Lesson video

Hi everybody, it's Ms. Gardner.

Thank you so much for coming to join us on our lesson today on our non chronological report on the Portia spider.

Everyone has been doing so brilliantly so far and I hope you've been enjoying the unit as much as I have.

Let's get started.

In our lesson today, we are going to be continuing to plan our non chronological report on the Portia spider.

So your learning outcome today is, I can plan the hunting section of a non chronological report about Portia spiders.

It's really important you're keeping these plans safely for next lesson so that you'll be able to use them when it comes to writing this section.

Our key words for today's lesson, we're going to do my turn, your turn.

Subject specific vocabulary.

Plan, notes.

Let's have a look at the definitions.

Subject specific vocabulary is vocabulary used when writing about a particular subject.

A plan is a framework that writers create before they write a section or whole text and notes are written out of full sentences.

We do not use full sentences with capital letters and full stops in our notes.

There are two sections to our lesson today.

The first is preparing to plan and then the second where we will be writing the plan.

So let's start by preparing to plan.

A non chronological report can be structured into four sections.

An introduction, section one on a particular theme.

Both of these two we've already written.

Section two and a conclusion.

In this lesson we are planning section two on the Portia spider's hunting.

Subject specific vocabulary is words that are specifically related to, in this case the Portia spider.

For example, predator, an animal that hunts and eats other animals.

Or pray, an animal that is eaten by another animal.

We're going to be using these words in our planning lesson today.

So let's just think about how we could use that subject specific vocabulary in our plans today.

Predator, the Portia spider is a predator because it eats other spiders and insects.

So we can use that word to describe the Portia spider.

In fact, we could even use it as a synonym for spider to avoid repeating the word spider again and again.

And pray, we can use to refer to the other spiders and insects that the Portia spider eats.

So let's start learning about the Portia spider and why it is such a skilled hunter.

The Portia spider is a skilled hunter.

It is able to eat stationary spiders, so spiders that aren't moving, up to three times its own size and it can change the way it hunts depending on the prey and the prey's location.

So it's a really, really advanced hunter.

It means it's a really skilled hunter.

Let's check for understanding.

True or false, the Portia spider cannot hunt other spiders.

Pause the video here.

It's false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, the Portia spider has superb hunting skills.

It is able to hunt and kill spiders up to three times its own size.

Or B, the Portia spider only eats plants.

Pause the video here.

That is correct, it is A, it's a superb hunter.

It's able to kill and hunt spiders up to three times its own size.

One of the reasons the Portia spider is such a unique and fascinating creatures that has really amazed scientists for years is its hunting strategies and it's the fact that it has different hunting strategies that it has used and adapted over millions of years to make it able to adapt to hunt really successfully.

So one strategy the Portia spider uses is abseiling.

I wonder if any of you have ever done abseiling before.

It's when you dangle down or hang down on a rope.

The Portia spider uses abseiling as one of its strategies and it abseils down on a string or a thread behind the unsuspecting prey.

Unsuspecting, that means the prey has no idea the Portia spider is there.

It cannot hear it and it cannot see it.

So it's unsuspecting, it doesn't suspect anything.

Then it uses its fangs to attack the prey that is unable to see the Portia spider.

It's two fangs impale the abdomen or the stomach of the prey and the moment when the prey cannot see it.

So it's very, very skilled at hunting.

Let's check our understanding.

Abseiling down towards the prey on a string means the Portia spider can A, be invisible to its prey.

B, be heard by its prey or C, attack its prey out of surprise.

Pause the video here.

That's correct, it is A and C, it's not B because the abseiling strategy means the the Portia spider can come down silently so that the prey cannot hear it.

Well done everybody.

Now another strategy the Portia spider uses is really clever 'cause it performs a trick.

It plucks the web.

Plucking is what we do when we're playing a guitar, you pluck the strings to make the sound and it vibrates.

So the Portia spider plucks the web.

This is a trick.

It tricks its prey into thinking it is tangled or stuck in the web.

As a result, the prey is lured to the web.

That means it's tempted to go towards the web.

So it goes over to the web, to the Portia spider, which the prey thinks is stuck.

And then the Portia spider attacks.

That's a very clever trick from the Portia spider and it manages to successfully lure its prey towards it.

Let's check for understanding.

The Portia spider lures other spiders towards it by tricking them.

Is that true or false? Pause the video here.

That is true.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, the Portia spider plucks at the web to imitate, attract insect.

This lures the prey towards it or B, the Portia spider plucks at the web to distract the prey.

Pause the video here.

That's correct, it is A, it's plucking at that web to pretend to be a trapped insect so that the prey is lured or comes towards it.

Well done everybody.

We've now got a matching activity to check for understanding.

Can you match the verb to the reason the Portia spider uses it? There are two verbs to choose fro, plucking, plucking web and abseiling.

And the reasons the Portia spider does that are either, Portia spider can drop down behind its prey and surprise attack and Portia spider can imitate a attract spider to lure its prey towards it.

Pause the video now and match the verb to the reason the Portia spider uses it.

Let's go through it, so plucking web, why does the plucking web do that? Why does the Portia spider pluck the web? So it can imitate a trapped spider, pretend to be a trapped spider to lure its prey towards it.

And abseiling is when the Portia spider can drop down behind its prey and surprise attack.

Well done everybody.

It's now time for task A.

You need to fill in the blanks with the words in the word blank below.

I'm going to read the sentences and when we reach a blank, I'll say the word blank so you know a word needs to go there.

The Portia spider is a skilled blank and it can eat spiders up to three times its own size.

The predator can change its hunting strategy to successfully blank its prey.

One strategy is that it blank down behind its prey and attacks it.

Another strategy is that it blank its prey by pretending to be stuck in its web.

Have a go now at filling in the missing words using the word bank.

Pause the video now.

Well done for working so hard everybody.

Let's go through the answers.

The Portia spider is a skilled hunter and it can eat spiders up to three times its own size.

The predator can change its hunting strategy to successfully attack its prey.

One strategy is that it abseils down behind its prey and attacks.

Another strategy is that it tricks its prey by pretending to be stuck in its web.

Well done everybody.

It's now time to write our plan.

So just like last time, when we write a plan, we use notes.

Notes are concise and capture key vocabulary and information.

The purpose of notes is to help the writer organise information easily for future use, for when they write their piece of writing.

We use bullet points when note taking and they look like this.

They help make our notes really organised and clear and easy for us to use when we're writing.

Let's check our understanding here.

What is in a plan? A, full sentences with capital letters and full stops.

B, bullet points for notes.

C, subject specific vocabulary or D, unnecessary information.

Pause the video here.

Okay, let's go through the answers.

It's definitely not A, we do not use full sentences with capital letters and full stops and it's definitely not D.

We don't need any unnecessary information in the plan.

So the answers are B and C.

Well done everyone.

It is time for task B where we are going to be writing our plan.

First, you need to write two to three main facts about the Portia spider's diet with subject specific vocabulary.

And the vocabulary that you can use is in the word bank below, you've got spiders, size, skilled and carnivore.

So we're talking about what the spider eats.

That's what we mean by diet.

I'm just gonna show you an example of a bullet point note just to remind you that we don't need to use full sentences.

Skilled predator.

I've used the word skilled from the word bank and I'm not going into too much detail just now 'cause I'll save that for when I write the section.

But that is my first bullet point notes.

Now you need to go and add two more facts about the porter spider's diet.

And can you include the word spiders, size or carnivore? Pause the video now and off you go.

Well done everyone.

Let's go through the bullet point notes all about the Portia spider's diet.

So our first one that I gave you as an example, a skilled predator, then carnivore and that it eats other spiders.

And then finally it eats spiders up to three times its size.

Well done if you manage to use the words from the word bank.

Next, you're going to write two to three main facts about the Portia spider's abseiling strategy using subject specific vocabulary.

The subject specific vocabulary for this section includes abseils, surprise, attack, prey and fangs.

Just like last time, I want you to use bullet points for each set of notes.

You don't need to write full sentences.

I wonder how many of those subject specific vocabulary you can include.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Well done everyone, let's go through what your bullet point notes might look like.

So the first one, it abseils down behind unsuspecting prey and added in an adjective unsuspecting there that wasn't in the word bank.

Surprise attack and attacks prey with fangs.

Well done everyone, if you didn't get any of those facts on your plan, don't worry, you can add them in now.

Now you need to write two to three main facts about the Portia spiders plucking strategy using subject specific vocabulary.

These are in the word bank.

This vocabulary is in the word bank below, they include pray, imitate, plucks, lures and web.

So think back to what you learned in the first section of this lesson about this strategy.

And can you write it out into three separate bullet point notes.

Pause video now and off you go.

Well done everyone.

Let's go through the bullet point notes I've made.

Plucks web to imitate a trapped spider, lures prey towards it and attacks prey at the web.

Well done if you managed to use all those words from the word bank in this section of your plan.

Your final part of your plan is writing down some fronted adverbials that you'll be able to use in your writing.

So can you fill in the table with three formal fronted adverbials and two viewpoint fronted aerials.

Now, it was a while ago that we did this, so I wonder if you can remember examples of formal fronted adverbials of viewpoint fronted adverbials.

Have a little think, but there is also a word bank to help you here.

In addition, amazingly, also, additionally and interestingly, can you sort them into their correct subheading? Pause the video now and off you go.

Well done everyone.

Our formal fronted adverbials were in addition to this and also, which were our and formal fronted adverbials, the ones that build on from a previous sentence and also however, which is our but formal fronted adverbial, which introduces a contrasting idea.

Our viewpoint fronted adverbials, which give a point of view of the writer.

Interestingly and amazingly, I really recommend putting a comma after all your fronted adverbials in your plan so you remember to include them in your writing.

Well done for an excellent lesson today, planning a section on the Portia spider's hunting.

Here's a summary of what we've learnt.

Plans are written in note form with bullet points.

Full sentences are not needed in plans.

Key vocabulary and linguistic features should be logged in a plan.

The Portia spider is a skilled hunter and has developed different strategies that have helped it successfully attack sizable prey.

Make sure you keep these plans safely so you can use them in writing the section in the next lesson.

Well done everybody.