The Dem Gazette For the students by the students June 2015 Issue 1. Ni hao! Welcome Shandong visitors On Thursday, 19th March our school was ecstatic to find [2 out that the Shandong students from China were visiting us! To welcome the visitors our school held a welcoming assembly. There was a fabulous traditional Indian dance called “Nagada”, an entertaining jazz performance, a fantastic song and an amazing guitar solo. We were breathless when the Shandong visitors sung “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in Chinese and English! Who would have known they were so fluent in English! As the recess bell rang students scattered to meet and greet the visitors. Kristal and I went hunting to take photos of the visitors. Our friend George H tagged along too! Sadly Did you know… the end of recess bell rung and we had to go back to class. Luckily three of the Shandong students joined our Shandong is actually the class for some Harmony Day activities. The next day name of a province (state) 山 was Friday – Harmony Day. Our class made a column in China? shān means mountain and 东 dōng graph about our favourite foods and favourite Australian means east. The Shandong animal and shared this with our visitors from Shandong. province is situated on east What did your class do? of the Taihang Mountains in eastern China. More inside! See pg. 3 The importance of being Ms. Wearne On the last day of term 1, two lucky year 6 students got to interview the leader of our school, Mrs Wearne! Milla and Keira (6KW) asked her a range of different questions, and here they are, with Mrs Wearne’s answers: Backstage management is one Is it difficult being the most important person in the school? of the vital activities that no musical can No, not really. I have wonderful staff and we work as a team to do without. This week while the school’s share the responsibilities around the school. We also have fun and musical group was rehearsing, we went backstage and interviewed Mr Keeble entertaining students to make it easier. who is one of the teachers making sure Do you have any new plans for NSDS? everything is running smoothly behind To continually improve, particularly in giving quality feedback to the scenes. the students. What is your favourite part about Do you have a favourite year? working backstage? Well, every year is different. For example Kindy are really cute Making all the sets and props for the and bubbly and Year 6 are easy to have good conversations with. musical Every grade is unique! I think they are all great. What exactly do you enjoy or dislike What years have you taught? about backstage? I have taught all grades. You have to be a teacher before you I enjoy all aspects, in particular the become a principal. resposibility of being involved in such a big How long have you been principal at this school? production, plus all the fantastic students we get to work with! Since 2010 Apart from yourself who else do you So Milla , Keira and Ms Wearne all had a great time together! think contibutes the most to the production? Words by Keira and Milla 6KW. Picture by Nina 5SS) The students themselves. Their attitude and enthusiasm is what really drives our production! Words by Joel G (4CP), Avi C (4GH) and Tom B (5DL) The Wearne Files Favourite colour Green Favourite food Spaghetti bolognaise Favourite film The Notebook Favourite TV program Miss Fisher Favourite saying Everyone is just trying to be happy. Don’t take it personally. A sneak peak at Canberra Our Vegetable Garden Our vege garden is a place where students catch up every Wednesday to maintain the garden. We interviewed Mrs Culmer about a trophy The ACT botanical gardens are one of the that our school once received for our garden. Who gave us the trophy? star icons of Canberra and are definitely North Sydney Council. It was presented by worth going to. Costa Georgiadis from the ABC. When was it given to us? One of the best parts of the gardens is the lush Term 4 2014. Rainforest Gully, with its cold wispy mist landing on How much preparation was put into receiving your skin and the trickling little stream making its way it? through the tall, tall trees. There are also lots of other Lots and lots and lots. Every Wednesday at lovely places in the garden which are just as good as lunch time 10 students (mostly from 2AD) the Gully, like the bottle tree or the Australian native worked in the garden. plants walk. The ACT botanical gardens is a great What did they judge our garden on? place to learn about plants in Australia and from Best children’s garden in North Sydney Council around the world. Area. So there you have it folks, gardens are great and Words by: Elke G ( 5SS) should most definitely be encouraged Words by: Isabella (5CD) Pictures by: Isabelle (5DL) In hac habitasse platea. Shandong visitors continued… While the visitors were with us some of them took time out to tell us what they thought about Australia: What is your favourite thing about Australia? We like the beautiful oceans and the sunshine. How do you like China? We like the roads and machines. The culture and food is interesting too. When asked what their hobbies were, some of the Board boredom and Toy visitors replied that they liked drawing, making craft, playing musical instruments and games. tatter tales Words by Ruve, Kristal (5DL) & Nicole (5/6KS) . Do you think that board games and vintage toys are in the past? This just isn’t the case. We asked one of the teachers of the games group (Mrs Davies 1/2JD) some questions on the topic of board games. How do board games affect you? They give your mind a challenge to Dem Gazette contributors for this overcome. issue: How do you think someone would feel if they just played a board game for the first Ellie (KML), Serenity (KML), Theo (1TM), Rupert time? (1TM), Brooke (2AD), Francesca (2LJ), Rafferty (2BW), From playing a board game you realize that Avi (4GH), Joel (4CP), Marcus (4GH), Gouri (4GH), Lilya you’ll always have help. (5CD), Nina (5SS), Sonaya(5DL), Leah (5DL), Ruve What would happen if board games didn’t (5DL), Kristal (5DL), Grace (5DL), Keira (5CD), Nicole exist? (5/6KS) Isabella (5CD), Isabelle (5DL), Elke (5SS), People would watch too much TV Jemima (5SS), Tom (5DL) Milla (6KW) Keira (6KW), Words by Tom B (5DL) Kairui (6TK), Lina (6TK), Alessia (6TK) & Thomas (6TK) Did you know that the first board game originated before 3000 BC when it was A big thank you to Aleney (Raffy L’s found in a tomb in Fresco? Mum) & Fiona (Tom B’s mum) for all their help and support. If you’d like to submit a picture or article to The Dem Gazette please contact Mrs Bennett The story of the ANZACS ANZAC stands for The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. April 25th 1915 was the day the ANZACS landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula now known as ANZAC Cove to battle Turkish armies during World War 1. More than 11,000 soldiers died despite only being there 8 months. We commemorate the ANZACS by having a 1 minute silence on the 25th of April every year. During this silence we think of the very brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives for our nation. Some people eat ANZAC biscuits on ANZAC day in remembrance. The last surviving ANZAC was Alec Campbell. He passed away on the 16th of May 2002. This year was a special year to commemorate the ANZACS because it was the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli. Our school held an ANZAC ceremony on the 28th of April to commemorate the ANZACS. The band played for us and the Senior Choir sang a song The Spirit of the ANZACS. The picture below on the right is the Lone Pine tree that we held our ANZAC ceremony in front of. After the capture of the Lone Pine Ridge in Gallipoli (6th of August 1915), an Australian soldier whose brother was killed in the war found a cone on one of the tree branches. The tree had been used by the Turkish as an overhead cover for their trenches. The soldier sent it to his mother in memory of his brother. Lone Pine trees are now planted as a memorial for Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought in Gallipoli. The plaque below is about the brave ANZAC soldiers who went to war and those who never returned. Words and Pictures by Pictures by Brooke W (2AD), Ruve B ( 5DL), Rafferty(2BW), Francesca(2LJ), Lilya S (5SS), Rupert R (1TM), Grace B (5DL), Nicole C (5/6KS) & Kristal C (5DL) Comic Gallery Just for a laugh Q: Why did the gum cross the road? A: Because he was stuck to the chicken’s foot. Q: What happens to a frog’s car when it gets broken down? A: It gets toad away. Q. What did the duck say when he bought his groceries? A: Put it on my bill. Q: If athletes get athlete’s foots, what do astronauts get? A: Missiletoe. Knock Knock Who’s there? Boo Boo who? Stop crying you little baby! Jokes from Laugh Factory & Sonaya 5DL Any suggestions? See Sonaya in 5DL to post your jokes in the newspaper Are You Puzzeld? Can you tell where this picture was taken? -2 area area -2 K Clue: What do you think Steve should do? A) cook the uni-chicken B) train it and keep it.