Lesson video

Hello, I'm Molly.

And welcome to unit four, living history through drama, lesson one.

Today, we are going to be meeting Florence Nightingale.

Lots of things happened before we were born, that were very very important.

Some people write those in books, some people make songs about them.

And some people act them out.

And that is what we are going to be doing today.

Are you ready? Come on then, what are you waiting for? For today's session, you are going to need a bit of space.

So make sure that you can't touch anything around you.

Make sure that you have enough room above your head.

Make sure there's nothing on the floor that you might stand on.

Here is how today's lesson is going to look.

We are first going to start off with a warm up to really get ourselves ready for today's lesson.

Then I'm going to tell you a little bit about Florence Nightingale, who she was, and why she is an important person in our history.

Next, my favourite part.

We are going to give voices to objects that were owned by Florence Nightingale.

Keep those ears switched on because I am going to say two of those in a moment.

And lastly, at the end, there will be time for you to think it out.

That's where we think about everything we've learned today.

Let's go.

Here are our special star words for today's lesson.

Acting.

When you pretend to be someone or something else.

Improvise.

When you use your imagination to make up things on the spot.

Like when you tell a story or make up a new game.

I remember the word improvise like this, making something up on the spot, like we're actually writing the letter A or I.

Making something up on the spot.

And our last star word of today is creative.

When you use your wonderful imagination to make something new.

Before we start, please make sure that you have a nice, clear, safe space to do your drama lesson today.

Please pause the video now, if you need to do that.

Brilliant.

Now let's warm up.

I would like you to imagine that your hand could talk.

This is where we're going to need to use our imaginations and be creative.

You are going to hold your hand up like this.

And your hand is going to say three things about what your hand does.

I'll give you an example.

Hello, my name is Molly's hand and I help her eat her cereal.

I also help her wash her hair.

And I also help her answer phone calls.

What else can your hand do? Please pause the video whilst you have a go.

Well done.

Our hands help us to do a lot of things, don't they? Next, I'd like us to think about giving our nose a voice.

What three things can your nose help you do? I'll give you an example for me.

My nose gets really running when I've got a cold.

My nose helps me smell when I put my perfume on in the morning.

And lastly, my nose loves the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.

What does your nose help you do? Pause the video so that you can have a go.

Excellent.

Finally, can you point to an object in your room? I am pointing at my water bottle.

Now, if I was to give my water bottle a voice, I would say, hello, I am Molly's water bottle.

I am grey and I help Molly when she gets thirsty.

Can you please point to an object in your room, and give that object a voice.

Please pause the video while you have a go.

I am now going to introduce you to someone very, very special.

I will be playing the part of Florence Nightingale today.

Now you might have noticed that I have got a nursing cap on.

So whenever you see me wearing this nursing cap, I will be playing the role of Florence Nightingale.

Okay? Let's go meet her.

Good day to you, my name is Florence Nightingale, and I would like to tell you a little bit about my life and my work.

I was born in Italy in 1820, but brought up in England.

When I was a little girl, I grew up with my sister, Parthe, and my family in a very, very big house.

And we had lots of money.

When our father used to teach us, I would work really, really hard.

I would read all the time.

My eldest sister, Parthe, was constantly trying to distract me and stop me from doing my work.

But I knew what I wanted to do.

And I wanted to do something really special with my life.

I would read so many books.

I'd spend all day with my head in a book.

My family used to call me a bookworm.

But the more books I read, the more I realised what I wanted to do with my life.

I wanted to be a nurse.

In 1820, there was nobody to train you to be a nurse.

There wasn't a nurse school that you could go to.

So that meant that you had to read a lot, a lot of books.

I read so many books because I really wanted to teach other people how to be good nurses.

And that's exactly what I did.

I was asked to train a group of nurses.

Nurses that needed to help soldiers who were injured in the Crimean War in another country, a long, long way away.

There was a hospital which was an old fort near the battleground.

But it didn't seem that the soldiers were getting any better.

That's where I came in.

I trained all of my nurses, all the basics that you needed to know about nursing.

I made sure that they knew how to keep the hospitals clean, help the patients get better, and how to be a good nurse.

When I arrived, I didn't really know what to expect.

We'd had a long, long travel from England.

It took many weeks.

All of this made me feel quite nervous.

I walked into the battlefield hospital and I couldn't believe my eyes.

The smell was so very bad.

I could see the soldiers lying on the ground in the dirt, with sore wounds, no bandages, no plasters, nothing.

I could hear all the soldiers moaning in pain.

I knew in an instant what needed to be done.

I was able to know all of the wonderful things that I had learned during all my reading.

Cleanliness and hygiene are the most important things.

Can you help me clean this hospital so it sparkling? Would you do that? Thank you for your help.

We had to sweep the floors, so we need to get a big wooden brush, and we need to sweep up all of that dirt.

Please pause the video whilst you have a go.

Then we scrubbed the floors.

We need a little brush and a bucket of water.

So it's full of nice, warm, soapy water.

We get our brush.

We have to dip it in the bucket, shake it off, and scrub, and scrub.

Pause the video while you have a go.

Then I made them some really nice food for them.

What would you cook for the soldiers? I think I'm going to make them some beef stew.

Lovely and warm.

Mmh, what would I do first? I'd cut up some potatoes.

Pause the video whilst you make your food for the soldiers.

Wow, what a wonderful job you've done? It's sparkling.

Just what I wanted.

All of this brushing and scrubbing and cooking will help stop the diseases from spreading.

And that way, the soldiers can get better.

We just need to make sure that it stays this way.

I looked up and down the hospital wards and I saw all the soldiers in beds, no longer lying on the floor.

The floors were clean, no dirts, no rats.

The soldiers had clean sheets, not rags covered in dirt.

Now that the soldiers were able to eat and rest in clean beds, it meant that I could do my job, help them to get better.

The hospital didn't smell bad anymore.

You couldn't hear patients moaning in pain.

You couldn't see dirt on the floor.

We were doing everything we could to help.

The nurses worked really hard during the day.

So I had to make sure that they got lots of rest when they went to sleep.

I just wanted to check that all the soldiers were okay.

So I would light my lamp.

We didn't have electricity back then.

So we couldn't use a torch.

I would also bring along my pets.

I had an owl and a tortoise.

My owl would often stand on my shoulder.

The soldiers liked it when I came down with my owl on my shoulder.

It made them smile.

That was the same with my tortoise.

I would let him roam all around the floor and the soldiers would watch him slowly walking around the hospital.

Not only was it really important for me to make sure that the hospital was clean, and the floors weren't dirty, and the sheets were washed, it was also really important for me to look after the soldiers.

Because some of them would be feeling very homesick and worried.

All of the soldiers that had been wounded in battle were miles and miles away from their families.

Some of them had seen some terrible, terrible things and heard some really terrible noises.

So I found that bringing pets down at nighttime, brought the soldiers some peace.

People would hear me about visiting the soldiers at night with my lamp, talking to them, making them smile, dressing their wounds.

And I soon became known as The Lady With the Lamp.

I had to be very quiet when I visited the soldiers at night because some of them were sleeping.

So what we're going to do now is we are going to go from one side of our room to the other and see how quiet we can be.

Are you ready? Pause the video, so that you can have a go.

When the soldiers were well again, they were able to leave the hospital.

And that made me very happy indeed.

It meant I'd done my job well.

After the war was finished, I stayed in the hospital until all the soldiers were well enough to leave, and I travelled many miles back to England.

When I came back, people were talking about the good work that I had done during the Crimean War.

They were all very happy with me.

I decided to open my own school of nursing in London.

To help all the other people that wanted to be nurses instead of spending years and years reading books like I did.

I am now a person in our history.

A person who helped many people and made a difference to nursing.

I got a couple of questions for you.

Question number one, can you remember this person's name? The lady in the picture.

And another question, can you remember what she did in the hospitals? Please pause this video so that you can have a little think.

Well done, this person's name is Florence Nightingale.

And can you remember the first thing she did in the hospitals? That's correct, she cleaned them.

She made sure she swept the floors, she scrubbed the floors, and she gave all of the soldiers clean bedding.

We are now going to bring some of Florence Nightingale's belongings to life.

This is like the lamp that Florence would have used at night to help her walk around the hospital looking after the soldiers.

What I would like you to do, is to give Florence Nightingale's lamp a voice like we did in our warm up when we gave our noses and our hands a voice.

You are then going to tell me three things about Florence Nightingale's lamp with your own voice.

After you pause this video.

Have a think about what is your job as the lamp? How does the lamp work? And I would like you to start your sentence with, hello, I am Florence Nightingale's lamp and I can.

That's, hello, I am Florence Nightingale's lamp and I can, okay? Are you ready? Pause the video so that you can have a go.

This is like the owl you heard Florence mention in the video before.

It sits on her shoulder, and is able to see everything that goes on at nighttime the hospital wards.

What I would like you to do is to give this owl a voice just like you did for the lamp.

You're going to tell me three things that this owl can see at nighttime, sat on Florence's shoulder.

It's very high up there.

Again, please start your sentence with hello, My name is Florence Nightingale's owl and I can, that's, hello, my name is Florence Nightingale's owl and I can.

Are you ready? Please pause the video so that you can have a go.

This is like the tortoise you heard Florence mention in the video.

It stays on the ground and can see under all the beds.

Sometimes Florence will lift up the tortoise to let the injured soldiers hold and look after.

She said it makes the patients very happy.

What I would like you to do is to give this tortoise a voice.

Like you did for the lamp and the owl, you're going to tell me three things that this tortoise might see on the floor, remembering what a great work Florence did tidying up and cleaning the hospitals.

Is it really clean under the beds? Can you see any dust at all? Can you see all the patients and are they happier when they see you? Again, please start by saying, hello, I am Florence Nightingale's tortoise and I can.

That's, hello, I am Florence Nightingale's tortoise and I can.

Whenever you're ready, please pause the video so that you can have a go.

Well done, that was absolutely fantastic.

You're very good at improvising.

Thank you for helping me tell the story of Florence Nightingale.

Now, let's find out what you can remember.

What does improvise mean? Does it mean option one? When we are told what to do and we do it or option two, when we make something up on the spot.

That's right, it's option two.

When we make something up on the spot.

Thank you so much for all your hard work today during our drama lesson.

You can now share your work with Oak National.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter by tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.