Lesson video

Hi, everybody! I'm Ms. Gardner.

Welcome to the first lesson from our new unit, "The Happy Prince" reading and narrative writing.

I'm really looking forward to this unit because "The Happy Prince" is one of my favourite books, so I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do! So thank you for joining in on today's lesson and let's get started! In today's lesson from our unit, "The Happy Prince" reading and narrative writing, we are going to be reading the text in the additional materials.

So, your learning outcome is, I can read "The Happy Prince" and summarise the key events.

So let's start with looking at the keywords.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

So I'll say the word first and then you can say it either back to the screen or to your partner or whoever you're with.

Plot.

Moral.

Classic text.

Summarise.

Let's have a look at what these mean.

The plot is the sequence of events that make up the narrative.

A moral is a lesson that can be learnt from a story or experience.

A classic text is a piece of literature that has stood the test of time, it's been around for many generations.

And to summarise means to pull out the key events and ideas from a text.

So there are two sections of our lesson today.

In the first, we'll be reading "The Happy Prince." And in the second, we'll be summarising "The Happy Prince." So let's start with reading "The Happy Prince." So learning about the author and the context of a story helps us understand the themes and characters better.

So let's learn a little bit about the context of "The Happy Prince." "The Happy Prince" was originally, so for the first time, it was written by Oscar Wilde in 1888, so a really long time ago.

Oscar Wilde was a famous Irish author, poet, and playwright who was very popular in the 19th century.

"The Happy Prince" is a classic text that children have read and enjoyed for many generations.

There have been lots of different versions of "The Happy Prince" where the plot is the same but little things are different, and you can find these on videos, films, TV shows, but also different books as well.

Now, religion was an important aspect of society when Oscar Wilde was writing.

In Wilde's stories, he sometimes used religion as a theme to explore the big questions about life and morality, so right and wrong, and how people should treat each other.

The moral of the story in "The Happy Prince" is to be compassionate and to help those who are suffering, and this is a really important teaching in many religions.

So just checking for understanding.

True or false? Religion was an important aspect of society when Oscar Wilde was writing.

Pause the video now.

That is true.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, Wilde used religion as a theme to explore big questions about life, morality, and how people should treat each other.

Or B, Wilde was very religious.

Pause the video now.

That is A, religion was a running theme in "The Happy Prince," and we can see that by the way that the main characters treated those who are suffering with so much compassion, and we'll read all about that in a moment when we read the text.

So, well done! So the story of "The Happy Prince" is set in an unnamed city.

We don't know which city it is.

A golden statue of "The Happy Prince" stands high above the city.

The statue is known as the "Happy Prince" because when he was alive, he had lived a life of fortune and joy.

And when he was alive and he was living in this beautiful palace where he had lots of money and wealth, he did not know about the suffering and the hardships that many people endure, which is why he was so happy all the time.

It was only when he died and he became a statue that he could see the misery of the city.

This upset him and he wanted to help.

Now, remember, "The Happy Prince" is a fictional story, these are made-up characters, which is why the character died and came back to life as a statue, because this is a fictional text, it's not about a real person.

So now we are going to read my version of "The Happy Prince," which you can find in the additional materials.

First, you're gonna read from the beginning of the story up to the line which says, "Little bird, will you take my red jewel to her?" So pause the video now, make sure you have access to the text, and off you go.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed reading that first section of "The Happy Prince." We are now going to check our understanding of what we've read so far.

So, true or false? When the prince was alive, he was often unhappy.

Pause the video now.

That is false.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, the prince lived in a palace where there was no sadness and where he could not see the suffering of others.

Or B, the prince was happy because he lived in a huge palace.

Pause the video now.

That is A, when the prince was alive, the reason he was so happy was because he was not exposed to all the suffering in the city.

Well done! So now you need to read from "The Happy Prince looked so sad that" to "Children's faces became brighter instantly." So pause the video now and off you go! Okay, well done.

Let's now check our understanding of what we've just read.

Which of the following did the prince give to the poor people of the city? A, his eyes made of jewels, B, gold leaves from his clothes, C, a large sum of money, or D, a red jewel from his sword.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so the prince gave away A, his eyes made of jewels, B, gold leaves from his clothes, and D, a red jewel from his sword.

Well done! Which of the following people did the bird and the prince help? A, a poor writer, B, the mother of an unwell boy, C, a child in a large house, or D, a young girl selling matches.

Pause the video now.

So he helped a few people, didn't he? He helped A, a poor writer, B, the mother of an unwell boy, and D, a young girl selling matches.

Well done.

So now you need to read from "Then, the snow came" until the end of the story.

So pause the video now and off you go! Okay, well done.

I hope you enjoyed the end of "The Happy Prince." Let's just check our understanding again of what we've just read.

True or false? The prince's heart broke into two pieces when he realised the bird had died.

Pause the video now.

That is true.

Can you use A or B to justify your answer? A, the prince was so heartbroken when the bird died that he could no longer survive without him.

Or B, the prince was upset that the bird had died.

Pause the video now.

That's right.

It was A.

When the prince realised that the bird was dying, he realised, "I can't survive without the bird," and his heart literally broke into two.

Well done! So it is time for Task A.

Now that we've explored the story, we are gonna discuss our own thoughts and feelings about the text.

So you need to answer the questions in the grid with a partner, and you're going to say and discuss your answers rather than writing them down.

You need to be honest about your thoughts and make sure you listen to your partner's opinion 'cause they might say something you agree with or you disagree with, and that's okay because this is your own personal responses to the story.

So, there are three things to be thinking about.

Firstly, your likes.

What caught your attention? What made you want to keep reading? And you could use these sentence starters to help you.

"I enjoyed" or "My favourite part was." Then, you'll think about your dislikes.

Was there anything you didn't like or didn't understand? And you could use these sentence starters to help you.

"I didn't like when" or "It made me sad how." And then finally, puzzles.

Was there anything you found strange or surprising? For example, "I wondered" or "I was surprised" you could use as your sentence starters.

So pause the video now and off you go discussing your thoughts about "The Happy Prince" with your partner.

Off you go.

Well done, everybody.

Welcome back.

Here are some possible responses.

Now, don't worry if yours don't look exactly the same, that's not a problem at all because your response is personal and individual, so it might not be exactly what I show you on the screen.

Likes.

"I liked when the unwell boy felt better after they had helped him." Or "One of my favourite parts was when the bird took the gold leaves off the prince to give to children in need." And then dislikes.

"I didn't like when the bird was becoming more and more frail." Or "It made me sad when the prince's heart broke into two pieces." And then finally, puzzles.

"I wondered why the men didn't want a shabby statue in the city." Or "I was surprised when the bird was able to make the unwell boy feel better again so easily." Well done, everybody, for working so hard on Task A! Great job! It is now time for the second section of our lesson where we are going to be summarising "The Happy Prince." So summarising is a helpful tool for helping us to understand texts.

Summarising means pulling out the key events, the most important events in the story, and ideas from a text.

Summarising the key events in a story helps us to build our understanding of the text and the meaning behind it.

So checking for understanding.

Which statement best summarises "The Happy Prince"? A, it tells the story of a statue who overlooks a city.

B, it tells the story of a statue who befriends a bird.

Or C, it tells the story of a kind-hearted statue and a bird who help people in need by giving away his gold and precious gems, teaching us about the importance of helping others in need.

Pause the video now.

That's right, that is C, that sentence summarises "The Happy Prince" most appropriately.

A and B are a little bit too brief and they don't give enough information about the story.

Well done! So, let's review the story, so we are making sure we have a really clear understanding of the key events and their chronology, so the order in which they come in.

The first key event.

A magnificent statue of a prince overlooked a city.

One day, a bird flew into the city and he perched on the statue's feet.

Then, number two, the statue became very upset as he saw the people in the city suffering.

He asked the bird to help him.

Then, number three, the statue was especially worried about a seamstress who could not afford to help her sick son.

The prince gave a ruby, a jewel, from his sword to the bird to bring to her.

Because the statue was unable to move, so the bird had to do that for him.

Then, number four, the bird and the statue continued to help other people who were poor and suffering until the prince had no more jewels or gold leaves to give.

Then, number five, winter arrived and the bird was too weak to survive.

The prince was so devastated by the bird's death that his metallic heart broke in two.

And then finally, the sixth key moment, the statue's heart was tossed into a furnace with the bird's body.

Then, God asked the bird and the prince to look after the city's people together and they were happily reunited in death.

And you can see here in the final sixth moment, that theme that we spoke about at the beginning of the lesson of religion coming into the text, with the idea that they are reunited after death and are then able to look after the city together.

So, it's now time for Task B.

You need to retell the story with your partner by summarising the key parts, and you can use these sentence starters to help you.

So, number one, a beautiful statue of a prince stood proudly over the city when.

And then you complete that sentence.

Two, the statue became very upset as he saw.

Three, the bird and statue helped those in need by.

Four, when winter arrived, the bird.

And five, they were thrown into a furnace and.

So with your partner, saying the rest of these sentences out loud so that you can summarise the key moments of "The Happy Prince." Pause the video now and off you go! Okay, welcome back, everybody.

Well done.

Let's go through what your sentences might have sounded like.

Don't worry if yours weren't exactly the same, yours might have been a little bit longer or a little bit shorter or have a bit of a few other extra details.

That's okay.

Here are just my sentence ideas.

One, a beautiful statue of a prince stood proudly over the city when a bird arrived and perched at the statue's feet.

Two, the statue became very upset as he saw that there was a lot of suffering in the city, so he asked the bird to help him.

Three, the bird and statue helped those in need by giving people the prince's jewels and gold leaves until he had none left to give.

Four, when winter arrived, the bird became weaker and frailer until it could no longer survive.

The prince was so devastated by the bird's death that his metallic heart broke in two.

And then finally, they were thrown into a furnace and then God asked them to look after the people of the city together.

They were reunited in death.

So if you need to, you can pause the video now and have another go at saying these sentences out loud so that you can summarise the key events.

Otherwise, really well done on today's lesson, everybody! Here is a summary of everything we have learnt.

"The Happy Prince" was originally written by Oscar Wilde in 1888.

Oscar Wilde used religion as a theme to explore big questions about life, morality, and how people should treat each other.

The moral of "The Happy Prince" is to be compassionate and to help those who are suffering, which is an important teaching in many religions.

And finally, summarising the key events in a story helps us to build our understanding of the text and the meaning behind it.

Well done, everybody, for working so hard today.

Great job!.