Well done! Today is going to be a day of mixed emotions. Excitement at reaching the end of the school year and all the new things awaiting you in September. Sadness at saying goodbye to Year 4 and not being able to be together at school to end the year as we would have liked. 

For those of you who haven't seen it, here is the final video of Fantastic Mr Fox. 

It's been great to see some of your pictures reflecting on your time in Year 4. 

Dearest Year 4,

It is now time to fly your wings to Year 5 -which you are more than ready for!

Your endless energy, your caring nature and your love for learning has made this year one of my best at VPS!  I love how you have worked so hard on being able to share how you are feeling – the trust that you built as a class community was so heart-warming to watch!

Sayers Croft was a joyous time – I am in awe of how many of you stepped outside of your comfort zones.

I could go on all day about how amazing you are, but that would take an awful lot of time and you will probably nod off!  I am so looking forward to being a part of your time in Year 5.
​
So, I thought I would write a poem to capture the heart of Year 4 – I hope you enjoy it!
 
CRASH BANG WALLOP!
Chatter fills the room – the day has started with its usual loud boom.
Maya and Zahraa giggle, as a sleepy morning Cody saunters in,
Zainab is rolling her eyes at Emily’s loud morning cheer with that cheeky little grin.
 
Sabine sits patiently on the carpet, so eager for the day,
Alfred takes a pitstop in the book corner before he makes his way.
‘’Good Morning Year 4,’’ Ruth beams to you all,
Emily patches up Asma as she has started her morning with another fall.
‘’Good morning Ruth, Good Morning Emily.’’
Cailey and Adyan lead the class in their reply, singing it back happily.
 
Guided reading begins, the nattering starts,
No doubt Usama is making funny jokes about farts.
Angelina joins the fun, Zakiya’s laughter fills the room,
Kayden is looking for his book which has mysteriously disappeared to the moon.
 
Literacy time, the ideas are flowing,
Olivia gets stuck in and you can almost see Johnny’s brain glowing.
Khadijah and Anwar keep their ideas alive,
Whilst Teo, Tahid and Khalil work with the hardest drive.
 
It’s playtime now, the balls are flying about madly
Hannah and Tazikya walk around nattering gladly,
Yasin is determined to shoot the ball to the wall,
Whilst Yousif and Uzayr lead the game until they all fall.
 
All back to class, the noise is back!
Amal and Marihah are ready to get back on track.
Maths may bring a challenge today but
Ibrahim, Yosef and Sam won’t let a challenge stand in their way!
 
Fast forward to circle time, the class reflect and share.
At the beginning of the year they didn’t really care,
But now they listen, talk and chat openly,
As Ruth and Emily look on so very proudly.
 
Our classroom is a place of madness,
A place of laughter and sometimes sadness.
But there is one thing I know for a start,
That this class will always have a special place in our heart.
 

Well, how can I compete with Emily's poem? The answer is, I'm not going to try and match her poetic ability. So if you can survive reading a message without the rhythm and rhyme of Emily's, carry on!

Dear Year 4,

What can I say?! It has been an absolute pleasure to teach you this year. You are an incredible bunch of children with so many gifts and talents. All of you have come on so much in your learning this year, despite the challenges of the past few months. 

Here is my alphabet of the year. 

A - Artburst, we might not have been able to show it to the rest of the school as we had planned, but it was great watching you all grow in confidence as you created the script and made the backdrop. I am looking forward to watching the video when it is completed! 

B - Brilliant work and ideas from all of you in your writing. 

C -  The Chocolate Museum trip was definitely a highlight of the year for many of you. 
 
D - Daring behaviour at Sayers Croft when you were confronted with the rock climbing and rope course. 

E - Emotional literacy, over the course of the year you have all become so much more confident at explaining how you are feeling, it has been wonderful to see.

F - Farewell, I am so sad not to have had a full year in the classroom, but I look forward to catching up with you next year and hearing about all the great things you've been getting up to. Come and visit me in Year 4 when you can!

G - Growth Mindset, this is something we have been working on all year and you have all improved so much. 

H - Home learning has been a challenge, and definitely not the same as learning in the classroom however you have all coped amazingly. 
 
I - I have missed seeing all your faces over the past few months and will miss having you in my class next year. 

J - Jokes, there have been many of these shared over the year. 

K - Keep up the good work as you move into Year 5. 

L - Laughter, never a day has gone past without some laughter or giggles. 

M - Moving on is part of growing up. 

N - Never give up, when something is tricky just remember, I can't do it yet!

O - Outstanding enthusiasm for learning. 

P - Purple Mash has been a great place to keep in touch with you, see all the work you've been getting up to and have the opportunity to see how you're doing. 

Q - Questions, there have been lots of them all year. They are a brilliant way to learn so keep questioning away!

R - Resilience is something you have all shown this year, at Sayers Croft, during our learning and especially during lockdown. 

S - Sayers Croft, one of my highlights of the year. You were all so brave and demonstrated amazing growth mindsets. You all went out of your comfort zones and we all got to know each other a bit better. 

T - Thank you for being such a lovely class. 

U - Unforgettable, you really are a memorable bunch and I won't be forgetting you any time soon!

V - Very...

W - ...Well done! You have all worked so hard this year. 

X - eXtraordinary. (It's difficult to find a work with X!) You have all coped extraordinarily during these strange times. 

Y - Year 5 might seem slightly scary now, but you will have a great time and learn so much. 

Z - Zzzzzz, what we all need now that this school year is over!

Here are a few resources of things you can do to keep yourselves occupied over the summer holidays. 

https://classroom.thenational.academy/activity-clubs - There are some great activities you can do on here. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn - There are lots of different activities and games you can play here. 

Remember to head over to Emily's ELSA blog too. There are some ideas on there of things you can get up to. 

Thanks for all the work you have sent in so far this week, we are collecting it all together to put in tomorrow's blog.

What are your hopes and aspirations for the year ahead. They could be linked to school, your home or they could be linked to the world in general. You can have a mixture of all of them. 

Draw your own tree branch with leaves like the one below and try to fill each leaf with a picture or words representing a hope or aspiration that you have for the year to come. 

This week, you have been doing some brilliant research into the geography, culture and flag of a specific country. Your task today is to put all that research together so that it can be presented. You might choose to create a poster, film a video, create a powerpoint or write a factfile, you can choose how you want to present all the information you have collected. 

If you are able to share these with us today or tomorrow that would be lovely, but if not, don't worry. You can save them until September and we look forward to seeing them then. 

Over the summer, if you wanted to, you could continue your research and look at other countries around the world. 

• If you have a chrome book, it should be returned to school today. 
• We will be switching off the Purple Mash blogs from tomorrow. This is so that you and we can have a restful summer holiday and return to school refreshed and ready to learn in September. 

Keep going, there's only one more day!

​Ruth and Emily

Write a letter to yourself at the beginning of Year 4. You can list all the different things you have done, learnt and achieved this year. 

This is a good opportunity for you to reflect on the year and think about how much you have each grown as an individual this year. 

If you would like to use it, there is a letter template on Purple Mash. 

Hopefully you're still carrying on reading The Ickabog and are continuing to enjoy it. 

Here is a link to another website where you are able to access some free books. https://thinkequal.org/

You are now in the possession of lots of facts about the country you have chosen to research. 

Question: What do countries use to help identify themselves?

Today, we are going to be researching all about the flag of your chosen country. Flags often tell a story about a country. They might contain symbols that are significant to that country and the colours that are used are normally important and have their own meaning.

For example, the Union Flag, the flag of the United Kingdom, is made up of 3 flags. Each flag represents a different part of the United Kingdom. 

Your task today is to research about the history of your country's flag. 

• If you have a school chrome book, they need to be returned to school tomorrow. 

Keep working hard, there are only two more days of term!

Ruth and Emily

Don't forget to share some of your Weekly Wellbeing thoughts this week. We will be collecting them all and sharing them with the class on Friday's blog. 

All this week, Artburst are running an online workshop. Each day there are lots of different activities you can take part in. 

This link will take you to yesterday's activities, have a look at the videos - you might see some familiar faces. 
https://www.artburst.co.uk/summer-dreams/monday-13th-july/

As the week progresses there will be lots of other videos and activities posted. You can find it all here: https://www.artburst.co.uk/summer-dreams/

There are competitions for you to share some of your artwork. Why not give it a go and enter?

Create a piece of artwork celebrating this year at school. You could use collage, pencils, paints or any other medium you have at home. 

Send in your pictures for us to share on the blog on Friday. 

Don't forget, you can carry on reading The Ickabog here: https://www.theickabog.com/read-the-story/

Which country did you choose to research yesterday?

Were you able to find all the answers to the questions. Keep all your research in a safe space as you will need it later on in the week. 

Today your task is to find out all about what life is like for people in your chosen country. 

Here are some questions you should try to find the answers to today.

• What are the main religions practised in the country?
• What is the typical food like in this country?
• Are there any dances or types of music that come from this country?
• Which sports are most popular?
• Who are some of the famous people from this country and what are they famous for?

• Share your stories from last week if you haven't done so already. 
• If you have a school chrome book, you should return it on Thursday 17th July. 

Keep on working hard, the end is almost in sight!

​Ruth and Emily

We have been so impressed with the stories we have received so far. They are all brilliant. We love the different ways you have decided to publish them. 

Below you can see all the stories we have received so far. Follow the link below to see the stories that have been published using Purple Mash or carry on scrolling through this blog to see the other ways members of Year 4 have decided to publish their stories. 

We're at the final week of Year 4! What a strange year it has been. We have both been so proud of all you have done and achieved this year and are especially proud of how well you have adapted to these strange circumstances. 

Last week, many of you were able to come into school to say goodbye to Year 4 and to meet Theo in preparation for your move into Year 5. As it's the final week of school, lots of our activities this week will be thinking about transition. We will be reflecting on the year we've had and thinking forwards to next year. 

We're going to start the week with our final maths challenge of the year!

You have a set of the digits from 0 - 9.

Try starting with different ones first. For example, if you do the largest even number first do you get the same numbers as if you do the largest multiple of 5?

We haven't finished reading The Ickabog but we aren't going to do any more work around it but feel free to continue reading the story. You can find all the chapters here: ​https://www.theickabog.com/read-the-story/

This week we are going to do a little project about countries around the world. Each day we are going to research a different aspect of a country. 

Below is a list of countries you can choose from. 

• Bangladesh
• Somalia
• Canada
• Ireland
• South Africa
• Poland
• Vietnam
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Portugal
• France
• Turkey

Today, your task is to find out facts about the country. See if you can research the answers to the following questions. 

• How many people live in the country?
• What are the main languages spoken in the country?
• What is the country's capital city?
• Which other countries does this country border?
• What are the names of the country's biggest rivers?
• What is the country's highest mountain?
• Can you find 5 famous landmarks in the country?

• Share your stories from last week with us if you haven't already sent them in. 
• If you have a school chrome book, it should be returned to school on Thursday.

​
Keep on working hard, the end is almost in sight!

​Ruth and Emily

Happy Friday! We are so close to the end of term with only one more week left. What a weird week it has been! We're going to spend lots of time next week reflecting on the year. 

All being well, you should have completed your editing yesterday. Now onto the fun part! 

Today's task is to publish your story. You can choose how you want to do this. There are three main options but within each of these you still have the choice to make it your own, after all, it is your story! 

1. Write it up by hand on paper. 
2. Write it up on the computer using word or powerpoint. 
3. Write it up on Purple Mash using 2Publish.

Don't forget, your story will need a title and a front cover. You might even want to give it a back cover and a blurb. 

You might also choose to add illustrations and page numbers.

Are there any other features of a book you can think of that haven't been included?

Because this is quite a long task, there is no maths learning for today. Use the time you would have spent doing maths to work on the publication of your story. 

We're going to focus on our Friday Feelings picture for this afternoon's Circle Time.

Spend time reflecting on these two questions and then share your thoughts with everyone on Purple Mash. We'd love to hear what you're thinking. 

1. Who has made you feel good this year at school? It could be one person or a number of people. Give reasons for what they did to make you feel good. 
2. Who do you think you have made feel good about themselves this year? What did you do to do that?

• Send us pictures or a copy of your story once you have finished. 
• Find time to rest and relax over the weekend. 
• Keep in touch with us on Purple Mash. 

Have a lovely weekend. 

Ruth and Emily

We are almost at the end of the week and you're almost at the end of writing your stories. We cannot wait to read them and see what you have all come up with.

It's Daisy Dovetails 8th birthday and we are treated to her being reunited with Bert Beamish. What could possibly go wrong? 

https://www.theickabog.com/the-bandalore/

Draw a picture of Daisy playing with her bandalore (it's another word for a yo-yo).

Today is our final day working on time. 

Here are some reasoning questions for you to apply everything you have learnt over the past few weeks. 

​Question 1

Question 2 (Clue - one of the three children shares a birthday with Ruth!)

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Today, we are thinking about different ways we can communicate online.

It's really important to remember when we are communicating online that we should be as respectful as we are in person when we are talking to people. If you wouldn't say it to someone in the playground at school then you shouldn't say it to them when you are communicating online. 

Read this page and watch the videos: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zv63d2p/articles/z9r72hv

CHALLENGE: Try and make music through coding. 

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=music&utm_source=codeorg

There are videos on the page explaining what you should do. 

• Keep in touch on Purple Mash. 
• Find time to relax. 
• Let us know if you have any questions - we're always around to help. 

We miss you!

Ruth and Emily

We're at the middle of the week already and we only have a week and a half until the holidays. 

Keep working hard, the end is very much in sight. 

How did you get on completing your story yesterday? 

Writing the story isn't the end of the process, we still need to edit and improve what we have written to make sure it really does make sense. 

Focussing on the first 3 paragraphs today, your task is to carefully read what you have written and think about what you could change or improve. Sometimes a change might mean you decide to delete a whole sentence, or you might decide you need to rewrite a whole paragraph. This is fine and is part of the editing process. 

These are some of the things you might want to think about while you are reading through and editing. 

• Have you used show not tell to describe emotions and feelings of different characters?
• Is there dialogue in your writing and has this been punctuated correctly?
• Are there fronted adverbials at the beginning of some of your sentences?
• Have you used the expanded noun phrases, similes and metaphors that you created the other week?
• Does your story make sense if someone else reads it? - You could ask someone else at home to read it through for you. 

Last week, you made a poster about different units of time. 

Today, your task is to convert between these different measurements to solve problems. 

Head over to Purple Mash and complete the two 2Dos "Years and Months" and "Convert Between Units of Time". The second one looks a bit complicated when you first look at it. Add the minutes and seconds on the left to get a total number of seconds on the right.  

How are you getting on with your poster from last week? 

Don't forget you have until 17th July to finish it and send it in. Have a look at the Spanish blog for more information about where to send it to. 

This week is our final Spanish lesson of the school year. You will be recapping all about days of the week and months of the year. ​https://www.virginia.towerhamlets.sch.uk/spanish-blog

• Send in your completed Spanish posters to michelle.o’connor@towerhamlets.gov.uk by the last day of term: 17th July 2020.
• If you haven't already done so, have a look at the assemblies blog   www.virginia.towerhamlets.sch.uk/assemblies-blog
• Keep chatting and creating on Purple Mash, it's lovely seeing what you're all doing. 

Keep working hard,

Ruth and Emily

It was great to see some of you yesterday. We really have missed your smiling faces!

As we come towards the end of term we will be doing more work on reflecting on our time in Year 4 and thinking about your move into Year 5. 

The weekly wellbeing tasks this week are all themed around transition. 

How did you get on with writing 2 or 3 of your paragraphs yesterday? Are you ready to finish your paragraphs today?

Don't forget that you should have at least one bit of dialogue in your story, it should already be in your plan but this is a reminder to make sure you include it in your story. 

Remember all the things you should be using to help you with your writing. 

• Your plan with 3 or 4 points for each paragraph - use these points to help you decide what you write in each sentence. 
• All the work around your characters and settings that you have done in the past 3 weeks. The thinking you did about your characters' personalities and appearances as well as the drawings you did of the setting. 
• The similes and metaphors you collected to describe your scene.
• The opening sentences you wrote for each paragraph last week. 

​Good luck with finishing the writing!

In Chapter 22 we hear about how the people of Cornucopia respond to paying more tax. Surely giving the King more money won't be well received?

https://www.theickabog.com/the-house-with-no-flags/

As with yesterday, you have lots of writing to do today. So there is no reading task, just enjoy reading for reading's sake. 

How did you get on with yesterday's work?

Today we are going to focus on converting between 12 hour and 24 hour digital time. 

Have a read of the presentation below to help you. 

Today's questions involve using your understanding to convert between 12 and 24 hour time. 
 
A key thing to remember is that when converting from pm in 12 hour clocks to 24 hour time, you should add 12. 
When you are converting from 24 hour clock to 12 hour clock, if you can take away 12 then it is a pm time. 

Give these questions a go and don't forget that if you are stuck you can ask for help on Purple Mash. 

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Did you like looking at the work of Deborah Andrews yesterday?

Today your task is to continue one of her pictures and imagine what else could be happening in the scene. 

Could it be that there are also other people digging in the sand? Maybe they're making sandcastles. Maybe there are some adults having a picnic. 

You can decide what else is happening!

• Send in your completed Spanish posters to michelle.o’connor@towerhamlets.gov.uk by the last day of term: 17th July 2020.
• If you haven't already done so, have a look at the assemblies blog   www.virginia.towerhamlets.sch.uk/assemblies-blog
• Keep chatting and creating on Purple Mash, it's lovely seeing what you're all doing. 

​Keep working hard and doing your best. 

​Ruth and Emily