To explore how writers make description vivid (read as a writer)

Key Stage 1

English

How Coyote Brought Fire to the Earth (1)

﻿Hello, everyone. My name is Miss Barron, and this is Marcel. Welcome to lesson seven in our unit, learning and working with the story, "How Coyote Brought Fire to Earth". Now, we know that in this unit we are learning to describe things really vividly, aren't we? Marcel and I both love describing things. And Marcel has come up with a new favourite game of his. It's called, or do you want to tell them what it's called Marcel? Go on, then you tell them. Did you get that? It's called "Through My Imaginary Window". So we are going to imagine that we have got an imaginary window and we are going to look through it and imagine what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. So Marcel has been looking through his window and he has been exploring the garden. So, he's going to describe it for us using the senses. Go on, tell us what you can see, Marcel. He can see the bees in the brightly coloured flowers. What can you hear? He can hear the sounds of birds tweeting. They have a beautiful song, he says. What can you smell, Marcel? He can smell the perfume of the flowers. What can you taste out there in the garden? He says that he can taste the fresh air. And what can you feel out there? What do you feel? Did you hear that? He says that he can feel the warm breeze against his skin. So, that was Marcel describing the garden that he can see through his imaginary window. I would like you to have a think about what you can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel when you look through your imaginary window. So pause the video now and have a go at doing that. I hope you enjoyed playing the through my imaginary window game. You might like to play that again later with somebody else in your household or one of your toys perhaps. Now, because we're learning how to describe, in today's lesson, we are going to explore how writers make description vivid in their writing. And we're going to use that to come up with some things, a list of things that we can then use when we come to write some of our story scenes in descriptive detail. So when we're reading today, we are going to be thinking like writers. And this is what the lesson is going to look like in a bit more detail. First, we are going to sing our description song to remind us how we describe. Then we are going to read an extract written by a great writer. And we're going to unpick it. We're going to talk about it together to come up with our description toolkit, a list of things that we are going to then use in our writing over the next few lessons. And then finally, you are going to have a go at using that toolkit to describe your favourite character from the story. So in today's lesson, you will need an exercise book or a piece of paper to write on and a pencil to write with. Pause the video now and go and get those things if you need to. Brilliant job. You are back and ready to start the learning today. So let's begin with our description song. Now, I think you can remember it, so you can join in with me straight away. We are going to sing it twice through. Okay, are you ready? ♪ Description, description, how shall we do it ♪ ♪ Description, description, how shall we do it ♪ ♪ How does it look ♪ ♪ How does it sound ♪ ♪ How does it smell ♪ ♪ How does it taste ♪ ♪ How does it feel ♪ ♪ That's how we do it. ♪ Brilliant job. Now, join in with me again. Let's sing it all the way through. Do the actions too. Ready? ♪ Description, description, how shall we do it ♪ ♪ Description, description, how shall we do it ♪ ♪ How does it look ♪ ♪ How does it sound ♪ ♪ How does it smell ♪ ♪ How does it taste ♪ ♪ How does it feel ♪ ♪ That's how we do it. ♪ Brilliant job. So that is our description song to remind us how important the senses are when we describe things. So we know that we need to show how things look, how things sound, how things smell, how things taste, and how things feel. And when we do that, in our storytelling and our story writing, it really helps to paint a clear picture for the reader. Now, let's have a look at this piece of writing and see if we can work out what's happening. So read it with me. Brightly coloured balloons, blaring music, loud laughter, sticky, sugary cake, surprised, excited, joyful, tired. So what do you think is happening there? Where are they? Have a think and use this sentence then to help you frame your idea. I think they are mm because in the text it says. So pause the video now and have a think about that. Brilliant, you're back. Did you work out what's happening? Did you work out what you think they are? Go on, tell me to your screen now. I think they mm because in the text it says, tell me to your screen. Well done. You are on fire today. You're right. It really makes us picture the scene of a party, doesn't it? And some of you said birthday party, and I think you're right. So, what is it that the writer has done to make us picture the scene of a birthday party really clearly? Let's have a look. So you can see that I have now colour coded those lines. Let's find out why. Brightly coloured balloons. That's what we can see, isn't it? So we know that that's a birthday party, we usually have balloons at a birthday party, don't we? Now, the second line tells us what we can hear, blaring music, loud laughter. If music is blaring, then it's really loud. So those are some sounds that we can hear at the party. Now, then the next slide sticky, sugary cake, that tells us what we can taste, doesn't it. Have you ever been to a birthday party and had sticky, sugary cake? I have. Sometimes I've even eaten so much of it it's made me feel sick. So, that is what we can taste. And the last line surprised, excited, joyful, tired. Those are all feelings, aren't they? Those are feeling words. So I think this might be a surprise birthday party. The person who has been thrown for feels surprised and they're excited. They're so excited to be at their surprise birthday party. Then they feel joyful. And at the end of the party, they feel tired. It's been exhausting. So you can see that how the writer has really clearly used the senses of sight, what can be seen, what can be heard, what can be tasted, and what can be felt to paint a really clear picture of that party for us. So through our song and the poem that we've just read, we have started to think carefully about how writers describe things vividly. So now we are going to read a slightly longer extract about our story. And as we read, we are going to think like writers. So we're going to think really hard about what the writer has done to paint a really vivid, clear picture of that scene in our imaginations. So let's have a look first at some keywords that we are going to meet as we read. First, let's read them together. Ready? So, let's do my turn, your turn. My turn. Winced. Your turn. Brilliant. My turn again. Winced. Your turn. Now, to wince means to shrink your facial expressions or to shrink your body because of pain. So to wince is like this. Go, can you wince for me? So, winced. We're going to meet that word. We're also going to meet the word unbearable. My turn. Unbearable. Your turn. Brilliant, again. Unbearable. Your turn. Fantastic. Now, unbearable means that we can't bear it any longer. We can't stand it. So you can imagine that's in the story. The heat of the sun was unbearable. And then finally, the word spluttered. Spluttered. Now, to splutter means to make a series of short kind of explosive spitting noises or choking noises. So you can imagine the singing frog spluttered when she had the fire in her throat. So those are the words that we are going to meet today. Winced, unbearable, and spluttered. Let's begin reading. So you might like to read along with me or you might just like to listen to me read. There was White Crow, waiting at the top of the mountain. "Here, catch," Coyote shouted desperately. White Crow caught the fire in her beak. She winced at the pain. The heat was unbearable. Sweat poured down her face. Soon enough, her beak was on fire. "Ouch!" She cried, but she knew she had to keep going. So, I would like you to have a think about how the writer has described this scene really clearly, really vividly. How have they done that? Think about what you already know about how we describe things. Think about what we talked about when we looked at our birthday party poem. So I'd like you to pause the video and have a think, you might like to circle or underline some words or phrases. Have a think about what the writer has done to paint a clear picture for us of this scene. And you can use the sentence then, the writer has described the scene vividly by. So pause the video and have a think about that. Fantastic, you're back. Now, great effort having a go at that. It's quite a tricky thing to do. So tell me what your thoughts were. Go on, tell me to your screen. Tell me what you think the writer has done. Say, the writer has described the scene vividly by. Tell me to your screen. Well done. You've come up with some amazing ideas about how the writer has used the senses to describe. We know, from the poem that we read, and from our song the writer has used senses to describe things vividly. So let's have a look at some of those senses in more detail in this extract. First of all, let's have a look at these words and phrases. "Here, catch." Shouted, "Ouch." Cried What did those words or phrases tell us. Which sense is being used there? Go on, tell me to your screen. Say, the sense is. Tell me to your screen. Fantastic. The sense is sound, isn't it. Those all tell us what we can hear. So we can hear Coyote shouting, "Here, catch." We can hear White Crow say, "Ouch!" And she cries that, doesn't she? It says, she cried. So those are all sounds that we can hear. Now, let's have a look at another sense the writer has used. What's underlined there in pink? What sense is being shown there? Let's read those lines together, those phrases. There was White Crow waiting at the top of the mountain. Whites Crow caught the fire in her beak. She winced at the pain. Soon enough, her beak was on fire. So what sense has the writer used there? Go on, tell me to your screen now. Say, I think the writer has used mm. Tell me to your screen. Brilliant job. I'm hearing you say that those lines, those phrases tell us what we can see, and you're right. This is what can be seen. So we can see White Crow waiting at the top of the mountain. We can see the fact that she caught the fire in her beak, that she winced at the pain, that her beak was on fire. Those are all things that we can see. So the writer has used the sense of sight. Now, let's have a look at another sense. So let's have a look at what's underlined in green there. The heat was unbearable, sweat poured down her face. She knew she had to keep going. So what sense is being used there? The heat was unbearable. Sweat poured down her face. Go on, tell me what you think to your screen now. Say, I think it's the sense. Tell me to your screen. Brilliant. Well done again. It's what she can feel, isn't it? She can feel that heat was unbearable. She can feel the sweat pouring down her face, and she feels determination, doesn't she? It says she knew she had to keep going. So, that tells us that she feels determined. She feels like she knows she has to go on. Brilliant. So, the writer has used feel as well. Now, then let's have a look here at the phrases in the bold, grey writing. She winced at the pain. She winced at the pain. Sweat poured down her face. She knew she had to keep going. Now, all of those are character reaction, aren't they? Those tell us how the character is reacting to what's going on. She winced at the pain. That's a reaction to having a fire in her beak, isn't it? Having the fire in her beak. Sweat poured down her face. That's the reaction to the heat. Again, having the fire in her beak and a reaction to what's going on. She knew she had to keep going. So the writer is also showing character reaction. And finally, the writer is using adjectives and adverbs. So let's have a look. The adjective in this extract is unbearable. Unbearable describes the heat, doesn't it. Now, do we have any adverbs? We do. Can you see it, underlined there in purple? The adverb is desperately, and desperately tells us how Coyote shouted. So shouted is the verb. Desperately is the adverb. It tells us how he shouted. So we can see that the writer has used the senses. The writer has shown character reaction and the writer has used adjectives and adverbs to paint a really clear picture for the reader in that scene. So let's carry on reading. And as we read, think about how the writer is painting a clear picture of the scene in your mind. So again, you might like to read with me or just listen to me read. She quickly turned and saw the fire giant close behind her. He was so close now that she could smell his sweaty, fiery flesh. The flames from her beak caught her feathers. She felt her feathers burning, blackening. She turned again, this time, she could see the fire giant reaching out to grab her. "I will catch you," he yelled angrily. She coughed and spluttered. Finally, there was White Squirrel. So, I would like you now to pause the video and have a think about what the writer has done in this extract to describe this scene really vividly. So have a think about the things that we just found out the writer had used in the last piece of reading we read. So we knew that they'd use the senses, character reaction, adjectives, and adverbs. I would like you to spot those things in this piece of writing. So you might like to circle or underline the words or phrases that show those things. You might like to colour code them like I did. I'd like you to go and read that text again and find where the writer has used those things in this piece of text. Pause the video and do that. So, thanks to your brilliant reading as a writer just then. We have come up with a toolkit, a set of tools that tell us what great writers do to make their description really vivid in their writing. And we are going to use this toolkit over the next few lessons to help make our description really vivid when we come to write our different story scenes. So let's just recap what those tools are. We know that writers use the senses, so they show what they can see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. We know that they show character reaction. So how is the character reacting to what's going on? And they use powerful adjectives and adverbs to help paint a really clear picture for the reader. So I would like you to write down this toolkit now because this toolkit is really important. We're going to use it over the next few lessons to help us with our writing. So pause the video now and write down this toolkit. You are ready for your independent challenge. I would like you to read the next part of this scene where White Crow gets chased down the mountain. So let's read it together first. Read with me, or you can listen to me read. She quickly turned and saw the fire giant close behind her. He was so close now that she could smell his sweaty, fiery flesh. The flames from her beak caught her feathers. She felt her feathers burning, blackening. She turned again. This time, she could see the fire giant reaching out to grab her. "I will catch you," he yelled angrily. She coughed and spluttered. Finally, there was White Squirrel. So, that is the extract that I would like you to read again now on your own. And as you read it, I would like you to think about how the writer has used those different things from the toolkit. So you can circle words, or phrases, or sentences. You can underline them. You might like to do it in different colours like I did. I would like you to spot where the writer has used the senses, where the writer has shown character reaction, where the writer has used adjectives and where the writer has used adverbs in that piece of writing. So, pause the video now and have a go at that. So, just before we finish, I have a final toolkit challenge for you. And that is to describe your favourite character in the story using things from the toolkit. So to use the senses, you are going to describe what they look like, what they sound like, what they smell like, what they taste like even, and what they feel like. You're also going to have a go at describing their reaction to something that's going on. So, describe your character at a moment in the story may be or describe your character when something is happening around them. What's their reaction to it. And finally, use powerful adjectives and adverbs to help paint a really clear picture of your character for the reader. So that is your toolkit challenge. Pause the video and have a go at that. So, that brings us to the end of our learning today. Marcel and I would like to give you a big pat on the back for all of your hard work reading as a writer today. Now then, before we finish, let's sing our description song together again. Ready? ♪ Description, description, how shall we do it ♪ ♪ Description, description, how shall we do it ♪ ♪ How does it look ♪ ♪ How does it sound ♪ ♪ How does it smell ♪ ♪ How does it taste ♪ ♪ How does it feel ♪ ♪ That's how we do it ♪ Brilliant job. You are going to be such fantastic descriptive storytellers and story writers by the end of this unit. I can't wait to see you in the next lesson in lesson eight. So, for now, bye. We will see you then.

To explore how writers make description vivid (read as a writer)

To explore how writers make description vivid (read as a writer)

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UnitEnglish / How Coyote Brought Fire to the Earth (1)

English