To identify the features of an explanation text

Key Stage 2

English

How Bees make Honey - Explanation writing

﻿Hello everyone. My name is Mrs. Hardisty, and I am going to be teaching you for this unit. I am really excited about the fact that we're going to be learning lots about bees and honey, and writing about them, because one of my favourite things to eat for breakfast is honey on toast. I wonder what's one of your favourite things to eat for breakfast? I'm so looking forward to seeing all the brilliant work that you are going to be doing, so let's get started. So this is what we're going to be doing in our lesson today. The first thing we're going to do is a warmup to get our brains working and thinking about language and writing, and then we're going to be thinking about the purpose of explanation texts. Now, explanation texts are the main thing that we are going to be reading and writing in this unit. So we're going to be thinking all about what they're for, why they're written, and who might want to read them. And then we're going to look a bit more closely, and we're going to think about how they're organised, the layout, what they look like. You might already have an idea about how they might be laid out, and then we're going to look even more closely at the language features. So the sorts of words that you would always find in an explanation text. Again, you might already think you know what sort of words we might find. So in this lesson, you are going to need an exercise book or some paper, a pencil or pen, and your brain to be thinking and focusing with. So you might need to pause the video now and go make sure you've got all of those things. Pause the video. Well done, let's get started with our warmup. So for today's warmup, I have got five different words and phrases that describe when something happened. I've got the word, finally, firstly, your turn, after that, next, later, well done, but they're a bit mixed up aren't they? They're not in the order from start to finish, and that's what I would like you to do. So get your paper and your pencil and write down these words in order, starting with a word that you would think describes when something happens at the beginning, at the start, and then writing all the other words in order until you get to the word that finishes. Pause the video and have a go at doing that now. Well done, everyone. Let's have a look at what I thought. So I started with the word, firstly. You could also start with the word first, if you were using this in your writing, and then the next two words, you could probably have an either order. So I decided that next would be good, and then after that for my third word. And then I choose the word later, because later describes something that's happening quite a long time after some of the other words on our page. And then at the end I used the word, finally. You might be able to think of a word, a synonym that means the same thing as finally. Can you think of one now? I wonder perhaps the word, lastly might mean the same thing as finally? We are going to be using lots of these words in our own writing in this unit, so it was a great way to start off our lesson. So now we're going to look at the key vocabulary for our lesson today. My turn, your turn. Technical vocabulary. That's quite hard, isn't it? Should we try it again? Technical vocabulary. So these are words that have a precise and often scientific meaning. So in today's lesson, we're going to come across the word, chrysalis, which is a scientific word for the hard case that forms around a caterpillar before it turns into a butterfly. Adverbial phrase. Well done. So this is a phrase that gives extra information. So it's often two or three words that describe when something happened or how something happened or where something happened. in today's lesson, we're going to be mainly looking at adverbial phrases that describe when something happens. Sequencing conjunction. This is a conjunction, a joining word that is used to describe when something happens. So you'll see this as quite similar to our adverbial phrase. A conjunction though, is normally just one word. A phrase can be more than one word. And then causal conjunction. Well done, let's try that again. Causal conjunction. This is a conjunction, a joining word that links a cause, something that happens, and effect, something that happens because of the first thing. We're going to look at that in more detail later. Let's practise those four together. Technical vocabulary, adverbial phrase, sequencing conjunction, causal conjunction. Well done. So now we're going to move on to explanation texts. What is an explanation text? I wonder what sort of texts they are. That word explanation, when I think about it, it sounds very much like the word, explain, and you probably know what it means to explain something, so I wonder if you can work out what does explanation text mean? What are they for? Who might read an explanation text? What do you think they might describe? Pause the video and have a little think. So this is what I think an explanation text is. An explanation text describes a process. It describes how or why something happens. And just so that you know, the big picture for what we're going to be doing in this unit, you are going to write your own explanation texts all about how bees make honey. So we need to be thinking about who might want to find out about that, what information they would like to find out, and to include that in our writing. Today, we are going to be looking at an example of a different explanation text to find out all the different things that need to be included. So let's just have a check. What are explanation texts? I've got two different options. Option one, is it to tell you how to do something? Or is it option two, to tell you how something works? They're quite similar, aren't they? So think really carefully. One, to tell you how to do something, or two, to tell you how something works? Show me with your fingers. Is it one or is it two? Ready, steady, go! Well done, of course it is option two, to tell you how something works. Explanation texts are not instructions, but sometimes we can get them confused between each other. So explanation texts, tell you how something works. It doesn't tell you how to do it yourself. Now, we're going to look at some of the features. So here is a whole explanation text about the life cycle of a butterfly. Don't worry if you can't see the writing, we're going to look at it in much more detail in a minute. This is just so that you can see the whole thing. What do you notice about how it is organised? What are the different things that you can see on the page? Can you see anything that's underlined? Can you see any pictures? Is all the writing of a one big block, or is it in different sections? What do you notice? So let's have a look in more detail. At the start of an explanation text, you always have a title. That's the writing that's underlined. And in this case it's called "The Lifecycle of a Butterfly". The title is there to tell your reader what you are describing, what process is being explained and described. And then you always have an introduction. An introduction is a small section or paragraph of writing, normally two, three or four sentences long that gives some general information to the reader so that they know a little bit more about what is going to be included in the text. They often have really brilliant words in them to hook the reader in and get them really excited about the writing. So let's look at that in even more detail. I am going to read it to you now, "The Lifecycle of a Butterfly," that was our title. Butterflies are insects that go through a complete life cycle. It is thought to be one of the most interesting life cycles in the insect world. There are four stages include the tiny egg stage, and the intriguing pupa stage. The whole life cycle takes one month to a whole year. Read on to find out about this fascinating process. So you can see here that it gives the reader a little bit more information about the butterfly life cycle, but it doesn't tell them exactly how it happens. It doesn't give lots of detail, that will come later, but you can see too that there are some brilliant describing words, some adjectives that will hook the reader in and make them think, wow, I really want to read on more about the lifecycle of a butterfly because there are so many interesting things about them. So you can see here that we have the adjectives interesting and intriguing. It makes you think, Oh gosh, I wonder why it's like that. I just want to find out a bit more, it's a little bit mysterious, and then fascinating. What a fascinating, interesting thing to learn about. Let's have a quick check. Make sure that we understand what is our introduction for? So I've got two more options. Option one, is it to give some general information, or is it option two, to tell the reader everything that happens? Is it to give some general information, or to tell the reader everything that happens? Point to the screen or show me with your fingers, which one is it? Ready, steady, go! Well done, it is to give some general information. Okay, now for true or false. Show me with your thumbs whether you think this is true or false: introductions should include some descriptive adjectives to excite the reader. Show me with your thumbs. Is that true? Should they have some descriptive adjectives or not? And it's true, isn't it? Exciting adjectives will hook the reader in and encourage them to read more. So we thought about the start and how it's laid out at the start, and then you'll notice here, there are lots of pictures or diagrams in my explanation texts about butterflies so that the reader has a really good idea of exactly how the process happens. So we can include our own pictures when we come to do our own explanation texts, I wonder what would happen if you didn't have those pictures? would it be easier to understand, or would it make it a little bit trickier? I think I would find it harder to just read it without any pictures to help me imagine what was going on. So the last feature we're going to look at about how it's organised is the fact that it's in chronological order. You may well have come across the word chronological before, that means it's in time order. It starts at the beginning and it goes all the way through the process. You can see here that it starts with the eggs and the caterpillar, and finishes with the butterfly. There would be no point in explaining a process, not in the order that it comes in. So let's just think true or false. Show me with your thumbs. It does not matter what order you write an explanation text. Have a think. Does it matter if it has to start at the beginning, and go in the same order all the way to the end? Or can you write the process in any order? Show me with your thumbs. That's right, it's false. Explanation texts must be in chronological order to explain the process in the correct order. So let's think about that in a bit more detail now, while we think about the particular words and phrases that you might see. So in order to show that something is in the correct order, we use some of those words that we looked at in our warmup. We use sequencing conjunctions and adverbial phrases. So I'm going to read out this now, and as I do so, every time you think I have said something that describes when something happens, one of these sequencing conjunctions or adverbial phrases, can you tap on your imaginary, or perhaps you really are wearing one, watch? So imagine you've got a watch on your wrist, and every time I say a word that describes when something happens, tap your wrist. Are you ready? Firstly, small round eggs are laid on a leaf. After four days, the eggs hatch and caterpillars come out. For two weeks, the caterpillar eats lots of leaves. Did you spot which words describe when these things happened? Let's have a look at mine. So these were the words, firstly, after four days, and for two weeks, and they described when the different parts of the process happened. When you come to do your writing, you will include lots of these sorts of words. So now, we're going to think about the last few very specific language features, the sorts of words that you might have in an explanation text. Causal conjunctions. This is when you have two different things that happen, and one thing leads to another thing, it's called a cause and effect. A cause and effect. And so you can see an example here, the cause is that the caterpillar eats lots of leaves, and the effect is that it grows very quickly, and you can use a cause or conjunction to link those two things together. The cause is that the butterfly pumps a liquid into the wings to get them working. The effect is that it can start to fly. So these are two different things, but they are linked together. One leads on to the other. So I've got that same information here and you can see that I've got some causal conjunctions that link those two ideas. So let's look at the top one. For two weeks, a caterpillar eats lots of leaves. Consequently, your turn, It grows very quickly. Consequently is an example of a causal conjunction. As soon as the butterfly has rested and dried, it pumps a liquid into the wings to get them working. As a result, they can start to fly. So as a result is another example of a causal conjunction. And again, you're going to use lots of these in your writing. So, this time, I've got an odd one out. I've got four different sorts of words and phrases here. Can you spot which is the odd one out? Is it one, finally, two, after that, three, two weeks later, or four, as a result? Have a little think, you might want to pause the video so that you can have some more time to think. Hmm, which three words all have the same sort of purpose and which one is the odd one out? Which one has a different purpose? I think that the odd one out is option four, as a result, because that is a causal conjunction, and all the others were sequencing conjunctions or adverbial phrases. It's important to note that explanation texts are always written in the present tense. So whenever you are using a verb, it always needs to be in the present tense. And here are some examples from our explanation texts about butterflies. Every time I say the verb in the present tense, I'd like you to point down to say it's happening now. Firstly, small round eggs are laid on a leaf, well done. After four days, the eggs hatch and caterpillars come out. For two weeks, the caterpillar eats lots of leaves. And then lastly, we're going to look at some technical vocabulary. So remember, these are the precise or scientific words that you might have to explain something in particular in an explanation text. So I'm going to read them out again to you and see if you can identify the precise, scientific, technical vocabulary. When the caterpillar reaches full size, a hardened case called a chrysalis grows around it for protection. As soon as the butterfly has rested and dried, it pumps a liquid into the wings to get them working. Hmm, which were our technical vocabulary words? So it was chrysalis, which is a hardened case around the caterpillar, and then the verb, pumps, which is a specific verb, which means to push, and then liquid, which is a particular thing that the butterfly pushes into its wings. Right then, another true or false. Show me your thumbs, get them ready. Explanation texts are written in the past tense, in the past. Show me with your thumbs. Is that true or false? It's false. Explanation texts are written in the present tense because they explain how something works. well done, everyone. Let's just have a quick recap of what we have done so far. We did a warmup, and then we thought about who and what that information texts are for, they explain how something works. Then we looked at the layout and how they're organised with the title, the introduction, and the pictures. And then we thought about the language features, the time conjunctions, the sequencing conjunctions that tells us when it happened, and the technical vocabulary and those causal conjunctions. So using all that information, here is your task for today. I would like you to make a mind map of the features of an explanation text. And if you want to go a little bit further, you can add in the purpose of each of these features or why they're included in an explanation text. This is my example. So you can see that I have written explanation text in the middle, in a little cloud, and then I had done three features so far, but I'm sure you can think of some more. I've done the title, and the introduction, and sequencing conjunctions. And can you see for the introduction I written an extra sentence that explains why we have an introduction. So I'd like you to pause the video, now, get your paper and pencil, and write your own mind map of everything you have learned today. Well done, everyone. That's our first lesson done. You've done so well. You have worked so hard. You have learnt so many different words already. And then in our next lesson, you are going to be having a spelling lesson.

To identify the features of an explanation text

To identify the features of an explanation text

Slide deck

Lesson details

Key learning points

Licence

Video

Lesson appears in

UnitEnglish / How Bees make Honey - Explanation writing

English