Lesson video

Hello everybody, my name's Miss Hughes, what's your name? I am so excited to bring you the lesson today because we're learning about one of my favourite events.

Can you guess what it is? Today we're learning about Bonfire Night.

Your turn.

And Bonfire Night is where we celebrate with lots of fireworks, you can see them behind me.

I think the blue firework is my favourite because it looks beautiful against the night's sky.

Which is your favourite firework? Lovely.

In this lesson, we will learn why people celebrate Bonfire Night.

There's three lessons on Bonfire Night.

The first is with me, the second with Miss Sidenius, and the third with Mrs Garrard.

They're hoping to meet you too.

Can you give them a wave? And in this lesson, we'll learn about a very important person from history called Guy Fawkes.

We'll learn about the Gunpowder Plot.

Then we'll think about how we celebrate Bonfire Night now, and then you're going to make a firework picture.

You're going to need your listening ears, let's turn them on.

And you're going to need some chalk and black paper.

But if you don't have those, crayons and plain paper will be fine.

Pause the video here, get what you need, and I'm waiting to start when you're back.

Great, let's begin by learning about a very important person in the history of Bonfire Night.

This is a drawing of Guy Fawkes, my turn, Guy Fawkes.

Your turn.

And Guy Fawkes lived a really long time ago.

What clues can you see that tell us Guy Fawkes lived a long time ago? Think about what's he's wearing, about his hair.

Tell your screen.

Guy Fawkes looks quite different to people now.

Guy Fawkes is wearing clothes that people used to wear a really long time ago.

Guy Fawkes lived long before I was born.

Guy Fawkes lived long before your parents and carers and even grandparents were born.

He lived really long ago.

And Guy Fawkes was responsible for the Gunpowder Plot.

Hm, there's some words I haven't seen before.

Let's look what they mean.

Guy Fawkes made a plot, my turn, plot, your turn.

And a plot is a plan, a plot is a plan.

And Guy Fawkes's plot was to blow up this beautiful building.

Does anybody know what this building is? Maybe you do if you live in London or you've visited.

Tell your screen.

This building is Parliament.

And Parliament is where the people who run the country work.

And back when Guy Fawkes lived, King James I ruled England and worked in the Houses of Parliament.

I bet it looked a little bit different then.

And Guy Fawkes plotted to blow up Parliament by using gunpowder.

Show me, gunpowder.

Gunpowder is an explosive, and when it is lit, it can blow up and destroy everything around it.

Now that we've gone through some key words, let's listen to the story.

Now, some stories are made up, they didn't really happen, but this story is non-fiction, it is something that really happened in London a long time ago, the Gunpowder Plot.

Long ago, a man called Guy Fawkes, his name was? Lived in London.

And Guy Fawkes really didn't like the king whose name was James I.

Guy Fawkes and King James I had very different ideas about religion, they didn't agree with each other at all.

So Guy Fawkes made a plot to kill the king.

Guy Fawkes hid barrels of gunpowder in the cellar of Parliament where King James I worked.

He hid them in the hope that they would blow up and kill the king.

But one of Guy Fawkes' followers was also friends with one of King James' followers, and he wrote him a letter telling him to stay away from Parliament so that he was safe.

The king found out about the plot, and the plot was rumbled.

Guy Fawkes was arrested and King James I lived.

Now, we remember the time that King James I and his followers discovered the plot, and we celebrate their success with Bonfire Night.

You may have fireworks or a bonfire to celebrate this.

Wow, I'm glad that King James I was safe and Guy Fawkes was caught.

Even now, years later, we celebrate Bonfire Night.

We have lots of different traditions that we use to celebrate it.

You can see some on the screen.

Do you recognise any? Tell the screen if you do.

That's right, we celebrate Bonfire Night with fireworks, and fireworks are made with explosives just like gunpowder, and they blow up into the sky and make beautiful colours and displays.

I wonder if you've ever been to a firework display.

Or maybe you've looked out of your window and seen fireworks.

We sometimes celebrate Bonfire Night with a real bonfire, which is when you set wood on fire.

Sometimes, people put a pretend Guy on the top of a bonfire and light it.

What about these, do you know what these are? These are sparklers, and people hold sparklers in their hand and draw shapes in the air.

And Bonfire Night in the UK happens at a time of year where it's quite chilly, it's in autumn.

So some bonfire traditions are to have toffee apples or hot chocolate so that we stay warm while we're watching the fireworks.

Now remember, fireworks and fire are very dangerous, so we should never touch them or go near them, and if we go to a firework display, we must stay with an adult the whole time.

Now, I loved looking at those beautiful fireworks so I think it's time for us to draw our own.

I wonder what your firework's going to look like.

I really like these fireworks here.

I like that they go off in all directions and there's lots of different colours in them.

So I'm going to leave the firework display now and get what I need in front of me.

Now, for this picture, if you've got black paper, you can use that, or another coloured paper would be great too.

And if you've got it, you're going to need a stick of chalk.

But if you haven't got chalk, crayons or coloured pencils will be fine.

Pause the video here and pop those things in front of you and then we'll begin.

Okay, I wanted to go for one of those rocket fireworks that explodes in the air.

So I've got my chalk, and I'm going to make a sort of star shape with my chalk like this.

I like how the white looks against the black paper.

Now, I could leave it like that, but the great thing about chalk is it smudges.

So if I put my finger in the middle and work up and out, it makes my firework smudge and become bigger and brighter.

Wow, that looks so cool.

But I'd like to choose some more colours.

Now, I couldn't find any coloured chalk in the shops so I'm going to use crayon to add my colours but you might want to use chalk to add some.

I'm going to use a crayon to go around my firework and add some colour like this.

I'm going to use pink, and then I think I'll make a pattern and use green in between.

Can you make a pattern with your firework? Now, that's a beautiful firework but I think I'd like to add some more.

I'm going to do two smaller fireworks this time.

Need to draw my star shape with my chalk, and now's the fun part, I'm going to smudge it and see how big I can make it.

And this time I think I'm going to use orange for one firework and just green for the other firework.

Wow, I love that they all overlap each other a little bit just like real fireworks do in the sky.

Now it's your turn to have a go.

First, choose your firework, then draw it, then if you're using chalk, smudge it.

You might like the pause the screen here to have a look for some inspiration.

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

Thank you for joining me on our bonfire adventure today.

I'm so pleased with our firework picture, and I hope you enjoy making yours.

I hope to see you soon, bye.