stonecutter".

So you should feel really proud of yourselves.

Hopefully you've taken away a lot from this lesson, and I would really like you to focus this week on whatever book you are reading independently, on trying to think what's the theme? What's the main idea? What does that main idea teach us? Is there a moral of the story that it teaches you? And perhaps you could also try to, when you've finished the book you're reading, you could have a go at trying to summarise it, telling someone what the book is about by picking out those key main events and leaving out the minor, small details.

So well done for working so hard today.

I've really enjoyed learning with you today.

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

Bye.