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're going to be learning words that are associated with cloudy weather.

So perhaps you could start off by looking outside your window and seeing if you can see any clouds in the sky today.

If you can see any clouds, can you think of any words to describe them? Well, after today's lesson, we are going to have three new ways to describe the clouds.

Let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is to use the words "billowing," "dense," and "hazy" effectively in multiple contexts.

These are our key words for our lesson today.

These are the lessons that we're going to be using again and again.

So let's start off by saying them out loud.

My turn, your turn.

Are you ready? Noun.

Adjective.

Synonym.

Word pair.

Great job.

Well done.

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

An adjective is a word that describes a noun.

Here, I've got a glass, that would be a noun because it's a thing.

And if I described it, I might describe the green glass.

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

Word pairs are words that often appear together.

In our lesson today, we have three learning cycles, and in each learning cycle, we're going to be learning a new cloudy word.

But hopefully we'll see in today's lesson that whilst these words can be useful to describe clouds, they also can be useful to describe lots of other things.

So let's get started with our first new cloudy word.

Before I tell you what this word is, I would like you to be a detective and look closely at this picture.

What is happening here? This is Armie the armadillo.

How would you describe what he's doing? How do you think he's feeling? How would you describe those clouds? Pause the video and either have a think about it or if someone's next to you, you could have a little discussion about it now.

Well done.

Armie looks like he's having a lovely time here.

He looks like he's bouncing around from one cloud to the other.

These clouds are nice and white and fluffy.

They're not grey or they don't look like it's about to be pour with rain.

These are nice white fluffy clouds.

So let's have a look what this word is.

Billowing.

My turn.

Your turn.

Billowing.

Well done.

Billowing is an adjective.

It means swelling or expanding like a cloud that has grown so big you can bounce on it.

So if something swells, you might, sometimes, if you hurt yourself, it might swell.

For instance, if a wasp stung at my hand, sometimes, it swells or expands.

It means it's kind of gets bigger, a bit puffy.

If you imagine a balloon expanding as you blow into a balloon, it expands, it gets bigger.

So imagine a cloud expanding and then it's gone all big and fluffy as if you could bounce up and down on it.

So these words are synonyms of billowing.

That means they have a similar meaning.

Swelling, filling with air, expanding.

And here's the word in a sentence.

The billowing clouds looked like huge swirls of cotton wool.

These are word pairs of billowing.

So if you were to come across this word "billowing" in a book you were reading, it might be paired with one of these words.

Billowing clouds, billowing smoke.

So not just a little tiny wispy bit of smoke.

If it was billowing smoke, there would be lots of smoke.

Billowing waves.

So close your eyes and picture a calm sea and then now picture a sea with billowing waves.

Great big swelling, expanding waves.

It would be a bit scary to swim in billowing waves.

Billowing flames.

So again, not just a tiny flicker of a flame.

If there were billowing flames, they would be great, big expanding flames.

So could you pause the video now and just read those word pairs out loud? Well done, right.

We've got four more word pairs.

Now billowing sails.

So imagine a pirate ship.

If the wind was blowing those great big sails, they might be billowing, expanding, or filled with air.

Billowing skirt.

Imagine if you were wearing a skirt, sometimes, the wind blows up the skirt and again, it makes it filled with air so it sort of expands or swells.

Billowing fabric.

So the fabric for example, on a skirt.

And billowing curtains, perhaps if you had your windows wide open and the curtain's closed and it was a windy day, the curtains would become billowing 'cause they would be filled with that wind or filled with the air.

Could you pause the video again and read these word pairs out loud? Well done.

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

Which of these words is a synonym for billowing? A, swishing.

B, swelling.

Or C, shrinking.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

The correct answer is B.

Swelling and billowing are synonyms. They have a similar meaning.

Okay, it's time for our first task in today's lesson.

You have a word map with the word billowing in the middle.

Around the word billowing, you either have synonyms or word pairs of billowing.

First, I would like you to try to find the synonyms and I would like you to circle them.

And then I would like you to draw lines to all of the word pairs.

And as you do that, I would like you to read the word pairs out loud 'cause that's going to help us to really remember this word.

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

The billowing clouds looked like huge swirls of cotton wool.

Now if a word is a synonym, you could take out the word billowing in that sentence and see if the synonym can replace it.

For example, the swelling clouds looked like huge swirls of cotton wool.

That sounds right.

So swelling might be a synonym.

But if I tried another one, for example, smoke, the smoke clouds looked like huge swirls of cotton wool.

That doesn't sound right.

So that makes me think that might be a word pair.

So there's a little trick to help you if you are unsure.

So pause the video now while you complete this first part of your task.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers together.

The synonyms are swelling, filling with air, and expanding.

The word pairs are billowing clouds, billowing smoke, billowing sails, billowing fabric, billowing skirt, billowing waves, billowing curtains, and billowing flames.

So hopefully, we can already see that whilst this word billowing can describe clouds, it can describe lots of things, other things, other contexts.

Sail of a ship, a skirt, flames.

So this word is a really useful word for us to remember.

It is now time for you to write a sentence using the word billowing.

Use the word pairs to help you.

That's going to make sure you are using this word really accurately.

Think about who you are going to write your sentence about.

You could write your sentence about a Mrs. Wordsmith character like Armie in this picture.

You could write your sentence about a character from a unit of work you are studying at school.

Maybe it could be about a character from the book you are reading, or you could write a your sentence about a friend.

So start off by pick thinking about who you are going to write your sentence about and then pick one of those word pairs.

For example, I'm going to write my sentence about Sophie from the BFG 'cause that's the book that I'm reading to my daughter at the moment.

And I'm going to describe, I'm going to pick the word pair clouds, billowing clouds.

So now I've got my character Sophie, and I've got my word pair, billowing clouds.

And I can build my sentence around that idea.

Try to be as ambitious as you can when you write your sentence, pause the video Now while you write your sentence, Well done.

Let's look at an example sentence together.

Billowing smoke poured from the fire like a thick blanket.

Now let's check, does this sentence use billowing correctly? And is it an effective sentence? Well, I can see straight away that I've used a word pair, billowing smoke.

So I know I've used this word correctly.

I can see by the word the verb poured that that shows me how much smoke there is.

Billowing smoke poured from the fire.

Imagine smoke pouring from the fire.

That's giving me a picture in my mind that it's almost like it's flooding out of the fire.

And then I've got like a thick blanket.

This is a simile when we use "like" or "as" to compare one thing to another thing.

And again, it shows how thick the smoke is, like a thick blanket.

So yes, I think this sentence is effective because the similarly and the verb choice poured all helps to create this idea of the smoke swelling or expanding.

I wonder, could you check how effective your sentence is? Perhaps if you read it back, you might even be able to add a little bit of extra detail to make your sentence even more effective.

Pause the video while you check your sentence now.

Well done.

Let's have a look at another example sentence.

"Why would you open the window during a tornado?" yelled Yin, the curtains billowing.

Again, is this sentence effective? Have we used billowing correctly? Well, I can see my word pair, curtains, the billowing curtains.

And I can also see that I've got, "There's a tornado." So that helps to explain why the curtains are billowing or what's caused the curtains to billow.

So imagine that.

Imagine a tornado outside and Yin is yelling, "Why would you open the window during a tornado?" 'cause the curtains are billowing, they're filled with that air, right? It is time to look at our second new cloudy word.

The first word was? That's right, billowing.

Let's see what our second word is going to be.

Ah, so we've got Armie again, but what is happening here? How would you describe this cloud? Pause the video and either have a think or discuss what you can see out loud.

Well done.

In this picture here, this cloud, unlike the clouds in the billowing picture, this cloud is grey and looks very thick.

It's so thick in fact that Armie has had to use a knife to cut a hole in it.

Let's find out what this word is.

Dense.

My turn.

Your turn.

Dense.

Well done.

Dense is also an adjective.

It means thick, solid, or heavy like a cloud so thick, you need a knife to cut through it.

So if there were dense clouds, it would block the sun.

You wouldn't feel the sun through dense clouds because they're so thick or solid.

So these words are synonyms of dense.

They have a similar meaning.

Thick, heavy, and solid.

Here's the word in a sentence.

The dense clouds made the day seem as dark as night.

Sometimes, on a day where there's really dense clouds, because it blocks the sun, it almost feels like it's nighttime because it's so dark.

These are word pairs of dense.

Dense clouds, dense smoke, dense fog.

If there was dense fog, you probably wouldn't be able to see much through it.

Dense mist.

Again, fog and mist are similar things to each other.

So could you, before we move on to our other word pairs, pause the video now and read those word pairs out loud? Well done.

Here are some more word pairs.

Dense undergrowth.

Now undergrowth are the plants\ that grow underneath the trees.

So if you picture a forest, if there was dense undergrowth, it means that underneath those trees, there would be lots of bushes and brambles.

It would be very thick.

A dense forest.

So not just one tree here and then a big gap and then another tree.

That would be like a sparse forest.

A dense forest, there would be lots and lots of trees and vegetation it would be quite hard to squeeze through them.

Dense jungle.

So similar to a dense forest.

A dense cluster.

Now a cluster is a group of similar things or people, but they're very closely together.

So we can see why a dense cluster, that word pair is very appropriate.

And finally, a dense population.

A population is the number of people that live in a certain area at a certain time.

So for example, you might say, "In the year 2000, London's population was," and then you would say, how many people lived in London at that time.

So if there was a dense population, it would be like a heavy population.

There would be lots and lots of people living in a certain place.

So again, can you pause the video now and read these word pairs out loud? Well done.

Okay, let's check what we've just learned.

Which of these words is a synonym for dense? A, solid.

B, black.

C, wispy.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

The correct answer is A, solid.

Black, this cloud might be grey, but black is not a synonym of dense because we know we can use dense to describe a population or we can use dense to describe a cluster.

And so whilst you might have dark clouds, black is not a synonym.

And wispy is almost like the opposite.

If you had a wispy cloud and a dense cloud, they would be two very different things.

Okay, so it's time for another word map.

This time, you have dents in the middle.

Could you please first circle the synonyms and then draw lines to the word pairs? And remember, there's a sentence there and there's that trick of taking out the word "dense" and checking if the word fits in to see if it's a synonym.

Pause the video while you complete this first part of your task.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers together.

The synonyms are thick, heavy, solid.

The word pairs are dense clouds, dense jungle, dense undergrowth, dense fog, dense forest, dense mist, dense population, dense smoke, and dense cluster.

I'd now like you to write your own sentence using the word "dense." The word pairs are there to help you.

You could also turn this word into an adverb by adding ly at the end.

Densely.

So dense is an adjective that would describe a noun.

For example, the dense clouds.

But densely would describe a verb.

An adverb is a word that can describe a verb or an adjective.

Here's an example.

Fog settled densely over the valley.

The verb in that sentence is settled.

That's what the fog did, that's the action.

And so densely describes how the fog settled.

The fog settled densely over the valley.

So you could use the word dense with a word pair, or you could use the word pair as inspiration for your sentence and turn the word dense into an adverb and instead use densely.

Pause the video now while you write your sentence.

Well done.

Let's look at an example together.

The forest was so dense that not even a single ray of light got through the leaves to the ground.

So does this sentence use dense correctly? Well, I can see here that we've got forest and that's a word pair and that's what dense is describing in this sentence.

I can also see this extra detail.

Not even a single ray of light got through the leaves.

That shows me how thick the forest was.

Let's take a look at another sentence.

The city centre was densely populated with towering sky skyscrapers, which cast long shadows over the bustling streets below.

Again, I can see this time I've used densely.

So I've turned the adjective into an adverb.

It describes the verb populated.

The city centre was densely populated.

That means that there are lots and lots of towers there.

It's densely populated with towering skyscrapers.

Okay, and now it's time for us to look at our third new cloudy word.

The first word that began with the letter B was? Well done, billowing.

And the second cloudy word that begins with D is? Dense.

Let's find out what our third new cloudy word is.

What is happening in this picture? Stax is the giraffe and we know Armie 'cause we've seen him already today.

What's happening here? How would you describe what's happening here? Pause the video now.

Well done.

Stax is reading his book on a bench, but he's so tall that his head is in a cloud and it looks kind of hard to see his face through this cloud.

This kind of foggy, misty cloud.

An Armie is there and he's sort of peering up at him.

Maybe he's trying to work out who this is.

He can't see very clearly through this cloud.

Let's find out what this word is.

Hazy.

My turn.

Your turn.

Hazy.

Hazy is an adjective.

It means cloudy or misty like a fog that makes it hard to see clearly.

These are synonyms of hazy.

Murky, misty, unclear and faint.

So four synonyms this time.

So imagine murky water.

It would be hard to see if you stood in a swimming pool and the water was murky.

You probably wouldn't be able to see your feet.

Misty is a bit like if you were in some fog, you might describe it as misty.

Unclear.

So imagine you might be trying to remember a memory.

It might be unclear.

You can't see it clearly.

And again, faint.

Something may be that if you saw a faint outline of a mountain, but it would be unclear or murky or misty.

So we can see how similar all these words are.

These are all synonyms of hazy.

Stax couldn't see far because of the hazy cloud around his head.

These are word pairs of hazy.

Hazy cloud, hazy sky, hazy sunshine.

So sometimes, the sun on a bright blue, clear sky day, the sun is very strong, but sometimes, if there's kind of wispy clouds, the sunshine feels a bit hazy.

And a hazy day.

Pause the video while you read those word pairs out loud.

Well done.

And here's four more.

Hazy memories.

If you had a very good memory, you would have very clear memories.

But sometimes, we might have hazy memories that are a bit unclear or a bit faint.

A hazy outline.

So if you saw a hazy outline of mountains in the distance, it would be again, unclear or a bit faint.

A hazy recollection.

Now a recollection is just the act of remembering something.

So if if you said, "Hmm, I have a hazy recollection of that holiday." Again, it would be a slightly unclear, you can't remember it vividly or clearly.

You can remember maybe some details, but the memory is a bit hazy.

And a hazy idea.

Again, you might say, "Oh, I've got a hazy idea of what that might look like." But it wouldn't be very clear.

Pause the video now while you read these word pairs out loud.

Well done.

Okay, let's check what we've just learned.

Which of these words is a word pair of hazy? A recollection.

B, uniform.

C, Chatter.

Pause the video while you decide your answer.

Well done.

The correct answer is recollection.

A hazy recollection.

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

You know what to do now.

Could you circle the synonyms of hazy and then draw lines to the word pairs? There's a sentence there to help you if you want it.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers together.

The synonyms are faint, murky, misty, and unclear.

There were four synonyms that time.

The rest of the words are word pairs hazy sky, hazy memories, hazy sunshine, hazy outline, hazy idea, hazy day, hazy cloud, hazy recollection.

And now it's time for you to write your final sentence in today's lesson.

This time, using the word hazy.

Don't forget to use the word pairs to help you.

They'll make sure you use this word really accurately.

And this time there's a challenge, could you start your sentence with a fronted adverbial of place? They're called fronted adverbial because they start your sentence.

They're like a sentence starter.

Here are some examples.

Between the trees, in the sky above, above the city, in the distance, You'll notice all of these have a comma after them.

These will tell us where something happened.

For example, you might pick one of these fronted adverbial of place.

For example, you might say, "In the sky above," comma, and then you can pick your word pair.

"The hazy sunshine desperately tried to break through the dense clouds." Oh, did you notice I used two of the Mrs. Wordsmith words from this lesson in that sentence? You don't have to use one of these fronted adverbial of place.

You could pick any fronted adverbial of place.

Something that tells you where something happened.

And remember, it's got to have a comma after it.

So pause the video now while you have a go at writing your own sentence using the word "hazy." Excellent.

Well done.

Let's look at an example sentence together.

Does this sentence use hazy correctly? You can be the teacher and decide as I read it to you.

In the distance, Brick could just make out the hazy outline of the mountain through the thick clouds.

Well, I can see my word pair, outline, hazy outline.

And I can also see that I have this detail that he can just make it out so he can only just see it, and that backs up that it's hazy.

And I can also see this extra detail through the thick clouds.

And that explains to me why the outline is hazy 'cause there are thick clouds that are hard to see through.

So the outline is a bit unclear or a bit faint.

Okay, let's take a look at another example.

Above her, rays of hazy sunshine shone gently through the light cloud and she felt her clothes absorbing the heat.

I love that feeling when you feel the sun almost sinking into your clothes.

So again, I can see hazy sunshine, there's my word pair.

And in this sentence, I can also see my fronted adverbial of place.

I've got "Above her," comma.

"it tells me where it is happening.

The rays of hazy sunshine shone gently through the light cloud above her." It's where it happened.

Did you manage to use a front adverbial of place? If you didn't, perhaps you could even pause the video and see if you could add one in.

Okay, well done.

It's time for our final task of today's lesson.

In this task, you need to fill the gaps with either the word billowing, dense, or hazy.

Here are the three sentences.

Plato could barely see the birds in the um sky of the polluted city.

Oz shrieked and clutched her um skirt as it blew about in the wind.

The um undergrowth of the forest made a great hiding place for animals.

Could you pause the video and decide which of these words fits best in which sentence? Well done.

Let's take a look at the answers.

Plato could barely see the birds in the hazy sky of the polluted city.

Oz shrieked and clutched at her billowing skirt as it blew about in the wind.

The dense undergrowth of the forest made a great hiding place for animals.

Well done if you managed to get those correct.

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

We've learnt three new adjectives that all can describe clouds, but also lots of other things.

Billowing means swelling or expanding.

Like a cloud that has grown so big, you can bounce on it.

Dense means thick, solid, or heavy.

Like a cloud so thick, you need a knife to cut through it.

And hazy means cloudy or misty like a fog that makes it hard to see clearly.

So all of these words can describe clouds, but lots of other things as well.

For example, a billowing skirt that might be swelling with air in the wind, or a dense population, or a hazy recollection or a hazy memory.

So these words are really useful in lots of different contexts, and I hope you can remember these words and use them in your speaking and in your writing.

Thank you so much for learning with me today.

You've done lots of brilliant work and written three amazing sentences, so you should feel very proud of yourselves.

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