Volume II No. 2

GWN History Week!

This is the GWN History issue everyone's been waiting since May 13th! You will see how GWN improved in a year and learn more about GWN. Enjoy this once-in-a-year issue!

GWN Readers,
Summer vacation is coming, so those who we cannot stay in touch with cannot work with GWN. Please try to get email if you would like to continue. If you can't, you can work a few more weeks and then we'll see you back in September!

Thanks,

Gingerbread Weekly News

Table of Contents
Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Honorable Mentions

Should GWN give Honorable Mention awards (for the Pokémon contest)?

Remember, the Pokémon contest is still going on. You may submit 1 Pokémon drawing, several drawings, or a poster. Please see the details below.

30 drawings were already submitted this week! GWN thinks it isn't fair for only 3 pictures to win, but we aren't sure if we should have honorable mentions either. Do YOU think there should be honorable mentions? Every vote counts, because majority is the decision. If you do want to have honorable mentions, please also say how many there should be! The average of all votes will be given.

More About the Contest

Judging: You will be judged on three main areas –

• Creativity: 50% - We will see how unique and stylish your drawing ideas are, from a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best.
• Looks: 50% – How good your drawing is counts too. This is judged by the scale of 1-10 too.
• Difficulty: bonus – The harder the drawing, the better. Difficulty (also judged by the 1-10 scale) acts as bonus points. See how the scores are calculated below.

To get your score, each judge adds up all the points: creativity, looks, and difficulty. They then divide the score by 2 because the difficulty points are bonus points. GWN finds the average of all the judges scores to get your final scores.
For this contest, these are our wonderful judges:

• Diane Zhou: Our main GWN editor! She will always be judging contests for us.
• Amanda Chang Our other main GWN editor! She will always be judging contests for us too.
• Nicole Tong A formal GWN reader. She took on a GWN employee positions and doesn't want to participate in this contest, so she will be judging.
• Shudong Zhou Diane's dad! Why are all the judges girls? Won't the girls totally win? Maybe not, because Diane's dad is fair and square.

Prizes:
If our readers decide to have Honorable Mention (HM) awards, winners and HM awarders get one more ticket. Normally, 1st place gets 3 tickets, 2nd place 2, and 3rd place 1. Everyone who participates (including winners) get another ticket!
Remember, the deadline for entries is June 1st. Good luck again, and good job to those who submitted an entry already! Please write your name, age, grade, and name(s) of Pokémon(s). You may wish to give your picture a title too. Thank you! (Emailed entries must be scanned).

Cover Story

GWN History Week!

This week is GWN "History" Week! See GWN's history in this issue. You will see huge improvements we have made.

5/20/2007: Just on GWN's second issue, we made many improvements! The Mail Pail section was added (with plenty of mail), there was more
real news, two debates, improved ink, and most importantly: page numbers!
5/27/2007: This was GWN's first SPECIAL EDITION!
6/3/2007: The debate was based with a story this week, not any random debate. GWN also started an ad online: http://home.comcast.net/~mariezhou/gingerbread.html (which is no longer available).
6/17/2007: News from schools and scanned pictures appear in this issue
6/24/2007: Another SPECIAL EDITION! Two Cover Stories!
7/8/2007: Another SPECIAL EDITION! One huge story this time.
9/2/2007: The margin spaces are finally balanced.
9/9/2007: 10th issue!!! New looks too!
10/8/2007: GWN gets its own email address: GingerbreadWklyNews@Gmail.com.
2/11/2008: Issue numbers are added.
2/25/2008: New SPECIAL EDITION "stamps"
3/10/2008: Volume numbers are also added. New technology – computer generated pictures!
3/17/2008: GWN interviews someone for the first time!
3/31/2008: We have GWN online! Finally! http://www.freewebs.com/gingerbreadwklynews
4/14/2008: Too much mail! More GWN readers!
4/18/2008: First extended issue! Four extra pages of news!
4/24/2008: Turtie, Gingy's pet, starts "Turtie's Kitchen Announcements". GWN starts having tickets!
5/13/2008: GWN's anniversary! Last Volume I issue!
5/19/2008: Volume II starts!

GWN would also like to say thanks to many people who helped GWN:
First of all, thank you GWN readers! With many of you readers, it is possible for Gingerbread Weekly News to continue. You make the pail fill with mail, give lots of news, and make our GWN editors happy for what they do.
That's who we want to thank next: Diane Zhou and Amanda Chang! They were the starters of GWN, who made and worked on this creative project, and dedicated time, even with their crazy schedules.
Diane's dad played an important role too. He is a huge GWN supporter and gave many helpful tips. Our motto, "Go Local", comes from him.
Chloris Li has been a big GWN fan. She even started her own Animal Weekly News. Some GWN readers said that was copying GWN. So now, Chloris tries to be different. Thank you for trying, Chloris! See her website: http://www.freewebs.com/animalwklynews.
Cynthia Yao contributed a lot to GWN. She wrote many stories and is now our trustworthy typist! She is a fast worker, and she really enjoys GWN. Thank you Cynthia!
Last, but not least (actually the most), thank you Gingy! You started this whole GWN business! Without you, there would be no Gingerbread Weekly News. As Amanda says, "It's all your fault for starting GWN!"

So how did GWN start in the first place? It was that special day – February 16, 2007. Diane Zhou's after-school teacher, Mrs.Qian, gave Diane a special gingerbread toy for Chinese New Year. Diane and her best friend, Amanda Chang, named her "Gingy". The other special day was May 10, 2007. Diane wanted to do something special for Gingy, so she and Amanda started Gingerbread Weekly News. The first issue came out on May 13, 2007.
Be an employee! Do you want to work for GWN? Ask Diane Zhou or Amanda Chang for a form! You will get more details from them.
Please tell your friends about GWN!

New News

Ticket Deals

Earn tickets:

• Answer to 1 debate. Get 1 ticket!
  (so 2 debates equals 2 tickets!)
• Give GWN an acceptable story/pictures.
  Earn 3 tickets per story and 3 tickets for each set of pictures!
• Be an employee!
  2 or more tickets a week (depending on your work...)!
• Participate in Contests/Guessing Games
  Get 1 ticket!
• 1st Place Winner
  3 tickets
• 2nd Place Winner
  2 tickets
• 3rd Place Winner
  1 ticket
• Correct Guesses
  1 ticket

Use Tickets:

• 1 ticket 2 chips
• 5 tickets Rice Crispy Treat
  Choco Pie
  Dried Noodle Snack
• 6 tickets
  Dole Fruit Cup

Ice Skating Competition

Diane Zhou had her second ice skating competition on May 19th! The name of the competition was Spring Jubilee, held in San Jose. Diane was doing two programs this time, and her first one and 3 o'clock was the artistic program.
As time went by, it was almost 3 o'clock. Before putting her skates on, Diane found out that the rink was 30 minutes off schedule! She walked around a little more and put her skates on later. Soon, she put her skates on and had her warm-up, which went great.
Diane was 3rd to skate, so she waited. Her turn came and she glided onto the ice. The program went well...besides the jumps. “I guess jumps are just really hard,” Diane told GWN.
But it's not over yet. Diane still had the technical program. This program was at the North Rink, which wasn't much behind schedule. Diane had to skate at 6 o'clock.
The warm-up went well again, but of course, that wouldn't count, as she learned before. Diane's coach helped Diane stay focused. Diane was sure she could do well.
Diane smiled as she took the ice. Her fast music started. No! She fell on her first jump, but she remained calm. Yes! Landed the next two jumps clean. After the footwork, the combination jump. One jump landed...landed the second jump! The last jump was nearing...land! And Diane made it a combination jump to make up for the first fall.
“I was really happy with my first technical competition,” Diane told GWN. “My dad said 'You really just 'skated' for the last ten seconds.' because I really attacked those jumps in the last ten seconds. In the end, I placed 3rd out of 10!”
Please send congratulation notes to GWN's email address!

Mail Pail

Debate Time (El Niño or Global Warming):

“It's hotter than usual, so it should be El Niño.” Alex Zhou, 2nd grade
“Global Warming.” Susan Pham, 5th grade
“Global Warming. It is not rainy.” Deanna Wong, 5th grade
“I think it is El Niño because Global Warming doesn't cause earthquakes.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“Global Warming; the weather isn't that weird.” Nicole and Vicky Sun, 5th grade
“Global Warming, El Niño isn't really possible.” Nicole Tong, 5th grade
“No, I don't think it is El Niño year, I think it is just Global warming because El Niño is supposed to be really weird weather, but it's not that weird.” Emily Wang, 4th grade
“I think this year is just Global Warming. You know how you said it was the El Niño Year in 1997. Well, in class, I learned that the El Niño year doesn't come every decades or year. That is why I don't think it is El Niño Year this year. Besides, many already said that the Earth is turning warm because of Global Warming last year, it'll be difficult for Global Warming to turn back normally that quickly.” Chloris Li, 5th grade
“I think it's Global Warming. It was like so hot so early this year!” Carol Zhang, adult
“El Niño, because Global Warming doesn't happen this fast.” Shudong Zhou, adult

“I think GWN should only give paper copies to people who actually want them and email the rest.” Nicole Tong, 5th grade

It was just Memorial Day weekend! What did you do? Please send all your stories to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com.