Video: To plan the opening

﻿In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some paper, a pencil or something to write with. And of course your brain needs to be switched on ready for our learning. If you need to go and get anything, pause the video and go and get it now. In today's lesson, we are going to start with a writing warmup. We're then going to move on to our story staircase, we're then going to watch the opening scene of "The Borrowers". We're going to plan the opening. And then finally, we're going to do a plenary task. For our writing warmup, I would like you to write the correct sentence type with the clauses it contains. We have a compound sentence and a complex sentence, and you need to decide between option one and option two. Option one is a main clause and a main clause joined by a coordinating conjunction. And option two is a main clause and a subordinate clause joined by a subordinating conjunction. Decide, which is a compound sentence, and which is a complex sentence, and write it down. Pause the video and carry on with this task. Okay, let's have a look at how you got on with the writing warmup. So a compound sentence contains a main clause and a main clause joined by a coordinating conjunction. We can use our Boa image to remember each of the coordinating conjunctions; but, or, and. A complex sentence is a main clause and a subordinate clause joined with a subordinating conjunction. We have some examples of the subordinating conjunctions; as, when, if, because, so, while, and whilst. We can easily remember our main clause and subordinate clause with Mr. Main and Mr. Subordinate. Mr. Main can stand on his own. He is a main clause that contains a verb and make sense on his own. Mr. Subordinate does not make sense on his own and needs a support from Mr. Main. Okay, so let's have a look at the story staircase. We need to remember there are four main parts of the story. We have our opening, our build up, our climax and our resolution. Today, we are going to be focusing on our opening scene of "The Borrowers". So now we need to think about what is the opening scene going to tell us. It's going to introduce us to our characters, introduce us to our setting and introduce the plot. Okay, so let's watch the opening. We're going to watch the clip, and I want you to think about who are the characters in the clip? What happens in this scene and what is the setting like? Let's watch the clip and find out. Okay, so we just watched our opening scene and we saw a Pod on a mission upstairs. I want you now to have a look at the images on the screen and order them in the correct order they should be in for this scene. You can have a chat with someone at home, or you can say out loud what happens in each section of the scene. Pause the video and have a go. Okay, well done for having a go with ordering the different parts. This is the correct order that the scene should be in. So we have Pod climbing up the rope and scaling curtains to get to the enormous table. He then arrives at the table with his tiptoes on the table, and then he walks into the Dollhouse. As he's in the Dollhouse, he pulls the curtain across and then a bulging eye appears in the window. Okay, so in today's lesson, we are going to be planning the opening. We're going to look at the scene that we just watched and think of the different sentence starters we could use and the different action points, the adjectives, verbs, and adverbs that we can add to our plan to include in our writing. I would like you to split your piece of paper into two parts with one heading saying sentence starters and the other action, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Pause the video and do this now. Okay, so now we're going to start planning our opening scene. We're first going to look at the first part where Pod is climbing up the curtains onto that blistering rope. We need to think of some sentence starters and some actions, some adjectives, verbs, and adverbs that we can include in our plan. Let's look at some sentence starters first. So some sentence starters that I came up with are starting his mission. This is where he begins his mission, so starting his mission. Silently, using at me using a fronted adverbials, silently, how he is silently tiptoeing and creeping through the room. We've also got, with all of his strength. He is pulling himself up that rope using all of his strength. And in the pitch black room, using some description as well, to describe what the room is like. It's a very dark room that Pod is in and he's starting his mission off. So let's have a think about some actions, some adjectives, verbs, and adverbs that we might want to use in our writing to go along with our sentence starters. We're thinking about him climbing the curtains. I want to think of some different ways rather than Pod climbing the curtains, because that's not as exciting as I want my writing to be. I want to use some really exciting adjectives, verbs and adverbs to really describe how Pod is climbing. So the first one is the miniature man. I'm referring to Pod in a different way. You can use the ideas from the previous lesson in your plan. The miniature man clenched, he's not just climbing the rope. He clenched onto the blistering rope. It's blistering his hands, we're describing it as a blistering rope. Another idea, he swung his legs onto the tabletop. In the image, we can see that he's swung over to land on the tabletop. And finally Pod tiptoed anxiously. He's quite anxious. He's being very careful about his movements onto the enormous table. I now want you to pause the video and have a go at coming up with your own sentence starters and action phrases, your adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, to add to your plan. You can steal some of my ideas to help you. Okay, well done for adding some more adjectives, some more action, some verbs, adverbs and sentence starters to the first part of your plan. Now we're going to look at the second part of the plan when Pod was seen by the boy in the Dollhouse. I want you to, first of all, independently, come up with your own sentence starters and action. Your adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to describe what is happening in this scene. Pause the video and have a go. Okay, let's have a look at the second part of our planning for the opening scene. Pod is now seen by a boy. He is in the Dollhouse, rummaging around. He's starting his borrowing and he moves that curtain. And he's suddenly seen by a boy. So I know you would've come up with your own sentence starters, your fronted adverbials and different ways you can describe where Pod is and the action, the adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to describe what is happening in this scene. Let's have a look at some of my ideas. For sentence starters, I came up with, in the Dollhouse. I'm describing where he is. As he moves the curtain, it's the start of a complex sentence. It's describing as he moves the curtain is a great way to start off my sentence. And also while at the tiny house window, he's in a small Dollhouse in the room, and while he's there, he moves that curtain. And suddenly he gets seen. Unexpectedly, he's not expecting what's happening. That's a great sentence starter to use and a great fronted adverbial. Let's have a look at some of the action, the adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. We've got the tiny borrower, again, I'm referring to Pod in a different way. I don't want to keep saying his name. So in your plan, make sure that you're referring to Pod in multiple ways. The tiny borrower crept stealthily, he's trying not to be heard through the little home. I've also got, he tugged the curtain to allow the bright light to flow through. Why did he move the curtain? He couldn't see. And so he tugged the curtain so that the light could come through. And finally, an enormous eye peered at the miniature man. Again, I've referred to Pod in a different way. And I've said that the eye is enormous. You might want to use a different synonym for big to describe the eye. You might want to say, it's the bulging eye, the gargantuan eye. It's completely up to you, but you can write all of these fantastic ideas onto your plan. Pause the video and add any more ideas you would like to, to your plan. Well done for completing your planning and writing down all your fantastic ideas onto your opening plan. This is going to really help you in the next lesson when we write the opening. For now, I would like you to practise a complex sentence from your plan. Here we have the subordinating conjunctions to help you so that you can use those in your complex sentence, and we have Mr. Main and Mr. Subordinate there to help you also. Let's have a look at my example sentences, and then you can go off and write your own complex sentence. So the first complex sentence that I came up with was, As Pod clambered up the gargantuan curtain, he clenched onto the blistering rope. In this sentence, I have used as, as my subordinating conjunction. And that has come at the start of my sentence. Mr. Subordinate is at the start of my sentence. That means I must have a comma after my subordinate clause. Mr. Main is the next part of my sentence. He clenched onto the blistering rope. It makes sense on its own. In the next sentence, I have written exactly the same thing, but I've switched the clauses around. So we have Pod clenched onto the blistering rope as he clambered up the gargantuan curtain. This time, my subordinating conjunction, as, comes in the middle of my sentence. My main clause comes first, and Mr. Subordinate comes second. Therefore I do not need a comma. I would like you now to go off and write your own complex sentence. You can use mine as a bit of support and help to guide you on how to write your own complex sentence. Use the ideas from your plan and the sentence starters to help you. Pause the video and have a go. Congratulations, you have now finished the eighth lesson of this unit. You have done a fantastic job planning the opening ready for writing in the next lesson. Well done.

Lesson summary: To plan the opening

In this lesson, we will be focusing on the opening scene in an episode of 'The Borrowers'. We will plan our ideas and generate vocabulary that can be applied to our writing. In this lesson you will need an exercise book or some paper and a pencil.

English

To plan the opening

Video

Lesson summary: To plan the opening

Time to move!

Browse Oak's lessons:

Take part in The Big Ask.