The Battle of Bosworth

We'd like to share with you our Monday afternoon when recreated the battle which started the Tudor monarchy. If you enjoyed the video, please leave us a comment below to tell us why! 

Thanks

Classy Crafts for "Spirit of Christmas" Sale

We have spent the last 2 weeks doing some classy crafts inspired by Pinterest to sell for charity.  On Friday afternoon, we set out our creations at the FoVRA "Spirit of Christmas" Late Night Shopping and set-to selling them.  All the profits will go to Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice and we had an amazing night meeting friends and family and making lots of money.  Here are some photos from the event.

Amazing Trench Homework

4RW have their "War Game" Homework due in tomorrow. They had the choice of either making a World War One recipe, designing their own propaganda poster or finding out and presenting information on the trenches.

Olivia L handed her homework in early today and it was to an incredibly high standard. She decided to make a video about what she found out. Take a look. It is fantastic!

I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of 4RW's homework.

ICT and Biscuits

This afternoon, parents, friends and family were invited into Year 4 to learn how we use the blog and Edmodo to improve our learning and help our independence.  Many people turned up to hear all about ICT and eat some biscuits.  Here are some photos from the event.  If you came along and enjoyed it, please comment below!

Our New Theme: War Game 4RW

In Year 4 today, we started our new theme, War Game. This is a short theme which will last for two weeks. During this theme we will study World War One using the fantastic picture book "War Game" by Michael Foreman.

4RW were set the homework task of making a poppy to go on our wreath for the Remembrance Assembly which was led by Year 7. The first job of the morning was to arrange these poppies onto our wreath. All of the children put in lots of effort with this homework and came up with some very original ways to make their poppies. You can see some of our poppies below:

Before we attended the assembly we found out some background information about World War One including why we hold a Remembrance Service on the 11th November and why we wear a poppy to show that we are remembering. We discussed why it is important to remember and you can see some of our thoughts below:

In our R.E lessons this half term we are looking at "Big Questions". Linked to this, 4RW had a discussion about whether it is right or wrong that children are allowed to play games involving guns. We had a very thought provoking discussion in which many issues were raised. I was very impressed with the maturity the children showed this morning. At the end of the session, the children tried to summarise their thoughts on the issue. Here are some of them below:

We are very much looking forward to continuing our work on this theme and are sure the children will learn plenty from it. Keep a look out for our future War Game posts.

Harris Burdick Writing Challenge 4RW

Over the half term holiday, I set 4RW an optional homework challenge which involved writing a story. We looked a selection of pictures from the wonderful book, "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" and then the children wrote a story about one of the pictures that captured their imagination. There was also a prize on offer and I'm pleased to be able to announce the results!

Our runner up was Callum N and he wrote a fantastically funny story about the picture below:

Dear Diary

This is the most embarrassing bit of all that led me to be know as the...so let me tell the story.

It all began in a crumbly, ragged edged church, as I returned to my seat, the smooth marble floor glistening and glimmered and blinded my sight.

Posh men in unusual bright cloaks with faded green velvet head wear stood like statues. I felt like challenging them to a contest (who would not blink first!)

I started to say my prayers to God, it's tempting not to say but I BROKE WIND with such force and launched into the air like a jet.

I was holding tight onto the antique wooden chair whilst I propelled myself into the air. When I thought I had gone the highest I kept my eyes shut tight. I thought there was going to be a big crash but, to my relief, I found myself going gently down like a feather swaying down and down from a high mountain that looked like it was topped with icing sugar.

After I landed, the first thing I did was to look around to see if anyone had noticed me (unluckily they had!)

From that day onward I was known as Sister Windy Wendy from Worthing.

So that was the story.

The people of Worthing wrote a poem about me:

Windy Wendy was her name and now she has lots of fame,

She went into a church one night and propelled herself to such a height,

The reason is she had eaten cauliflower,

And after one whole hour,

Broke wind with such power,

And when she was in the air she felt the wind in her hair,

But I think we should finish there!

Our winner was Olivia L. She decided to find another picture from the Harris Burdick book and wrote a story about a true event that happened to someone in her family. This was the picture she used:

Ipswich Dock

Benjamin Mason was born in 1814. He lived in a small terraced house in The Rows, near Ipswich Docks.

He had a hard life, he was a fisherman, with a wife and seven children.

One cold November evening in 1849, Benjamin had not come home for his tea again. His wife sent their oldest son, Edward, out to find him.

Edward went to the public house close by, his father spent a lot of time there. The landlord told the boy that his father had left some time ago, drunk.

Walking back along the docks, past his father's boat, he found a policeman. Edward told him that his father was missing. Suddenly, they heard shouting. The policeman shone his lantern across the water and they saw a man drowning in the docks.

A rowing boat was chained to the railings. The policeman untied the small boat, rowed across the water and pulled the man out. He wrapped the freezing man in his big, thick coat and took him to the dockside.

Edward looked at the man and knew it was his father.

My story is based on a true story that had a very sad ending. The boy, Edward, was my great great grandfather.

I was so pleased with everyone that took part in this optional homework challenge! Well done 4RW!

Movie Books!

Each half term in Year 4 our class reader will be a "Movie Book" e.g. a book that has been made into a film. We hope that this will get lots of children hooked on reading fantastic texts because, as Mrs Payne says, "If you liked the film, you'll love the book!"

Last half term all of Year 4 read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling as their class reader and then on the final Friday of half term, we all settled down to watch the film complete with costumes! It was such a great day and, due to all the excitement, this was the only photo I managed to take:

The children have shown so much enthusiasm for this book that it has just been a joy to read it to them!

Our text for next half term is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis and we hope it will be just as popular as the previous choice. As with the previous book, we welcome children reading along with us in class if they have their own copy of the text.

Our Finished Portraits!

After seven lessons of hard work, 4RW's Egyptian inspired portraits are now finished and are proudly on display in our classroom. The classroom looks much more homely and inviting now we have some fantastic work to show off:

Here is a short video which shows the children in action and also some of the finished artwork:



Here are some close ups of a selection of the fantastic finished products: