Today, Friday 13th June, we participated in a show and tell video conference on skype with Collaboration Nation. It was great to see the people from Collab to come in after school. The time for us was 10:00am but for them it was like 8:00pm on THURSDAY night not FRIDAY! We learnt so much from them such as: They have a place where you can buy donuts called Duncin’s donuts, they are really into baseball like we’re into AFL, some of the students there support the Sixers basketball team and they dance and cheerlead.
It was so good to be able to talk to kids from another country. All they seemed to do was laugh. That made us laugh too. They were easy to talk to and easy to understand. It was good to be able to see what kids our age are like, their interests and the way they look and speak. It was so good.
One let down for me was that the smart board had lines in it which annoyed me a bit. Another thing is that the time went too quick. Unfortunately we had recess and it was getting too late for them. I could have spent a lot longder talking to them.
It was so much better than the blogging thing we did with them becasue we got to see the actual people. The blogging was awsome but this was so much better.
Hope you guys from Collaboration Nation had as good of a time as I did! Enjoy your holidays. Think of us when your off relaxing while we are sitting in school, having fun!! I’m kidding school aint fun - not usually anyway. Enjoy!
On Sunday, June 1st, the first day of winter in Australia, a small gathering of the Hawkesdale community celebrated the erection of a new sign. This sign displays some of the notable features of Hawkesdale and surrounding areas. It is hoped that it will encourage tourists to stop in our small town and enjoy some of its attractions.
Tim Williams, a local artist was responsible for the delightful artwork on the sign. His contribution was acknowledged in the speeches that followed the barbecue.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Students in grade 6 were asked to write down their thoughts on Anzac Day, which is celebrated as a public holiday on April 25th. Here are a selection of their writings.
The soldiers had a terrible time when landing in an area with steep cliffs. The second they walked onto land they were under attack.
The ANZAC soldiers fought all those years ago but for some it feels like yesterday.
You might never really understand what the soldiers went through but how would you like to see your friends die in front of you. It’s not a pleasant feeling.
Not many of those came home to their families so let’s remember them who went to war and fought for our country.
A is for Australians, all brave, young and old,
N is for Nights, spent in the cold.
Z is for Zany young men, happily joining the throng,
A is for All of the wiling ones being proved wrong.
C is for Crying for all the lost souls,
ANZAC will be remembered all over the world.
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April 25th 1915
ANZACS landing in Gallipoli
A terrible mistake by allies alike
As dawn breaks to end the night
Turkish soldiers waiting up top
Letting off their guns with a defining pop
Anzacs falling by the dozens
And weeks later grieving cousins
******************
I feel the soldiers being brave
As they fight the good and bad,
They fought so well,
They saw the dead right next to them - they looked so sad,
We feel as happy for the Australia and the New Zealand soldiers as we should.
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The brave Anzacs went to war at a young age.
Fighting for our country’s reputation.
ANZAC day is a time for remembrance for our brave courageous young men.
Not many survived the war at Gallipoli against the Turkish solders at the top of the cliff.
Some people remember it like it was still happening today.
ANZAC day means to me that I respect the brave young men and women that fought in all wars and conflicts. To me it also means that I thank the men and women that created Australia’s reputation.
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Anzac day is a day to remember,
The tough, strong solders,
That died a terrible frightening death,
And those worried families,
Hoping that their young digger,
To open the door,
To say the war is over,
But only the very few did.
*********************
ANZAC day is a day to remember those brave, courageous, young men who gave our country a great reputation. The war told everyone that the Australian soldiers are the bravest men.
The soldiers had a terrible time when landing in an area with steep cliffs. The second they walked onto land they were under attack.
The ANZAC soldiers fought all those years ago but for some it feels like yesterday.
You might never really understand what the soldiers went through but how would you like to see your friends die in front of you. It’s not a pleasant feeling.
Not many of those came home to their families so let’s remember them who went to war and fought for our country.
Our students have been busy baking Anzac Biscuits for Anzac Day
Anzac biscuits originated in Australia and are a popular biscuit . Initially these biscuits were called Soldiers’ Biscuits, but after the landing on Gallipoli on Anzac Day, they were renamed ANZAC Biscuits.
Recipe
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal) uncooked
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp boiling water Method
Combine the flour (sifted), oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.
Melt the butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat..
Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter and Golden Syrup.
Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spoon dollops of mixture, about the size of a walnut shell, onto a greased tin leaving as much space again between dollops to allow for spreading.
Bake in a moderate oven, 180C / 350F, for 15-20 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers.
Our school held a ‘trash and treasure’ day, one week ago. As there were many ‘treasures’ stored under the school eg unused chairs, tables, desks, timber etc, it was decided to sell this in order to add funds to the parents club and enable special project requests from staff, to be funded. Various stalls were set up, including the popular cakes and produce stall conducted by the parents club. Outside vendors also came in selling ‘trash’, plants and flowers. A spinning wheel proved to be very popular and a great money spinner.
Our principal, with two other capable parents provided a bbq for lunchtime appetities and the country style devonshire teas, comprising home made scones and jam also proved popular. Overall, it was a great day, the sun shone and money was raised.
Students in years 9 and 10 who are studying agriculture, are taking part in the successful ‘cows create careers’ program. Two calves,lhosted to us by local dairy farmers, live at school for 3 weeks. In this time, students are responsible for feeding, caring for them and learning animal husbandry practices. They are weighed twice weekly and reports are made at the completion of the project. At the end of the project, the schools involved in our area get together, and submit their reports to the other schools.
Two young calves were delivered to school yesterday and the proud new ‘parent’ 9/10 students, placed them in an enclosure and tended to their needs. To our horror, they escaped after only one night’s stay, and worked their way down to the back lane behind the school. Two year 8 girls were called upon to bring the escapees back to their home. A bucket of feed was used to cajole back up the dirt track, through the back gate and into their enclosure. Three staff were also on board to help tighten the enclosure, until the supervising teacher returned to school after lunch.
Students were given the prompt from squidoo. This is the response from a grade 6 student.
Can this day get any worse?
First I had to eat coco pops and found ants crawling around in them. Secondly I had to have a cold shower and found my undies were all grubby. Thirdly I missed the school bus.
I finally got to school and my teacher Mr Grumpy wasn’t too impressed with me. He said that I had to stay inside at recess or I would have a week’s detention. At recess Mr Grumpy made me write 100 sentences, all saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I wondered why I couldn’t have a normal day like every one else. Third period we had library, I hate library, to me library is like a piece of rubbish.
Fourth period we had sport. In sport we had to run laps for the whole period. I fell over and scraped my knee. I had to sit in the office for the rest of the period. The last two periods we had maths. We had to sit in the classroom and do incredibly hard worksheets.
Finally, it was home time. I was called to the office, I hate going to the office, then I found out I had to go to Aunt Susie’s. Aunt Susie is the horriblest Aunt ever. When I got there, She made me wash the dishes and clean the house and make it spotless. Aunt Susie put her feet up and relaxed while having a mug of hot chocolate while I had to work really hard.
When I finally got home mum gave me a gig hug. “What was that for?” I asked.
Mum smiled “You looked like you could do with a hug,” she said. Then dad came in, looked at me, smiled and scruffed my hair.
“How’s my princess?” he asked. So my really, horrible, very bad day was going to have a happy ending after all, maybe it was worth it.
A grade six student wrote this as a response to the ‘From me to you’ project that we were involved in.
About Me: I am 11 years old but in May I will be 12. · I live in a small town called Koroit. · I have an older sister , 22 and she is at Uni living in Geelong. I also have two older brothers, one is 21 and he lives in a small town called Macarthur. My other brother lives at home with mum and I. He is 14 and in year 8. · In my backyard I have a big Labrador cross Dalmatian called Spud. We also have a rabbit named Prince, a guineapig named Hammy, goldfish Harold, Taipan and Arnold, a cat named Basil and 2 cockatiels named Michelle and Larry. · Whenever we go to Melbourne to see family our neighbour looks after our animals. · I travel on my school bus for an hour each way, each day. · My favourite sport is soccer, we play it at school. · My mum is a receptionist at a medical clinic and she works at the Port Fairy Abalone farm. My Hobbies: · I like to draw when I have some spare time. · I love to sleep in a lot. · When it’s a nice day I like to take my dog for a walk. · Sometimes I play with my rabbit and guineapig, they are really cute. My sister has a little puppy and our rabbit is way bigger than it, he is nearly bigger than our cat too! I also love to Roller skate with my friends up and down the street. School: I am in grade 6. · We have all different subjects. · At lunch and recess I love to hang out with my friends and going to see my buddie. · Our subjects are Writing, Reading, Mathematics, P.E, S.O.S.E.\Science, Library, Art, Buddies, ICT, and L.O.T.E. Buddies: We have a class called buddies, it’s were we have little friends in Prep and they are called our buddies. My buddies name is Torie, she is very small. In those classes we play games, draw pictures and all sorts of different stuff. We have a canteen in our school. It sells hot food, drinks, some lollies, icy-poles and ice-creams In grade 6 we get to have special t-shirts, we design them and then get them printed. There are about 240 students in our school. There are 5 school buses. Hawkesdale: · There are about 500 people in the Hawkesdale community. · In Hawkesdale there is a Post Office, Pub, A Rural store, 3 churches and there is a swimming pool. · At the start of the school year we do swimming lessons every day after lunch for 2 weeks. · There is a nice little park called Apex. Last year and the year before my grade went down and both times planted about 800 native grasses. Victoria: · Sometimes the weather is cold but lately because we’re in summer it has been really nice. Attractions: · There are some great theme parks around Geelong and Melbourne, Luna Park is one. When I stayed with my sister in Geelong she took me to Adventure Park. It is a theme park and a water park. · Eureka tower. In Melbourne the golden tower there is a thing called a sky deck. · The twelve apostles, but now there’s only 7. · The Otway fly tree-top walk. I have been there twice, it is great. There are lots of birds, lizards, beautiful organic plants. In the middle of it there is a huge spiral tower, as your walking up you can feel it sway in the wind. Australia: (Mostly attractions) · Uluru, when I’m older I would love to travel there · The Great Barrier Reef, I would love to go there as well · The Harbour Bridge. On New Years eve it was on television and there were fire works and everything, it was amazing. · Sydney opera house. · Goldfields. In grade 4 we went to Sovereign Hill, it was terrific. Some of my friends and me went on an old horse cart. We passed all the others Gold Panning in the creek. Mornington Peninsula. It’s one of the prettiest places in Victoria.
Our SRC (Student Representative Council) held an out of uniform day for the last day of term 1, Thursday 20th March. Students were able to come out of uniform and were charged $2. $1 goes to the Royal Childrens Hospital Appeal in Melbourne and $1 goes to the SRC fund for the School projects.
Food technology students were busy making hot cross buns today, as these are a traditional treat at Easter time, in Australia.
Primary students were also treated to a visit by the Easter bunny. Much to their delight, an Easter bunny (alias our SRC president) brought them mini chocolate Easter eggs.
Our backyard wishes all its readers “A Happy Easter”!
Now we go on a well deserved 2 week school holiday’s break after a hectic term 1.
My grade had to write letters to different countries. This is my letter.
Dear student and teachers of Kadena Elementry School
Hi,
My favourite sport is netball, but I like other sports like Basketball and Soccer. I have two brothers , a mum and dad and a sister.
My dad is a shearer which means he makes his living by shearing sheep. I like all the different animals and I like to play with my brothers and sister. I live on a farm just out of Hawkesdale. My parents own 150 acres. My family put a dorset ram over the ewes, the ram gets the ewe in lamb. Sometimes the mother doesn’t look after the lamb. So my dad picks up the lamb and brings it up to the house and we put them in a warm spot and feed them about every 5 hours.
We own one bull and seven cows. We sell the calves when they are about nine months old. We own four ducks, us kids have a duck each. There names are Browny, Troubles, Cuddles and Straunie.
I go to school at Hawkesdale P-12 College. School starts at 9:00 and finishes at 3:30. I get up at 7:30 and get home at 3:40. I catch the bus to school. I ride my bike to the corner of our road to catch the bus. I am on the bus for about 10 minutes.
At school we have different subjects like art, humanities, science, library, sport, ICT, (information communication technology) writing and literacy. There are 22 people in my class.
We have about 250 people go to our school. Our school is just up from the swimming pool. Â In the first term the teachers take us up to the pool. My teacher is Ms Murnane. In the first or second term we have a sports day. That is where we do lots of different sport activities like long jump, high jump and other events and races.
Hawkesdale is about 40 minutes away from Warrnambool.
There are lots of different things in Hawkesdale like the pool, Apex Park, the football club rooms, pub, post office, hall, kindergarten and three churches. The grass is mainly yellow around Hawkesdale at the moment, because we have recently had a drought. Normally, Hawkesdale is a very pretty little town with lots of well mown road sides and beautiful trees.
There are about 500 people that live around Hawkesdale. Most people around Hawkesdale live on farms. Mainly sheep, cattle, dairy and a couple of blue gum plantations.
Victoria’s capital city is Melbourne. Melbourne is the biggest city in Victoria.
It is summer here in Victoria. The weather is mainly sunny, sometimes it rains and thunder storms. Some of Victoria’s best attractions are FlagStaff Hill in Warrnambool, Tower Hill, Lake Pertobe, Sovereign Hill, Grampians, Bendigo mine.
About 2 years ago there was a big fire in the Grampians. It was close to Hawkesdale. It was horrible seeing all the animals hurt and all the trees black and on the ground.
Australia is the smallest continent but the largest island in the world. Canberra is Australia’s capital city.
There are different animals in Australia such as the Koala, Snake, Possum, Kangaroo, Platypus, Emu, Cockatoo, Kookaburra, Wombats and other interesting animals. There are lots of different native grasses and trees as well.
