Last Thursday evening, students from Casebrook Intermediate participated in the Otago Daily Times Spelling Quiz at Cobham Intermediate.

One Year 7 and one Year 8 Casebrook team competed against 52 other teams in the annual event. The Casebrook Year 7 team (Chloe Morrison-Clarke, Isaac Yao and Oliver Taunt) came 4th= with 89 points and the Year 8 team (Lara Donaldson-Scott, Makayla Donaldson and Matthieu Rigter) came 8th = with 85 points. The winning team was from Avonhead with 93 points. 

There were ten rounds of spelling and tricky problems for us to solve. The different rounds consisted of spelling, dictionary skills, proofreading and a “What am I?”

A typical “What Am I?" goes like this. Can you do it?

Five clues are read out - the first clue is worth 5 points, second clue 4 points, third clue 3 points, fourth clue 2 points and final clue 1 point. If you get the answer wrong - zero points and no more chances.

Clue 1: The word has nine letters in it.

This celebration was first recorded in Rome 336AD. 

The 5th and last letters are ‘s’ (5points)

Clue 2: It is a special holiday celebration in New Zealand.

The 2nd letter is ‘h’ (4 points)

Clue 3: It occurs annually in the school holidays.

The 7th letter is ‘m’ (3 points)

Clue 4: Modern day customs include gift giving, large lunches, family gatherings and singing.

The 6th letter is ‘t’ (2 points)

Clue 5: The celebration occurs on December 25th every year.

The first letter is capital 'C' (1 point)

Scroll down for the answer.......

Christmas