To read, comprehend and respond to a climax

Key Stage 2

English

The Giant's Necklace by Michael Morpurgo

﻿Hello, everyone. It's me, Miss Henman. We are on our fifth, and that means final, lesson of this guided reading unit. You have worked so well so far, and I am convinced that you will do incredibly well this lesson too. We've got an exciting part of the story coming up, which we are going to read today. Let's get going. We have got a very busy lesson today so let's go through the agenda. First, we are going to consider the story structure then we are going to consider our predictions. After that, we will read the next part of the text and answer some questions. Then we will consider the genre of this story and finally, we will respond to the story. In this lesson you will need something to write with and something to write on, so an exercise book or a piece of paper, a pencil or a pen, and you will also need your learning brain. Can you pause the video whilst you get everything ready? Otherwise, let's start. You might have seen a story mountain before, either in school or in some of your writing lessons with the Oak Academy. This is what the story mountain might look like. So let's go through what an opening is. In an opening, we as the reader, meet the characters. The scene is set by the author and hopefully the opening grabs the reader's attention. Then in the build-up, usually a problem or a challenge is introduced and the excitement builds slowly. The climax is the most exciting part of the story, it's where the action happens. And finally, the resolution is where any loose ends are tied up, where the problems or the challenges that we came across in the build-up are resolved and we get to know the solution, if there is a solution. Not all stories have solutions. So do you think we have done the opening? Do you think we've read the opening so far? Thumbs up or thumbs down? I think we have. We met her family. The scene was set around the table. Do you think we have read the build-up, thumbs up or thumbs down? I think we have. What was the problem or the challenge that Cherry, the main character, the protagonist faces? Pause the video and tell the screen. Correct. The challenge is that she wants to finish this necklace but she only has one day left of her holiday. And she was down on the beach when we last were reading the book and she was collecting as many shells as possible. And I think she had 70 or 80 to collect. Have we read the climax yet? Thumbs up or thumbs down? No, we have not. And that is what we're going to look at today. Do you remember in the first lesson I predicted this story would be set during a war and involve an animal. Now that's because some of the books that I've read by the same author had that as their setting and had an animal as one of the main characters. Was my prediction correct? I don't think it was. There isn't a war going on and we haven't been introduced to any animals. And that is okay. Sometimes we make sensible predictions and they don't come true. And that's absolutely fine, that's part of the process of reading. What did you predict at the end of last lesson? So I asked you to bring your prediction with you to this lesson. Have you got it with you? If not, you can pause the video and go and see if you can get it now. If you can't find it or you do have it with you, I'm going to show you some of the predictions I think you may have come up with. I think you might have predicted that she would finish making her necklace. I think you might have predicted she would meet a giant in the rocks. I think you might have predicted it would get dark and her family would be worried. You also might just have a different prediction. Are any of my predictions on the screen not likely to happen next because they aren't a climax? So they're not the action-packed adventure that we would expect to have in a climax. Which ones do you think are not likely to happen next? Pause the video and decide. Could you rule out any of these predictions? So I think we can rule out my first prediction that she would finish her necklace because that's not really a climax, is it? That's a resolution. So I'm left now with two predictions, either that she's going to meet a giant in the rocks down by the beach or that it will get dark and she will get lost and her family will be worried. Let's read on and see what happens. It's going to be my turn to read to you first so you can sit back and listen and enjoy, but make sure that you are tracking with your eyes. Had she not been so immersed in her search, sifting the shells through her fingers, she would have noticed the dark grey bank of clouds rolling in from the Atlantic. She would've noticed the white horses gathering out at sea and the tide moving remorselessly in to cover the rocks between her and Boat Cove. I would like you to pause the video and now read it out loud to yourself. Excellent. My first question is: why does the author say there are white horses gathering out at sea? Do you think there were really white horses in the sea? Thumbs up or thumbs down? Now, I don't think so either. So why does the author use this phrase; the white horses gathering out at sea? It's a metaphor. Let's say that word, metaphor. Excellent. And that means that there aren't literally white horses gathering in a group in the sea. Rather, the author is using this metaphor to help us picture what is happening. There's also an example of personification. Personification, I can hear the word person in that word. And personification is when a writer uses verbs and attributes them to an object which can't actually do or be anything. So here, the tide is moving remorselessly. Now, the tide can't feel remorse and so it's an example of personification. We will see that later on in the lesson, too. What impression does it give you as the reader? So what are you now picturing in your minds? Can you pause the video and say out loud what you're picturing? Excellent. So for me, I am picturing the dark bank of clouds in the sky, and then I'm imagining the ocean maybe growing darker as well. But as the waves are crashing in, they're creating these white horses, the waves are crashing and they're moving between her and the Boat Cove. So that's what I'm imagining. And the illustration in the book helps us see that. So as the dark ocean is crashing in against the rocks that white being lifted up by the sea, we can see the image of the white horse there as well. Now it's your turn to read so please pause the video as you read out loud. Off you go Excellent. Now I'm going to read it to you. When the clouds cut off the warmth from the sun as evening came on and the sea turned grey, she shivered with cold and put on her sweater and jeans. She did look up then and saw the angry scene, but she saw no threat in that and did not look back over her shoulder to Boat Cove. She was aware that time was running out so she went down on her knees again and dug feverishly in the sand. She had to collect 30 more shells. My question for you is what advice would you give Cherry at this point? So you might want to advise her to do something, you might say, quick, do this, you might tell her to look at something. Pause the video and write down what advice you would give Cherry. Off you go. Excellent. I think my advice, I'd be saying to Cherry, Cherry, look over your shoulder. I'd be really keen for her to see that her exit of how she gets to Boat Cove is no longer there or it's getting smaller and smaller and the weather's getting worse. Now it's my turn to read to you. It was the baleful sound of the foghorn somewhere out at sea beyond Gunnards Head that at last forced Cherry to take some account of the incoming tide. She looked for the rocks she would have to clamber over to reach Boat Cove again and the winding track that would take her up to the cliff path and safety, but they were gone. Where they should have been, the sea was already driving in against the cliff face. She was cut off. In a confusion of wonder and fear, she looked out to sea at the heaving ocean that moved in towards her. Seeing it now as a writhing grey monster breathing its fury onto the rocks with every pounding wave. Will you read the instruction on the screen, please? Okay, I would like you to re-read the text independently and see if you can find examples of metaphors and personification. So you might want to look for verbs which have been attributed to something which usually doesn't be or do. I would like you to pause the video as you do this and my clue is I'd look at this, the lower part of the paragraph. Off you go. I wonder what you found. I found a few things, you may have found more. Can the sea actually drive? No. So the sea was driving in against the cliff face. That creates an image, it's a metaphor, it creates an image in my mind that it's going very quickly, but it's not actually behind a steering wheel. The next one I found, heaving. So heaving means to carry or drag. She looked out to sea at the heaving ocean that moved in towards her. So that was another example. And then finally, I think this is the one you may have got too, is how she now sees it as a writhing grey monster breathing its fury on the rocks. Now, the sea can't actually breathe, can it? So I think that's a really good metaphor from Michael Morpurgo there. Okay, now it's your turn to read independently. Can you pause the video as you do so. Off you go. Fantastic reading, I've got a few questions for you. Which sentence tells you Cherry cares for her shells? So pause the video. Can you find the sentence that tells us, the reader, that she really cares for these shells? Pause the video as you find it? Yeah, it's really early up in the top. So, of course, she didn't forget her shells. She wrapped them inside her towel, she tucked them into her sweater. It's a sort of thing you might do with a small child, for example. If you were carrying a small child over the ocean or through the ocean or upper cliff, you might wrap them in something warm and tuck them so they're nice and tight and secure. So it makes me think that she thinks these shells are valuable and she really wants to protect and care for them. My next question is what might Cherry be saying to herself? What do you think she will be saying in her mind? Pause the video and write down your answer. So I think she might be saying something like quick, now, go. So from the sentence in the text it says, she knew her moment had come and took it. At that point, I think she's really urging herself forward. You may have written a sentence related to a different part of the task and that's completely fine, but sometimes it's really important when we're reading to have a think about what the character is thinking and feeling at that point in time. Now it's my turn to read to you. So you can listen and track with your eyes. The rocks were slippery underfoot and more than once Cherry slipped down into seething white rock pools where she had played so often when the tide was out. But she struggled on until, finally, she had climbed high enough to be able to see the thin strip of sand that was all that was left of Boat Cove. It was only a few yards away, so close. Until now she had been crying involuntarily; but now, as she recognised the little path up through the bracken, her heart was lifted with hope and anticipation. She knew that the worst was over, that if the sea would just hold back, she would reach the sanctuary of the Cove. Why do you think Cherry was crying? Why do you think that she was crying? So it says that she was crying involuntarily. She hadn't intended to cry, that means. That she'd been doing it without choosing to. Why do you think she was crying without meaning to? Pause the video and have a think? So I think it's because she's scared. So she slipped, she's had to clamber up rocks, she's struggling. And then finally, she sees something which is so close, it's a few yards away and it could be the thing that helps her survive. So I think she's been in this state of anxiety. It's a very dramatic thing for her to do. Remember, she's a young child. So I think she's probably has been crying with fear and adrenaline, but now she realises she's crying, she realises she might be safe, I think she might stop crying. What is it that changes her mood? Can you find in the text what is it that changes this mood? Pause the video if you need to. So I found this. She recognised something. She recognised the little path and then her mood was changed, and we have evidence of that. Her heart was lifted with hope and anticipation. Finally, what word shows you that Cherry thinks the Cove is a safe place? So you were searching for one word in the text that makes us think that Cherry thinks the Cove is a safe place. Pause the video as you search for that word. Did you find it? Sanctuary. Sanctuary? Excellent. Well done. Okay, now it's your turn to read out loud. Can you pause the video and read this next paragraph, please? Fantastic. My question for you is can you find and copy two words which show how strong the waves were? And my hint is one of the words is a verb and one of the words is a noun. You will need to pause the video as you hunt for these words. Off you go. Did you find them? Hurled. She was hurled back against the rock below and covered at once by the sea. So that shows me that the waves are really strong that it could throw and hurl her backwards. And then the noun is surge. But the great surge of green water was on her before she could resist either. So the surge, this powerful, strong wave was upon her. So those are my two words. Now we're going to look at the genre, which means the type of text this story is. This sentence is the sort of sentence that you might find on the back of a cover of a book or you might find as a part of a review in a book. So I'm going to read it to you and one word has been blocked out. The Giants Necklace is a thrilling mh story that revisits Cornwall's industrial past. Short storytelling at its very best illustrated by a talented new artist. What word do you think is missing? If it's the genre, this is a thrilling mh story. What word could that be from what we've read so far? Pause the video and write down what word you would want to put underneath that orange box. Off you go. Okay. I'm going to reveal what it is and I think you're going to be surprised. Oh, a thrilling ghost story. Interesting. Did any of you think it might be a ghost story? That's not the genre I was expecting. Hmm, have we met any ghosts yet? No, but we are only at the climb-up. With this in mind, you might now have a different prediction of what is going to happen next. This is our final task. You have done so well this lesson. I would like you to pause the video and there are five questions up on the screen. I would like you to think about what you liked about the story, what you disliked about the story, to think about whether it reminded you of anything. Did it remind you of any films any other stories that you know? Were any of your predictions correct? And will you read the rest of this story? I would like you to answer these questions either by telling a parent, a carer or a teacher who is nearby or by writing down your answers. Pause the video and do that now, please. Fantastic. Now that you've completed that task, it means you have completed this unit. Congratulations. You have worked fantastically well. I wonder whether you will continue to read this story or whether you will look at some of Michael Morpurgo's other books. It's been a pleasure teaching you and I hope you have a lovely day. Bye.

To read, comprehend and respond to a climax

To read, comprehend and respond to a climax

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UnitEnglish / The Giant's Necklace by Michael Morpurgo

English