Hello, my name's Mrs. Hart and I'm so pleased that you're going to be learning some science with me today.

I'm going to help you and guide you through this lesson.

So let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson from the Living Things in the Environment Unit.

Today's lesson is called Environmental Changes in the News, and by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to use sources of information to write a news report about environmental changes.

Some of this learning may be new to you today, but we're going to work hard and have a great time together.

So let's get going.

The key words that we will be using in our lesson today are environment, news report, verbal, quote, and informed choice.

Don't worry if you are not sure what these words mean, you've got the definitions here that you can come back to, but I'll explain these words as we go through the lesson.

Our lesson today is in two parts.

The first part is called Environmental Changes in the News, and that's where we're going to start now.

There are many ways in which environments can change.

Some of these changes are caused by natural events and some are caused by humans.

And if you look at the images below, you'll see the first one is of a naturally occurring wildfire.

This is something that's been caused by a natural event.

Perhaps the weather has been very, very dry or windy, or perhaps there's been a lightning strike in this particular woodland.

Some environments can be changed by humans, and you can see in the second image, human made plastic waste on a beach.

Some changes to environments can have a negative impact on the plants and animals that live there.

Deforestation often happens to make space for farming or to use the wood for other purposes.

Cutting down trees destroys the habitats of living things.

In this image, you can see some machinery helping to remove trees that have been felled.

Sometimes deforestation takes place so that they can graze more animals on farms or perhaps to plant more crops.

It might be that the wood is being used for another purpose, but this can have a devastating impact on the living things in this habitat.

Some changes to environments can have a positive impact on the plants and animals that live there.

Scientists have recently reintroduced wild beavers in the River Otter in Devon, England.

It was believed that there were no longer any wild beavers in England, but now there are 15 family groups.

This number is growing all the time, and there are other sites in England now where you can find wild beavers.

Here's an example of another change to the environment that could have a positive impact on the plants and animals that live there.

Allowing wild flowers to grow provides habitats for pollinators as well as food for other animals.

One acre of wild flower meadow can provide enough nectar for almost a hundred thousand honeybees per day.

And here we have an image of a wild flower meadow.

Perhaps if you look closely, you might see some honeybees in there.

Andeep and Sofia find out about changes to environments from news reports.

Andeep says some reports are written news reports.

You might find these in newspapers, magazines or online.

Do you ever read online news reports or newspapers? Perhaps your school has a newspaper that comes that you can read each week or month.

Sofia is saying some reports are verbal news reports, and here we have one of our key words.

A verbal news report is a report that is spoken.

So you might find verbal news reports on television, radio, podcasts or videos online.

And in the image we can see a child watching a television news report.

Perhaps you watch television news reports or listen to news podcasts or watch news videos online.

Now we have a check for understanding.

This is a true or false check.

True or false, news reports are always recorded in writing.

Pause a video now and have a chat with your partner and then come back when you've got your answer.

How did you get on? What did you decide? True or false, news reports are always recorded in writing.

Well, this is false, but why is it false? Again, pause the video now and have a chat with a partner and come back with your answer.

So what did you think? Why is this false? Well, we know that news reports can take many different forms. They can be written or verbal.

And remember that we said verbal is a spoken news report that you might see on television or listen to on the radio.

And well done if that's what you said.

Andeep says, "There was a verbal news report on the television about how the Amazon rainforest is changing.

The news reporter explained about deforestation.

I learned that people are cutting down trees and it's having a negative impact on the environment." You can see here the Amazon rainforest, and this is an environment, a place where many living things live, and you can see where the edge of the forest is now and the area that has been cleared by deforestation.

Like we said earlier, this could be for building new homes or perhaps for grazing animals or planting crops.

Sophia says, "I read a written report with my dad about how the ice in the Arctic is melting faster than ever before.

I learned that this is because temperatures around the world are increasing," and here we can see an image of the Arctic.

Fortunately, the ice is melting faster than ever.

News reports are a secondary source of information because they use information gathered by other people.

Have you used any secondary sources of information in other lessons? Perhaps you've researched online or read nonfiction books about the topic you were learning about.

You might even have spoken to a scientist.

These are all secondary sources of information, just like a news report.

Let's find out some more about news reports.

Andeep says, "News reports help people all over the world learn about how environments can change.

It makes us more aware of what's happening in different environments." And here we can see a news report about plastic pollution in our seas.

You might have seen news reports about pollution or littering, or perhaps you've seen news reports about positive impacts on the environment, like the story of the wild beavers earlier.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Why are news reports useful to scientists? Is it A, scientists like appearing on television? B, scientists can share their findings with a wide audience, or C scientists often read newspapers every day.

Pause the video now, talk to your partner and then come back when you have your answer.

So what did you think then? Which answer did you go for? Why are news reports useful to scientists? It's because scientists can share their findings with a wide audience.

So well done if you said answer B.

Andeep says, "I would love to create my own news report about changes in different environments and how they can impact on living things." Perhaps Andeep is thinking about being a journalist when he grows up or maybe an environmental reporter.

Andeep says, "What information do I need to include?" And here we can see an image of a newspaper.

Do you know what kind of things Andeep would need to include in a news report? Perhaps you've written a news report before.

Can you remember any of the things you had to include? Pause the video now and talk to your partner.

Do you have a chance to discuss the different features of news reports? Let's find out some more.

The structure of a news report often looks like this, and here we can see an article in the Cherry Times all about the Amazon being under threat.

News reports often start with a headline.

This is followed by an opening paragraph.

The next section is a recount.

News reports often include a quote, and then at the end of the news report, it'll be a closing paragraph.

Do you know what these things are? Have you used them before in your writing? Do you know what we should include in each of these sections? Let's find out some more.

News reports contain specific features.

The headline, we saw this on the previous slide, the Amazon under Threat.

This needs to be short in snappy, and it needs to grab the reader's attention.

It needs to let the reader know what they're going to be finding out about and whether this article is going to interest them.

The opening paragraph gives an overview, just a little bit of information about the event, and it answers the five Ws, the who, what, where, when, and why.

News reports give people information.

So it's important to include as much of this as we can.

The next section was the recount section, and this is factual information about the event, and it's often provided in chronological order, which means in the order in which it happened.

The next section is the quotes section, and a quote is something that someone has said.

So the quotes might be from a witness who saw this event or perhaps from an expert who knows a lot about this subject.

The final section is the closing paragraph, and this is where we bring everything together.

We talk about what is currently happening, and we might even discuss what might happen next.

Which of these are features of news reports? A, factual information, B, a prediction, C, a headline or D quotes? You need to have a good look through this list because there may be more than one correct answer.

So pause the video now and come back when you've got your answer.

So what did you decide? Which of these are features of news reports? Well, I'm hoping that you found three.

You should have said that factual information, a headline and quotes are all features of news reports.

So well done to you if that was your answer.

And now we have our first task.

You are going to read this science news report, and I'd like you to find the different features of news reports in this article.

And on this slide, you can see the information we've just discussed about the different features of news reports.

So when you are reading this news report, I would like you to look to see, does it have a headline that grabs the reader's attention? Is there an opening paragraph that gives an overview of events? Does it answer those five W's? The who, what, where, when, and why.

In the recount section is there factual information about the event? This can be provided in chronological order, in the order in which it happened, but it might not be depending on what the article is about.

But there should be lots of information about the event.

Is there a quote section? Have they spoken to somebody and quoted exactly what they said? This might be an expert or it might be somebody who saw what happened.

And finally, is there a closing paragraph? And this paragraph will give us information about what's currently happening or what might happen next.

So these are the things that you are going to be looking for today in the news article.

You might want to leave the slides up so you can see it and check as you go through the news article that all of these things have been included.

So pause the video now and have a read of the news article and come back when you're finished checking for each of these features.

So how did you get on? Did you find each of these features? I'm hoping you did.

At the very beginning of the news report, we had a headline, Amazon Under Threat.

This was followed by the opening paragraph, and this hopefully you would've seen addressed those five Ws, the who, what, when, where, and why.

The next three paragraphs are the recount that tell us about what's happened.

Next there's a quote from a climate scientist, an expert in this area.

And finally, the news report finished with a closing paragraph.

This was telling us about what's happening now and what might happen in the future.

Great work if that's what you found as well.

Now let's move on to the next part of our lesson.

The second part of our lesson is called writing news reports about environmental changes.

I wonder if you can guess what we're going to be doing in this part of the lesson.

It's your turn to think about how you might write your own news report, but Andeep is going to help us along the way.

Andeep says, "I read a news report in my science magazine that this year we have had some of the hottest weather ever around the world.

When scientists share their findings, this helps us to make informed choices about our actions." Informed choices is one of our key words today.

Is this a word that you already know? An informed choice is when we have information about the subject, information that helps us to know what kind of decision we should make.

So if we are finding out about hot weather, this will help us to make informed choices about things that we could do that might help to prevent this.

Sofia says, "The more people know and understand about changes in the Earth's environment, the more people can think about their own actions." Andeep says, "I will write my news report about how Earth is gradually becoming warmer so that people might make positive changes to the way they live their lives." It's a great idea from Andeep, isn't it? Andeep says, "I will start with a headline, this needs to be something that grabs people's attention." And here is Andeep's headline.

It says, "Help our planet is burning.

It's too late to save the Earth." Hmm, Andeep, I'm not sure about that headline.

Perhaps Sofia can help us.

She says, "Don't forget that news reports must be written and presented in a way that includes facts and avoids using the reporter's own opinion." So Andeep has decided to rewrite the headline.

He's decided that "Help our planet is burning.

It's too late to save the earth." I think that reflects too much of Andeep's opinion and it's not going to be useful as a headline today.

What could he write instead? Pause the video now and have a think.

What did you decide? Did you think of an alternative headline for Andeep's news report? Shall we see what Andeep has written? Andeep has changed it to "Record breaking heat.

Scientists warn about rising global temperatures." That's much better, Andeep that's giving us the factual information about what's going on.

Good work, everybody.

Here's our next check for understanding.

True or false.

News reports are written to express the opinions of the reporter.

Pause the video and come back when you have an answer.

What did you decide? Is this true or false? It's false, but why? Pause the video and have a talk with your partner about why this is false.

So what did you decide? News reports must be written and presented in a way that includes facts and statistics.

They should avoid using the reporter's own opinion.

Did you say something similar to that? Well done if you did.

Andeep says, "I need an opening paragraph.

This needs to give some basic information about how global temperatures are changing and address the five Ws." Can you remember what the five Ws are? The who, where, what, why, and when.

Well done if you remembered.

This is what Andeep has written.

"Scientists have reported that June, 2024 was the hottest June since records began.

For over a year now each month has set a new global temperature record.

This extreme heat can be dangerous, especially for children and older people." So we can see that Andeep is giving us some basic information here.

But let's check he's definitely addressed those five Ws.

Who? It's the scientists.

They're the people who are telling us about this.

What? Scientists are telling us about rising temperatures and that this has been the hottest June since records began.

When? Well, this took place in June, 2024.

Where? It's a new global temperature record.

So this is happening all over the world.

It's a global event.

And finally, why? Why is this important for us to know about? Well, the extreme heat, it can be dangerous, especially for children and older people.

So this is something that we need to know about so we can find ways to protect them.

This is a brilliant start, Andeep.

Sofia says You might need to do some research of your own to find the correct information to include.

And here's some online research.

Says, when we burn fuels like coal or cut down forests, we release more of the gases that trap heat making Earth warmer.

Andeep says, "Now I need a recount section.

This provides specific details of how scientists have discovered this." Let's see what Andeep has written for this section.

"Scientists have been recording temperatures for over a century using thermometers and other instruments.

This data shows a clear increase in global temperatures over time.

Scientists also use satellites orbiting earth to measure temperature changes in the atmosphere and on earth's surface.

These observations provide a clear view of global temperature trends." There's plenty of information in that recount section.

Well done Andeep.

Now Andeep is going to add a quote from a scientist who studies the environment.

"Global temperatures are certainly rising, says Dr.

Amy Martin, a scientist at the Climate Research Centre.

We've collected data from various sources including satellite observations and historical temperature records." So Andeep has chosen a quote from an expert in this subject.

Do you remember which part of the news report comes next? Finally, Andeep says he needs to write a closing paragraph.

This will explain what might happen next and how we can help.

So this is the end of Andeep's news report, and he's written.

"Rising temperatures might be caused by human actions such as burning coal and oil, which releases harmful gases and through deforestation, which is when trees are removed to create more space for farming and for new buildings.

Scientists warn that if we don't consider our actions, this could lead to more extreme weather events including heat waves, wildfires and storms. Plants and animals may struggle to survive and it could be even harder for us to get clean water and food.

Here are some ways we can help to slow down changes to environments.

One, use less electricity by turning off lights and electrical devices when not in use.

Two, recycle objects that you have used to help reduce waste, which can cause pollution.

Three, talk to your family and friends about what else you can do to help." And this is the end of Andeep's news report.

So in his last section, his closing paragraph, he has thought of all the things that are currently happening, and he's even suggested some ways in which people can help.

This might be something that you'd like to do when you write your own news report.

Andeep says, "Now I've finished my news report." And there it's, Andeep's finished news report, and he's added an image as well to show rising global temperatures.

Here's our final check for understanding.

Why is it important to watch, read, or listen to news reports? Is it A, to learn a foreign language? B, to make informed choices? C, to find out about the lives of famous people or D, to stay healthy? Pause the video now and have a think about which of these answers could be correct and then come back when you have your answer.

It's B, it's important to watch, read, or listen to news report because it helps us to make informed choices.

It can help us to make a decision if we have information about the subject.

And now we have our second task.

Write a news report about an environmental change that you have learned about recently or something that you are passionate about.

Andeep says, "The change that I chose to report has a negative impact on the environment.

Don't forget that you could also choose a change that has had a positive impact on the environment." So you will need to think about something you've learned about recently or something you're passionate about that you'd like to write for your news report.

Perhaps it could be deforestation or pollution or ways of recycling.

If you're thinking of more positive impacts or it might be around ways that we can protect animals.

The choice is up to you.

What would you like to write about today? When you write your news report, don't forget to include all of those features that we've seen in today's lesson, and I cannot wait to see what you come up with.

I think you're all going to be excellent news reporters.

So off you go and go and write your news report.

You are back again.

How did you get on? Andeep and I would like to know, what did you decide to write about? Did you remember to use all of the features of a news report? Does your report look similar or different to Andeep's? Well, I really hope that you chose something that you are interested in, and I hope that you enjoyed writing your news report.

Perhaps you might like to think about a career in journalism or environmental science when you are older.

I wonder if you ordered something different for your news reports or perhaps some of you worked together to find out about the same environmental changes.

Whatever you chose I hope you enjoyed writing your news report, and I'm sure you were an excellent journalist.

So in today's lesson, these are the things that we've learned.

News reports can be written or verbal.

Remember that verbal means they're spoken like a radio report.

News reports allow scientists to share information.

A news report has specific features including a headline, factual information and quotes.

News reports often include facts or statistics, and they avoid using the reporter's own opinion.

Having access to information in the news allows us to make informed choices about our own actions.

And that's the end of today's lesson.

I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you again soon.

Bye for now.