Lesson video

Hi everyone, and welcome to today's lesson.

Today, we're going to be writing the opening of a diary entry based on "How To Train Your Dragon." In today's lesson, you will be able to use a plan to write the opening of a diary entry based on "How To Train Your Dragon." Here are keywords we are going to use.

Summarise.

General.

To summarise means to sum up the information surrounding particular events, thoughts or feelings.

General facts include the most basic, necessary information.

In today's lesson, we are going to be writing the opening of a diary entry based on "How To Train Your Dragon." We're going to begin by preparing to write, and then we're going to move on to writing the opening.

This diary entry can be structured like this.

We begin with our opening, then we move on to the main body.

In this diary, we're going to split our main body into two parts, both describing in chronological order, the events that happen during dragon training.

And finally, we end with our closing.

Today, we are writing the opening.

The purpose of the opening is to summarise the day's key events and the character's overarching feelings about the day.

We keep the information in the opening general.

Specific details will be shared later in the diary entry.

Here we can use this little visual to help us.

In our opening, we want to keep the information general.

We can use a checklist approach to help us include appropriate information in the opening.

We want to include a summary of the day's events, key thoughts and feelings, and a final sentence that links on to the next paragraph.

True or false.

Information in the opening of a diary entry should be specific.

Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you spotted that this is false.

Now, pause the video again to decide how to justify your answer.

Well done, everyone, if you spotted that the correct answer is A, information in the opening of a diary entry should be kept general.

Writers can go into specific details in later paragraphs.

So, we'll save those details for the main body paragraphs.

That's when we can go into further specific details.

Now, it's time for your first task.

Sort the sentences into those that are appropriate to include in the opening and those that should be included later in the diary.

Let's read them through together first.

"I've had the worst day of my life!" "I tried to defend myself, but I just froze." "Today was our first day of dragon training." "My blood ran cold as Gobber released the dragons from their cages." "I can never show my face there again." Take each of these sentences and choose whether they belong in the opening or whether they belong in other sections of our diary.

Pause the video while you complete your task.

Fantastic work, everyone.

So, sentences that were appropriate to include in our opening are, "I've had the worst day of my life!" "I can never show my face there again." And "Today was our first day of dragon training." Sentences that are appropriate to use in later sections of our diary entry are, "My blood ran cold as Gobber released the dragons from their cages." And "I tried to defend myself, but I just froze." These sentences are not appropriate for the opening because they are too specific and detailed about particular events.

Remember, in our opening, we want to keep our sentences general.

What a fantastic start to our lesson, everyone.

Well done.

Now, that we have prepared to write, we're going to move on to writing the opening.

When we write, we always try to do these things.

We plan and say each sentence before we write it.

We use punctuation as long as we know the rules.

We showcase each sentence type we know.

We write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting.

We use spelling strategies to help us spell words accurately.

We check and improve our writing when we think we have finished.

This is a really, really important step in our writing process.

We must make sure that we stop and we reread each sentence to make sure that it makes sense.

Here is the success criteria for our writing today.

Let's take a moment to read through our success criteria together.

I have written in the first person perspective as Hiccup.

Remember, first person perspective means we write using pronouns such as I and me, my and we.

I have used exclamations, vocabulary and contractions to create an informal tone.

I have shared my thoughts and feelings.

And I have kept the opening general.

These success criteria are going to help us today and they act like a guide to help us remember what we want to include in our writing for it to be as successful as possible.

Now, you're going to use your plan to write your opening paragraph of your diary entry.

Remember, in your plan, you recorded your ideas using bullet points and in note form.

You can then build on these ideas today.

It's really important to make sure that you have your plan with you ready for writing.

Pause the video to go and get your plan if you need to.

Now, let's take a moment to recap the planning of our opening.

Here is my class plan.

I'm going to refresh my memory of everything that was included in my plan in our last lesson.

Then, you can have some time to reread through your plan.

So, our plan was separated into three parts.

What type of day was it? A brief summary of what happened.

And thoughts, questions, and feelings.

In my first section, I described the day as awful, like a bad dream, and a day I wish I could forget already.

In my brief summary of what happened, I'm going to explain to my reader that, "Dad told me I had to go to dragon training.

It was a total disaster.

I almost got eaten by a Gronckle, and everyone's making fun of me more than ever." Finally, in my questions, thoughts and feelings section, I've included a question.

"How will I show my face again tomorrow? I'm filled with dread.

My hands are still shaking and I can't stop reliving it all." So, just thinking about our success criteria, I want to have included an informal tone.

Well, I can see I've got some words like awful, a total disaster.

I've got some contracted words like everyone's and can't.

I've shared my thoughts and feelings.

I've said that I'm filled with dread.

My hands are still shaking.

I can't stop reliving it all.

And I've told my reader some of the key events in a general way.

So, I've told my reader that it was a total disaster at dragon training and I almost got eaten by a Gronckle.

So, I think this plan is going to set me up really well to be successful in my writing today.

Take a moment now to reread your plan and double check that it includes all of the things we want to be doing in our writing today.

Pause the video while you do that.

Great work, everyone.

Now, before you go off and write your own opening, we're going to read my example.

I have written a model.

You are going to help me see how it has met the success criteria.

So, I've got my success criteria on the right hand side here of my screen.

Let's begin by just reading through my example opening.

Let's read it together.

"Dear Diary, Today was, without a doubt, one of the worst days of my entire life.

This morning my dad told me I had to go to dragon training because I need to learn to be a real Viking.

It was a total disaster! Now, he thinks I'm worth nothing.

Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a Viking after all.

As I write this, my muscles are aching and I feel so deflated.

Let me tell you about my hideous day." So, there's my opening paragraph.

Now, let's go back and review it with a focus on the success criteria that we want to include for today's writing.

So firstly, I've written in the first person perspective as Hiccup.

So, some key words I'd want to find would be pronouns such as I and me.

Here I've highlighted them.

I have used words such as my, me, I, and I'm, which is a contracted form of I am, I'm.

So, I've definitely written in the first person perspective as Hiccup.

I can tick off success criteria 1 Now, let's look at the second criteria.

I've used exclamations, vocabulary and contractions to create an informal tone.

Here they are here.

"It was a total disaster!" Ending in an exclamation mark.

Now, it's really, really important that we don't use an exclamation mark for the end of every sentence.

It's far too repetitive.

And really, my personal rule is that I would maximum use one exclamation in a paragraph at a time.

I've also used some contracted words.

I'm, I am, I'm.

And I've used some in formal phrases.

Describing the day as "a total disaster," "I'm not cut out to be a Viking after all," and "Let me tell you." So, addressing my diary directly with phrases like, "let me tell you," creates that informal conversational tone so I can tick off success criteria 2.

Number three, I've shared my thoughts and feelings.

So, I have shared that today was without a doubt, one of the worst days of my life.

It was a total disaster.

My dad thinks I'm worth nothing.

Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a Viking after all.

And my muscles are aching and I feel so deflated.

There are lots of examples there of tell, show, not tell, and describing what happened.

And finally, I've kept the opening general.

Here in these first few sentences, I have summarised what happened in the day and my overarching thoughts and feelings about the day, but I've not gone into specific details about exactly what happened and when.

I've kept the information general because later in my diary entry, I will go into the specific details of what exactly happened.

So, I can tick off success criteria 4.

Now, it's time for you to use your plan and your success criteria to help you write the opening of your diary entry based on "How To Train Your Dragon." Pause the video while you complete your task.

Great work, everyone.

I hope you really enjoyed using your plan to write the opening of your diary entry.

Now, take a moment to reread your opening back and check that it meets the success criteria.

Are you able to tick off every one of your criteria? If not, take a moment to add in some additional sentences or make some edits so that you can meet your success criteria.

Brilliant work.

Now, here's another example of an opening that we could have used.

Let's read it through together.

"Dear Diary, Today felt like I was trying to catch a wild Gronckle with my bare hands - impossible and exhausting.

Dad woke me up early this morning, saying it was time for my first day of dragon training.

I was nervous, but also excited to prove myself as a true Viking.

Little did I know, it was going to be a day I'd rather forget.

The moment I stepped into the training arena, everything went downhill faster than a dragon in a dive.

I couldn't control any of the dragons, and my classmates laughed at me.

Even Dad looked disappointed.

I feel like I let everyone down, especially myself.

Maybe being a Viking isn't in my blood after all." In this example, I wrote in the first person perspective as Hiccup.

I use exclamations, vocabulary and contractions to create an informal tone.

I shared my thoughts and feelings.

And I kept my opening general.

Thank you so much for your help with that.

Brilliant work, everyone.

That now brings us to the end of our lesson, where today we have been writing the opening of a diary entry based on "How To Train Your Dragon." The opening of a diary entry should summarise the key events, thoughts, and feelings of the day using general information.

Informal tone can be conveyed through language choice, use of exclamations and contractions.

When writing, we can use plans and success criteria to help us.

I hope you feel so proud of the writing that you produced in our lesson today.

I am really looking forward to seeing all of the excellent outcomes that we produce throughout the rest of our unit.

Well done, everyone, and I'll see you again soon.