Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss Vincent, and I'm going to be teaching you today for this lesson based on the film, "How To Train Your Dragon".

Today, we're going to be writing a section of the buildup of this story.

Now we've already planned this section in a previous lesson, so if you took part in that lesson, you'll need your plan with you today, and we're going to have a think about the characters, the action, and the description, and have a go at writing this part.

Let's get started.

This is our agenda for today.

So we're going to start with a writing warmup to get us thinking about sentence structure and complex sentences so that we can use this in our writing.

Then we're going to move on to review and recap the scene that we're going to write today.

We're going to think carefully about what our success criteria are to be successful in our writing.

And then finally, we get to write our sentences.

So in this lesson, you'll need an exercise book or a piece of paper.

You'll need a pencil and you'll need your plan from the previous lesson if you have one.

So if you need to go and get any of those three things, then please pause the video and then you come back and press Play when you're ready.

Great, so hopefully we're all ready to get started.

So let's start with our writing warmup.

In our writing warmup today, we're going to think about complex sentences, and we're going to think about one type in particular.

Today, we're going to practise complex sentences using the subordinating conjunction "while".

So we're going to try and use while at the start or in the middle of our sentence while constructing complex sentences today.

Now I wonder if you can tell me what a complex sentence is? What makes it a complex sentence compared to a compound sentence or a simple sentence? I'd like you to pause the video and just have a think to yourself, what is a complex sentence? Off you go.

Okay, I wonder what you thought.

Let's check what complex sentences are.

So in a complex sentence, we have a main clause which makes sense on its own, and then we've got a subordinate clause that adds extra information, but does not make sense on its own.

And our subordinate clause always starts with a subordinating conjunction, and today we're going to be looking at the subordinating conjunction "while".

And I like to think of it a little bit like Mr. Main being the superhero in charge, so our main clause, and then our subordinate clause is the helper who comes along and gives more information in this case.

So remembering a main clause makes sense on its own, and a subordinate clause has a verb, which makes it a clause, but it doesn't make sense on its own, and then joined with a subordinating conjunction, and like I mentioned earlier, the subordinating conjunction can come in the middle of the sentence or it can come at the start, and we're going to look at both versions today.

So for example, this is a while complex sentence.

So you can read it with me if you want.

Toothless watched closely while Hiccup made his way into the valley.

Okay, so I've got first of all my main clause, The part that makes sense on its own.

Toothless watched closely.

Okay, and then the other part of my sentence, while Hiccup made his way into the valley, that's my subordinate clause.

It doesn't make sense on its own, but it adds more information because it tells me what Toothless was watching closely and when it was happening.

So while Hiccup made his way into the valley doesn't make sense on its own.

But remember a subordinate clause is always started with our subordinating conjunction, which in this case is, it's blue and underlined, can you say it out loud? While, well done.

So remember that in a subordinate clause, so in a previous grammar lesson, you've covered these in a lot of detail.

And if you haven't done that lesson, I recommend going to watch it.

It's really, really useful.

So remember, we can swap the parts around in a complex sentence and it still makes sense.

So we started with Toothless watched closely while Hiccup made his way into the valley.

And in this version, we've got our main clause first and our subordinate clause second.

If we wanted to swap it around and have our subordinate clause first and our main clause second, could you have a think about what that would look like? Perhaps you can pause the video and have a go at writing it down.

Off you go.

Okay, well, let's have a think.

If we start with our subordinate clause, the part that doesn't make sense on its own, so while Hiccup made his way into the valley, it works.

So while Hiccup made his way into the valley, comma, Toothless watched closely.

It still works.

Remembering that if we start with a subordinate clause first, then we need a comma after the subordinate clause.

But if the subordinate clause comes second, we don't a comma in the middle of our sentence like that first example.

Okay, your writing warmup challenge is to write at least one while complex sentence about this picture here from our buildup.

You can choose to put the main close first, or you can choose to put it second, whichever one you prefer and whichever one works best for your sentence.

So pause the video and have a go.

Fantastic, I wonder what your sentence says.

I wonder if it's really exciting.

I bet it is.

Okay, so now we're going to think about the section of the buildup that we're going to be writing today.

We're going to think carefully about reviewing it.

That means we'll watch it one more time and we'll think really carefully about our plan and about what will help us be successful with our writing.

So today's writing is going to focus on the first half of the buildup, where we've got Hiccup coming into the valley, Toothless crouching behind him, coming down from his rock, and then finally Hiccup extending some fish towards Toothless.

So let's rewatch this short section of the buildup just to remind ourselves and remember, it's not very long, so if you feel like you've missed a little detail, you can always skip back and watch it again.

Let's watch.

Great.

So hopefully that jogged your memory, thinking about this section of the buildup.

So as I mentioned at the start of the lesson, you will need your plan from the previous lesson to help you with your writing, to help you think of really precise vocabulary that'll help make your buildup really, really exciting.

So mine is split over two pages here.

We've got the events one to four, thinking really carefully about each section of this buildup.

So if you don't have your plan with you right now, then I really recommend pausing the video and going to find it.

If you don't have a plan at all, because you haven't done the previous lesson, then I recommend doing the previous lesson.

But if you can't, then don't worry because I will snapshot in these plans so you can use them with your writing just to get some ideas as well.

So pause the video and find your plans if you need to.

Okay, hopefully we are all set then and ready for our writing.

So let's think about our success criteria, what our steps for success are in order to be successful.

So in our writing today, we've got our plans and we're going to make sure that we write at least one sentence for each of the sections in the narrative.

So we're going to describe Hiccup entering the valley, describe toothless crouching, describe Hiccup as he is sort of circled by Toothless, And then finally describing Hiccup and Toothless as the fish was offered.

So our steps for success, I want us to make sure, first and foremost, that we have our plan right next to us.

We put so much work into our plans.

It's really important to use them in our writing.

Second of all is using our skills for successful writing is going to make us successful.

So remembering to always check for our capital letter and full stop or piece of punctuation at the end of our sentence, to use, say, write and read, so to make sure that we think of our whole sentence, write it down and then read to check that we've written what our sentence actually is, sorry.

And then finally, editing and improving.

So remember, we can always make our work better and if we spot perhaps a change that we want to make, then go for it.

It's really great to think about things that you can improve and to think about things that you can change.

That's what's really exciting and great about writing.

And then finally, we've got our success criteria specific to today's lesson.

So I think it's really important that we include lots of descriptive vocabulary.

So we're going to think about those adjectives and nouns that we've got in our plan and those verbs and adverbs that we've got in our plan.

I think it's important that we try to refer to the characters in different ways so that we're not always repeating Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup, and Toothless, Toothless, Toothless.

Let's make sure that we refer to him as the young Viking, the scared boy, and we refer to Toothless as the fearsome dragon or the wary beast, perhaps.

So keeping it interesting for our reader and making sure that it flows really nicely.

And then finally, we're going to have a go at including a range of sentence types.

That means complex sentences like we practised in our warmup, simple sentences and compound sentences as well, where we join two main clauses together with a coordinating conjunction.

Okay, so it's time to write our sentences, the really fun part.

So we're going to do a little bit of my turn, your turn in our writing.

I'm going to write a sentence or two, and then it'll be your turn and so on, and then we'll get to read it all through.

Okay, let's get started.

I can't wait to write.

So our first sentence is about Hiccup entering the valley, and I want to refer to him in a different way, so I'm going to start my sentence with the brave Viking, remembering my capital letter for Viking, because it's the name of a group of people.

And I want to say what he did and I'm looking at my plan and I'm going to go for tiptoed hesitantly, and I want to describe where he is and he's in the valley, so I'm also going to take from my plan, the peaceful, deserted valley.

So the brave Viking tiptoed hesitantly through the peaceful, deserted valley.

So that's my sentence, and I've taken it straight from my plan.

So the brave Viking tiptoed hesitantly, which remember means he's unsure, through the- Ooh, I've written tip toes.

Tiptoed, past tense, hesitantly through the peaceful, I need my comma to separate my adjectives, deserted valley.

Full stop.

Okay, for my next sentence, I want to describe the fact that he's looking around and I'm going to take from my plan, he glanced around curiously, but I want to extend it further, and I want to make an as complex sentence with my subordinate clause second, and I think I'm going to go with, he glanced around curiously as he gripped the fish tightly in his hands.

So capital letter to start my sentence, he glanced, which means looking around quickly.

He glanced around curiously as he gripped, another way of telling me that he's holding something, gripped the fish tightly in his hands.

And actually, so full stop to finish my sentence, I think I'd quite like to describe the fish with some adjectives.

So I'm going to go with slimy, and that adjective that means we're really smelly, pungent.

So he gripped the slimy, comma pungent fish tightly in his hands.

So I'm going to read through the whole thing.

The brave Viking tiptoed hesitantly through- Oh, I've written through twice.

That's why it's really useful to make sure that we read through our text to spot any errors like that.

The brave Viking tiptoed hesitantly through the peaceful, deserted valley.

He glanced around curiously as he gripped the slimy, pungent fish tightly in his hands.

Okay.

Now it's your turn to write your description of Hiccup as he entered the valley.

Remember to use your success criteria, use your plan and think really carefully about the vocabulary that you choose.

Off you go.

Okay, great job.

Let's move on to the next sentence.

For my next sentence, I want to describe the fact that Toothless is crouching behind Hiccup, and I think I'm going to use the word lurking, which tells me that he's half hiding, half crouching.

And it's a non-finite if I start my sentence with an -ing word, lurking in the background, comma.

I'm telling my reader where Toothless is.

Lurking in the background, Toothless.

Well, he's watching the boy, I'm going to look at my plan and I'm going to take Toothless watched the boy carefully, the wary boy carefully or closely with a deep, piercing stare.

So I've taken that from my plan as well.

So lurking in the background, I need a capital T for Toothless because it's his name.

So Toothless watched the wary boy closely with a deep, comma, piercing stare.

So his stare is very, very intense.

So let me read my sentence back.

Lurking in the background, Toothless watched the wary boy closely with a deep, piercing stare.

Now it's your turn, your turn to write your sentence describing Toothless as he crouched and watched Hiccup really closely.

You've got your success criteria, you've got your plan hopefully, so pause the video and have a go at writing your sentences.

Really well done.

Let's move on.

For my next sentence, I want to describe two things happening at once.

I want to describe Hiccup turning around and at the same time, seeing the dragon.

So I'm going to use an as complex sentence, but I'm going to use my subordinate clause first.

I'm going to start with as at the start of my sentence.

So as Hiccup turned around, comma.

Comma what happened, so as Hiccup turned around, he saw the menacing dragon perched on the rock and that verb perched is what birds often do when they perch on brunches, they sit on branches, and I think it works really well to describe the dragon.

So as Hiccup turned around, he saw the menacing dragon perched on the rock.

He saw the menacing dragon perched on the rock.

Full stop, so that's a complex sentence.

I think I want to try and do a compound sentence now talking about the dragon coming off the rock and then giving a low growl.

So I've already used dragon, so I'm going to go with creature.

The creature leapt swiftly, so jumped swiftly is in my plan.

I'm going to change jumped to leapt, which means a synonym for the word jump.

So the creature leapt swiftly down and let out a low, threatening growl.

So the creature leapt swiftly, that means quickly and without any problems, swiftly down and, so extending with my coordinating conjunction, and, let out a low, threatening, threatening growl.

Full stop.

So let me read my couple of sentences.

As Hiccup turned around, he saw the menacing dragon perched on the rock.

The creature leapt swiftly down and let out a low, threatening growl.

Okay, your turn now.

So make sure that you write your sentences describing Toothless as he got closer to Hiccup.

Off you go.

Well done.

For the final sentence, we want to talk about Hiccup offering Toothless the fish with his hand stretched out.

So I'm going to go, I'm going to talk about the dragon.

I'm going to talk about the fact that he's hungry.

So I'm going to say his stomach rumbled, so I don't need to say the dragon or he, because in my previous sentence I was talking about the dragon, so I can use the word his to continue that idea.

So his stomach rumbled because of the smell of the pungent fish in Hiccup's hand.

Or we could go with outstretched, shaky hand.

So his stomach rumbled, so I'm telling my reader that the dragon is hungry.

His stomach rumbled because of the smell of the pungent, remember it means really smelly, the pungent fish in Hiccup's- Now it belongs to Hiccup, so I need a apostrophe for possession.

In Hiccup's, I'm going to take from my plan, outstretched.

Outstretched, comma, shaky hand, full stop.

Let me read through.

His stomach rumbled because of the smell of the pungent fish in Hiccup's outstretched, shaky hand.

So we're telling the reader that the dragon is hungry and we're telling the reader that Hiccup is stretching out his arm, giving the fish to Toothless.

Right, your turn now.

Last sentence for today.

So describing Hiccup and Toothless as the fish was offered.

You've got everything you need on the screen, off you go.

Well done, fantastic job.

So you've worked so hard today.

You've written lots and lots of sentences.

So let's read our whole piece of writing through in one go from start to finish, off we go.

So I'm going to read mine through first, and then I'm going to ask you to pause the video and read your writing through.

The brave Viking tiptoed hesitantly through the peaceful, deserted valley.

He glanced around curiously as he gripped the slimy, pungent fish tightly in his hands.

Lurking in the background, Toothless watched the wary boy closely with a deep, piercing stare.

As Hiccup turned around, he saw the menacing dragon perched on the rock.

The creature leapt swiftly down and let out a low, threatening growl.

His stomach rumbled because of the smell of the pungent fish in Hiccup's outstretched, shaky hand.

Okay, your turn to read yours.

So pause the video and read your writing through.

Off you go.

Great, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

We've finished all of the sections of our lesson today.

So really well done for all of your hard work.

You should feel very, very proud of the writing that you've done today.

If you'd like to, please share your work with the parent or carer to show them your learning.

Okay, I'll see you soon or another lesson on the unit of "How To Train Your Dragon".