The Silverdale Signal.

December 2014

Headline News!

The Christmas Truce 1914.

Christmas in Denmark In Denmark most people go to a Church Service on

Christmas Eve about 4.00pm to hear the Christmas

Story. When they get home the main Christmas meal is

eaten between 6.00pm and 8.00pm. It's served on a

beautifully decorated table. Most people, after dinner,

dance around the Christmas Tree before they open

their presents.

Most families have a 'ris á la mande' (a special kind of

rice pudding, made of milk, rice, vanilla, almonds and

whipped cream) for dessert. All but one of the almonds

are chopped into pieces. The person who finds the

whole almond gets a present.

On Christmas Day people meet with their family and

have a big lunch together with Danish open-faced

sandwiches on rye-bread.

In Denmark, children believe that their presents are

brought by the 'Julemanden' (which means 'Christmas

Man'). He looks very similar to Santa Claus and also

travels with a sleigh and reindeer. He lives in

Greenland, likes rice pudding and is helped by 'nisser'

which are like elves.

In Danish Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Glædelig Jul'.

Some people in Denmark give and receive extra

Advent presents on the four Sundays of Advent.

Christmas Parties are held from 1st November to

24th December where a good time is had by all.

Did YOU Know

Birds need gravity to swallow.

Reindeer like bananas!

Elephants sleep for between 4-5 hours in a 24hour

period.

A quarter of your bones are in your feet.

If you write swims and turn the paper upside down it will

still stay swims!

It happened in December

1st December 1990 ~ Channel Tunnel links Britain and France.

8th December 1980 ~ John Lennon (The Beatles) is shot dead.

14th December 1918 ~ Women can vote in the General Election.

20th December 1928 ~ Harry Ramsden opens first fish and

chip shop.

25th

December

1066 ~

William the

Conqueror

crowned

King of

England.

The Danish Flag

The Russian Flag

The Silverdale Signal

December 2014

Feature of the Month

By Lauren Newton

Reindeer

Reindeer live in the Northern parts of North America

including Canada and Alaska also in Europe, Russia and

Greenland. They live on tundras. A tundra is a vast

flat, treeless Arctic Region.

Reindeer are herbivores meaning they are plant

eaters. They eat lichen a type of moss, grass and

plants. A reindeer can live up to 15 years in the wild.

A reindeer has brown soft fur with white fur on their

neck and parts of their back. They can weigh

anywhere between 240-700 pounds. Reindeer are

usually 4-5 ft tall not including their antlers. Their

antlers are 3ft tall! Did you know that reindeer are

the only deer in which both male and females grow

antlers. They shed their antlers in the winter. Like a

human’s fingerprint no two reindeer antlers are

exactly the same.

Reindeer migrate south during the winter and in the

summer the reindeer migrate North. During the

summer they migrate North. The trip is 1,200 miles

roundtrip. That is one of the world’s largest

migrations.

Their hooves are used to dig for food in the

snow. The outer edges of their hooves are sharp

which help them walk on ice and rocks.

Did you know that reindeer can run 50 miles per hour!

A male reindeer is called a Buck. A female reindeer is

called a Doe. A baby reindeer is called a Fawn. A

mother usually gives birth to one fawn a year but

sometimes two are born. A fawn is usually 10-11

pounds when born. A reindeer’s milk has more fat

than cow’s.

Can you name all of Santa’s

Reindeer?

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and we can’t forget

What A RECORD!

By Cameron Upton

The tallest Mohican was 113.5cm.

The largest football made from leather was 125 feet.

The most venomous jellyfish is the box jellyfish

which is found off the coast of Australia. One

jellyfish can produce enough poison to kill 60 humans!

The largest earthquake happened in Chile on the

22nd May 1960.

Joke of the Month

What did the cat have for breakfast?

Mice Crispies!

Where do hamsters come from?

Hamsterdam!

What has 12 legs, six eyes, three tails and can’t

see?

Three blind mice!

What kind of pigs know karate?

Pork Chops

The Silverdale Signal

December 2014

The Man behind the Story of St Nicholas

By Isabella Trevett

St. Nicholas was a Bishop who lived in the fourth century AD in a place called Myra in Asia Minor (now called

Turkey). He was a very rich man because his parents died when he was young and left him a lot of money. He

was also a very kind man and had a reputation for helping the poor and giving secret gifts to people who

needed it. There are several legends about St. Nicholas, although we don't know if any of them are true!

The most famous story about St. Nicholas tells how the custom of hanging up stockings to get presents first

started! It goes like this:

There was a poor man who had three daughters. He was so poor, he did not have enough money for a dowry, so

his daughters couldn't get married. (A dowry is a sum of money paid to the bridegroom by the bride’s parents

on the wedding day. This still happens in some countries, even today.) One night, Nicholas secretly dropped a

bag of gold down the chimney and into the house (This meant that the oldest daughter was then able to be

married.). The bag fell into a stocking that had been hung by the fire to dry! This was repeated later with the

second daughter. Finally, determined to discover the person who had given him the money, the father secretly

hid by the fire every evening until he caught Nicholas dropping in a bag of gold. Nicholas begged the man to

not tell anyone what he had done, because he did not want to bring attention to himself. But soon the news got

out and when anyone received a secret gift, it was thought that maybe it was from Nicholas.

Because of his kindness Nicholas was made a Saint. St. Nicholas is not only the saint of children but also of

sailors!

How St. Nicholas Became Santa Claus

In the 16th Century in Europe, the stories and traditions about St. Nicholas had become very unpopular.

But someone had to deliver presents to children at Christmas, so in the UK, he became 'Father Christmas', a

character from old children's stories; in France, he was then known as 'Père Nöel'; in Germany, the 'Christ

Kind'. In the USA his name was 'Kris Kringle'. Later, Dutch settlers in the USA took the old stories of St.

Nicholas with them and Kris Kringle became 'Sinterklaas' or as we now say 'Santa Claus'!

Many countries, especially ones in Europe, celebrate St. Nicholas' Day on 6th December. In Holland and some

other European Countries, children leave clogs or shoes out to be filled with presents. They also believe that if

they leave some hay and carrots in their shoes for Sinterklaas's horse, they will be left some sweets.

The S

Christmas is coming !

By Brody Sayle

Christmas is celebrated all over the world. But how is Merry Christmas said in different languages?

Afrkaans: Geseënde Kersfees

Albanian: Gëzuar Krishtlindjet

Armenian: Շնորհավոր Սուրբ Ծնունդ:

Azerbaijani: Merry Christmas

Basque: Eguberri

Belarusian: З Калядамі

Bengali: শুভ বড়দিন

Bosnian: Sretan Božić

Bulgarian: Весела Коледа

Catalan: Bon Nadal

Cebuano: Merry Christmas

Chinese (Simplified): 圣诞节快乐

Chinese (Traditional): 聖誕節快樂

Croatian: Sretan Božić

Czech: Veselé Vánoce

Danish: Glædelig jul

Dutch: vrolijk kerstfeest

English: Merry Christmas

Esperanto: Feliĉa Kristnasko

Estonian: Häid jõule

Filipino: Maligayang Pasko

Finnish: Hyvää Joulua

French: Joyeux Noël

Galician : Bo Nadal

Georgian: Merry Christmas

German: Frohe Weihnachten

Greek: Καλά Χριστούγεννα

Gujarati: મેરી ક્રિસમસ

Hatian Creole: Jwaye Nwèl

Hebrew :חג המולד שמח

Hindi: मेरी क्रिसमस

MERRY CHRISTMAS Hmong: Zoo siab Hnub Christmas

Hungarian: Boldog Karácsonyt

Icelandic: Gleðileg jól

Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal

Irish: Nollaig Shona

Italian: Buon Natale

Japenese: メリークリスマス

Javenese: Misa Natal

Kannada: ಮೆರ್ರಿ ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್

Khmer: រី ករាយថ្ងៃណ អូ ែល

Korean: 메리 크리스마스

Latvian: priecīgus Ziemassvētkus

Lithuanian: linksmų Kalėdų

Macedonian: Среќен Божиќ

Norwegian: God jul

Polish: Wesołych Świąt

Portuguese: Feliz Natal

Romanian: Crăciun fericit

Russian: С Рождеством

Slovenian: vesel božič

Spanish: ¡Feliz Navidad

Swedish: God Jul

Turkish: mutlu Noeller

Welsh: nadolig llawen

Merry

Christmas

And a

Happy

New Year

T Y W G N I K C O T S

E R C H R I S T M A S

E S B E F B Q G U W H

R R T I N S E L P L G

T E R I J U G P R D J

S K I E Y U M U E T R

B C X H O A M D S U E

A A V D D L J D E R Z

J R D H Q Z Y I N K W

D C K J R W Q N T E V

P C C V F O N G S Y Q

PU

ZZ

LE

CO

RN

ER

CH

RIS

TM

AS

WO

RD

SE

AR

CH

SQUARE EYES! How many squares

can you find?

Anagram Teaser!

Rearrange the letters to

find out what 1 am! Clue

~ A family pet?

looped

_ _ _ _ _ _

Tongue Twister

Try saying the following

tongue twisters really

quickly! Have fun!

Freshly fried flying fish

The blue bluebird blinks

How many words can

you make out of the

word

Extraordinary

Target = 20 words

Christmas

crackers

presents

pudding

stocking

tinsel

tree

turkey

Lateral Thinking

Some months

have 30 days,

some months

have 31 days.

How many

months have

28 days?

Christmas Frozen

Cake

By Ellie-Rose Moir

Ingredients

200g soft butter, plus extra for greasing

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

200g golden caster sugar

4 eggs

2 tbsp milk

142ml double cream

50g golden caster sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

Jam (optional)

icing sugar, for dusting (and extra for icing)

food colouring (optional)

Ovens will vary, so to ensure that your cake is cooked all the way through, test your sponge before removing it from the oven. A cooked sponge will have shrunk away from the sides of the tin and the centre will feel soft and springy. Once this has happened, do the blunt-knife test. Insert a blunt knife in the centre of the sponge – if the cake is cooked, it will come out clean. If there is any cake mix on the knife, give the cake a few minutes more, then test again.

Method

1 . Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Using an electric whisk, beat everything together until smooth. Put the mix into the three cake tins, then bake for 20-25 mins until cooked and golden

2. Grease and base-line 2 x 20cm non-stick round sandwich tins with baking parchment, then lightly grease the parchment. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then tip in all the other sponge ingredients.

3. To make the filling, whip the cream with the

caster sugar and vanilla until it holds its shape.

You will add this in the cake later on.

4. After whipping your creamy filling remove the icing from the two packets and add six tablespoons of cold water to each packet then mix until smooth. If wanted add one teaspoon of food colouring.

5. When cool enough to handle, remove the cakes from the tins, then leave to cool completely on a rack. Put your cake on a flat surface to cool for 5-10 minutes .

6. Once your cake is cool build it up by spreading one sponge with jam and the other with cream. Sandwich the whole thing together, then dust with icing sugar. Give your icing one last stir and add onto the cake. You will do this by spooning a tablespoon of icing onto the cake and spread with the back of the spoon head. Repeat this progress until the cake is covered with white/coloured (optional) fluffy icing.

7. Finally when you have completed these awesome steps add on your frozen figures , placed were you would like. Then slice and ENJOY.