Life in Year 4 has, once again, been very busy and the week seems to have flown by.

Whether we are working at home or at school, we have been practising decimals, continuing our work on the digestive system and doing more research about the Titanic. We have also done some work about the slave trade and looked at films and newspaper articles discussing the Black Lives Matter movement. We think we have done some really important learning this week. 

We listened to this book called 'Henry's Freedom Box' by Ellen Levine. It tells the story of a slave boy, his life and how he gained freedom.

We learnt about the background to the story and how slavery was an issue in Britain as well as the USA. We found out about people who were child slaves, like Ignatius Sancho, who later became a butler and then a composer and famous letter writer. We also found out about a woman called Harriet Martineau who worked hard to end slavery. We mapped the key events of the book and we wrote letters, imagining we were Henry writing to a friend.

Can you spot Jacob's letter here? He's done a good job of retelling the story.

You'll see Jacob has also been recording digestion times - he used excel to make this barchart - very clever. And look at that model of the Titanic! Super work Jacob.

The children in SS bubble have been making Titanic models too.Here they are in action.

CW bubble decided to make watercolour paintings of the titanic this week. They've done a great job. Can you see some of the paintings only have 3 funnels working? That's because only 3 carried smoke from the furnaces. The fourth funnel was just for decoration!

And here we have another extra long Titanic timeline! There are so many facts written on here - it must have taken ages. Brilliant work.

George has enjoyed plotting the journey the Titanic made. He has used coordinates to pinpoint some of the key places on its voyage. Fantastic geography George.

George has also been busy with maths and science. Here is some of his work. You're doing great George!

Allen has been enjoying maths this week too. He really got into the magic matrix investigation. He was inspired to make up a special matrix which, when you add up each row, gives you the same answer. He wonders if you know the secret?

Allen is proving to be a good chef too. Who remembers his tasty looking symmetrical pizza? This week, he has made these dumplings which look scrumptious. When can we pop round for tea Allen?

Allen isn't the only one who has been busy in the kitchen. Check out this marathon baking session! Incredible. Will those boys really eat it all?

All this food will need digesting and we know all about that after this week. Lots of us have researched digestion times and made bar charts using the information we have found. Minnie made this chart with her daddy. She's very proud of it. Quite right too.

Here's Ethan's chart. Spot on with that chicken prediction!

Ellie drew her graph by hand. A couple of her predictions were spot on too. She's also plotted the key events from the Henry story and found time to paint these gorgeous Russian dolls. What a busy girl.

This young lady loves her science too. She's been dissecting this week! She's also been busy observing her caterpillars. She has watched them turn into chrysalides and, finally, emerge into beautiful butterflies. How wonderful.

Because we have been looking at the news and discussing protests this week, some of us were inspired to find out about key figures who were influential to the black civil rights movement. Alex made this fact card about Rosa Parks. 

Isla chose Ruby Bridges because she knows a song about her. Ruby was one of the first African American children to attend a white school and, when she was older, she became a civil rights activist. Great research Isla.

Isla has also been busy writing this story. She was inspired by a picture of a crow and a key that she found on Pobble. Take a look: https://www.pobble365.com/  It's a great website and this is a great story Isla. Well done.

She has also found the the time to get creative. Take a look at this picture she has made for the Broomhill Festival art competition. Good luck! The horse sculpture was made with things she found in her garden. Ingenious.

SS bubble spent some time making things outdoors today too. We went into the woods and made assault courses for squirrels! We looked at this funny clip first called Squirrel Mission Impossible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsuVLsDyln4
We then tried to make our own assault courses. We had to be very creative as we could only use things we found in the woods and a bit of string.

Next week, we are going to be supporting two teacher cyclists, from the sports partnership, who are going to be riding past our school. They are aiming to ride 169 miles, raising money for our local hospitals. We've been busy making banners to wave at them on Tuesday when they go past. We are sure our cheers will make them pedal faster!

And finally, congratulations to this young lady who has been spending her time wisely and doing some dance mat typing. Here she is proudly showing off her certificate. Good work!