Lesson video

Hi everyone.

My name is Ms. Boyle, and welcome to this lesson where you are going to be writing a setting description based on a Christmas carol.

During this lesson, you'll need to be listening and looking carefully.

There'll be tasks where you need somebody to talk to and you'll need a piece of paper and pen or pencil for writing your setting description.

You will also need the notes from your plan to support you in your writing.

Pause the video and make sure you have your plan with you now.

Great.

Now I know you have your plan with you.

I hope you're feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is I can write a narrative setting description based on a Christmas carol.

Here are the key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn.

Your turn.

Atmosphere, sensory details, personification, preposition, text flow.

Great job.

Well done.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

Atmosphere is the tone or mood created in a narrative.

Sensory details are descriptions that include touch, sight, taste, sound and smell.

Personification is a way of describing a non-living thing as if it acts or feels like a human.

A preposition is a word or words that tell the reader where a noun is.

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

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be preparing to write, and in the second part you'll be writing a narrative setting description.

So let's begin with preparing to write.

A Christmas carol can be structured like this, opening buildup, climax and resolution.

Describing the setting is a key part in the opening of the story.

You will be writing a setting description for the opening of your narrative based on a Christmas Carol.

Your narrative setting description needs to include the following linguistic features, precise and ambitious vocabulary.

This should include sensory details and personification to create the desired atmosphere.

Prepositions to tell the reader where a noun is.

A range of sentence types to improve text flow.

Simple and compound sentences and adverbial complex sentences.

Linguistic features are types of words and language that a writer chooses carefully.

We can use the notes from our plan to form full sentences.

These notes contain precise vocabulary, sensory details and personification that will create the desired atmosphere.

Here is an example of the first set of notes from our plan for the sky and snowflakes.

Using prepositional phrases in our writing supports us in describing the setting in a precise way.

A preposition is a word or words that tell the reader where a noun is.

Let's look at how they appear in the following model.

"Across the dusky winter skies of London, "a strong wind sent waves "of blistering chill through the air.

"As intricate fluffy snowflakes floated peacefully "towards the city streets, "a blanket of glistening snow developed on the ground.

"Exhausted cobbled pavements hid beneath the fallen snow "and they felt grateful for the rest and protection." You will notice the prepositional phrases in purple, and these let the reader know where elements of the setting are in relation to one another.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following are prepositional phrases? Remember, a preposition is a word or words that tell the reader where a noun is.

A, fluffy snowflakes floated peacefully, B, beneath the fallen snow C, a blanket of glistening snow D towards the city streets.

Pause the video and select the prepositional phrases now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

B is a prepositional phrase, it says, "Beneath the fallen snow." And D is also a prepositional phrase.

It says, "Towards the city streets." These prepositions beneath and towards let the reader know where a noun is in relation to something else.

Using a range of sentences in our writing helps with text flow.

Let's look at the different sentence types in the following model.

I will read it to you one more time.

"Across the dusty winter skies of London, "a strong wind sent waves of blistering chill "through the air.

"As intricate fluffy snowflakes floated peacefully "towards the city streets, "a blanket of glistening snow developed on the ground.

"Exhausted cobbled pavements hid beneath the fallen snow "and they felt grateful for the rest and protection." Let's take a look at the different sentence types.

The first sentence uses a prepositional phrase as a fronted adverbial but it is a simple sentence containing one main clause.

The second sentence uses the subordinating conjunction, as, to begin an adverbial clause, which forms an adverbial complex sentence.

And the final sentence uses the coordinating conjunction and, to join two main clauses and form a compound sentence.

Let's look at the rules for simple and compound sentences.

A sentence made of just one main clause with just one idea is called a simple sentence.

It contains one main clause.

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

Main clause, coordinating conjunction and or, or but, and another main clause.

Let's now look at the rules for an adverbial complex sentence.

When an adverbial clause is joined to a main clause, it makes an adverbial complex sentence.

An adverbial clause is a type of subordinate clause.

It is a group of words that contains a verb and does not make complete sense.

An adverbial clause must begin with a subordinating conjunction.

For example, as, when or that.

An adverbial complex sentence can begin with the main clause and be followed by the adverbial subordinate clause or the adverbial subordinate clause can come at the beginning of the sentence followed by a comma and then the main clause.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the sentence types to their examples.

For sentence types, we have, A simple sentence, B compound sentence, C adverbial complex sentence.

The sentence examples are, "As the sound of festive carollers echoed "the Christmas spirit spread to all.

"Grand brick houses proudly boasted vibrant decorations.

"Shop windows exploded with colourful Christmas joy "and excited children huddled together." Pause the video now, and match the sentence types to the correct example.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

The simple sentence is "Grand brick houses proudly boasted vibrant decorations." This sentence contains one main clause.

The compound sentence is, "Shop windows exploded with colourful Christmas joy "and excited children huddled together." This sentence uses the coordinating conjunction and to join two main clauses.

And the adverbial complex sentence is "As the sound of festive carollers echoed "the Christmas spirit spread to all." Here the subordinating conjunction as, has been used to begin the adverbial subordinate clause.

And because this adverbial clause comes at the beginning of the sentence, a comma has been used to separate it from the main clause.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of the different sentence types.

It's now time for your first task and it is a talk task.

Say the first few sentences of your setting description.

Make sure you include the following.

Precise and ambitious vocabulary from your plan.

A range of sensory details and personification to create an atmosphere.

And prepositional phrases and a range of sentence types.

Your starting sentences could be "In the blistering chill of winter." This is a prepositional phrase.

And then you could follow it with your main clause.

Then as you could use this subordinate in conjunction to begin an adverbial clause and then follow that with a main clause.

Pause the video and orally rehearse the first few sentences of your setting description now.

Welcome back.

I loved listening to your descriptive sentences.

Let's take a look at a good example together.

"In the blistering chill of winter, "a flurry of intricate snowflakes "danced through the skies of London.

"As they made their way to the streets below "the cobbled pavements became coated "in a thick blanket of glistening snow.

"The tall brick houses were dressed "in colourful festive decorations "and shop windows were bursting with Christmas joy." Let's take a look at how these sentences use the appropriate linguistic features.

So for precise and ambitious vocabulary from the plan, we can see a range of descriptive and precise vocabulary, intricate snowflakes, cobbled pavements, glistening snow, colourful festive decorations.

For a range of sensory details and personification.

Let's take a look.

The first sentence begins, "In the blistering chill of winter." That lets the reader know what the temperature would've felt like.

Then it says, "A flurry of intricate snowflakes." That's what can be seen danced through the skies of London.

That is an example of personification because we know that snowflakes don't actually dance.

That is a human action, but it has been used to describe the way that the snowflakes move.

And for prepositional phrases and a range of sentences, "In the blistering chill of winter," is a prepositional phrase.

And the end of that sentence also ends in a preposition phrase, "Through the skies of London." For a range of sentence types, the second sentence begins with the subordinating conjunction as, to begin and adverbial clause.

"As they made their way to the streets below "the cobbled pavements became coated "in a thick blanket of glistening snow." So this is an adverbial complex sentence.

And the final sentence uses the coordinating conjunction and, to form a compound sentence.

Well done for orally rehearsing your sentences for your setting description.

I am sure you are feeling really ready to do your writing.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where you are going to be writing your narrative setting description.

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.

vary our sentence types.

Write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting.

Sound out words to spell them accurately and read our sentences out loud to check they make sense and edit to improve our writing if necessary.

Here is the success criteria for your writing today.

I will read it to you.

"I have used precise vocabulary from my plan, "including personification to describe the setting.

"I have included a range of sensory details "to create a specific atmosphere." And, "I have used prepositions "and a range of sentence types in my writing." You will use the notes from your plan to support you with your writing today.

Pause the video and make sure you have these notes with you now.

Great.

Now I know you have your plan with you.

I am now going to model the first few sentences of the setting description to you, and then I am going to need your help checking my writing against the success criteria.

Listen carefully, "Across the crisp wintery skies of London "fluffy snowflakes twirled as they delicately made their way "to the cobbled streets below.

"Entire streets proudly dawned festive, vibrant decorations.

"The sweet sound of carols echoed "and Christmas joy was spread." I would now like you to check my writing against the success criteria.

Can you spot where I've met each point? Pause the video and discuss with your partner now.

Welcome back.

You were so great at spotting how I'd met the success criteria in my writing.

Let's go over this together now.

For I have used precise vocabulary from my plan, including personification to describe the setting.

We can see the use of precise and descriptive phrases like fluffy snowflakes twirled and festive vibrant decorations.

The sweet sound of Carol's echoed.

And an example of personification is entire streets proudly dawned festive, vibrant decorations.

So we can take that first point on the success criteria.

For I have included a range of sensory details to create a specific atmosphere.

We have crisp wintery skies, which helps the reader imagine what it might have felt like there.

Fluffy snowflakes twirled, this helps the reader visualise what the snowflakes looked like as they made their way through the sky.

Further down, we have the sweet sound of carols echoed, So this helps the reader imagine what sounds they might hear, so we can tick that.

For I have used prepositions and a range of sentence types in my writing.

The first sentence begins with a prepositional phrase "Across the crisp wintery skies of London." And it also ends with one by saying that the snowflakes made their way to the cobbled streets below.

For a range of sentence types.

The first sentence is an example of an adverbial complex sentence because it uses the subordinating conjunction as to stretch the main clause.

And the final sentence is an example of a compound sentence because it uses the coordinating conjunction and, to join two main clauses.

So we can tick that.

Well done for checking my writing against the success criteria.

It's now time for you to use your plan and the success criteria to write your narrative setting description.

I will read the success criteria to you again.

I have used precise vocabulary from my plan, including personification to describe the setting.

I have included a range of sensory details to create a specific atmosphere.

And I have used prepositions and a range of sentence types in my writing.

Remember that for an adverbial complex sentence, the adverbial subordinate clause can come before the main clause, and if it does, it needs a comma to separate them or it can stretch the main clause.

Pause the video and use your plan and the success criteria to write your narrative setting description now.

Well done for all of your hard work writing your narrative setting description, it's now time for you to read your writing back to check it make sense, and edit any punctuation errors.

You should also check your writing against the success criteria and make any edits you need to in order to meet it.

Tick each box in the success criteria when you are sure you have completed it.

Pause the video and do this now.

Well done for reading over your work, reflecting on your writing and making any edits or improvements needed.

I am sure you did a great job at meeting the success criteria.

Let's now take a look at a good example together.

"In the haze of the dusky winter sky, "a myriad of swirling feathery snowflakes "danced through the air as they gracefully drifted down "to the busy London streets.

"The cobbled pavements, which were hidden "by a blanket of glistening white snow slept peacefully.

"The grand brick houses were laced with vibrant, "festive decorations and frosted wreaths "hung in every doorway.

"Amongst the Christmas bustle, "the melodic sound of tuneful carolers "spread through the city.

"A warm glow radiated out of the inviting shop windows "attracting the excitement of passers-by.

"While eager children gaze longingly at sparkling new toys, "adults hustled to buy food to share with their loved ones.

"Roasted chestnuts were sold on each corner, "and fires were lit to keep hands warm.

"The festive season held different experiences for many, "but the scent of Christmas was shared "by all walks of life." Let's check this against the success criteria now.

The first point on our success criteria was about including precise vocabulary including personification.

For precise vocabulary, we have, dusky winter sky and swirling feathery snowflakes, and it says that the snowflakes danced through the air, which is an example of personification.

Then we can see the cobbled pavements, which were hidden by a blanket of glistening white snow, slept peacefully.

This sentence also contains precise vocabulary and a piece of personification that the cobbled pavements slept peacefully.

Vibrant, festive decorations is another example of precise vocabulary and inviting shop windows is another example of personification.

So we can tick that.

For the next point on the success criteria, including a range of sensory details we can see it says, "The melodic sound of tuneful carolers "spread through the city." That is what could be heard.

A warm glow radiated out of the inviting shop windows.

That is what could be seen.

Fires were lit to keep hands warm.

That is something that could be felt.

And then it references the scent of Christmas, which makes the reader imagine the different smells they might be able to experience at Christmas time.

So we can tick that point.

And for the final part on the success criteria, we had prepositions and a range of sentence types.

For prepositions, we can see in the haze of the dusky winter sky.

And through the air, we can also see further down on each corner.

These are just some examples.

For a range of sentence types, I can spot a relative complex sentence here.

The cobbled pavements, which were hidden by a blanket of glistening white snow, slept peacefully.

Here, the relative pronoun, which has been used to add detail about the cobbled pavements, and this relative clause has been embedded within the main clause.

I can spot the coordinating conjunction, and which has been used to join two main clauses and form a compound sentence.

Further down, I can see that the subordinating conjunction while, has been used to begin an adverbial subordinate clause.

"While eager children gazed longingly at sparkling new toys, "adults hustled to buy food to share with their loved ones." This is an example of an adverbial complex sentence.

And the final sentence uses a different coordinating conjunction, but, to form another compound sentence.

So we can tick that.

We have now come to the end of our lesson.

So let's go over a summary together.

The purpose of a setting description is to provide rich detail that creates an atmosphere for the reader, precise vocabulary, sensory details and personification support in creating a desired atmosphere.

Prepositions help to describe the setting in a precise way by telling the reader where a noun is.

And using a range of sentence types, simple, compound and complex improves text flow for the reader.

Well done for all of your hard work writing fantastic setting descriptions.

I have loved reading your writing and I have really enjoyed teaching you this lesson.