Post-reading Book Reviews

Hi boys and girls,

Remember to plan time to enjoy reading during the holidays!
Choose books which you are interested in.
Remember, reading is for enjoyment.
When you enjoy doing something, you will be able to learn new things from it.

Book Review Questions:
1) Title of book: _______________
2) Author of book: ___________________
3) Favourite character(s): ________________________
4) Which is your favourite part of the story?
5) What do you learn from the story?

You can post more than 1 book reviews.
Have fun!

June Holiday Homework

English
1) Read at least 4 storybooks (about 1 book per week)
2) Class Blog activity: Choose your favourite book(s) to post book review(s) online.
3) Read 4A textbook and revise terms 1 and 2 spelling words.
4) Read 4B textbook and find meaning of difficult words.

Mathematics
1) School Portal Math Blogging: Adding Consecutive Numbers.
2) Revise 4A Math topics.
3) Read 4B chapters 9 and 10: Decimals.

For Mother Tongue Languages and Science, please refer to subject teachers' instructions.

Post SA1 Activity 3: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

The novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by Ian Fleming.
Roald Dahl & Ken Hughes were the screenplay writers for its movie.

This is an enthralling story of the adventures of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
It is a magical car that sails the seas and flies through the air!

To find out more about the story, read the following links:

1. http://www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows/chittychittybangbang.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitty_Chitty_Bang_Bang

Here is a youtube video on the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylNwSv6c7m0

Check out the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song lyrics here:
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/d/disney6472/chittychittybangbang246545.html

Here are some pre-movie questions. Look for the answers as we watch the movie.

a) What are the names of the 2 children?
b) Who sent the children home in a motorcar ride?
c) What was the 'job' of Mr Potts?
d) What invention did Mr Potts show Lord Scrumptious?
e) What was the car plate on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
f) What was the car plate on Miss Scrumptious car?
g) Which 'country' was Baron Bomburst from?
h) What was the law made by Baron Bomburst?

Have fun!

Post-movie discussions:
1) Who is your favourite character? Why?
2) Which is your favourite part of the show? Why?
3) Can you think of an invention? Why would you like to invent it?
4) What is your dream? Why?

Let's Reflect: Dr Goh Keng Swee

Today, the pupils were given a reflection worksheet: Let's Reflect.
One of the topics is on Dr Goh Keng Swee.
Dr Goh was Singapore's former* Deputy Prime Minister and our nation's economic* architect.
He died on Friday (14 May) after a long illness. He was 91.

*former: past, earlier, previous
*economic: related to the wealth and income of a country

We read some online information on Dr Goh in class:

1. Dr Goh was born in Malacca in the Straits Settlements into a Peranakan family.
2. He came to Singapore when he was 2 years old.
3. He studied at Raffles College and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
4. Dr Goh was Minister for the Interior and Defence (1965), Finance Minister (1967–1970), Minister for Defence (1970–1979) and Minister for Education (1979–1980, 1981–1985).
5. Through Dr Goh's efforts, 15 thousand acres of swamp in Jurong was turned into a modern industrial park.
6. He introduced streaming policy and Gifted Education Programme in schools.
7. Schools observed half mast* during morning flag-raising ceremonies as a mark of respect for the passing*.
   

*half mast: flag is raised to halfway position on the flag pole
*passing: death

Here are some online links on Dr Goh Keng Swee:
1) Straits Times Breaking News
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_526470.html

2) Channel News Asia
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1056561/1/.html

3) TODAY Online
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100517-0000078/Life-with-Goh-Keng-Swee,-his-wife-shares-memories

4) Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goh_Keng_Swee

Complete the reflection worksheet for submission on Monday.

1. If you had a chance to meet up with Dr Goh Keng Swee, what would you have said to him?
2. Who can you care for now? What will you do to show care? When will you start caring for this person?

Post SA1 Activity 2: James and the Giant Peach

Today Mrs Tong shared with the class on one of her favourite Roald Dahl's books: James and the Giant Peach. Selected excerpts from the novel were read in class.

Here is the story introduction:

One day, James gets a bag of magic crystals that will free him from life with his horrible aunts. In his excitement, James drops the bag and the crystals are sucked into the ground around the old peach tree. Something magical begins to happen to a peach at the tip of the tree – something that will truly change his life.

Then we watched the first part of the movie.

Here are some questions about the story:
a) What were the creatures found in the giant peach?
b) How did the giant peach fly?
c) What was the bait used to attract the seagulls?
d) What did the characters use to help them navigate out of the icebox?
e) Who played the violin?
f) Where was the giant peach flying to?
g) Which building did the giant peach land on?

The class is to find out the answers as we watch the show.


Here is an online quiz on James and the Giant Peach:
http://www.roalddahlfans.com/games/quiz.php?quizID=14

Here is an online reading material on James and the Giant Peach:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_and_the_Giant_Peach

Here is a link to find out more about Roald Dahl:
http://www.roalddahl.com/

Post-movie discussion questions:
1) Would you want to have Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker as your aunts? Why?
2) If you were to write a letter to Roald Dahl, what would you tell him?
3) What would you have done if the old man had given you the magic crystals?
4) What did you learn from James about facing the fear(s) in his life? What would you do when you encounter problems?

We shall continue watching the movie next week.
Meanwhile, you can borrow James and the Giant Peach from the library or read some online information about the story.

Post SA1 Activity 1: Matilda

Yeah! SA1 is over!
After studying very hard for the mid-year assessment, it is finally time to relax a little :)
For post exam activity, our class watched the movie: Matilda.
Matilda is a children novel written by Roald Dahl (illustrated by Quentin Blake).
Roald Dahl is also the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Here are the pre-movie questions:
1) What special power does Matilda have?
2) Who is Matilda's best friend?
3) Who believes in Matilda?

The following is a website link to the novel Matilda:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_%28novel%29
And here is an online word puzzle on Matilda! Try it!
http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2009.08/1013/10133858.367.html

Here are the post-movie discussions:
1) Who is your favourite character in the story? Why?
2) Which is your favourite part of the show? Why?
3) What lesson(s) can you learn from the story?

Let's get into our English project groups to discuss these questions.
I look forward to your comments! Enjoy!