To engage with the poem

Key Stage 2

English

The Jabberwocky - Narrative writing

﻿Hello everyone, my name is Ms Webster. Can you tell me what your name is? Fab, it's lovely to meet you. And so I'm so lucky because I get to teach you, for this next English unit which is called, the Jabberwocky. What a strange name for a unit. Now it's actually a poem and we get to do some writing based on this poem. We get to make up a story and that story has a monster in it. So I think this is going to be a really excellent unit. You're going to have lots of fun, and I cannot wait to see how hard you work. So I hope that you're sitting somewhere comfortably. Hope you're feeling confident, and I hope you're feeling ready to learn. Should we get started? In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some paper, a pencil or something else to write with, and of course your brain. If you haven't got everything you need, go and collect it, and I'll see you when you're ready. But don't forget to pause the video and I'll see you when you're ready. We will do our writing warmup. We're going to learn a little bit about the poet of this poem. We'll listen to the poem and then we will order the events of the poem. So let's see what our writing warm up is. You need to write down everything you can see in this picture and I'll show you it in a second. You can be as descriptive as you like. Are you ready to see the picture? Okay, I'm going to show you, three, two, one. So it's a picture of a forest. What can you see? Can you describe the things you see? Okay. I'd like you to pause the video now and write down everything you can see. Pause the video now. Well done. How many things did you get? Show me fingers. Do you get, three things? Four things? 10 things? Should we see the things that I got? And you can write down anything you see on the screen on your own piece of paper if you would like to. So I thought of these things. Tall, comma, towering trees. Show me what a towering tree would look like. Tall towering tree as if it's kind of stretched above the ground looking down at the ground. I also got, a dense forest. Now dense means it's tightly packed with trees and full. Full of trees, full of plants. So a dense forest. Overgrown roots. Can you point to the overgrown roots, in the picture? Yeah, normally roots are underground aren't they? But these roots are so big, so overgrown, that we can see them in the picture, can't we? We can kind of see them above ground almost. I also thought of rough bark. Can you point to the rough bark on the tree? Yeah, well done, it's the outside layer of the tree trucks, isn't it? Or the trees. Next one. Large tree stumps. Can you see one in the background? Well done. And I also thought of dark shadows. Let's move on, I've got a question for you. What world class, are the blue words? What world class, are the pink words? So there's a list of my words. Dense forest, tall, towering trees, rough bark, large tree stumps, overgrown roots, dark shadows. Now to help us with that question, got our word class definitions. And if you've heard of these in our previous unit, then that's great. If you haven't, then don't worry 'cause we're going to say them together now. In fact, I'll say them and then you can say them. An adjective, describes a word, it tells us what it's like! Your turn. Well done. Ready for this one? My turn fist? And noun, is a P, P, T a person place or thing. Your turn. And hopefully those definitions help us remember, what world-classes is are. So, if you have a look at the blue words, dense, tall, towering, rough, are they did the adjectives, or are they the nouns? Are they words describing words or are they, the things? Should we shout out together? The blue are the? Adjectives! Okay. So what does that mean the pink words are ? The pink words must be the nouns. Let's just check. Let's take one of the nouns, for example, forest. Is a forest, a P, P, T ,a person place or thing? Yeah! A forest is a place, isn't it? Okay. So let's move on to think about the poem that we're using. We're using a poem called the Jabberwocky for our writing unit. That is such a fun word to say, isn't it? Should we say it again? The Jabberwocky. Your turn. Jabberwocky. Go on one more time. Jabberwocky. Well done. What a strange title for a poem. It's really weird, isn't it? Now this poem was written by someone called Lewis Carroll. He looked a bit like this. It's a photograph of him. He was a very famous author and poet. He really loved reading and he wrote a really famous book called "Alice in Wonderland". Have you heard of that book before? Yeah. I certainly remember loving it when I was at school. And the Jabberwocky poem was included in that story. So this is really, cool. So I've got a question for you now. Do you think, that Lewis Carroll is from the past or the present? Do you think he lived in the past or do you think he lives now? Have a moment to think about that. What do you think? Have a look at that photograph. Have a look at the sorts of clothes he's wearing. Should we say it together? One, two, three. He's from the? Past. Good job. To help us get a sense of when the Jabberwocky was written, let's look at this timeline. So, can you see where it says present day? That's now. That's right now. A little bit before that, was World War Two, which was in 1939 to 1945. And before that, in 1871 was when the Jabberwocky was written. And it was written in a period of time called the Victorian era when Queen Victoria was alive and she was the Queen of England. And there's a picture of her there. So the Jabberwocky was written in Victorian times by, what's the poet called? Lewis Carroll. Well done. And then a bit after that, we had World War Two and you can see some female pilots in that photograph and then all the way up to present day, which is now. So the Jabberwocky is a really old poem, isn't it? But it's a really cool poem. And the type of poem that is, is a nonsense poem. And we're going to think about what that means. The Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem. What do we mean by this? How about a moment to think, nonsense. Do things that are nonsense, make sense? Well, not make sense. Cause I can see the word sense, in nonsense but I can also see the word non. Or the beginning of that word, non. So by nonsense, we mean it's something very silly, maybe fantasy. So something that's made up. Whimsical. Which is a great way, of saying something is fantasy. Something's made up. Something is from our imaginations. So there are lots of made at words in this poem, and it doesn't really make sense. So that's the whole beauty of it. The whole joy of it. It is a fantasy poem. It is a nonsense poem. There are lots of made up words in it, which means that the reader of the poem, can have whatever picture they like in their heads, of what's happening. Are you ready to have a look at the poem? Okay. I'm going to read it aloud and you're going to listen, and then you're going to do some reading aloud as well. This is the first verse. Twas brillig, and the slithy toves. Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy where the borogoves. And the mome raths outgrabe. Pause the video, and have a go at reading that verse to yourself. Did you have a go? Did you enjoy reading it? I hope you did. Listen to the second verse. I'll read it, and then you can read it after me. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! "The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! "Beware the Jubjub bird and shun. "The frumious Bandersnatch!" Your turn to pause the video and read it aloud. Did you have a go? Well done. So, there are so many nonsense words in that poem that were in the first two verses. Can you see any? Can you point to at least three? Should I show you the ones that I thought of? So many. What does that mean, brillig? Twas brillig. Slithy toves. What are they? What does gyre and gimble in the wabe mean? I don't know. Mimsy, borogoves, mome, raths outgrabe. They're all just silly made up words, aren't they? And what's a Jabberwock? And why do we have to be scared of him? "Beware the Jabberwock." What's a Jubjub bird? The frumious Bandersnatch. So many nonsense words. Should we have a look at the next bits of the poem? I'll read aloud the next verse, then you can. Now listen out for the real words because the real words do you help us get a sense of the story? But again, there are lots of nonsense words in these two verses as well. He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought. So rested he by the TumTum tree. And stood awhile in thought. Your turn to pause the video, and read it out the next verse. Well done. My turn to read the next verse, verse four. And as in uffish thought he stood. The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame. Came with whiffling through the tulgey wood. And burbled as it came. So lots of nonsense words, but also some real words that help us get a sense of the story. Can you point to any nonsense words? Can you see any nonsense words? Show me another one, or point to another one? Well done. So these were the ones that I thought of. Vorpal. Manxome. Tumtum. Uffish. Jabberwock again, lots of words there. Whiffling, tulgey, I don't know what those words mean, they are just nonsense words! That the poet, made up. But, I am beginning to get a sense of what is happening in the story. Because there are enough real words for me to do that. To get a sense of what is happening. Even though there are tonnes of nonsense words. Should we read the next verses? My turn, and then your turn. One, two! One, two! And through and through. The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead and with its head. He went galumphing back. Your turn, to pause the video and read that verse aloud. Pause video. Okay. So my turn to read the next verse. "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? "Come to my arms, my beamish boy! "O frabjous day! "Callooh! Callay!" He chortled in his joy. You turn to pause the video and read that verse aloud. Well done. Can you see any nonsense words in these verses? Point one. Point to another one. Point to one more. Well done. These are the ones that I thought of. Snicker-snack. Galumphing. What does galumphing mean? Jabberwock. Frabjous. Callooh! Callay!. I don't know what those words mean. I can guess what they mean, and I can have a sense of what I think they mean, and that's okay. I'm allowed to think of whatever I want. I'm allowed to think that they mean whatever I want. So, even though there were lots of made up words, there are still enough words for the reader, us, you, me, to get a sense of what happened. So let's do it let's or true or false. The poem tells a short story. Does something happened in this poem? Is there kind of a little adventure? Does a character go off to do some things? Is there a story within this poem? Should we say it together? One, two, three. It's true! In the story, a young man goes off to fight the jabberwock. Next question. The jabberwock is a dangerous creature. I don't know what a jabberwock is but I do know a little bit of information about him. That I can remember from the poem. The jabberwock is a dangerous creature. Do you think that's true or false? Should we say it together? One, two, three. It's, true! The young man's father warns him about the jabberwock. Oh yes, at the beginning, this is what his father says to him. He says, "Beware the Jabberwock my son." To beware, is like a warning, isn't it? If you have to beware of something it means usually it's something quite dangerous. And then he also gives this description. "He has jaws that bite." Point to your jaw. There it is. So he's got a really strong jaw that can bite you. And he also has claws that catch. If you had claws, where would they be? Point to it. It almost be where your fingernails are, aren't they? So animals have claws. Animals like dogs and cats and tigers and lions have claws. And the jabberwock, has got particularly dangerous claws. So he's a dangerous creature. Ready for the next one? the Jabberwock kills the young man. So we know that they go off to fight. I remember something about a head being chopped off. But whose head was it? True or false? The jabberwock kills the young man. We say it together . One, two, three. It's false. It said the young man chopped off the jabberwock's head, with his sword. Let's check. So this verse tells us what happened. One, two! One, two! And through and through. And vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head. He went galumphing back. So that is the bit of the poem where the young man uses his sword, and chops off the jabberwock's head. And does he take the head back? Yeah, he does, doesn't he? So the final parts of our lesson, is for you to match each moment in the poem to the parts of the story. Can you see the opening? Okay, we've got the build up, the climax and the ending. So four parts of this story. Okay. Let's see what the key moments are. The young man goes to look for the jabberwock. The young man and the jabberwock have a vicious fight. The young man's father warns him , about this dangerous creature, the jabberwock. And the young man returns home to his delighted and relieved father. So which bit happened in the opening? Which bit happened in the buildup? Which bit happened in the climax? And which bit happened at the end? I would like you to pause the video and all you need to do is write opening, and then the letter of the moment that you think it is. So, A, B, C, or D. Build up, and then the letter. Climax the letter. Ending and the letter. You don't have to write out the full statements in each rectangle. Okay. Do you know what you're doing? Pause the video now, and I'll see you've done that. Should we check? So, the opening. The first bits of the poem, the first bit of the story is where the young man's father warns him about this dangerous creature. The jabberwock. The next thing that happens is that the young man goes off to look for the jabberwock. He goes off in search for this dangerous creature. In the climax, which was B the young man and the jabberwock have a vicious fight. Which means that the final thing that happens with D, the young man returns home to his delighted and relieved father. Oh! Thank goodness, he's been victorious and defeated the jabberwock. So your order was C, A, B then D. Did you get it? Well done. So, really great work today. We did a writing warmup. We learned a little bit about the poet. Who was the poet? Oh yeah. Lewis Carroll. We listened to the poem and you did a bit of reading aloud as well. And we talked all about those nonsense words. And then you ordered the events of the poem. What a fantastic, first lesson in this new unit. I am so pleased, with the work that you've done and I cannot wait to see you next time. If you'd like to, you can share your work with your parents or carer. I hope you have a really lovely rest of your day. Bye!

To engage with the poem

To engage with the poem

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UnitEnglish / The Jabberwocky - Narrative writing

English