Lesson video

Hello there and welcome to today's lesson.

Today's lesson is called The Circle of Life.

In this lesson, we will be learning about living things and how all living things can't live forever.

In today's lesson we will first look at living things.

Then we will read a story called Sara's sunflower.

Next we will talk about death.

After that, we will look at dealing with our emotions.

And finally, we will all make some special memories.

In this lesson, you will need: good looking eyes, listening ears, and a parent or carer.

Pause the video and go and get your items. Come back soon.

Hi there, my name is Ms. Riaz what's your name? Well it's great to see you today.

In today's lesson, we're going to be learning all about living things.

I love living things.

Especially plants.

Can you see my plants behind me.

I have plants at home, plants in my office, and I have plants in this library, in my school.

One of my favourite things to grow are sunflowers.

Shall I show you one of mine? Now here is one of my sunflowers that I've been growing over the summer term.

Let's have a look, here he comes.

There.

That's my sunflower that I've been growing in my home.

And it lives in my conservatory.

I love sunflowers.

It's just a big flower that's yellow.

It makes me feel happy and it makes me smile.

What makes you smile? Yeah? Lot's of different things that make us smile.

Right okay.

Are we ready for today's lesson? Let's give our bodies a wobble.

Wobble, wobble, wobble, wobble.

Let's blink those eyes.

One, two, three.

And paint that smile.

Fantastic.

Let's go.

Did you know that plants, humans, fish in the sea, pets, and birds, so that's all animals, and flowers are all living things? And all living things need to grow and get bigger.

Need air to breathe.

Need to feed.

And can have their own babies.

Not all of us.

Some of us can.

Shall we do those actions together? Living things grow.

Need air to breathe.

Through those lungs.

Wonderful.

Feed.

And can have their own babies.

Not everybody, some.

But there's one other thing that's common in living things.

And that is that all living things don't live forever.

All living things can't live forever.

That's just part of our life journey.

The story we're about to read contains some references to death.

For some of you, this will be a sensitive topic.

If that applies to you, you may want to do the rest of this lesson with a trusted adult nearby you who can support.

Are you ready for today's story? You sitting comfortably? Brilliant.

Let's start.

Today's story is called Sara's Sunflower.

Sara had a beautiful sunflower that she had grown from a seed.

It had grown taller than any other plant she had ever had before.

And she loved looking after it.

Everyday Sara admired it.

She admired its green leaves and its yellow flower.

And she would say, "Wow, you're so beautiful." One day Sara noticed that her sunflower was looking very different.

It was looking very different.

The bright green leaves were not so bright anymore.

The yellow flower head was turning brown.

And the stem was bending over.

She thought maybe the flower wasn't feeling so good.

Maybe she thought that the flower was tired.

And maybe it would be better tomorrow.

But when tomorrow came, the flower looked the same.

Sara got really worried.

And so she set off to get some help.

And find out what was happening to her flower.

What do you think is happening to her flower? Sara went to see her friend Ben.

And she told him all about her sunflower.

"Don't worry," said Ben.

"Don't you know it's autumn? And at autumn time all the leaves on the trees turn a brown colour and flower also start to die." Sara was so upset when she heard this news.

She got up straight away and went home to her mom.

"Mom, Mom," cried Sara.

"Ben said that my sunflower is dying." Mom gave Sara a huge hug and sat her down.

She explained that in autumn the world is getting ready for winter.

And the winter months are far too cold for the leaves to stay on the trees and the flowers to grow in the garden.

"Don't worry," said Mom.

"You can always plant another sunflower next year." Sara went back out into the garden.

Her sunflower looked withered and brown.

"I don't want you to die," she said.

"But I know you can't live forever." As she moved closer to touch the flower, seeds started to gently fall out of the flower head.

Sara looked up and smiled and whispered, "thank you for leaving me these seeds.

I will grow more sunflowers and always remember you." My sunflower is a bit like Sara's too.

It's leaves are going brown and crispy and yellow.

Some of the leaves are fine.

Others are dying.

All living things can't live forever.

But I know that my sunflower will leave me a seed.

And I'll be able to plant another one next year.

I will have a special memory of my sunflower just like Sara.

Sometimes grown ups use lots of different words to describe death.

They may say they have lost someone, or someone has passed away, or someone is not with us anymore, or even someone has gone to heaven.

All those words mean that that person has died.

But death is just part of our life cycle.

Plants die, animals die, and humans also die.

Can you remember back to the story when Sara found out that her sunflower was dying? How did she feel? Yeah.

Yes, you're right.

She felt really upset.

When we hear of a loved one dying, we feel lots of different things.

You might feel angry.

You might feel upset and you don't want to talk to anyone.

You might cry.

Or you might feel nothing.

And you might not want to talk to anyone.

Those feelings are all normal.

When we experience sad news we have lots of different feelings.

But the best thing to do is to makes sure you talk to someone.

Talk to a parent or a carer and they will help you to understand your feeling.

At some part of our life, we will all experience some sad news and we really need to know how to deal with that sad news.

So when the sad news comes, the first thing you must always remember to do is talk.

It's really simple.

You might not want to talk straight away.

But it's really important that you slowly start talking to either a parent or a carer or a trusted adult.

And explain how you're feeling.

They will be able to help you understand what's going on in your mind and what those feeling are about.

So first of all, you must talk.

Talk to an adult, a parent, or a carer.

And the next thing you can do is make a really special memory box.

A box where you can keep all the special memories of that person.

You could keep photographs, you could keep some notes, you could keep a special item in there.

So every time you feel like you miss that person, you could go to the memory box and it will definitely make you smile.

It's a lovely thing to do with a parent or carer.

Spend some time and make a memory box if you have lost a loved one.

Today we've learned that life is so special.

It's not going to last forever.

But whilst we're here it's really important to make some really special memories.

And your task today, is to make a really special memory.

Something simple, something that you could do with a parent or a carer.

Here are some ideas.

You could teach your pet a trick.

You could do some baking at home.

You could go and fly a kite.

You can go on a bike ride.

Or you could just go for a walk or tell somebody a joke.

Do something together and take a photograph.

Take the photograph and send it in.

Ask your parents and carers first and send it in to Oak National.

I'd love to see your memories.

Some special memories that you are creating with your loved ones.

Enjoy.

I would love to see some of your special memories with your loved ones.

If you would like to share your work with Oak National, then please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter tagging @OakNational and #LearnWithOak.

Thank you for joining me again today.

See you soon.