Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name's Mrs. Riley, and I'm here today to teach you some new vocabulary.

In our lesson today, we are going to be focusing on words that can describe clouds.

But as we will see, as the lesson goes on, these words are going to be useful in lots of different contexts as well.

So there'll be very useful words for us to add to our vocabulary toolkits.

Let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is to use the words overcast, swirling, and wispy effectively in multiple contexts.

Here are our key words for our learning today.

I'm going to say each one, and I'd like you to repeat it back to me.

Noun, adjective, prefix, synonym, word pair.

Well done.

Let's find out what they mean.

A noun is a naming word for people, places, or things.

An adjective is a word that describes a noun.

So perhaps you might think of a person and then you could think of a, which is a noun, a naming word for a person.

And then you could think of a word to describe them.

That would be an adjective.

A prefix is a letter, or it could be a group of letters added to the start of a word to change its meaning.

A synonym is a word that has the same or similar meaning to another word.

For example, happy and merry, they're both similar words so they're synonyms. And word pairs are words that often appear together.

In today's lesson, we have three learning cycles, and in each learning cycle we'll be learning a new word.

So let's start with our first new cloudy word.

Have a look at this Mrs. Wordsmith picture.

What is happening here? This is Oz the ostrich.

What's happening and how do you think it's making her feel? Pause the video while you either have a think about that or if someone's next close by, you could have a little discussion about it.

Well done.

In this picture, Oz is sunbathing and it looks like she's, I thought she was reading a book, but actually it looks almost more like a menu.

Maybe she was thinking of ordering herself a nice drink, but she doesn't look very happy.

And I think the reason is, because that great big dark cloud is covering up the sun.

And she looks like she wanted to do some sunbathing.

She's got her bikini on, I can see.

So she looks a bit fed up about it.

So I wonder how we could describe this cloud.

Let's find out.

Overcast.

My turn, your turn.

Overcast.

Well done.

Overcast is an adjective.

It means cloudy or grey; how the sky looks when dark clouds block out all the sunshine.

So if it was an overcast day, there wouldn't be any sunshine showing at all.

In fact, I'm looking out my window right now and it is an overcast day because there's not little clusters of clouds with the sun coming in and out from behind the clouds.

There's just thick clouds covering the whole sky, which means that the sun isn't peeking out at all.

It is overcast.

These words are synonyms of overcast: cloudy, gloomy, grey.

Yeah, it is looking a bit gloomy and grey outside, today.

The overcast weather threatened to ruin Oz's afternoon sunbathing.

Now, overcast has a prefix in it.

Prefix, remember was one of our key words.

It means a letter or a group of letters at the beginning of a word.

So the prefix in overcast is over.

That's the bit that comes at the beginning of the word.

Cast would be the root word, over would be the prefix.

And the prefix, over, is in lots of different words, and it typically implies excess or abundance, which means there's more than necessary.

If I said, wow, we've got an abundance of fruit today for our snacks, it means we would have so much fruit, we probably have more than we needed.

Let's look at some more examples where this prefix over is used.

Overdo.

So again, if you do something, but if you overdo something, it's like you've done more than necessary.

Overpower.

Again, more power than necessary.

You've overpowered something.

If I overpowered my cake with salt, it means I've put too much.

I've put an abundance of salt in.

Overload.

If I overloaded the dishwasher, it wouldn't clean very well because I've put too many things in it.

Overestimate.

If I estimated, which means making a kind of sensible guess how much money I was going to spend on holiday.

If I overestimated, I've estimated too much an abundance more than necessary.

The prefix over can also signify repetition.

So let's check what we've just learned.

You can add the prefix over to which of these root words to show excess, which means more than necessary.

A, yawn.

So that would be over yawn.

B, answer or C, react.

Pause the video while you think about your answer.

Well done.

Well, we already heard overyawn doesn't sound right.

Overanswer also doesn't sound right, but overreact is correct.

If you react to something you, you are like responding to it.

So if you overreact, it's like you are responding in quite a big way.

If you somebody told you something and it made you upset and you got really cross about it, and then later you might say, I'm sorry, I overreacted, my reaction was more than necessary.

So these words are word pairs of overcast: an overcast sky, overcast weather, overcast morning.

So sometimes it's, there's an overcast morning, but it might brighten up in the afternoon.

Overcast conditions.

Conditions are just the state of something.

For example, you might say, this house is in good condition, or you might say, we don't want to go sailing to today because of the stormy conditions.

And overcast afternoon and an overcast day.

Now, could you pause the video while you read those word pairs out loud? Well done.

Let's check what we've just learned.

Which of these words is a synonym for overcast? A, gloomy, B, thin, or C, expanding? Pause the video while you think about your answer.

Well done.

The correct answer is A, gloomy is a synonym for overcast.

It's time for your first task.

In this task, you have a word map with the word overcast written in the middle.

Around the word overcast are either synonyms or word pairs of this word.

First, I'd like you to find the synonyms, and when you find them, I'd like you to circle them.

Then I'd like you to draw lines from the word overcast up or across or down to the word pairs.

And as you do that, you could say them out loud.

Here's the word in a sentence to help you.

The overcast weather threatened to ruin Oz's afternoon sunbathing.

If the word is a synonym, you might be able to replace it with the word overcast in that sentence.

For example, if I tried sky, the sky weather threatened to ruin Oz's afternoon sunbathing.

That doesn't make sense.

So I think that's not a synonym.

I think it's a word pair.

But let me try gloomy.

The gloomy weather threatened to ruin Oz's afternoon sunbathing.

That sounded right, so that could be a synonym.

Could you pause the video now while you could complete this task.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers together.

The synonyms are gloomy, grey and cloudy.

The word pairs are overcast sky, overcast morning, overcast conditions, overcast day, overcast afternoon, and overcast weather.

I'd now like you to write a sentence using the word overcast.

Use the word pairs to help you and have a think who you are going to write your sentence about.

Maybe a Mrs. Wordsmith character like here, this picture is about Oz.

A character from a unit of work you are studying at school, a character from the book you are reading, or a friend.

So first, think who's my sentence going to be about? And then pick one of those word pairs.

For example, and overcast morning.

And then you can build your sentence around that word pair.

Don't forget to practise saying your sentence before you write it, and always read it back to check.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's look at an example sentence together.

The sky had been overcast for so long that Yin couldn't remember what the sun looked like.

Does this sentence use overcast effectively, correctly, sorry, and is it an effective sentence? Well, I can straightaway see that I've got my word pair.

I'm describing the sky as overcast.

The sky had been overcast for so long.

I can see also this extra detail.

Yin couldn't remember what the sun looks like.

That just shows or emphasises how blocked the sun is by the clouds.

So yes, I think I've used the word overcast correctly and effectively.

How effective is your sentence? Is there a detail you could add to really exaggerate how blocked out the sky is? Perhaps pause the video and check your sentence.

And if you want, you could even try to improve it.

Well done.

Let's look at another sentence together.

The grey overcast day seemed fitting for a boring ordinary Monday.

Again, does this use overcast correctly? Is it an effective sentence? Well, I can see my word pair, day, and I can also see that I have created this negative atmosphere that kind of matches overcast is quite a sort of negative, dull word, and I've matched that by saying it was fitting for a boring, ordinary Monday.

Not a fun, exciting Saturday at the weekend, but a boring ordinary Monday.

Okay, it's time to take a look at our second new cloudy word.

The first one was overcast.

Let's see what this one's going to be.

What's happening in this picture? This is Grit the dog.

What's he doing here? How would you describe these clouds? Pause the video now.

Well, in this picture, Grit is in a little aeroplane and it looks like he's gone round and round or done a loop-the-loop.

And in doing so, he has made a sort of swirling pattern with these little white fluffy clouds.

So let's find out what this word is.

Oh, it's swirling.

I even said it without realising.

My turn, your turn.

Swirling.

Swirling is also an adjective.

So billowing, overcast, and swirling are all adjectives.

It means spiralling or twirling like clouds spinning around after a plane whizzes by.

These words are synonyms of swirling, twisting, spiralling, spinning.

Here's the word in a sentence.

Grit was very proud of the swirling clouds he had made by doing a loop-the-loop.

These words are word pairs of swirling: swirling clouds, swirling smoke, swirling dust, swirling mist, swirling snowflakes.

Oh, that's a nice image.

Swirling water, Maybe when it goes, when you drain a bath, it might swirl around the plug hole, and swirling motion.

Motion is just the action of moving or movement.

So if you did something in a swirling motion, it'd be moving in a swirling way.

Can you pause the video and read all seven of these word pairs out loud? Well done.

Which of these words is a synonym for swirling? A, round B, dense, or C spiralling? Pause the video while you think of your answer.

Well done.

The correct answer is C, spiralling is a synonym for swirling.

It is time for another word map.

This time swirling is written in the middle.

First, could you circle the synonyms of swirling? And then can you draw lines to the word pairs? Here's a sentence to help you.

Grit was very proud of the swirling clouds he had made by doing a loop-the-loop.

Remember, you can always replace that you might be able to replace that word swirling with one of the synonyms. That's a trick to help you.

Pause the video now while you complete this task.

Well done.

Let's look at the answers together.

The synonyms are: twisting, spinning, spiralling.

The word pairs are: swirling clouds, swirling mist, swirling smoke, swirling snowflakes, swirling dust, swirling water, and swirling motion.

Now it's time to write a sentence using this word swirling.

Use the word pairs to help you.

There they are.

And in this sentence, I would love it if you could try to create a lovely, calm and positive atmosphere.

So when we had in my sentence using the word overcast, it was 'cause that's quite a negative word.

It was quite a kind of negative atmosphere.

But I'd like you to take this word swirling and pick a word pair and see if you can write a sentence that makes the reader feel calm and positive.

Good luck.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's look at an example sentence together, and as I'm reading it, have a think.

Does this sentence use swirling correctly? Swirling snowflakes, which caught the light of the moon, spiralled to the ground during the quiet night.

Oh, well that definitely, as I read that, made me feel calm and positive is a really lovely image.

This idea on a really quiet night of these spiral swirling snowflakes, which as they swirled down, caught the light of the moon.

So straight away I can see my word pair, swirling snowflakes, I can see spiralled as a verb, which shows how they were moving.

It shows that they were moving kind of in a sort of circular motion.

And I can also see that image of the light of the moon and the quiet night creates a calm and positive atmosphere.

Did you manage to create a calm and positive atmosphere? Perhaps you could pause the video and check your sentence.

Maybe you could even add a bit of detail to try and create a calm and positive atmosphere.

Well done.

Let's look at another example.

Bogart pulled out the bath plug and was hypnotised by the swirling water as it drained away.

So again, does this sentence use swirling correctly? Well, I can see there my word pair water, swirling water.

And I can also see that Bogart is hypnotised because of that spiralling motion.

So yes, I think I have used swirling correctly.

Okay, so we're onto our final word.

Can you remember what the first word was? On a dark gloomy day, we might describe it as overcast.

Well done.

And our second word was swirling.

Let's find out what our third word is.

What's happening in this picture? Can you see Bogart? He's dressed up here, I think as a fairy godmother, but what's happening? And how would you describe these clouds or smoke? Pause the video now.

Well done.

Well, in this picture, as I mentioned, Bogart's dressed up as I think a fairy godmother, and he has a little tiny wand.

He seems to have waved his wand, and there's some sort of lovely little kind of faint white clouds or smoke that are coming.

Maybe he's doing in magic spell.

I think I might know what this word is.

It begins with a W.

Let's see if I'm right.

Oh, yes, wispy.

My turn, your turn.

Wispy.

Wispy is an adjective.

It means thin or fine, like clouds that are feathery and light.

So these aren't dense, heavy black grey rain clouds.

These are feathery light clouds.

These words are synonyms of wispy: fine, thin, feathery.

Bogart waved the wand as wispy silky clouds appeared all around him.

These are word pairs of wispy: wispy cloud, wispy smoke, and a wispy voice.

Now you might think, okay, I can imagine a wispy cloud or wispy smoke.

But how could a voice be wispy? Well, a wispy voice would be a light, delicate voice.

It wouldn't be very loud.

It would probably be quite a soft and airy voice.

So if you imagined some kind of magical, maybe like a fairy or something, they might have a wispy voice.

Could you you pause the video now and read these word pairs? Perhaps you could even read them in a wispy voice.

Pause the video now.

Oh, lovely.

I love that.

Those wispy voices I heard.

Okay, we've got five more word pairs: wispy hair, wispy beard, wispy curl, wispy fur and wispy eyebrows.

So all of those things are different type.

They're all linked to hair, aren't they? My hair's actually quite wispy.

It's quite thin and feathery.

Again, can you pause the video and read those word pairs out loud? Well done.

Which of these words is a word pair of wispy? A, silence, B, hair, or C, look? Pause the video now.

Well done.

The correct answer is B, wispy hair: thin, feathery, fine hair.

Okay, it's our last word map of the day.

This time we have wispy in the middle.

First, could you circle the synonyms and then can you draw lines to the word pairs? Again, there's a sentence there to help you if you need it.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers together.

The synonyms are fine, thin and feathery.

The word pair are wispy cloud, wispy smoke, wispy hair, wispy beard, wispy curl, wispy voice, wispy fur and wispy eyebrows.

Could you write a sentence using the word wispy? And again, use the word pairs to help you.

This time there's an especially challenging challenge to write a relative complex sentence.

Let me show you a scaffold.

In a relative complex sentence, you pick your main clause, so the main thing that's happening, and then you put a relative clause inside, you sort of interrupt your main clause with a relative clause, which starts with which or who.

It has to have a comma around it, and it's a way of sneaking in a little bit of extra detail.

For example, the wizard, who had wispy eyebrows, and then you would finish your sentence.

The wizard, what would be the rest of that main clause? Before I interrupted it with that detail who had wispy eyebrows? When it's because it's a relative complex sentence, we want the information to be relative.

It shouldn't be just completely random.

So if in that sentence I added the information about the eyebrows, that should be relevant to the rest of my main claws.

Good luck.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's look at an example together.

The wise old man with a thin, wispy beard, which he stroked when he was deep in thought, had finally made up his mind.

Again, does this sentence use wispy correctly? Well, I can see there my word pair, a wispy beard.

He's a wise old man.

Quite often they have wispy white beards.

And my relative clause, which he stroked when he was deep and thought is relevant because the main clause is he had finally made up his mind.

So as he was thinking, he was stroking that wispy beard, but he's finally made up his mind.

So there's an example of a relative complex sentence.

Let's look at another example.

The wispy clouds, which looked like white candy floss scattered across the sky.

Again, there's my word pair, which shows me I've used wispy correctly, wispy clouds.

And here's my relative clause, which makes my relative complex sentence, the wispy clouds scattered across the sky.

There's my main clause that could make sense by itself, but I've interrupted it with, which looked like white candy floss.

And if I take away that, you can see those squares, you can see the commas that surround the relative clause.

So well done if you managed to write a relative complex sentence.

If you didn't this time, maybe it's something you can try and do another time.

Okay, the last task of today is to fill the gaps with either the word overcast, swirling, or wispy.

Here are the sentences.

One hmm afternoon, Yang decides to play outside even though there was no chance of any sun.

Grit's hmm eyebrows were blown to and fro in the breeze.

As Oz sprinted down the street, she left a trail of hmm dust spiralling behind her.

Could you pause the video while you try to fill each gap with one of our words that we have learned today? Well done.

Let's look at the answers together.

One overcast afternoon yang decided to play outside even though there was no chance of sun.

Grit's wispy eyebrows were blown to and fro in the breeze.

And as Oz sprinted down the street, she left a trail of swirling dust spiralling behind her.

So let's summarise what we've learned today.

We have learnt three adjectives that all can describe clouds, but can describe other things as well.

For example, swirling dust or a wispy curl.

Overcast means cloudy or grey.

How the sky looks when dark clouds block out all the sunshine.

Swirling means spiralling or twirling like clouds spinning around after a plane whizzes past.

And wispy means thin or fine, like clouds that are feathery and light.

I hope you find these words really useful in your speaking and in your writing.

Well done for working so hard today and for writing three amazing sentences.

Hopefully, I'll see you for some more learning another time.