Primary English KS2 Reading

The lesson we are deconstructing is a year 6 lesson on reading comprehension.

To Analyse a Setting

English

﻿Hello. My name is Ms. Johnson, and I'm going to be teaching you reading today. In today's lesson, we're going to analyse the setting of Holes by Louis Sachar. In this story, a boy is sent to a juvenile corrections centre. If this is something that might make you feel uncomfortable, I suggest you pause the video now and go and ask an adult to watch it with you. If you haven't watched lesson one, you should also pause this video and go back and watch lesson one, before you watch this lesson. If you've done all those things then let's get started. Let's start today's lesson by recapping everything we know already about Holes by Louis Sachar. Then we're going to look at a key question, which we'll be answering today by analysing the text. And then we're going to summarise everything that we've learned in today's lesson. In the lesson today, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen, and your brain. I really want you to be thinking about everything that I'm teaching you today, and to be using your brain to work out the questions yourself. Don't just rely on me. I want you to actively take part today. When you're ready, let's get started. We're going to start today by recapping the book. If you haven't watched lesson one, you should go back and watch lesson one now. If you have, you will know that we have been looking at the opening extracts of Holes by Louis Sachar. Let's see what you can remember. Who is the author of Holes? Is Stanley, the main character, a 'bad boy'? And where has Stanley been sent? Pause the video now and then answer the questions, and press play when you're ready to resume. Well done. So who is the author of Holes? The author of Holes is Louis Sachar. Say it, Louis Sachar. Is Stanley a 'bad boy'? No. We find out he is actually just unlucky. And where has Stanley been sent? He's been sent to Camp Green Lake. Now we don't know why he's been sent to Camp Green Lake. All we know is that he has committed a crime. But Stanley has told us that he is actually innocent of the crime. That means he didn't do it. And he's just unlucky. We as a reader, still want to know why he's been sent to Camp Green Lake. Today's lesson, we're going to focus on one key question, because I really love the description that Louis Sachar uses in the opening pages of Holes. I think he really helps to create a real clear picture of the setting in the reader's mind. My question for you is this today, what impression of Camp Green Lake does the author create in the reader's mind? We're going to be looking at the setting of Holes. Now, the word impression is just a big word for what picture is created. So whenever you read a book, you create a picture or you imagine what everything looks in your own head. And that's why reading is so interesting because everybody, when they are reading, has a different interpretation or they picture the setting slightly differently from someone else. But it's your job to try and create an impression in your mind as to what the setting is like based on what they think the setting is like. Today we're going to analyse the tags in order to answer this question. We're going to come back to this question at the end of today's lesson. Whilst we answered some other questions, I always want you to think about: what does that then tell me about Camp Green Lake? Got it. Fantastic. Let's get going then. We're going to do some analysing now of the text. That means we're going to look at the questions to try and find out some clues about Camp Green Lake. This is my first extract; that means a section of the text. And this is my first question. I do not want you to pause the video yet, we're going to do this question together or part of this question together. Listen to me read the extract first of all. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. That was once a very large lake here, the largest Lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland. And this is my question. What does the word wasteland tell you about Camp Green Lake? What does the word wasteland tell you about Camp Green Lake? Now what's tricky about this is you have to know what wasteland means. Now I want to pause. I want to do this with you. We're going to just take our time on this question. And before we try even answer it, we're going to explore the word wasteland. Say it with me, wasteland. Now a wasteland is a noun. It's a thing. I have broken the word into two. I've chopped the word into two. So I've got waste and I've got land. And I want to work out what a wasteland is. So I'm just going to explore waste as a word. What is waste? Waste is another word for rubbish. Put the waste bin out. It's just the same as rubbish. Rubbish or waste is something that no one wants. You don't need anymore; so if it's going to waste, no one's going to use it. Sometimes you might have heard someone say, "don't let that food go to waste." Because waste would mean nobody's ever going to use it or eat the food, because it's no longer of use to someone. Just like rubbish is no longer of use to you. If you put something in the bin, you no longer want it. Now what I'd like you to do is I want you to think about then, what a waste land is. If we know what waste is, what does wasteland mean? I want you to apply my notes on waste, to think about what a wasteland would be. Pause the video. And can you jot down some notes as to what you think a wasteland is. Press play when you're ready. Fantastic. I'm going to show you my notes now. And I hope that's going to help you today. If I know that waste is another word for rubbish or it's something that nobody wants anymore, then a wasteland must be land that nobody wants. Now, if you have land that nobody wants, you have to ask why? Land that nobody wants is land that cannot be used perhaps, it's gone to waste. Nobody wants it; it is neglected. It hasn't been looked after and nobody wants to live there. So the land has no use. Now if land has no use, it must tell you that this place perhaps is a bit inhospitable; which means nobody can even bear to live there perhaps because it's no good. Perhaps it's too cold. It's too hot. People can't really survive there very easily or they just don't want to. Let's go back to our question now. What does the word wasteland tell you about Camp Green Lake? What impression does that create in your mind? Pause the video now and write down an answer, and press play when you're ready to resume. Excellent. Shall we check my answers? You might have something similar to me. You might have something slightly different and that doesn't matter. Whenever we answer questions like this, sometimes there'll be slightly different. I said a wasteland means it is 'rubbish' land where nobody wants to live or visit. The land has been neglected and gone to waste. So it must be, as I said before, quite inhospitable. Nobody would want to go there. Question two. Now I have a slight impression already of Camp Green Lake. I know it's a place nobody wants to go. I'm going to read an extract to you and then I want you to pause the video and have a go at writing the answer. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There was once a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. Texas is a place. It's the state in America that this story is set. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland. This is my question. Why is Camp Green Lake an usual name? Why is it unusual for this location, this place? Pause the video and write down your answer, and press play when you're ready to resume. Well done. I said, Camp Green Lake is an unusual name because there is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There was once a lake, but no more. It's funny that it's called Camp Green Lake considering it's just dry and flat, and is a wasteland. There's nothing there; just dry land. And if we think back to that front cover, that's the land that we could see on the front cover. It's quite an unusual name. It gives you the false impression of what this place would be like. 'Cause if I was to read or find out I was going to Camp Green Lake, I would definitely expect it to be a lake there, wouldn't you? I wonder if Stan is going to be very disappointed when he gets there. Again, I'm going to read the extract to you. Then I'd like you to pause the video and answer the question when I tell you. Listen carefully. The only trees are two old oaks on the eastern edge of the lake. A hammock is stretched between the two trees, and a log cabin stands behind that. The campers are forbidden to lie in the hammock. It belongs to the Warden.The Warden owns the shade. So my question is: who owns the shade? And what do the words own and forbidden tell you about the Warden? Who owns it and why is it strange that somebody would 'own' shade? Pause the video now and have a go at answering the question, and press play when you're ready to resume. Fantastic. Now we're going to continue and answer our question. I said, it's strange that the Warden 'owns' the shade. Now owns is odd to use because it suggests no one else can use the shade. If someone owns it, it's yours. But this is strange because you can't buy shade. I've never gone out and bought shade. So it suggest it's a rule, that the camper have to follow. And the fact that it says it's forbidden to even go near it or to lie in the hammock, suggests that the Warden's rules are very strict. Now I've got three things already that I know about Camp Green Lake. I know it's a wasteland. I know there's no lake there. And I know that the rules are very strict. Question number four. In a minute, I'd like you to pause the video and answer the question. But first I'm going to read it to you. Out on the lake, rattlesnakes and scorpions find shade under rocks and in the holes dug by campers. So out on the lake rattlesnakes and scorpions find shade under rocks and in the holes dug by campers. What things can you infer about Camp Green Lake from the sentence. Infer means what clues can you find out about Camp Green Lake? What pieces of information do you learn from this text here? Pause the video and write down your answer, and press play when you're ready to resume. Well done. We know the lake, it has rattlesnakes and scorpions. Now I know that rattlesnakes and scorpions are really dangerous animals. You find out that there are rattlesnakes and scorpions, and you also find the boys also dig holes. It says there are holes dug by campers. So we know that's what the boys do when they go to Camp Green Lake. Now we're going to summarise everything we know already about Camp Green Lake. And this is going to help us to answer that big question, which was: what impression of Camp Green Lake does the author create in the reader's mind? Now that you've learned a little bit about Camp Green Lake, could you tell somebody else about it? We're going to create a mind map to help us. I've started mine here. I said it is a wasteland; no one wants it and it is of no use. So the land must be really harsh. It's really hard, dry land; difficult to live in. What I'd like you to do now is to pause the video and write down all the other things that you have learned about Camp Green Lake from this lesson. And then when you're ready, press play. Fantastic. Shall we see what my notes are and how they compare to yours? I've said that we know it is dry and extremely hot; it's because there is no lake there. Despite it being called Camp Green Lake and green suggests it would have lots of trees, we know that it's the opposite to that. We know it's a dangerous place because there are scorpions and rattlesnakes, so which were quite dangerous animals. We know there are strict rules. The Warden is in charge. There's little shade, but we are told that the Warden owns the shade. We also know, and I didn't put this one on here, but perhaps you got it, was that the campers dig holes. And now using your notes from earlier, from the mind map that we've just created, I want you to write an extended answer. What does that mean? That means I want you to write at least two sentences to describe what image of Camp Green Lake the authors' created in your mind. When you think of Camp Green Lake, what are you imagining right now? I find it easy sometimes to close my eyes and picture everything that I've built in my mind from reading the openings pages. What picture of Camp Green Lake do you have? If you really want to push yourself today, you could also draw a picture of it. Now I find that quite a fun activity and it's also really useful. Write an answer and then perhaps draw a picture to show me what Camp Green Lake is like. Press pause and then play when you're ready to resume. Well done. I would love to see your drawings. I'm picturing something like the front cover with really dry, flat land: no water, no trees. Perhaps there's some campers. Some boys who are digging the holes, and there's scorpions. You might even have had a picture of the Warden next to the boys watching over from the shade. I wonder what your drawing was like. If you didn't do a drawing, that's absolutely fine, if you wrote some sentences too. Now I've got a big question for you. Would you like to go to Camp Green Lake? Yes, because... No, because... Can you pause the video and can you write down your answer, and then press play when you're ready to resume. Well done. My answer would be no, because it sounds horrible. We know that it's a hot place. I don't like the heat. We know it's dry. We know that there's a really strict Warden. We know there's dangerous animals out on the wasteland where they're digging the holes. It sounds like hard work too, because the boys are digging holes in the heat. So my answer would be no. I wonder if any of you said yes. Congratulations. You've now completed today's lesson. Before you finish, I want you to write down three things you've learned about Camp Green Lake. Three things. Pause the video now and write them down. Well done. You could have told me that the boys dig holes. You could have told me that there are rattlesnakes and scorpions. You could have told me that there's a Warden who's really strict and he owns the shade, and campers are forbidden to go into the shade. Well done. I hope you enjoyed today's lesson and I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons today.

In this lesson, we will analyse the setting through inference and retrieval-based questions. In this text, the main character is sent to a juvenile correction centre.

ITT: To Analyse a Setting

Primary English KS2 Reading

1. Original Oak Lesson