Lesson video

Hi everybody, it's Ms. Gardner.

Welcome to your next lesson from our unit, the Stone Age: a non-chronological report.

Thank you for joining in on today's learning.

I'm really excited to get started and I hope you are too, so let's get going.

In today's lesson, we are going to be using our plans to help us to write a paragraph all about the diet.

So your learning outcome is, "I can write a detailed paragraph about the diet of the Stone Age people." So let's start by looking at the key words.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Text flow.

Subheading.

Compound sentence.

Complex sentence.

Fronted adverbial.

Okay, let's go through what these mean.

So text flow is how a text is written to keep the reader engaged.

A subheading is a word, phrase, or sentence used to introduce part of a text.

A compound sentence is a sentence formed of two main clauses and a coordinating conjunction.

A complex sentence is a sentence formed of at least one main clause and a subordinate clause.

And a fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma.

So there are two sections to our lesson today.

In the first, we'll be preparing to write, and in the second, we'll be writing our section about the diet.

So let's start with preparing to write.

So our non-chronological report can be structured into five sections.

Our introduction, section one about the diet, section two, section three, and then our conclusion.

We've written our introduction, so in this lesson we're going to be writing section one.

We'll be focusing on the changes in diet that took place between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic periods.

We'll notice, remember from our plan that there was some really significant changes in the way that they fed themselves throughout the stone age and throughout these two different time periods.

So when we write, we always try to do these things.

Plan and say each sentence before we write it.

Use punctuation where we know the rules.

Showcase each sentence type we know.

Write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting.

Use spelling strategies to spell words accurately, and check and improve our writing when we think we have finished.

So first, let's go back through the notes that we put on our plan in the previous lesson so that we feel really confident with the information that we need to include in this section.

So we'll have our subheading, diet, then the first points we made were all about the Mesolithic people.

So that they were skilled hunter-gatherers, they hunted wild animals like boar and deer and gathered berries and nuts.

This provided protein for strength to hunt and follow wild animals.

They also caught fish like trout and pike.

So these were all facts about the how the people of the Mesolithic period ate and how they fed themselves.

Then we're gonna move on to the Neolithic period, because there was some really significant changes that took place.

They began farming, and they began farming so that they could have a consistent and reliable food supply.

They cultivated, so they grew crops such as wheat, barley, corn, and rice.

They started to domesticate animals such as pigs, sheep, and chickens that could produce food.

For example, chickens could produce egg, and they could eat the meat from the pigs and the sheep.

So this was all the diet, these were facts about the diet in the Neolithic period.

That's the big difference between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic period.

In the Mesolithic period, they were having to move around all the time to find the food, whereas in Neolithic period they were settled and they were being able to kind of grow the food themselves and produce food themselves from the animals.

So this section section needs to include the following for text flow.

We need to have a subheading, which will be diet.

We need to include specific and detailed facts about the diet.

We'll need to include subject-specific vocabulary.

Fronted adverbials, so these include formal fronted adverbials and viewpoint fronted adverbials, and we'll need to have a range of simple, compound, and complex sentences.

So let's remind ourselves about subheading.

A subheading is used to introduce a section of a report and to signal to the reader what the section is about.

A subheading can be underlined to make the section clear for the reader.

So for example, in this section we have our subheading "diet".

That means it's really obvious for the reader where they need to look in the non-chronological report if they're looking for information about the Mesolithic or the Neolithic people's diet and what they ate, it's really what the subheading clearly shows, where they need to go.

So what helps to make the subheading clear for the reader? Let's check for understanding.

Was it A, capital letters, B, bubble writing, or C, underlining? Pause the video now.

That's right, it is underlining.

The first letter needs to start with a capital letter, but that's the only letter, well done.

So let's just now practise saying our sentences out loud so that we can hear if they make sense.

So we're going to say the first sentences of this section out loud, and we're gonna talk about the diet in the Mesolithic period.

So I want to include the facts, and I want you to include the facts about how they were skilled hunter-gatherers and how they hunted wild animals like boar and deer and gathered nuts and berries.

So you can use this sentence scaffold to help you.

I'm going to say blank when there's a space you can fill in using the information from the plan.

If you want to, you can say it to the screen out loud as I'm reading.

Otherwise you can later pause the video and have a go at completing it independently.

Mesolithic people were blank.

They fed themselves by hunting wild animals like blank and gathering blank from their natural surroundings.

Pause the video now and have a go at saying your first sentences out loud.

Okay, let's say these sentences out loud together.

I'm going to cross them off in the bullet point notes above when we've said them so I know that I don't need to want to repeat myself.

Mesolithic people were skilled hunter-gatherers.

They fed themselves by hunting wild animals like boar and deer and gathering berries and nuts from their natural surroundings.

Well done everybody, that's saying those sentences out loud.

So now let's think about using a fronted adverbial from our plan.

On our plan, we included some formal fronted adverbials and some viewpoint fronted adverbials.

So we've already mentioned or said in the previous activity that they hunted wild animals like boar and deer and gathered berries and nuts, so we don't need to say that again, but I want to build on that point and talk about and say what else they hunted and how else they ate.

So I want to mention that they also caught fish from the local rivers and streams and lakes, and they caught fish like trout and pike.

So I'm going to introduce this next fact, and I'm going to use a formal fronted adverbial to do this.

I'm going to use in addition because in addition builds on the point in the previous sentence.

So let's have a go now at saying this sentence out loud.

We want to use a formal fronted adverbial from your plan, and we want to use one that builds on a point from the previous sentence.

So we've said about how they're hunting wild animals.

Now we want to talk about how they also caught fish.

So we have a sentence scaffold to help you.

The first word is a blank, and that's a formal fronted adverbial.

So blank, they caught fish like trout and pike from the local rivers, streams and lakes.

You need to now have a go at saying this sentence using a formal fronted adverbial.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, well done, let's say it together.

I wanna hear everyone saying it really loudly, especially the formal fronted adverbial at the start.

In addition, they caught fish like trout and pike from the local rivers, streams and lakes.

Well done, everybody.

So we know that it's really important for text flow that we have a range of sentence types.

So let's just recap what a complex sentence looks like.

A complex sentence is formed of a main clause stretched with an subordinate adverbial clause, and that starts with a subordinating conjunction.

So we have our main clause, our subordinating conjunction, and then our subordinate clause, and these together form a complex sentence.

So let's look at a main clause and an adverbial clause.

They ate the meat of wild animals.

That's our main clause because it makes sense by itself.

"Because it contained protein to give them the strength to hunt", that's our subordinate clause 'cause it doesn't make sense by itself and it starts with that subordinating conjunction "because".

So the first idea can be stretched with the second idea to make one complex sentence.

Let's have a look.

They ate the meat of wild animals because it contained protein to give them the strength to hunt.

"Because" is our subordinating conjunction.

So that's a great complex sentence, but I'm now gonna show you another sentence, a complex sentence which includes a bit more ambitious vocabulary and a bit more detail.

So interestingly, they ate the meat of wild animals such as wild boar and deer because it contained nutritious protein to give them the strength to hunt for days at a time.

So you can see I've included a viewpoint fronted adverbial at the start, "interestingly".

I've given a stretched fact.

So what kind of wild animals? Wild boar and deer, I've added some extra detail about that fact.

And I've included a factual adjective "nutritious" to describe the protein and the food that they eat.

So this is another complex sentence, but just with a bit more added detail.

So checking for understanding, true or false.

This is a complex sentence.

The Neolithic people gathered berries and nuts because this gave them a balanced diet.

Pause the video now.

That's right, it is true.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, the main clause is stretched with the adverbial subordinate clause that starts with a subordinating conjunction, or B, a complex sentence contains one clause only.

Pause the video now.

That's right, it is A, "the Neolithic people gathered berries and nuts" is your main clause, and then we've stretched that with a subordinate adverbial clause, "because this gave them a balanced diet".

Well done, everyone.

So now let's use a formal fronted adverbial from our plan to introduce the diet of the Neolithic people.

Now we know that the Neolithic people changed the way they ate, so it's a very different type of diet to the Mesolithic people.

So we want to show that, we want to show this contrast, and I'm going to use a contrasting formal fronted adverbial, a "but" formal fronted adverbial, "in contrast".

So let's practise saying this and saying a sentence out loud using this formal fronted adverbial.

So you need to say the first sentence about the Neolithic period out loud, and you need to use a formal fronted adverbial from your plan.

You want to introduce the fact that the Neolithic people began farming for a consistent and reliable food supply.

So here's a sentence scaffold to help you.

You're going to use a formal "but" fronted adverbial to start the sentence.

So blank, the Neolithic people began farming to be able to have a more consistent and reliable food supply.

Pause the video now and have a go at saying this sentence out loud.

Okay, well done everybody.

Let's say this sentence together.

In contrast, the Neolithic people began farming to be able to have a more consistent and reliable food supply, well done.

So it's time for task A, and we're going to do a talk task.

You need to say the first two sentences of section one about the diet in the stone age.

Include the following, a compound or a complex sentence and two specific facts.

And we're going to start by talking just about the Mesolithic diet, so just two facts about how the people of the Mesolithic diet, era ate.

Also, can you include a fronted adverbial of your choice? So saying the first two sentences about how the people of the Mesolithic period ate.

We know they were skill hunter-gatherers, so maybe you could start with that.

Pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, well done everybody, welcome back.

Just think about the sentences that you just said.

Had you included a compound or complex sentence? Were your facts specific about the diet of the Mesolithic people? Did you include a viewpoint fronted adverbial or a formal fronted adverbial? If you need to, pause the video now and have another go at saying your sentences, otherwise I'm going to show you the sentences and read my sentences out loud, and you can help me check if I've included everything I need to.

The Mesolithic people were skilled hunter-gatherers.

They hunted wild animals such as deer, and they caught fish in local rivers, streams and lakes.

Interestingly, they had a balanced diet because they also gathered berries and nuts from their natural environment.

So did I include a compound or a complex sentence? Have a look.

I did, "they hunted wild animals such as deer, and they caught fish in local rivers, streams and lakes" is my compound sentence because I've got this coordinating conjunction, "and".

And then my next sentence is a complex sentence.

You can see it in purple 'cause I've used the subordinating conjunction "because".

So yes, I've included a compound and a complex sentence.

Are my facts specific? I gave a fact about the animals and fish that they hunted and what they gathered from their natural surroundings, the nuts and berries.

So these were specific and detailed facts about their diet.

Have I included a viewpoint-fronted adverbial or a formal fronted adverbial? I've included "interestingly", a viewpoint fronted adverbial.

Okay, thank you for your help, and well done everybody for saying those sentences out loud.

It's now time for the second section of our lesson today where we are going to be writing.

So here is our success criteria.

This is what we need to include to make this as successful a piece of writing as possible.

So let's go through it.

I have written a subheading.

I have written at least two facts about the diet of the stone age and kept them grouped by period.

So we're gonna talk about the Mesolithic period first and then the Neolithic period.

I have written a compound and a complex sentence, and I've used at least two fronted adverbials.

I'm now going to show you my thought process of how I wrote the first few sentences of this paragraph about the diet, and I'm going to use the success criteria to help me.

Okay, so you can see I've already started by sticking in neatly my success criteria.

I've written my subheading, and I made sure I used capital letter at the start of diet, and I underlined it neatly using a ruler.

I then wrote my opening sentence.

The Mesolithic people were skilled hunter-gatherers.

So I made sure I used a capital letter for Mesolithic, and I didn't forget my hyphen between hunter and gatherers to make them one word, hunter-gatherers.

So now I want to develop this point, I want to talk about what kind of animals they hunted and why.

So I'm going to write a complex sentence 'cause I know in my success criteria, I need to try and include one.

So I want to explain what they hunted.

"They hunted", remembering my sentence starts with a, everybody, capital letter, well done.

So they hunted wild animals.

Now I could say "like", but this is a non-chronological report and we need to use formal language in a non-chronological report, so I'm actually going to say "such as" 'cause I think that's more formal than "like".

"Such as boar", and what was the other, what was the other animal that they hunted? Deer, "and deer".

And there was a reason they hunted these animals because it provided lots of protein.

So I want to use the subordinating conjunction "because".

They hunted wild animals such as boar and deer because this provided or these provided protein for strength.

They needed lots of strength 'cause they were hunting all the time and moving around, "for strength".

How do I finish a sentence, everybody? A full stop, well done.

Okay, I'm just going to read that sentence back because I always read a sentence back to check it makes sense.

"They hunted wild animals such as boar and deer because these provided protein for strength", full stop.

Okay, now I want to build on this point, and it wasn't just meat and animals that they ate, they hunted, they also caught fish.

So I'm going to build on my point using a formal fronted adverbial, which was something I needed to include for my success criteria.

So "in addition", that's a formal fronted adverbial that builds on a point from the previous sentence.

"They caught fish like", what was the fish they caught? It was trout, I'm looking at my plan to help me there.

Like trout and pike from streams and rivers and lakes.

Now I need to remember an important comma rule here because I'm listing some nouns, streams, rivers and lakes.

Can anyone remember? Can you remember what comma rule I need? That's right, I need to have a comma to separate the nouns, but I don't need one before "and" because we've got the word "and" already, so you don't need a comma, and, and, but I do need to finish my sentence with a full stop.

Okay, as always, I'm going to read back my sentence to check it makes sense.

"In addition", oh, I've forgotten something.

Can anyone help me? What does every sentence need to start with? That's right, a capital letter.

So I'm going to cross out my lowercase I neatly and replace it with a capital I.

In addition, there's a common rule there we need to include.

That's right, we need to include "in addition", comma.

They caught fish, oh, caught fish.

This doesn't quite look right, the spelling of caught.

This is the court that you would use like a basketball court or a court where people go on for trial.

So this is the wrong spelling of court, so I need to replace it with C-A-U-G-H-T.

They caught fish like trout and pike from streams, rivers and lakes.

Okay, great, now I want to introduce a contrasting idea 'cause I want to introduce the diet of the Neolithic period.

So I'm going to use the formal fronted adverbial, "in contrast".

"In contrast", now remembering our comma rule from earlier.

What do we need after our formal fronted adverbial? We need a comma, well done.

"In contrast, the Neolithic people," what did they start doing? It was really important what they started doing, really significant.

They started to introduce farming, didn't they? The Neolithic people began farming for what? What was the reason? Because they could then get a more reliable food supply.

For a more reliable food supply.

Okay, let's go back and check this sentence makes sense.

"In contrast," I remembered my comma, "the Neolithic," oh, Neolithic, Neolithic needs capital letter, why? Because it is a proper noun, well done.

The Neolithic people began farming for a more reliable food supply.

Oh, I've forgotten something at the end of my sentence.

What does every sentence need to end with? A full stop, well done.

I'm going to finish this now, and you are going to be able to carry on describing about the diet of the Neolithic people in more detail.

I'm gonna go and finish now for now and go through my success criteria.

So I have written a subheading.

Yes, I have, I can give myself a tick.

I've written at least two facts about the diet of the Stone Age and kept them grouped by period.

Yes, I took spoke about how the Mesolithic people hunted fish, hunted animals and caught fish, and then I talked about how the Neolithic people began farming.

So yes, I can give myself a tick, although we will need to describe the Neolithic people's diet in more detail.

I have written a compound and a complex sentence.

I have my complex sentence here, "because these provided protein for strength." However, I haven't got a compound sentence just yet.

So that's something, if I were to carry on writing, I'd be thinking about.

So I'm not gonna give myself a tick just yet for that.

And then I have written at least two fronted adverbials.

I've said "in addition" and "in contrast", so I can give myself a tick.

But maybe you can be thinking about using a viewpoint fronted adverbial too.

Okay, it's time for task B.

You are going to write this section all about the diet.

So the first thing you need to do is write and underline your subheading, then you'll indent the first sentence.

So that means leaving a space from the margin.

Then you'll use your success criteria and your plan to help you structure this section.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Welcome back everybody.

Well done for working so hard.

You need to now read your writing back to check it makes sense and to edit any punctuation errors.

And when you've done that, you can tick in each box when you have completed the success criteria.

Let's just now go through an example which includes everything we need it to from the success criteria.

Diet, the Mesolithic people were skilled hunter-gatherers.

They hunted wild animals such as deer, and they caught fish in local rivers, streams and lakes.

Interestingly, they had a balanced diet because they also gathered berries and nuts from their natural environment.

In contrast, the Neolithic people had a more consistent food supply because they started farming.

They cultivated crops such as wheat, rice and barley, and they domesticated animals including sheep and chickens.

So you can see there that I can tick off all the elements of my success criteria 'cause I included a subheading.

I included two facts about the Stone Age that were grouped by period.

I wrote a compound and a complex sentence, and I used at least two fronted adverbials.

So now you need to pause the video, read back through your section, check for any errors and edits you might need to make, and then you can tick your success criteria yourself.

Well done for an excellent lesson, everybody.

Let's go through what we've learned.

A section of a report contains specific facts for the reader to learn more about the subject.

A subheading introduces a section of a text.

Using simple, compound and complex sentences improves text flow for the reader, and fronted adverbials ensure the reader stays engaged when reading this section.

Great work, everybody.