Lesson video

Hi, everyone! Ms. Brittain and Cedric here for your tenth lesson in this unit, and also your final one.

We're really excited about today's lesson, aren't we Cedric? In today's lesson, we're going to become story creators and create our own story that has middles that build drama and excitement or worry, something that makes our reader want to read on.

We'll start off with a nursery rhyme, then we're going to recap and retell our recycled story.

Then we're going to create our own story.

For this lesson you will need an exercise book or a piece of paper and a pencil, super imagination, and your Teddy talk partner or anything else that you use.

You can pause the video now to go and get whatever you need, and then press play once you've got them.

Now it's time for our nursery rhyme.

We're going to start with a nursery rhyme called Hickory Dickory Dock.

Well, then I'd like us to make some changes to it since we're being creators today.

Okay, so Hickory Dickory Dock, if you've done units with me before, you will have sung this nursery rhyme with me, but if not, it goes like this.

♪ Hickory Dickory Dock ♪ ♪ The mouse ran up the clock ♪ ♪ The clock struck one, the mouse ran down ♪ ♪ Hickory Dickory Dock ♪ Now, if we're being creators, I want us to change the animal.

What animal would you choose, children? Great animals! I love elephants.

I love octopus.

I love giraffes.

I'm going to choose monkeys, though.

What do monkeys run up? What do monkeys run up, children? Can you tell your screen, what would they climb? They wouldn't climb a clock.

That's right! Trees! So, we're going to have our arms as the tree, and we're going to say ♪ Hickory Dickory Dock ♪ You're going to be a monkey this time, Cedric.

♪ The monkey ran up the tree ♪ What might fall down instead of something striking one? What might monkeys go up a tree for? Bananas! ♪ Hickory Dickory Dock ♪ ♪ The monkeys ran up the tree ♪ ♪ The bananas dropped off, the monkeys ran down ♪ ♪ Hickory Dickory Dock ♪ I like that one.

♪ Hickory Dickory Dock ♪ ♪ The monkeys ran up the tree ♪ ♪ The bananas fell off, the monkeys ran down ♪ ♪ Hickory Dickory Dock ♪ You can pause the video now and have a go at doing the nursery rhyme with other animals.

I loved our story from the last lesson of a little red fish and the big bad shark, so I'd like to read over it once more.

If you'd like to read along with me, that's fine, but you might want to pause the video and have a go at reading aloud your own work if you've done something different.

Little red fish and the big bad shark.

Little Red swam in the dark ocean.

I wonder if he will be okay.

Little Red met a big, scary shark.

He had sharp teeth.

I hope he will get away.

The big scary shark swam to Granny's cave.

I wonder if he will eat Little Red.

And I love that we end it on an 'I wonder.

' If you wanted to, you could carry the story on and write the ending.

But we've really built drama, made our audience want to read on, and made it exciting.

I love our recycled story.

Now, it's time to create a story, which I'm so excited about.

To do this, we're going to use our plot matrix.

Now, if you've done units with me before, you will have seen a plot matrix, but if you haven't, don't worry because we'll go through it step by step.

Because we're being story creators today, Cedric, I thought we'd play a little game.

What do you think? It's called Finish My Sentence.

So, I'm going to start a sentence and Cedric's going to finish it, and hopefully we'll make a little story.

You can join in at home if you'd like to.

Okay, my first sentence is, once upon a time, there was a huge.

What are your ideas, children? Great ideas! Cedric's was a huge green spotty monster, and he was sad because.

Everybody had stripes and nobody was his friend.

Oh, no! And every day, he would walk around.

What's your ideas, children? Oh, great ideas.

Oh, with a sad face.

I feel really sorry for this monster already.

I think we need to make this story turn happy, Cedric.

But one day.

Another monster came to town.

This monster had.

Spotty fur, too! And they became best friends.

I love that game.

You can play that game any time with people from home.

Okay, so here's my plot matrix box.

And now because we're focusing on creating a story that has middles that build drama and excitement or worry for our audience and make them want to read on, we're going to use a plot matrix box with two setbacks.

So, we're going to think of a character, what their problem is, two things that go wrong that make the audience thing, "Oh, I wonder if he'll be okay! I wonder if he'll escape! I wonder if he'll get out!" Whatever it might be.

And then obviously, the ending.

So, we're going to start with our story chant.

Are you ready? It's story time.

It's story time.

Look, listen, wow.

It's story time.

It's story time.

Look, listen, wow.

So, I'm going to talk us through the plot matrix box, and you're going to decide.

Well, you can draw along with me and do the same story as me, or you can create your own story.

Anything is fine.

You might want to pause the video now, though, and copy out the plot matrix box.

If you'd like to just listen and join in, that's fine, too.

Okay.

So, the first box I need to think about is where.

Where is my story set? Hmm.

It could be in a school.

It could be in a city.

It could be under the sea.

I want my setting to be magical and enchanting.

So, I'm going to choose a castle.

So, I'm going to draw castle in my where box.

Hmm.

Now I'm thinking of who.

Who do I want my main character to be? Well, because my setting is a castle, I feel like I need somebody or something that would live in a castle.

And what are their qualities? What are they like? It could be a princess.

It could be a knight.

A strong, brave knight.

An elegant princess.

No, I think I want a creature in there.

Could you tell your screen what creature might live in a castle or near a castle? Brilliant ideas.

I think I'm going to go with a dragon.

And I want my dragon to be worried.

I want him to be a worried dragon who doesn't believe in himself.

I want my audience to care about him, so I'm going to make him a worried dragon.

A friendly dragon whose worried and doesn't believe in himself.

And his job, what would his job be, do you think? What would his job be? Great ideas, children.

He might protect somebody.

He might protect the castle.

I'm going to go with that he protects the castle.

What could he be worried about, then? What could he be worried about? Yes, that he's not strong enough or brave enough.

Hmm, so what might his problem be? A problem that matters.

I think my dragon, I want him to have lost his puff, and he can't do his job if he's not got his puff because he can't scare anybody away and he can't keep people safe.

Well, he's lost his puff, so he goes to find it.

And two of my setbacks could be how he tries to find his puff.

Could you talk to your Teddy talk back and come up with some ideas as to where he might go and look for his puff? Could you tell your screen now? Great ideas! Mountains, clouds, in a city, in a cave, rocks.

All brilliant ideas, children.

All of your ideas are great, and if you want to use those, that's fine.

My first setback, where does he go to look? Hmm.

I'm going to have him get stuck in some mud.

He goes to look for his puff in some sticky, oozy, gooey mud, and he gets stuck.

And I want my audience, my reader, to think, "Is he going to escape? Is he going to get free? Is anybody going to help him?" And I want to have him sink into the mud.

I wonder if he'll be freed.

And he does get free.

Who could come and help him? Great ideas, children.

Other dragons! Other dragons might come and help him.

Or a flock of birds might drag him out.

Oh, wonderful ideas.

Then, he goes off to look for his puff again, and I'm going to go with the idea of mountains.

Tall, towering mountains, and he goes all the way up to the top of the mountain.

But then he's scared to jump back off and fly back down when he doesn't find his puff.

And that's my other setback.

And my audience are going to say, they might say, "I wonder.

." Well, what might they say, children? Great work.

"I wonder if he'll fly.

I wonder if he'll jump.

I hope he's going to be okay.

I hope he doesn't fall." So, we're going to leave our audience guessing and building imagination.

And then the ending.

What could happen in the end? Does he find his puff? Remember, he didn't believe in himself, so I think I'm going to have an older dragon tell him he just has to believe in himself, that he's not lost his puff after all.

And if he stopped worrying and he believed in himself, his puff would come back, and he would be as strong as he needed to be.

I love that story we put together together, children.

You might have done different ideas, and that's great, too.

It just goes to show that we can create any story that we like.

I'm going to talk through my story now once more.

And you might want to do it along with me, or do it for your own story.

Once, there was a worried dragon who didn't believe in himself, and he lived in a castle.

And his problem was.

That's right, he lost his puff.

So, he went off on a journey to find his puff.

First, he came to some.

That's right, thick, sticky, gloopy mud, and he got stuck! And our readers at this point are going to say, "I wonder if.

." Great work! "I wonder if he'll get free!" And some friendly dragons came and dragged him out of the mud, and off he went on his journey again to find his puff.

Then he came to.

That's right, some steep, tall mountains, and he climbed all the way up to the top, but he was too scared to.

Brilliant! Jump back down.

"I wonder if he will jump.

I wonder if he'll be okay.

I wonder if he'll ever find his puff." So, he goes back to the castle without having found his puff.

And the old dragon says to him, an elderly dragon, "You've just got to believe in yourself." And that's the learning.

That's the ending to our story, that you've got to believe in yourself.

Believe and you can achieve.

I loved that story, children, and I loved creating it with you.

You might like to create your own plot matrix and create your own characters with their own problems. I've absolutely loved creating a story with you today, children.

Well done!.