Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and I'm so glad you decided to join me for today's lesson.

Today we're going to be learning lots of fascinating information about macaroni penguins in preparation for writing a report about them.

Let's get to work.

Today's lesson is called Researching Information about a Penguin's Habitat and Diet from my unit called Penguins or Antarctic Animals Non-chronological Report.

And if you're doing this lesson, you're working towards writing a report about an Antarctic animal, specifically a macaroni penguin.

So by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to write notes about macaroni penguins' habitat and diet.

Now, your teacher might have told you a specific way they'd like you to record these notes, or you might be recording them on the worksheet attached to this lesson, but either way, make sure you hold onto them for the future.

Let's make a start.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Source, credible, origin, theme, and bullet points.

Well done.

So a source is someone or something that supplies information and something is credible if it can be believed or trusted.

The origin of something is where it starts or where it comes from.

And a theme of a paragraph is a central idea that the writer wants the audience to engage with deeply.

And bullet points are punctuation marks that lay out key information in a nonfiction text, but we're going to use them as well today for making notes.

So here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by recapping our apostrophes for possession so that we can use those in recording information about penguins.

Then we'll research macaroni penguins' habitats, and finally we'll look at their diet.

So in a report about an animal, we'll often need to show possession using an apostrophe for singular possession.

For instance, the macaroni penguin's appearance.

We've got apostrophe "S" appearance to show the appearance belongs to the macaroni penguin.

Or we could say the stag beetle's habitat, the habitat belonging to the stag beetle.

And we usually show singular possession using apostrophe "S" after the singular noun.

Now here we're referring to the species as a whole, the macaroni penguin, the stag beetle, as a singular noun.

We aren't talking about one specific macaroni penguin or one specific stag beetle, but it's a singular noun as the whole species.

And so we can use apostrophe "S" to show that singular possession.

So we could say the male stag beetle's mandibles are larger than the female's.

Now we're not talking about one male stag beetle, we're talking about the male stag beetle as an idea as a part of that species.

So the mandibles belong to the male stag beetle, to all male stag beetles.

We could say the macaroni penguin's yellow crest does not develop until it's three to four years old.

Here, we mean the macaroni penguin as a species has that yellow crest, possesses that yellow crest.

And because the macaroni penguin ends in "N" and not in "S," we add apostrophe "S." If the word doesn't end in "S," we'll add apostrophe "S" to show singular possession.

So which sentences used an apostrophe for singular possession correctly? Pause the video and decide.

Okay, let's take a look at A.

It says the the macaroni penguins' apostrophe, scientific name.

Now there we're saying the macaroni penguin's plural, because we've used penguins ending in "S" and then followed by the apostrophe.

So no, that doesn't show singular possession.

But B does, because we've got the macaroni penguin with no "S" on the end, no plural, and then apostrophe "S" to show singular possession.

And the same is true for C.

We've got a macaroni penguin's feet.

So we've used just singular macaroni penguin apostrophe "S" to show it's singular possession.

But D, we've not got singular possession, because we said a macaroni penguins' plural feet.

So that one doesn't work as singular possession.

Really well done for spotting those two that did.

So we've talked about singular possession, but sometimes we want to use an apostrophe for plural possession too.

For instance, we might want to say, the penguins' flippers.

Here we're saying the flippers belonging to all the penguins.

Or we might say macaroni penguins' crests, the crests belonging to all macaroni penguins.

Because those words, penguins, are already plural nouns ending in "S," we put the apostrophe after the "S" to show the possession in this case.

So we're still saying these features belong to all the animals in the species, but we're referring now to the species as a plural noun.

And that's okay too.

We just have to decide which we're doing.

So for instance, we might say the penguins' blubber layer helps them to stay warm in the sea.

The blubber layer belonging to plural penguins.

We might say macaroni penguins' flippers are strong and powerful, the flippers belonging to macaroni penguins plural.

Or we might say male penguins' bills are larger than females' bills.

So the bills belonging to the males, and the bills belong to the females.

In all these cases, because the plural noun already ends in "S," we've added the apostrophe after the "S," whereas in singular possession, the noun didn't end in "S." So we had to add apostrophe "S" to show the possession.

Now in each sentence, we have to choose whether we're talking about the animal species as a singular or a plural noun.

For instance, I could say this.

The penguins' closely-packed feathers allow them to stay warm in the cold Southern Ocean.

So here I've used a plural noun, penguins.

It already ends in "S." So I've added the apostrophe afterwards, and I've had to use them to show I was talking about a plural.

But what if I said this? The macaroni penguin's oil secretions help it to keep its feathers waterproof.

Here I've said the macaroni penguin as a singular noun that doesn't end in "S." So I've added apostrophe "S" afterwards, and I've had to say help it, not help them, because I've said that it's a singular noun in this particular sentence.

So we must make sure that the whole sentence works with the apostrophe.

You might write this.

The penguins' vision helps it escape predators.

Now that's not right, because we've got there, the penguins plural with the apostrophe after the "S." But then we've said it, which would suggest it's singular.

So instead we could write, the penguins' vision helps them escape predators.

Now we've matched the plural possession with them to show we're talking about penguins plural.

Or we could change the possession.

We could say the penguin's vision helps it escape predators.

Now we've changed to penguin as a singular noun.

So we've changed to apostrophe "S" to show that singular possession, and that's fine too.

We just have to make sure our possession, our plural apostrophe or a singular apostrophe matches with whether we've used it or them in the rest of the sentence to show singular or plural.

So which sentences used an apostrophe for possession correctly? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, great effort.

These are quite subtle differences that we're looking for.

So let's see if we can work them out together.

So A says the penguins' plural, streamlined bodies help them swim quickly.

So we've got penguins plural with the apostrophe after the "S" and them.

That one matches.

That works.

For B, we've got penguin's solid bones, but we haven't put penguins plural.

We've put penguin singular with apostrophe "S." And then we said help them.

So we've got penguin singular under them.

So that doesn't match.

This one doesn't work.

Instead, we could write penguins' solid bones with the apostrophe after the "S" to show it's plural penguins matching with them.

C has the penguin singular possession, and it.

So those match up.

That one works.

And D has penguins' plural and them.

So that one does match up.

And we've got the apostrophe after the "S" to show plural penguins are doing the possession.

So that one works really well.

So we have to spot some subtle differences there.

And you did a fantastic job with that.

Good work.

So let's do our first task for this lesson.

I'm gonna show you some facts about macaroni penguins, and I want you to rewrite them using an apostrophe for possession, but keeping the noun as plural or singular.

Let me show you.

If I had this fact, the penguins have strong flippers that enable them to swim quickly.

I've used penguins as singular or plural there.

Plural, I've got the penguins ending in "S" and I've got them.

So I could rewrite that with an apostrophe like this.

The penguins' strong flippers enable them to swim quickly.

So here I put the apostrophe after the "S" to show it's plural possession to show that it's a plural noun.

The penguins is a plural noun doing the possession of the flippers.

And so I've had to use them to match up with that plural noun.

So if you take these facts, can you rewrite them in the same way I did to use an appropriate apostrophe for possession, keeping the noun as either singular, like the macaroni penguin, or plural, like macaroni penguins, and matching up the "it" or the "them" appropriately with the correct apostrophe for possession as well? Lots to think about here, so use the example to really help you to think this through.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Really good job.

So here are the facts rewritten with apostrophes for possession, and try to ensure you've used your right apostrophe for either a plural or a singular noun and that the rest of the sentence matches that.

So for instance, for A, I've got macaroni penguins' yellow crests make them easily recognisable.

I've got the apostrophe after the "S" in penguins to show it's plural penguins doing plural possession.

For B, I've got the macaroni penguin's rough tongue allows it to grip its slippery prey.

And I've used it, and I've got the macaroni penguin apostrophe "S" to show its singular possession.

For B, I've got singular possession again.

The macaroni penguin's muscles enable it to store oxygen for diving.

So there, the macaroni penguin is a singular noun.

It doesn't end in "S," so I've added apostrophe "S" and I've used it to match up with that singular noun.

And for D, I've got macaroni penguins', plural, fat stores enable them to survive for a month without eating.

So I've got macaroni penguins as a plural now ending in "S." I've added the apostrophe after it, and I've used them to match up with that plural now.

Fantastic job if you've managed to have a go at that.

Good work.

So now let's move on to our research.

We're going to be researching, first of all, macaroni penguins' habitats.

So we need to research macaroni penguins' habitats for the next section of our non-chronological report.

And this is going to be a specific paragraph about a specific theme.

We are zooming in on macaroni penguins' habitats to give our reader lots of information.

We know that research needs to be based on facts in an non-chronological report, because it's a nonfiction text.

And that means we have to base the information on factual information and not just our imagination.

So we can use different sources to find credible, trustworthy information about a subject.

And the origin of a source helps to work out whether it's credible or not.

So we need to think, is the information from a source you recognise, is it a source you've used lots before and that's been trustworthy on those occasions? Is the source just one person, or is it a well-known organisation? If it's a well-known organisation, that might make it more credible.

And does the source look like it's serious, or just trying to be funny? That might change our perception of whether it's credible or not.

So a good way to check that a piece of information is credible is to use a range of different sources and check.

Do they all agree? So you might see a piece of information on a video that you then check on a well-known encyclopaedia or a news website, and if they all match up, then chances are that piece of information is trustworthy and reliable.

So let's have a look at three different sources here.

Can you rank these sources from least credible, number three, to most credible, number one? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Good thinking.

So you might have noticed all of these relate to videos, don't they? But we've got a video by a well-known content creator with lots of followers, a comment in a video by a user you've not seen before, and a video by a well-known organisation that makes educational materials for children.

So the least credible there is probably the comment, isn't it? The commenter, we don't know their status, we don't know their knowledge, we know nothing about them.

So we don't really have any idea whether that comment they're making is credible or not.

We can't rely on it.

Number two is probably this video by a well-known content creator who has lots of followers.

Now, it may be that that content creator is an animal expert, an expert about macaroni penguins.

But if they're not, then we might need to look elsewhere to check whether their comments are correct.

And probably the most credible is the well-known organisation that makes educational materials for children, because that might suggest if it's well-known, that it's got a reputation for being reliable.

Now we have to be careful.

Lots of online content that we see on the internet doesn't have to follow rules about how accurate it is.

It's not governed by any specific rules that mean it has to be correct.

So it's a good idea to check a few different sources if we're relying on the internet to make sure that what we're reading is credible and accurate.

So true or false? A famous video content creator says a fact about penguins in a comedy video, and Alex says, "We can't use that fact in our report." Is this true or false? Pause the video and have a think.

I agree.

I think that's false.

And can you explain why? Pause the video and choose the best justification for why that would be false to say.

Well done.

You are right.

The answer would be B.

So this information could be correct.

The fact that it's in a comedy video doesn't mean it's automatically wrong, does it? It could be correct, and we can check if it's credible by looking at other sources too and seeing if they agree with the fact that's been stated.

So it could very well be that we can use that fact in our report, but we have to check and see whether we can trust this source, whether this source is credible.

And the best way to do that is to look at other sources and see if they match.

Really well done.

So we now need to research more specific information about different themes for our non-chronological report.

So remember we said that our report might start with a general introduction, giving general information about macaroni penguins before it zooms in on specific themes in several paragraphs.

For instance, the theme of penguins' appearance, their adaptations, their habitats, and their diets being much more specific and delving deep into those themes so our reader can really understand them all in detail.

And then we'll zoom back out again for our general conclusion, talking about the threats to macaroni penguins.

So today we're gonna focus in on these two themes of penguins' habitats and penguins' diet.

And we're talking specifically about the diet and habitat of the macaroni penguin.

So in addition to your own research, we're gonna do some together to find out about the theme of macaroni penguins' habitats.

So our animal's habitat, as I'm sure you know, is the place where it lives in the wild.

Now these penguins spend six months of the year in the Southern Ocean, never touching land.

Isn't that incredible to think of? And we can see here a little map of the southern part of the globe.

So we can see there, we've got South America, and we've got Antarctica here.

And you might see the tip of Africa there as well.

So the macaroni penguins spend six months of the year swimming in this green area that you see here.

So they don't touch land at all during that time.

They're just diving and fishing and swimming that whole time.

Isn't that amazing? And then they come ashore on the islands and coasts around this ocean around Antarctica to breed.

And there are around 50 macaroni penguin breeding sites all around this Southern Ocean around Antarctica here.

And you can see those marked in red on the map.

And you can see some of them are in Antarctica, some of them in Africa, and some of them, the ones you see in the sea are little islands dotted all around the Southern Ocean there where they come ashore to breed and to moult as well.

So we can see that macaroni penguins have a wide area where they live, but it's all linked to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, the ocean that surrounds Antarctica there.

So are the following statements about macaroni penguins' habitats true or false? Pause the video and decide.

Well done.

Good job.

So A says macaroni penguins spend the whole year at sea.

That's false.

We're told it was six months, didn't we? B, macaroni penguins could go a long time without visiting land.

Definitely true.

Six months is definitely a long time.

That's half a year.

And C says macaroni penguins can be found in several continents, including Antarctica.

That's true.

It's three continents, wasn't it? South America, Antarctica and Africa when they come ashore to breed.

And D says, the penguins breed while at sea.

No, that's false.

They come ashore to breed and then they're spending half their year at sea at other times.

Really well done for getting those right.

Now let's find out some more about the penguins' habitats and lifestyle, focusing in on what they do when they're on land.

So one thing they do is on land, they make a shallow nest called a scrape, and they line it with rocks and grass, and that's where they incubate their eggs.

And you probably know that incubating is when a bird sits on its eggs to keep them warm until they hatch.

And you have to do it sometimes for a very long time, several weeks or even months.

So male and female penguin parents take turns incubating the egg while the other is hunting at sea.

So it might be that the male penguin is sitting on the eggs for two weeks while the female hunts at sea, and then the female comes back and they swap.

And that means that while they're hunting at sea, they can build up their fat reserves, and then when they come back, they just are sitting on that egg nonstop, never going out to feed, relying on their fat reserves to survive.

Impressive, isn't it? So macaroni penguins breed in huge crowded colonies.

That's the word for a big group of penguins together on land, of up to 100,000 birds with nests less than a metre apart from each other.

So that is a very crowded space.

Huge numbers of birds packed in very closely together.

And apparently they're very, very noisy.

So they use loud noises to find each other, to show aggression and to attract mates.

And they also move their flippers to communicate.

So they're very sociable birds.

They like to communicate, and they have lots of uses for these different noises.

So it says they use their noises to find each other.

You can imagine in a colony of 100,000 macaroni penguins, you need to be able to find your mate and maybe to find your chicks once they hatch.

So those noises help them to locate each other.

So can you fill in the blanks in the paragraph to check your knowledge of macaroni penguins' living habits, using the words on the right-hand side? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Good effort.

Let's take a look.

We would say macaroni penguins spend half the year at sea and they come assure to, well done, breed.

They breed in large crowded, good, colonies communicating with each other using different noises and gestures.

Gestures means movements, like, with their flippers.

They must incubate their eggs with males and, well done, females taking turns while the other is at sea.

Macaroni penguins make a shallow nest called a, well done, scrape.

Fantastic knowledge.

Well done.

So let's do our second task for the session.

We can use our research about these penguins' habitats to create our bullet point notes to help us with our writing.

So for instance, these notes give information about stag beetles' habitats.

We said they are in southeast England, particularly London.

Their larvae lives underground and it emerges when it's fully transformed.

They prefer sunny oak woodlands and also gardens and parks, and it's in dry areas with soft soil, and it sometimes is on warm pavements and roads.

None of those are complete sentences, but they help trigger in my memory the idea of the complete fact.

So in the same way, can you write five bullet points about macaroni penguins' habitats and living habits? And you might want to look back in the video to help you, or of course, you could go away, and do some research of your own.

Pause the video and let's make those notes.

Well done.

Fantastic job.

So here are some examples of the bullet point notes you might have made about macaroni penguins' habitats.

Maybe you said they spent six months at sea in the Southern Ocean.

Maybe you said they come ashore to breed, 50 sites in Antarctica, South America and Africa.

Maybe you said they make a shallow scrape, it's made of rocks and grass and they use that to incubate their eggs.

You might have said male and female take turns incubating while other hunts.

And you might have said they live in large crowded colonies of 100,000 birds, and they communicate with their noises/gestures, noises and gestures.

Well done.

Great job with those notes.

Now you've made your notes.

You might wanna try and lock these facts into your brain by trying to say your notes out loud as complete sentences or maybe even trying to join sentences together as well.

For instance, if I take that first note, I could convert it back to a complete sentence by saying the macaroni penguin spends six months of the year at sea.

And I could then say a second sentence saying, it swims in the Southern Ocean, the ocean that lies around Antarctica.

So I've converted my note back to complete sentences.

So if you'd like to try that to lock these facts into your brain, pause the video and have a go now.

Well done.

Right, let's move on to the last part of our lesson.

We're going to be researching the macaroni penguins' diet now.

Now the next paragraph for our report will deal with the theme of macaroni penguins' diet, what they eat to obtain or get energy.

So we are zooming in now on a specific theme, the penguins' diet.

And you can see the main part of the penguins' diet in the picture here, which is a creature called krill.

And krill is a tiny crustacean and it makes up, as I said, most of the macaroni penguins' diet.

So they do sometimes eat small fish and squid as well.

Now here's an interesting fact.

The macaroni penguin also sometimes deliberately swallows and eats small stones.

Now we're not actually sure why that is.

It may be to help weigh them down when they're diving, or scientists think it could be to help grind up the hard krill bodies in their digestive system.

But isn't it interesting that we don't know for sure why they do this? So are the statements below true are false about the macaroni penguin's diet? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Good thinking.

So A, macaroni penguins only eat krill.

That's false.

They mostly eat krill, but they sometimes eat much more fish and squid as well.

B says, we're not totally sure why they're swallowing stones.

That is true.

Scientists still don't know for sure.

C says krill are large creatures.

No, they are tiny creatures.

D says krill make up the majority of the penguins' diet.

That is true.

The majority means the largest part, doesn't it? Really well done if you've got those.

Good job.

So let's find out more about macaroni penguins' eating habits.

And you can see the penguins at sea in this picture.

So that tells us they're probably foraging for food.

So the penguin spends long periods fasting with no food, as we talked about when it's moulting and when it's incubating those eggs.

So when it's doing that, it's relying on its fat stores for several weeks without eating.

So for instance, when it's incubating the eggs, and when it's moulting its feathers, it cannot go in to feed or hunt.

It cannot even move from those eggs when it's incubating.

So it has to just use up those fat stores.

So when it is at sea and while it's foraging for food in the ocean, the macaroni penguin could dive to a depth of 20 to 80 metres, and it can stay underwater for two to three minutes.

You might remember that we said that it can store oxygen in its muscles, so that allows it to dive for two to three minutes without breathing.

And they often stay in the water from dawn 'til dusk.

So almost the whole day while they're foraging for food.

And they consume more food in total than any other seabird in the world.

So taken together, all the world's macaroni penguins are the species of seabird in the world that consumes the most food.

And in total they're consuming 9.

2 million tonnes of seafood every year.

Isn't that incredible? So can you correct each incorrect statement about macaroni penguins' diet with the accurate information here? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

So A says macaroni penguins cannot go long without eating.

That is not true, is it? They survive for several weeks on their fat reserves when they're incubating their egg and when they're moulting their feathers.

B says the penguins only hunt at night.

No, that's not true.

They hunt from dawn until dusk.

C says macaroni penguins only catch krill at the water's surface.

Well, we didn't actually say that, did we? But we saw that they can dive to depth of 20 to 80 metres, which tells us they're going down low deep into the water in order to find those krill and other creatures.

Really well done for correcting those incorrect statements.

Now let's do our final test for this assessment.

We're going to write our bullet point notes for our paragraph around the theme of the macaroni penguins' diet.

And we have our krill picture here to remind us.

So these notes give information about the stag beetles' diet to give us some hints about what we're looking for.

So we said here, adult consumes very little, larva feeds on decaying wood, and its sharp jaws are used to scrape.

As a result, it grows and as a result it can store energy.

Adult beetles survive on these stores, and they also drink tree sap.

So in the same way I'd like you to write five bullet point notes about the macaroni penguins' diet based on what you've just seen.

And you might want to go back and look at that, or on some research you might want to do yourself.

Pause the video and let's make those bullet point notes.

Well done.

Really good effort.

So here's some examples of notes we could make about macaroni penguins' diet.

And you might have found some more facts on your own, of course.

You could have said majority of diet equals krill or is krill, and then we have a little bit of fish and squid.

They consume more food in total than any other seabird, 9.

2 million tonnes a year.

But that's not each penguin, that's the whole species in total.

And then we could say it swallow stones, weigh down or grind food? I put a question mark because we're not sure which it is.

I've put fasts during incubating.

Remember, fast means you don't eat, or moulting, and that takes several weeks.

So it uses up its fat stores while it's doing that.

And I said it forages from dawn 'til dusk.

It dives 20 to 80 metres for two to three minutes.

Well done.

Fantastic job with those facts.

You might want to now try it and say these facts as complete sentences out loud to help you remember them.

For instance, for that first fact, I could say the majority of the macaroni penguins' diet is made up of krill, although it sometimes eats some small fish, and squid as well.

So if you'd like to try that to lock these facts into your brain, pause the video and have a go now.

Well done, Fantastic effort.

Let's review our learning in this lesson.

We said that when we researched the paragraph about each theme, we have to ensure the information is factual.

We said when we research, we should think about the origin of the information to help us decide if it's credible or not, and we should only include credible information.

We learned that while we research, we can use bullet points to record our notes so that we can refer to 'em later, and that bullet point notes do not need to be in full sentences.

I hope you've enjoyed as much as I have learning all about macaroni penguins' habitats and diet in this lesson, and I'd love for you to go away and do some research of your own if you haven't done that yet, to build on what we've learned here.

I'm really impressed with your effort in the session.

I'd love to see you again in a future lesson.

Goodbye.