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 write the opening section of a non-chronological report on Portia spiders.

If you haven't completed the previous lessons, I suggest you go back and complete them before doing this lesson, as otherwise, this lesson might feel a bit tricky.

But if you have, then let's get started.

Start today by looking at our ongoing word bank.

Then we're going to look at the layout, and remind ourselves what an opening needs to do.

Then we're going to look at an example write of an opening of a non-chronological report.

And then we're going to have a go at writing our one for the Portia spider.

So in this lesson today, you're going to need an exercise book or paper, a pen and a pencil.

Really good if that pencil is sharp today, but don't worry if it's not.

But if you can and you've got a sharpener there, definitely sharpen your pencil.

And you need your brain today.

You need to be thinking about your report, not just what I do.

We also need to make sure today that we're sat up nice and straight.

So I always slouch so I need to sit up nice and straight if I can, my feet flat on the floor.

And then because we're doing a writing lesson today, that's going to really help our posture and our pencil grip, and it's going to really make sure we're writing neatly.

So in order to help me with my handwriting as well, I'm going to warm up my hands.

So you can do this with me, let's pinch each finger, first of all.

And then on the other hand, switch hands, pinch each finger.

And then shake and then pinch each finger again.

And then on the other hand, pinch each finger and then shake.

And then the last exercise I want to do is push your fingers together to put pressure on your fingers.

And that's really good.

You can do it like this if that's easier.

It's really good to warm up your hands, and then go as fast as you can, and then you can double tap as well.

And that gets our coordination of our fingers warmed up and ready to go.

Okay, shake out, set up straight and let's get started.

We're going to start today by looking at our word bank.

It's important we do this before we write because I think some of you might be tempted to use words that perhaps you don't know the meaning of.

So I'm going to remind you of the words that I've been showing you in previous lessons.

And I'm going to show you as well today so that you're ready to use them.

So in a minute, I'm going to ask you to pause the video, but let's say the words together first.

So I'm going to say the word and then when I do this, I want you to say the word, ready? Arachnid, arachnid, agile, agile.

Minuscule, minuscule, camouflage, camouflage.

Extraordinary, extraordinary, venomous, venomous.

Species, species, piercing, piercing.

Prey, prey, unique, unique.

Bulging, bulging, adaptation, adaptation.

And now, I would like you to pause the video.

Now we know how to say the words, can you pause the video and tell me what each word means? How many can you remember? Off you go.

Well done, how many did you remember? Shout it out, fantastic, well done.

So now we're going to look at those words together, and I'm going to tell you the meaning of them so that if you want to use them today, you can.

So arachnid is another word for spider.

It's good to use this word 'cause it stops me repeating spider, spider, spider.

Agile means the animal can move quickly.

Minuscule means they're quite small.

Camouflage, you know this one.

Camouflage means a disguise in their environment, they blend in.

Extraordinary means special.

Venomous means poisonous.

Species is a group of organisms that are similar.

So Portia is a species.

Piercing means sharp.

So it pierces through the skin means it would penetrate, or go through the skin of its prey.

Prey are the animals that the spider eats.

Unique means special or rare.

And then bulging means it's almost ready to burst, that your pocket is bulging.

And adaptation is how the animal is suited to its environment and how it's changed over time.

So if there's a word there that you really like today, why don't you pause the video and copy it down, and then press play when you're ready to resume? Well done, so remember, do not use a word unless you know the meaning of it today.

We're now going to think about the layout, and we're thinking about the opening section today.

So before we do that, we always should recap our purpose, audience, language and layout because it's really important before we do any writing.

So the purpose is the reason a text is written.

Why is a non-chronological report written? Shout it out.

Good, a non-chronological report is written in order to inform the reader about the Portia spider.

The audience is the type of people that read a text, or anyone that's interested in a text.

So the people who would read our report are people who are interested in Portia spiders.

The language is the vocabulary that someone has chosen.

And this time, in a Portia spider report, it's going to be formal.

So that means it's not going to be how I would speak in a conversation.

It's going to be what I would read in a nonfiction book.

And then we're going to think about layout.

The layout is how a text is organised.

This is important when we're looking at different sections and writing different sections because today, we're thinking about the opening.

And we're going to look in the next few lessons at the opening and the first sub-section, appearance.

Today, we're just doing the opening.

The opening is really important.

So in the opening, we need to hook the reader in, and we need to tell the reader what the report is going to be about.

Now, you have already planned your opening, so you have got an example here.

And if you haven't already done so, you could use this one instead.

So in my opening, I'm going to hook the reader in using the question, "Have you ever heard of a spider eating spider?" That might be different for you.

You might have a different interesting fact, and a different question and that's okay.

But when I do the modelled write later, you will see me use that question.

Then I'm going to use an expanded noun phrase to describe what type of animal it is.

This is again important because I'm adding detail.

So if I just told you it's a spider, that'd be quite dull and boring, so I'm going to expand on that.

I'm going to give you more information and tell you what type of spider it is, why is it interesting? So an expanded noun phrase.

And then I'm going to say what the report will be about.

And this goes something like the appearance, diet and hunting skills of the Portia spider.

So when I put that into a sentence, I need to make sure I reference the appearance, diet and hunting skills.

So you can catch me out, and see if I do have these things later today.

Before we do our live writing, I would like us to look at an example piece of writing first of all.

And when we look at it, I want you to be thinking about these things in my success criteria.

So what does success criteria mean? It's basically how you can be successful today.

So if you do these three things, then you will have written a fantastic opening.

Now, it doesn't mean that I don't have to worry about punctuation just because I've not written punctuation down.

Punctuation and sentence structure is something that I expect in every piece of writing, okay? So in every piece of writing we do, we always have to be thinking about our punctuation.

Have I got my capital letters and full stops? Have I used commas correctly? And we always have to be thinking about our sentence structure.

Do our sentences make sense? Have I got a clause in every sentence so that it makes sense? And that's really important.

Could I be using a complex sentence? Could I be using a compound sentence for this one? And so we have to juggle lots of things.

You've got the text type features, which are in front of you now on the screen, and you've got your general writing features.

So how are you a successful writer? And when we write, we have to bring those two things together.

So what's in front of you are your text type features.

This is what would make you successful when you're writing the opening of a non-chronological report.

And so that means it is always good at the start of an opening, and these success criteria are specific to an opening.

It's really good to include a question to hook the reader in, and this is how you can start your writing today.

So if you find starting quite tricky, you could always start with a question.

Then you can use an ENP to describe the spider.

And then I would like you to tell your reader what the report will be about.

And once you've done those three things, you can tick them off today.

Before we do a write on the Portia spider, we're going to remind ourselves of what an opening should look like.

So I've got an example opening here today, and this is on polar bears.

So if you think about those features that I've just said, can you find, can you find that information? Can you find a question? Can you find an ENP or where I tell you what the animal is? And can you find where I tell you what the report will be about? Now, there's a little bit more detail in this one.

So don't worry if the information is hidden, just search through.

I'm going to read it for you first, and then I'd like you to pause the video, and find the features.

Polar bears.

Polar bears are one of the largest animals in the world.

Did you know they can measure up to three metres, and weigh up to 800 kilogrammes? This creature lives in cold, treacherous locations such as Russia, Greenland, Norway and Canada.

Polar bears are the kings of the frozen world, and their bodies have adapted to help them survive such freezing conditions.

Read on to find out more interesting information about this unique, fascinating creature's appearance and diet.

So now, I'd like you to pause the video, and can you find those features in the writing? And press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, so I hope as you listened to that, and you read through that, there were some words there that you remembered such as adapted and adaptation.

So I've highlighted now where I think I am telling you information about the polar bear.

So I said they are the largest animal in the world.

And that is me stating what the animal is.

I've also used a question.

I said, "Did you know they can measure up to three metres and weigh up to 800 kilogrammes?" There's my question.

I've again then stated that they're the kings of the frozen world.

So I'm telling you what the animal is.

I haven't used an ENP here to describe the animal, but there is an ENP, cold and treacherous locations, to describe where they live.

But I think if I was to improve this piece of writing, I would add an ENP to describe the animal.

So I would give a tick because the writer has used an ENP, but I would also like one to describe the polar bear.

And then I've done my read on to find out more.

So I've told you what is happening in this report.

So I could say that I have done my success criteria for today.

Now, we're going to think about our own writing on the Portia spider.

We're now going to have a go at writing the opening together.

So you're going to listen to how I write mine, and then you're going to have a go at writing your own one.

So let's have a think, how am I going to do it? So I'm going to start with a question.

Have you, so this is the question that I took from my plan, have you ever heard of a spider eating spider? Full stop, hang on, this is a question, so I must make sure it's got a question mark at the end.

This question is meant to engage my reader.

So your question is one that should be a really interesting fact.

Now, I'm going to add a sentence that tells you that such an animal exists.

So, incredibly, let's make it really interesting for my reader, comma, such a spider exists, that means lives, in overgrown, is a nice adjective to use, overgrown rainforests all over the world.

So, so far, I've written an opening sentence, I've used my question, and I have written something about where they live, so a general other fact.

Now, I'm going to tell you what they are.

So the Portia spider is a, hmm, I must be using ENPs, and I've got one I can use here, a unique, minuscule spider.

The Portia spider is a unique, minuscule spider.

That sounds a little bit repetitive, so perhaps I'm going to say is a unique, minuscule creature.

Now, maybe one other fact about it.

I use a compound sentence here.

I'm going to say and it has three super powers.

Now, I've used some general facts here.

What I haven't done is tell them anything in too much detail that I want to use later.

So just two general facts and a question.

What I'd like you to do now is can you pause the video, write your question and include an ENP to describe the spider? And then press play when you're ready to get going again.

Well done for taking so much time over writing that first section.

The last thing we need to do in our opening is to tell our reader what our report is going to be about.

So I need to tell them what the report is going to be about.

Now, I know my subsections are going to be appearance, diet and hunting.

So I need to tell them that if you read this report, that's what you'll find out.

So this report, now can I add in an adjective here? Hmm, what could I use? I want it to sound interesting.

This fascinating report will, 'cause it's going to do something, provide, that means give, information.

information, information, so it's T-I-O-N at the ending, the -tion ending, about this species' appearance.

Appearance, how do I spell that, I'm not sure? Appearance, now I know I've got a bouncy A, a bouncy vowel sound, so whenever I hear that ah, ah, ah, that bouncy vowel sound, I know I double the consonant.

So appearance, so it's a double P, comma because this is a list, diet and its, do I need an apostrophe here, its? I only use an apostrophe with its when its it is.

This doesn't say and it is incredible, it says its incredible, so I don't use an apostrophe.

Hunting strategies or skills.

Great, now, maybe one final sentence.

Read, oh, hold on, I need a capital letter to start my sentence.

Read on to find out more.

And then I'm going to put an ellipses at the end so that the reader carries on.

So now, let me think next.

Now, I need to also read this over in a second.

Before we do that, you now need to complete your task.

So can you pause the video, and finish your writing for today? Fantastic, you've now written an opening section to a non-chronological report.

Before we finish the lesson today though, we must check back to check our success criteria.

This is important to do after we've done our writing to see if we need to make any edits.

All good writers sometimes have to edit their work.

So let's see.

I think I have included the question to hook the reader in.

I think I've used an expanded noun phrase to describe the spider.

And I think I have told my reader what the report will be about.

So I'm going to check mine, and then I'd let you to check yours.

So have you ever heard of a spider eating spider? That was my hook, that's my question.

I've got unique, minuscule creature.

There's my expanded noun phrase.

And I've got this fascinating report will provide information.

So that's telling my reader what my report will be about.

So what I'd like you to do now is pause the video here, use the success criteria on the screen, and mark your own work, and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, fantastic.

So there I have it, my opening section is written.

Now, there's one other thing I think I could do to improve my work.

I think I could somewhere, make an edit.

Let's have a think.

How could I make another edit to my work? Could I improve an adjective? Could I add an ENP and could I just change some punctuation perhaps that's incorrect? I'm going to improve an adjective and add in an ENP, so add an adjective and add an ENP.

What I'd like you to do is can you pause the video, and improve one thing in your writing? And press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done, so what I improved was I added the word humid to overgrown rainforests.

Humid means really hot.

The air was really hot and hard to breathe in.

So that also added in an ENP to my writing.

So just really easy, by adding in one adjective, I've added in an expanded noun phrase as well.

So I've almost done two things there.

I wonder what edit you made in your writing? So congratulations, you've completed your work for today.

You've written your opening section of your non-chronological report.

That's brilliant work.

Well done, I know you've concentrated really well today.

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