Lesson video

Hello.

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

I'm really excited about today's lesson because in today's lesson we're going to learn all about Portia spiders.

In order to write a non-chronological report on them.

So when you're ready, let's get started.

We're going to start today's lesson by recapping everything we know already about non-chronological reports.

Then we're going to do some research and note taking on Portia spiders.

And then we're going to look at the layout of a non-chronological report again and then we're going to finish with a task today.

I'm really excited about today's lesson.

I think you're going to enjoy this one.

So, in this lesson today you will need an exercise book or paper and pen or a pencil.

You probably only need a few pieces of paper today and you're going to need your brain.

There's lots of listening and thinking to be doing today and we'll be testing your memory a little bit as well.

Now today's lesson involves a video clip.

So if there's lots of noise around it might be a bit difficult to hear this one.

So I suggest if there's a TV on, you turn it off.

If the window is open, you shut it.

So pause the video now and just remove those distractions.

Okay.

When you're ready, let's get started.

So we're going to start by recapping non-chronological reports.

So we are writing a non-chronological report.

Let's see what features you can remember.

So I have got four features on here that link that are all found in a non-chronological report.

There are some that definitely you would not find in non-chronological report.

So what I'd like you to do, is can you pause the video and see A, if you can remember what the features are and B would you find them in a non-chronological report? Pause the video now, off you go.

Well done.

Let's see which ones you linked.

So the ones in blue are the ones I think you would find in a non-chronological report.

The first one is factual information, facts about a place or a species or whatever you're writing about.

You would find subheadings.

These are like titles but subheadings occur a lot more frequently than just one title.

And they section a report into different parts.

Then we have formal language, formal language remember our top hat is when we write as if we're writing scientifically rather than as if we were writing to our friend.

And because of that, we also have formal conjunctions which are formal joining words, such as, however also, furthermore.

You wouldn't find informal language.

You'd find that in a diary entry.

Words like awesome or cool.

And you wouldn't find speech, character speech would often be found in a fiction text or in a narrative.

So well done.

I wonder how many of those you remembered.

So, I'm going to introduce you now to a Portia Spider.

So we're going to be writing non-chronological reports on Portia spiders.

Now these are really interesting spiders and you're about to learn all about them.

And we are going to be looking at their appearance which is quite unusual and their diet and hunting skills.

Today, we're going to be learning all about Portia spiders and we're going to be doing some research and note taking.

Note-taking is when we write down key points.

So bullet points.

You don't have to write in full sentences today.

You are just taking notes.

The most important thing about today's lesson, is by the end of it, you tell me lots of information about a Portia spider.

So how can we find out information for our non-chronological reports? What could we do? We could look at non-fiction information text.

We could look at websites for information or we could look at videos.

Now I'm sure you'd be quite glad to hear that we're actually going to look at a video today to find out our information.

And the clip we're going to watch comes from BBC Earth.

And it was from a series called The Hunt.

And we're looking at the spider with three super powers.

So the clip that we're about to watch is by BBC Earth.

So sit back.

I want you to be listening throughout this.

At the end, I'm going to ask you to write down some key points about spiders, probably about three key points.

So you might want to pause the video as you watch the clip in order to jot down some notes but we will be recapping together as well.

So just enjoy the clip.

Well done! I hope you enjoyed that video.

It's really entertaining, isn't it? A fantastic clip on Portia spiders.

What I'd like you to do now though, in case you didn't have time to do this whilst you were watching the video, is I'd like you to pause the video and write down three things you learned about the Portia spider and then press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

Let's see what I can remember as well.

So I've written in note form, and that's fine for today's lesson because I am just trying to get as much information into my head as possible.

So these were some of the key points that I remembered from the video, but it's not everything that I remembered.

So there might be some extra things that you found that I have missed off here.

And that's fantastic.

So Portia spiders have three super powers, jumping, eyesight and intelligence.

So they're excellent jumpers, they have fantastic eyesight and they are geniuses.

They are intelligent, as the video said.

Portia spiders can jump up to 50 times their own body length.

That is incredible.

That's a huge leap.

If you imagined doing long jump or doing a jump from a standing position, it's really hard and they can jump 50 times their own height and their own length.

I can't imagine being able to do that.

They are spider eating spiders.

So it's a spider eating spider.

Now, that's quite an interesting fact because they eat their own other species, which is really strange.

The Portia spider can abseil, that means it can go down onto its unsuspecting prey.

So it uses its web to launch onto its prey and it can pluck as well.

Their prey's kind of web in order to make them think they're being caught.

It eats prey three times their own size.

So that's like us eating something three times our own size.

That is huge.

This is a minuscule spider.

They have eight bulging eyes, so bulging means they kind of stick out and they have two venomous fangs.

And those two fangs are really important for when they attack their prey.

So I wonder how many you had down.

What I'd like to do now is I'd like you to pause the video and pick your favourite facts that perhaps you didn't have, that I had.

And add it to your list.

So pause the video now and add a fact to your list.

Well done.

So you should now have some information on Portia spiders.

What we're going to look at next, is we're going to just quickly review where we think in our reports, these facts are going to be placed.

And this is just helping us develop our awareness of layout.

Remember, in our previous lesson, when we looked at the features of a non-chronological report, we said we always have to think about layout because what's difficult about planning a non-chronological report is sometimes we have lots of information and we don't know where best to put it.

So here is a fact, where would you place it? Would you place it in the opening? The sub section, we're going to have one on appearance, the subsection, is like a section of our reports, or the subsection on diet and hunting.

So diet is what the species eats.

And would you put it in the closing? So listen to the fact, pause the video and decide where you're going to put it.

Portia spiders have three superpowers, jumping, eyesight and intelligence, pause the video and decide.

You can point if you want, where are you going to put it? Well done.

So this is a very general fact.

So I said it should go in the opening because it's general information about Portia spiders.

So it's a really interesting fact too.

So hooks the reader in.

So I think it should go in the opening.

Next fact.

They have eight bulging eyes.

Where should it go? Pause the video and point.

Off you go.

Well done.

So this is describing what they look like.

So I said it should go in the appearance section.

It describes how they look.

They eat prey three times their own size.

So prey is something that they eat.

Okay, your prey is what you eat.

So they eat prey three times their own size.

Should it go in diet and hunting, appearance or closing or opening? Pause the video and point.

Well done.

So I said it should go in the diet and hunting section because it's talking about what they're eating.

Finally, they are fascinating creatures.

This is another general fact.

So where could it go? It's quite general.

So pause the video and point, off you go.

Well done.

So actually I've tricked you here.

I think this one could go in either the opening or the closing, because this is a really general fact.

So it can go either in the opening or the closing, it would work in both.

Well done.

Now we're going to go onto our task for today.

Today, I would like you to draw your own image of a Portia spider.

So I've given you a prompt here to help you.

And then I'd like you to annotate it with key facts.

So by this, I would like you to draw a line and tell me what you know about it.

You might draw a line to the eyes and tell me what you know.

So pause the video now and have a go.

Well done.

Let's see how I got on.

So these are what mine looked like.

Now you can add, in a minute, I'm going to ask you to add some of your ideas to your sheet as well.

But as you can see, Portia spiders, I said are a spider eating spider.

They have eight legs, two venomous, fangs, eight eyes.

They abseil and pluck strings of the prey's web to catch them.

And they jump 50 times their own body length and they eat prey three times it's own size.

These are what I thought were really key facts.

Now I want to make sure when I write my report that I use these key facts, but this is to help me remember.

And throughout the rest of this unit, I can always come back to these lesson, this picture and I can check what I've written on it.

So what I'd like you to do now is pause the video and add maybe two facts that you didn't have on yours, off you go.

Well done.

Really impressed today.

You've worked really hard.

So put this to one place and keep it safe.

You're going to need this in our future lessons.

So today we have recapped on non-chronological reports.

We have done some research and note taking on Portia spiders.

We've briefly looked at where we might place some of those facts, the layout of our non-chronological report.

And we have completed our task, our mind map on Portia spiders.

Now I think what would be a really nice way to end today's lesson as you have completed your lesson now, is if you share some facts about Portia spiders with either your parent or your carer.

And that would be really good way of remembering everything you've learned in today's lesson.

And then I really look forward to seeing you soon.

I hope you have an excellent day and take care.