Homework

Each week the children in Room 5 are given the following homework.

From Monday to Thursday they have a different journal story to read each day.

They have 10 spelling words to practice each week, they are tested on Friday.

Children in Room 5 for maths have basic facts to learn. Testing is on Friday. 

In addition, there is often an additional task for the children to complete. It may involve some research, or simply asking their parents a few questions.

Each week's homework will be published here as well as given to the children.

Homework  Week  5  (12 – 16 Nov) (Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
A rather interesting event is happening on Wednesday morning. People all over New Zealand will stop for a look, but they’ll have to be careful. What is it? Explain how it happens.

Homework  Week  4  (5 Nov – 9 Nov) (Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
You may have seen fireworks over the weekend. Why? Why might you see them on Monday? What is the reason behind this celebration?

Homework  Week  3  (29 Oct – 2 Nov) (Tick when you complete the homework)
		Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
Homework this week is very simple. As we’re interested in livening up our writing at the moment, your task is to come up with twelve symomyms for the verb walk (remember it isn’t run). Each one will add extra meaning to the original ‘boring’ verb.

Apologies for the late arrival of this week's homework on the blog. 

Homework  Week  2  (23-26 Oct) (Tick when you complete the homework)
		Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
This term our topic is ‘Minibeasts’. Minibeasts is a word schools sometimes use to describe invertebrates that can be found in their grounds. So, what exactly is an invertebrate? Can you name five invertebrates which you might be able to find in Dunedin?

 

Although many countries celebrate a holiday called Labour Day, New Zealand's has local roots. A carpenter named Samuel Parnell was responsible for the campaign for the eight hour working day. After a parade held in October 1890 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the campaign, a decision was made to turn the event into a public holiday. In 1910 after ship owners complained that sailors were taking the holiday several times as different provinces had Labour Day on different days, it was decided that it would be a holiday on the fourth Monday in October across the whole country. 

Homework  Week 1    (15-19 Oct) (Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
Next week starts with Labour Day, which means we all get an extra day at the weekend. Many countries have holidays called Labour Day, but New Zealand has its own reason for the holiday. What is the reason and why is it when it is?

Homework  Week 10 (17-21 Sept ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
Okay, this week you may need to use the internet for your homework (remember that you can use the computer suite on Wednesday lunchtime if you need to). As you know, I’m going to be away on the last three days of this term to have my tonsils taken out. So, what are tonsils? What do they do? Why do they sometimes need to be removed?

 

Based on the answers I had, wheelchair fencing is the sport we'd most like to go to the Paralympics to watch. Perhaps we'd get to see Pál Szekeres, the only disabled Paralympian ever to win medals in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

Homework  Week 9 (10 - 14 Sept ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
As the Paralympics continue I’d like you to think about which Paralympic sport you’d most like to go and watch (check which sports are in the Paralympics on the website if you need to) and why. Make sure you explain clearly.

Homework  Week 8 (3-7 Sept ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
Some Paralympic questions for you to try to find the answers to this week. Who is the only person ever to have won both Olympic and Paralympic medals? Who was the first ever disabled Olympic medalist (this was before the Paralympics were even thought of)?

Homework  Week 7 (27 -31 Aug ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
We’re more than halfway through the term and more than halfway through Super Finn. Your homework this week is very simple. Tell me how you think Super Finn will end? What will happen to Umbaba? Will Finn get superpowers? Will Kyle get his revenge?

Homework  Week 6 (20-24 Aug ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
We’re enjoying our class reader, Super Finn, at the moment, but we’re likely to finish it before the end of the term. I’m not sure what we should read after it, so your homework this week is to recommend a book for us to read next. Tell me what it’s called, what it’s about and why you think the WHOLE class will enjoy it.

Homework  Week 5 (13 - 17 Aug ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
As the Olympics draws to a close, perhaps it’s time to think ahead to Rio in 2016. In Rio, rugby sevens will make its Olympic debut. Sports come and go from the Olympics, so your homework is this – which sports would you like to see included in the Olympics? Choose one you’re serious about, and one you’re a little less serious about (they must both be real sports though). My two are downhill mountain biking and chess boxing (Google it if you don’t believe me). Remember to explain WHY it should be included.

Some great answers to this week's homework. Compelling arguments for Michael Phelps, Danyon Loader and Carl Lewis, however I'm still firm in belief that Steve Redgrave is the greatest.

Homework  Week 4 (6 - 10 Aug ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
Some say Michael Phelps’ 20 Olympic medals make him the greatest Olympian ever, others say Sir Steve Redgraves’ gold medals in five consecutive Olympics make him the greatest Olympian ever. Discuss this question with a few people, then write who you think is the greatest Olympian ever and why.

The first Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
The first Youth Olympics were held in 2010 in Singapore.
Although disabled athletes have been traveling to the Olympic host city for a competition since 1948, the first properly accredited Parallel Olympics (Paralympics) was in Rome in 1960.

Homework  Week 3 (30 July – 3 Aug ) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
We know that the modern Olympics were first held in 1896, but when and where was the first time that each of these Olympic events were held? The Winter Olympics The Paralympics  The Youth Olympic Games (for 14 -18 year olds)

The two inhabited continents not to have hosted an Olympic games are South America and Africa. This will change in 2016 when the Summer Olympics will be in Rio.

Homework  Week 2    (23 – 27 July)     ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
Continuing our Olympics theme. We know that although there are 6 inhabited continents, only 5 of them are represented by the Olympic rings. However, only 4 of the inhabited continents have hosted an Olympics, which 2 haven’t? Is this likely to change?

Answers for Week 1's homework are as follows.
Skydiving and abseiling have never featured at an Olympics.
The tug-o-war appeared at six different Olympiads between 1900 and 1920, the rope climb featured five times between 1896 and it's final appearance in Los Angeles in 1932. Of the remaining four events; Equine Long Jump, Firefighting and Poodle Clipping; all made their only appearance at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, which is remarkable mainly for the weird events that were part of the games there (my favourite is Delivery Van Driving). The final event, Pistol Duelling, took place at the 1906 games in Athens. At the time, these games were considered to be a proper Olympiad, but they no longer are. 

Homework  Week 1    (16 – 20 July)     ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
This terms topic is the Olympics, so lets see if you can find the answers to some fun Olympics questions. In your homework book, sort these Olympic sports into two groups, ones which have featured in a modern Olympiad and ones which haven’t. You may need to look some of these up. Tug-o-War, Horse Long Jump, Abseiling, Rope Climbing, Pistol Duelling, Poodle Clipping, Firefighting, Skydiving

Answers to last week's homework were (as most of you knew) Jupiter, the Sun, Mars, a storm, either Ceres as it's the only one not in the Kuiper Belt or Charon as it's the only one not classified as a dwarf planet, and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr.

Homework  Week 9 (18– 22 June) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
Let see what you remember about space. Which is the biggest planet in the solar system? What is the closest star to earth? Which of these doesn’t have a ring, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, Mars? What is Jupiter’s red spot? Which is the odd one out, and why? Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Charon. Who was the second man on the moon?

Well done to everyone who answered this weeks homework, it was the hardest I think I've set yet and some really hard work went on to figure it out.

There were two possible sets of answers to these questions.

Of the eight solar system bodies currently considered to be planets, Neptune was the last to be discovered. It was first spotted in 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle. Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in 1781. The remaining planets are known to have been identified by the ancient Babylonians by the year 200B.C.

HOWEVER

If your first answer was Pluto (which is correct as Pluto was considered to be a planet between its discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and its reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006) then the second most recent planet would still be Neptune, but the third would be Ceres. Ceres was discovered by Guiseppe Piazzi in 1801 and was considered to be a planet until 1851 when it was demoted to the status of an asteroid. The story doesn't end there though, Ceres was promoted to the status of dwarf planet in 2006. It is the known dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, the remaining four (Pluto, Eris, Haumea and Makemake are in the Kuiper Belt).

Homework  Week 8  (11 – 15 June) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
Tricky questions this week, think very carefully about your answers! What was the last planet in the solar system to be discovered? When was it discovered and who by? Now can you find the same information for the second to last and the third to last to be discovered?

Homework  Week 7  (1 June – 8 June) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
		Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
Still thinking about Queen’s Birthday weekend, the queen is celebrating a special anniversary at the moment, what is it? Is this a record, has she been doing it for longer than any other British monarch? What about monarchs from other countries?

Homework  Week 6  (28 May – 1 June) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
Next weekend is the Queen’s Birthday holiday. Seeing as you get an extra day off school, you probably ought to know why. June the 4th isn’t the Queen’s real birthday, so when is it? Why do we have a day off in June instead?

This homework was clearly a tricky one, only a few people knew that the give way rule which has just been abandoned was adopted from Melbourne, where it was intended to keep right turning traffic out of the way of the city's trams. Melbourne did away with it in 1993.

Homework  Week 5  (21-25 May) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
As it’s cycle safety week and we’re thinking about road rules, this week I’d like you to think about the recent give way rule changes. I’d like to know a bit about the rule that we’ve just got rid of. Which city did New Zealand get the idea from? Why did they have it? When did they get rid of it?

Homework  Week 4  (14 - 18 May) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
We are beginning to study fairy tales at the moment. I want you to tell me which one is your favourite  and explain why. Try to think about the original stories rather than films of them.

Some of the responses to the Week 3 homework were excellent. A lot of great thinking and some interesting discussions are clearly going on at home. Well done.

Homework  Week 3  (7 May – 11 May) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practice your words)
Maths
When we went into the Starlab we learnt about three different colours of stars, blue, red and yellow. What does each colour tell us about the star?

I'm amazed at how many people were able to find out the answer to the second question. The anniversary was, of course, the centenary of Amundsen and Scott's expeditions to the South Pole. The Mornington house was 18 Jubilee Street, Vernard, where Scott dined the night before he sailed south from Port Chalmers, never to return.

Homework  Week 2  (30 April – 4 May) ( Tick when you complete the homework)
	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
This week started with the first Antarctic chill of autumn. In the last six months there has been a significant anniversary for Antarctic exploration. What is it? Now for the REALLY hard question. What role did a Mornington house play in the tragic story?

 
 

Homework Term 2 Week 1    (23 – 26 April)     ( Tick when you complete the homework)
		Tue	Wed	Thur
Reading
Spelling  (Practise your words)
Maths
This Wednesday is ANZAC Day but who were the ANZACs (if you can find out what ANZAC stands for this will tell you)? Why is ANZAC Day commemorated on the 25th of April? How is ANZAC Day commemorated?