Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Johnson and I'm going to be teaching you English today.

In today's lesson, we're going to develop vocabulary for our non-chronological reports on portia spiders.

If you haven't watched the previous lessons, I suggest you pause the video and go back and watch those lessons before you complete this lesson.

If you have, then let's get started.

We're going to start today's lesson by recapping everything you know or what you already know about portia spiders.

Remember, we are going to be writing a non-chronological report about portia spiders.

We're then going to look at subject specific vocabulary.

So these are words that you need to know because these are words that are often found in reports about animals, and so they're good for you to have in your vocabulary bank.

Then we're going to develop some expanded noun phrases together.

If you don't know what an expanded noun phrase is, don't worry because I will be explaining that to you today.

And then we're going to put all this together, bring it together, and we're going to develop a word bank that we can take with us for future lessons on our non-chronological report writing.

In the lesson today, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pen or pencil, and your brain.

I really want you to be doing lots of the work today.

Sometimes it might feel difficult, and that's okay.

The most important thing today is that you just give it a go and you have a try, and you show that you can be resilient.

Okay, let's get started.

We're going to start the lesson with a recap.

I would like you to write down three facts you can remember about portia spiders.

What three facts can you remember? If you have your mind map from the previous lessons, then you could be looking at that to help you.

If not, use the picture here to help you as well.

So pause the video and write down three facts you can remember, and press play when you're ready to resume.

Fantastic, so I have picked some facts as well.

Now, you might have slightly different facts to me and that's perfectly fine.

So the three facts that I thought were important that I could remember were these.

I said, the portia spider has three superpowers.

They're excellent jumpers, their eyesight is fantastic, and they're really intelligent.

So they are geniuses.

I said they are spider eating spiders.

I don't know why but that fact is one that I can just always remember about them.

And they can jump up to 50 times their own body length.

That is incredible.

That is so far.

So these three facts stuck in my head.

I wonder what three facts you could remember.

And as I said before, if they were different, that's absolutely fine.

Okay, now we're going to learn some new vocabulary.

This is subject specific vocabulary.

By that, I mean it's specific to a report on animals.

So I wouldn't necessarily find it in other types of writing, and so these are words that we just need to know.

So I'm going to introduce the words to you and we're going to explore each of the words today.

We're going to look at words, so subject specific vocabulary, that is linked to the appearance of an animal.

Can you think of any already that you might have heard in the previous lessons? So pause the video and see if you can think of any.

Great, now I'm sure some of you might have found that a bit tricky, and that's okay.

So we're going to look at some now.

The first word that we're going to look at is species.

Say it after me, species.

Now, this is a word that I use often to refer to my noun differently.

So I replace portia spider often with species.

Say it once more, species.

And a definition of this is a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals.

So synonyms, which means words are the same as, are type, kind and category.

So it is how you would group a set of animals together.

For instance, in a sentence, portia spiders are a unique species.

Say the word once more, species.

The second subject specific word that I'm sure you've heard of before is camouflage.

Say it, camouflage.

And it means to hide or disguise the presence of a person, animal, or object.

Camouflage, so words that have the same meaning as this are disguise, hide, and conceal.

Conceal also means hide.

And in a sentence, it reads, portia spiders are camouflaged with their surroundings.

So it's an adaptation because being camouflaged allows predators not to see them.

It also means prey don't necessarily see them either, so camouflaged.

The final word that we're going to learn that is subject specific is adaptation.

Say it, adaptation.

And again, I've used this word quite frequently.

This word means the process of change by which an organism, so an animal, becomes better suited to its environment.

So it's how an animal's body might change over time to help them survive for longer in an environment.

So synonyms of this word, words that have the same meaning as it, are change, alter and modify.

In a sentence, it sounds like this.

The portia spider's eight bulging eyes are an adaptation that help them to catch prey.

Those eight eyes, that incredible eyesight that we learned about is why they're so effective at catching prey.

So this has made them more and more successful, so it's become an adaptation.

It's something that has developed over time, a change to make them better suited to their environment.

Well done, so there's three keywords that we've learned today.

We're now going to look at expanded noun phrases.

Expanded noun phrases add detail to descriptions.

So they're really effective in this type of writing because they help us identify different species.

You know what species means now.

But they also help to add detail.

An expanded noun phrase, the one we're going to look at today, is an adjective, two adjectives in a list split by a comma describing a noun.

So it goes adjective, ch, comma, adjective, noun.

So I've got an example here.

I could talk about the sports car, but this isn't very defining.

It doesn't help me categorise the sports car very well because in a car park, there might be more than one sports car.

So in order to add more detail, I've made an expanded noun phrase.

I've added in two adjectives.

That's all it means.

An expanded noun phrase means you're expanding the noun.

So I've said the red, shiny sports car.

And it's a phrase because it doesn't have a verb in it, and it's expanded because now I've added in two adjectives, red and shiny, and I've used a comma to separate them.

Now, I've got one big top tip for writing expanded noun phrases.

Are you ready? Because in a minute you're going to be writing your own.

You should pick two adjectives that are slightly different in meaning.

Otherwise, it's a bit pointless.

So if you have two that are the same, so the cold, freezing night, that doesn't really tell me much about the night.

I could say the cold, dark night 'cause then I've got two different examples added on.

If I had the same adjective, a synonym of one adjective, it doesn't really make sense and it stops my writing being as effective and descriptive as it could be.

So an expanded noun phrase, adjective, comma, adjective, noun.

With that in mind, we're going to have a go at writing about the appearance of the portia spider, and we're going to have a go at writing an expanded noun phrase.

So what I would like you to do in a minute is I would like you to write an expanded noun phrase.

I'm going to start calling them ENPs.

It's a really good way of just quickly saying expanded noun phrase 'cause it's such a lengthy word.

So I'm going to write an ENP to describe the overall appearance of a portia spider.

Now, you might want to use a word such as small.

So you could you pause the video now and have a go at writing a word, an expanded noun phrase? Well done, let's see how you got on.

So you might have something slightly different to mine.

I'm going to show you one.

If you want, you can also magpie it.

That means you can copy it and use it in your writing.

So mine was this: unique, minuscule creature.

Say these words after me, unique, miniscule creature.

So creature is my noun.

I start with my noun.

And creature is a different way of saying portia spider.

Miniscule is one of the adjectives I used.

If we looked at the name and we were to break that word down, we could work out the meaning of it.

Min means small, so miniscule means extremely small.

And unique, you might have heard the word unique before.

It means special or rare.

So the unique, miniscule creature.

Now, I'm going to check, unique and miniscule are slightly different in meaning, so this works.

I would maybe use this expanded noun phrase in my opening of my report when I am explaining what's happening and explaining general information about the spider.

Now, we're going to look at the eyes.

The eyes always make me a bit nervous.

I don't like the eyes on a spider.

We're going to have a go at describing the eyes.

We're going to use an expanded noun phrase again, so think of two adjectives.

You might describe the size, you might describe the shape, you might describe the colour of the eyes, and then think about what you could do to describe them.

So pause the video now and write an ENP about the portia spider's eyes.

Well done, so we're going to look at one together now.

Again, you can magpie this if you like it.

I said the large, 'cause they are quite large, bulging eyes.

Note, I've got my comma between the two adjectives because this is a list of adjectives.

So they need a comma between them.

So the large, ch, that's my sound for a comma, ch, bulging eyes.

Bulging means they stick out, okay? And as you can see, the eyes of a spider do stick out.

They're quite prominent on the head, so bulging.

Say it after me, bulging.

It's a fantastic word that you can use in lots of different situations, bulging.

Now, we're going to have a go at describing the fangs, so the two bits at the front of the mouth.

Remember, the fangs are what the portia spider uses to attack its prey.

And I would like you now, in a minute, to pause the video and write an ENP to describe the fangs of a portia spider.

So pause the video here and have a go at doing that, and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

So these were the two words that I picked.

I picked the word venomous.

Say it, venomous.

Venomous means deadly.

Say it again, venomous.

It's quite a hard word to spell.

You have to listen to the ous sound at the end so I separate it into venom and then I add the ous.

Venomous, venomous, so then you bring them back together.

And piercing fangs.

Say it, piercing.

Piercing means really sharp.

So I said they were venomous and piercing fangs because they use them to attack their prey and to kill their prey.

Again, I've got my comma between the two adjectives and I've checked that both adjectives have a slightly different meaning.

So venomous, piercing fangs.

If you like that, you can pause the video now and copy it so that you've got it for your writing.

Well done.

Now we're going to look generally at the species.

What does species mean? Well done, an organism linked by similar characteristics.

We learned that earlier today.

It's a subject specific word.

So I would like you to pause the video and write an ENP to describe the species, and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, let's look at it together.

The intelligent, agile creatures.

So again, I could say species here.

I could say portia spider here.

I've chosen to use creatures 'cause I'm also trying to refer to my nouns differently.

And I've said they are intelligent.

We knew that one of the three superpowers are their intelligence, so really clever animals.

So intelligent works.

Then I've also used a word called agile.

Say it, agile.

Agile means you can move really quickly and easily.

Now, we know portia spiders can jump, and they can abseil down, and they can pluck the strings of the webs.

So we know they're quite agile creatures.

They're very good at moving quickly.

So this works because, again, I've got two different types of adjectives kind of adding detail to a different trait or a different feature of the portia spider, and I've separated them with a comma.

Again, if you like my example, you can pause the video here and you could copy it down.

Well done.

So we have learnt lots and lots of words today.

I have filled your brains.

I told you you needed your brain.

I have filled your brains with vocabulary.

So before we finish today's lesson, it's going to be really important that we go back and we look at some of the vocabulary that we've learnt today, and I am going to ask you to pause the video now and can you remember the meaning of these words? If you can't, do not worry.

I'm going to recap and recap these words so that you will know the meaning of them.

So pause the video now and have a go.

Well done, so shall we go through some together? We're going to start, I'm going to say the word, I'd like you to repeat it after me, and then I'll tell you the meaning.

The first word is agile.

Say it, agile.

Agile means you can move really quickly.

So we know the portia spider is an agile creature.

The next word is miniscule.

Say it, miniscule.

Well done.

Miniscule means really small.

The next word was a subject specific word, it's camouflage.

Say it, camouflage.

And it shows that they are camouflage with the surroundings.

You can't see them in their surroundings.

The next word is venomous.

Say it, venomous.

I just love saying that word.

I don't know why.

Venomous means death.

The next word is another subject specific word and it's species.

Say it, species.

And so species is a group of organisms linked by similar features.

The next word is piercing.

Say it, piercing.

And this refers to the piercings fangs, so the sharp fangs that can pierce through skin.

The next word is unique, unique.

Unique means that it's rare, it's special.

So the unique portia spider because it's got these amazing qualities.

The next word is bulging, bulging.

We use bulging to describe the eyes of the portia spider.

That means they stick out.

They bulge out.

You might have a bulging pocket that's bulging with items in your pocket, a bulging shopping bag.

And finally, another subject specific word, adaptation.

Say it, adaptation.

And adaptation means how the animal has changed over time to suit their environment, and it's a really effective word.

When we're writing about the appearance of the portia spider in a non-chronological report, we will probably use some of these words.

So what I would like you to do with that in mind is perhaps write down three that you're going to promise to yourself that you're going to write, use in your non-chronological report.

So pause the video now and write them down.

Well done.

If you haven't done it, it's also really important you check the spelling of these words and you get them correct.

So I would also like you now to pause the video and check you spelled them correctly.

Fantastic, so this is our ongoing word bank.

We might come back to it and we might add to it as the lessons go on.

So today, we have recapped everything we know about a portia spider.

We have learned some subject specific vocabulary, words such as adaptation, words such as species, words such as camouflage, and we now know what those words mean, and I really hope you're now feeling confident you could use them in your writing.

And we have already written some expanded noun phrases.

Now, an expanded noun phrase is two adjectives separated by a comma describing a noun, and we use them to add specific detail to something that we're describing.

And so you have got a bank of expanded noun phrases.

Do not throw this piece of paper away.

Keep it because you're going to use it in your writing.

And similarly, we have created a word bank where we've brought all these new words that we've learnt today together.

And again, I'd like you to keep that word bank.

Don't get rid of it because we're going to need it later on.

So congratulations, you have completed today's lesson.

I would like you, when you finish this lesson and if it's an appropriate time, to go and share with a parent or carer a new word that you've learnt today.

Now, to prove that you really know what the word means, you should put it into a sentence about the portia spider.

Let's see, that's a challenge for you.

So well done, you've worked really hard today.

There were lots of new words to learn.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons today and take care.