12 May What’s happening in Year 4 – Week 4
This week, Year 4 explored a character’s internal struggles with a conscience alley. Our character, Issa, must choose between his friends, who are marching for freedom in his country, or his family, who disagree with his ideas. We were able to see both points of view easily after working in trios to find arguments for both sides and then joining together as a class to share our ideas.
Below is a character description based on the book ‘Other Words for Home’.
Our city has always filled us with pride. The mountains tickle the clouds. The ocean is wrapping the island with love and joy. The sweet scents of jasmine and salt water dance through the air, as the market traders shout at the city people. We spend our days preparing to welcome tourists, who come from everywhere in the world, to our vivacious paradise. Visitors come because they know the sand is a sign of joy and they always say “The sun is like your smile to me”. High in the sky, the sun’s hues are always beautifully painting everything as well as spreading joy and happiness throughout – Maria-Siena
However, this year was different. The buildings no longer bowed down to people, but instead stood tall and proud. The people’s faces were a midwinter’s night. The trees were dead like they had been poisoned. The shops were grumpy because of all the noise. The dirty streets were dumps. The skies were as grey as an otter’s fur. “There will be no visitors this year,” Fatima, scared that she would never talk to visitors anymore, explained sadly. The sadness had now painted the sky a dull grey. Aleppo was filled with colossal buildings like crowds who all wanted to go to one place. I, shocked at how deserted the place was, wondered if the city would ever be filled with joyous laughter again – Connie