Lesson video

Hi everyone.

My name is Ms. Royalle, and welcome to today's lesson where you are going to be writing the opening of your diary entry.

This unit is based on the story ""Into the Forest"" and you may wish to refer to it.

You will need a copy of the 2022 Walker Books limited edition of ""Into the Forest"" by Anthony Brown.

You have also already written a plan for your writing today, and it is important that you use this to support you.

Pause the video and get your copy of ""Into the Forest"" and your plan now.

Great, now I know you have the book and your plan with you.

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 also need a piece of paper and pen or pencil for your writing.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is I can write the opening of a diary entry based on "Into the Forest".

Here are the key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them my turn, your turn.

Exaggeration, perfect present tense, auxiliary verb, contraction, adverbial complex sentence.

Great job, well done.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

Exaggeration is overstating for dramatic effect.

Perfect present tense is the tense used to describe something that's started in the past but has not yet ended.

An auxiliary verb is the helping verb that is always paired with a main verb.

A contraction is a shortened way of writing two words where some letters are left out and an apostrophe is used in their place.

And an adverbial complex sentence is a sentence formed of a main clause and an adverbial subordinate clause.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be preparing to write and in the second part you will be writing the opening of your diary entry.

So let's begin with preparing to write.

You are going to use your plan to write the opening of your diary entry from the perspective of the boy in "Into the Forest".

Here is an example of the plan we created for the opening.

You developed precise vocabulary and you developed exaggeration.

Your diary entry needs to include the following linguistic features, precise and ambitious vocabulary from your plan, including exaggeration, first person and past tense with some use of the perfect present tense, and a range of sentence types including an adverbial complex sentence.

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

The point in time at which you are writing the diary entry is at the end of the day.

The majority of your opening will be written in the past tense as you recount from the beginning of the day.

However, you will begin with a general statement about your day.

Your day started in the past, but these past events have an effect on the present moment.

Therefore, you will use the perfect present tense to write the general statement.

For example, I have felt so overwhelmed all day.

The perfect present tense uses forms of the verb to have as auxiliary verbs to help a past tense form of the main verb.

Let's look at some examples.

I have had the scariest day ever.

Have is the auxiliary verb based on to have and had is the past tense form of the main verb.

Let's look at another example.

It has been a rollercoaster of emotions.

Has is the auxiliary verb based on to have, and been is the past tense form of the main verb.

An auxiliary verb is a helping verb that is always paired with the main verb.

Let's check your understanding true or false.

An auxiliary verb is the main verb in a sentence.

Pause the video and select your answer That is false.

Well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A, an auxiliary verb is a helping verb that is paired with the main verb, or B, an auxiliary verb is the second verb in a compound sentence.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is A.

Well done.

An auxiliary verb is a helping verb that is paired with the main verb.

Let's look at some examples of how auxiliary verbs can turn the simple past tense into the perfect present tense.

We do this to show that something in the past is either unfinished or has an effect on the present moment.

For simple past tense, we could say I had the craziest day ever, and if we wanted to turn this into the perfect present tense, we would say, I have had the craziest day ever.

Another simple past tense sentence could be I felt overwhelmed all day.

The perfect present tense of this would be, I have felt overwhelmed all day.

Another simple past tense sentence could be, today was a challenging day and the perfect present tense of this would be today has been a challenging day.

These sentences in the simple past tense have ended.

The sentences in the perfect present tense show that what started in the past is having an effect on the present moment.

Let's check your understanding.

Change these sentences to the perfect present tense using the auxiliary verb has or have paired with the main verb.

A, I found today really difficult.

B, it was an emotional rollercoaster.

C, I had such a strange and intense day.

Pause the video and do this now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

For A, I found today really difficult.

In its perfect present form this would be, I have found today really difficult.

B, it was an emotional rollercoaster.

The perfect present tense form of this would be it has been an emotional rollercoaster.

And C, I had such a strange and intense day.

The perfect present tense of this would be I have had such a strange and intense day.

We often just add the auxiliary verb to form the perfect present tense.

For example, if we look at A and C, our main verbs found and had have not changed.

We just added the auxiliary verb have.

But if we look at B, this is an example of when the main verb changes to was has become been and we have added the auxiliary verb has.

It has been an emotional rollercoaster.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of how to use auxiliary verbs to form the perfect present tense.

You'll be writing your diary entry using informal language.

One element of informal language is the use of contractions.

A contraction is a shortened way of writing two words where some letters are left out.

An apostrophe goes where the missing letters are.

You can use contractions when writing in any tense, including the perfect present tense.

Let's take a look at some examples.

I've had such a strange and intense day.

I've is the contraction of the two words I have.

I didn't know where dad was.

Didn't is the contraction of the two words did not.

Let's check your understanding.

What is a contraction? A, any word with an apostrophe.

B, a shortened way of writing two words where some letters are left out, or C, A joining word that's joins two main clauses.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is B.

Well done.

A contraction is a shortened way of writing two words where some letters are left out, an apostrophe is used in a contraction to signal where the missing letters are.

For example, I've, this is a contraction of the two words I have and the apostrophe has come after the I and before the V where the letters H and A are missing.

Let's now take a look at the different sentence types used in a diary opening.

I will read this to you.

Today has been an emotional rollercoaster.

I have experienced the strangest things.

This morning, a dreadful noise jolted me awake and it genuinely frightened the life out of me.

When I went downstairs, I discovered my dear dad was gone.

I felt really anxious and sad because I had no idea when he'd be back.

Let's take a look at the different sentence types now.

The first two sentences are examples of simple sentences.

They contain one main clause.

The following sentence is an example of a compound sentence, the coordinating conjunction and has been used to join two main clauses.

The final two sentences are both examples of adverbial complex sentences where subordinating conjunctions have been used to form adverbial subordinate clauses.

The first example has the adverbial subordinate clause first when I went downstairs and the second example has the adverbial subordinate clause second because I had no idea when he'd be back.

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 followed by another main clause.

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

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

The main clause can come fast and be followed by the adverbial subordinate clause or the adverbial subordinate clause can come fast with a comma to separate it from the main clause that follows.

An adverbial clause must begin with a subordinating conjunction for example, when, as, because.

These subordinating conjunctions will be useful for your diary opening.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the sentence types to the correct example.

For the sentence types, we have A simple sentence, B, compound sentence, C, adverbial complex sentence and for the sentence examples.

When I went downstairs, my dad was nowhere to be found.

I was jolted awake by a frightful sound, but that wasn't even the worst part.

I have experienced the strangest things.

Pause the video and match these now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

The example of a simple sentence is I have experienced the strangest things.

The compound sentence is I was jolted awake by a frightful sound, but that wasn't even the worst part.

Here the coordinating conjunction but has been used to join two main clauses.

And the adverbial complex sentence is when I went downstairs, my dad was nowhere to be found.

Here the subordinating conjunction when has been used to begin the adverbial subordinate clause when I went downstairs.

And because it comes first, a comma has been used to separate it from the main clause that follows.

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 the boys' diary entry opening.

Make sure you include the following, precise and ambitious vocabulary, including exaggeration, first person and past tense.

You will also use the perfect present tense for the general statement that you open with and a range of sentence types, including an adverbial complex sentence.

You could use the following starting sentences.

Dear Diary, today has been.

This first sentence has already begun in the perfect present tense to support you and you can complete the sentence with a general statement about the day using exaggeration.

The following sentence could begin with a fronted adverbial of time followed by I was woken up by.

Here complete the main clause.

Pause the video and orally rehearse your sentences now.

Welcome back.

Well done for orally rehearsing your sentences.

I loved listening to you in character as the boy from "Into the Forest" and you had such great ideas for the opening of your diary entries.

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

Today has been the craziest whirlwind of emotions.

This morning I was woken up by the most colossal noise.

I've honestly never been so shocked in my life.

When I went downstairs, I discovered dad was gone.

I had no idea where he was and I felt absolutely crushed.

Mum wanted to distract me and she gave me some cake to take to grandma.

Annoyingly, she made such a fuss about taking the long route to avoid the forest.

I didn't listen because I just wanted to get back quickly.

What a mistake.

Let's take a look at how the linguistic features appear in this example.

So for precise and ambitious vocabulary, including exaggeration, I can see the craziest whirlwind of emotions.

Whirlwind of emotions is incredibly precise and ambitious and craziest is an example of superlative adjective.

So that's exaggeration.

The following sentence says "The most colossal noise." Another superlative.

The sentence after that says, "I've honestly never been so shocked in my life." That's a great example of a hyperbole.

So more exaggeration.

For first person and past tense and the use of the perfect present tense Let's take a look at where the perfect present tense was used early on.

I can see today has been the craziest whirlwind of emotions.

Here has is the auxiliary verb joined to the main verb been.

A little verb on I can see I've honestly never been so shocked in my life.

I is the contraction of the two words I have, and this is another example of the perfect present tense.

We can then see following this lots of examples of past tense I discovered I had no idea, she gave me, and we can see that the first person I has been used throughout.

For a range of sentence types, including an adverbial complex sentence.

The first few sentences here are examples of simple sentences containing one main clause.

Then I can see an adverbial complex sentence.

When I went downstairs, I discovered dad was gone.

And following that I can see an example of a compound sentence.

I had no idea where he was and I felt absolutely crushed.

Well done again for orally rehearsing your sentences.

I hope you are feeling really excited to write the opening of your diary entry.

It's now time for the second and most exciting part of the lesson where you are going to be writing the opening of your diary entry.

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.

Listen carefully, I will read it to you.

I have followed the layout features of a diary entry, date, greeting, paragraph.

I have followed the linguistic features of a diary entry, first person, mainly past tense, perfect present tense.

I have used a range of sentence types including an adverbial complex sentence and I have used exaggeration to express emotions including at least one superlative and one hyperbole.

You should use your plan to help you structure your writing today.

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

Great, now I know you have your plan with you.

I am now going to model writing the opening of my diary entry and then we will check it against the success criteria.

So here is the plan for the opening of my diary entry.

It says I need to give a general statement about the day and then a recount of the morning's events.

I have precise vocabulary and exaggeration.

Now I have already written the date in the top left hand corner and started with the greeting Dear Diary.

So I am already following the layout features of a diary entry.

And after the date and greeting it says I need a paragraph.

Now for a paragraph, I want to indent from the left hand margin.

So I'm going to start about here, but I need to decide what I want my first sentence to be.

Now if I take a look at the linguistic features, I know that I'm writing in first person, mainly past tense and some use of the perfect present tense.

I want to use the perfect present tense for my general statement about the day.

So I'm going to start here.

And I know that the perfect present tense uses forms of the verb to have.

So it has been or I have been, what would I like to say? Scariest day ever.

It has been the scariest day ever.

Okay, that's a good first sentence and it's in perfect present tense.

How can I make sure I am exaggerating? Why don't I put the word scariest in capital letters? Let's try that.

It has been.

I forgot the capital letters I wanted to use.

Okay, let me cross that out.

That exaggeration is really important.

It has been the scariest day ever.

Now I think I'd like one more sentence in perfect present tense.

What about we've got rollercoaster of emotions.

I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions, okay? Perfect.

Now I've used the first person and the perfect present tense.

And now I'm going to switch into the past tense to recount the morning's events.

So I can see frightful noise.

Now that frightful noise woke me up.

So I'm going to start with a fronted adverbial of time.

This morning the most frightful noise jolted me awake.

Great.

This morning.

Now what piece of punctuation do I need after a fronted adverbial? A comma.

So this morning the most frightful noise jolted me awake.

Okay, what's next in the recount? So went downstairs.

What did I discover when I went downstairs that my dad wasn't there.

Now if I begin with when I went downstairs, that will help me form an adverbial complex sentence.

When I went downstairs, that's my adverbial subordinate clause.

My dear dad was nowhere to be found.

When I went downstairs, my dear dad was nowhere to be found.

Great.

Now I'm definitely going to want to add in some feelings now.

Let's take a look at this exaggeration part of the success criteria.

It says to include at least one superlative and one hyperbole.

Now I know I definitely have at least one superlative, the scariest day ever.

So now I want to use a hyperbole.

Let's check if I have anything over here.

Ooh, absolutely crushed.

Okay, I felt absolutely crushed.

That's great.

I felt absolutely crushed.

Okay, so I haven't finished my recount yet, but I'm going to check it against the success criteria to see if I am meeting it.

So I have followed the layout features of a diary entry.

So I have the date, the greeting, and a paragraph that has been indented.

I can tick that.

For I have followed the linguistic features of a diary entry.

First person, yes, we have lots of I.

Mainly past tense.

Yes, once I began the sentence this morning, I shifted into past tense, but before that I used the perfect present tense.

So I can tick that.

A range of sentence types including an adverbial complex sentence.

So I can see lots of examples of simple sentences here.

And then I can see my adverbial complex sentence here.

When I went downstairs, my dear dad was nowhere to be found.

So I can tick that.

I haven't choose a compound sentence yet.

So I might want to include that next.

And for I have used exaggeration to express emotions including at least one superlative and one hyperbole.

We know we have the scariest day ever for a superlative and I felt absolutely crushed for a hyperbole.

So I can tick that.

And now I would just need to finish the recount of the morning's events.

It's now time for you to write, use your plan and the success criteria to write the opening of your diary entry.

Here is a reminder of how to structure the beginning of your diary entry.

First, you should write the date in the top left hand corner and follow this with the greeting Dear Diary.

You will then begin your paragraph with a general statement about the day, which you will write in perfect present tense, and then you will recount the morning's events in the past tense.

Pause the video and write the opening of your diary entry now.

Welcome back, well done for writing the opening of your diary entry.

You worked really hard and it was wonderful to see how much you enjoyed writing in character as the boy from "Into the Forest".

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

"Friday the 10th of May, 2024.

Dear Diary, I have had the scariest of my life.

It's been a rollercoaster of emotions.

This morning, the most terrific noise jolted me awake and I felt shaken to my core.

When I got downstairs, I discovered my dad wasn't there.

I was completely crushed because I had no idea if he was even coming back.

Mom asked me to take some cake to my poorly grandma so I would be distracted.

She made a huge fuss about me taking the long route to avoid the forest.

Normally I would listen, but this time I didn't.

I just wanted to get home quickly.

What a silly decision.

I encountered the strangest people in the forest who scared the absolute life out of me." Let's now check this against the success criteria.

So for following the layout features of a diary entry, we can see that the date came first followed by the greeting Dear Diary, and then a paragraph so we can tick that.

For following the linguistic features of a diary entry we can see that the first two sentences are written in the perfect present tense to give general statements about the day.

I have had the scariest day of my life.

It's been a rollercoaster of emotions.

We can see lots of use of the first person pronoun I.

We can see that it shifts into past tense.

I felt, I discovered, I was, she made.

So we can definitely take that.

For a range of sentence types, including at least one adverbial complex sentence.

The first two sentences are examples of simple sentences containing one main clause.

The following sentence is an example of a compound sentence.

This morning, the most terrific noise jolted me awake and I felt shaken to my core.

Here, the coordinating conjunction and has been used to join two main clauses.

And the sentence after that is an example of an adverbial complex sentence.

It begins with the adverbial subordinate clause when I got downstairs and has a comma to separate it from the main clause that follows, I discovered my dad wasn't there.

So we can definitely tick that.

And for use of exaggeration, including at least one superlative and one hyperbole.

We can see lots of exaggeration in this example, we have the scariest day, the most terrific noise.

Those are both examples of superlatives.

We can see I felt shaken to my core.

I was completely crushed.

Both examples of hyperbole.

We can see she made a huge fuss.

Here the word huge has been capitalised to exaggerate.

And further down we can see the strangest people.

Another example of a superlative.

So we can definitely take that.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

The recount in a diary entry is written mainly in the past tense.

The perfect present tense shows unfinished past actions or past actions that are still relevant now.

The auxiliary verb has or have is joined to the main verb to change simple past tense into perfect present tense.

Contractions are one element of informal language in a diary entry and a range of sentence types, including adverbial complex sentences should be used in a diary entry.

Well done again for your hard work in today's lesson.

You have now completed the opening of your diary entry and I hope you are really looking forward to writing the rest of it.