Santa Claus

Under 9 years

We like Christmas day very much because we think one person called Naththal Seeya or Santa Claus gives gifts to us.

Father Christmas or Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nicholas. The name Santa Claus comes from the Dutch, 'Sinterklaas.' Nicholas was a Christian leader from Myra (modern day Turkey) in the Fourth Century AD.

He was very shy and wanted to give money to poor people without them knowing about it. It is said that one day, he climbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney. It landed in the stocking which a girl had put to dry by the fire.

This may explain the belief that Santa Claus comes down the chimney and placed gifts in children's stockings.

Kaushalya De Alwis
(8 years)
Mahamaya Girl's College, Kandy

A letter to Santa…

Dearest Santa,
Do you know what I wish?
This year for Christmas,
I don't want any gifts.
Think of the children
way up in the North,
Feeling cold and lonely,
And lost with no warmth.

Could you leave some food,
At the entrance of the camps,
Where babies are hungry,
In coldness and damp?
A little box of medicine,
To heal a wound or two,
A little warm clothing,
And a soft pair of shoes?

These little thoughtful gifts,
Will make a child smile!!!
And the true meaning of Christmas,
Will make it worthwhile…

Ayodhya Perera
(11 years)
Bishop's College

Shopping for gifts

9 - 12 years

Oh! It is quite fun to go shopping and I love it! We go shopping for Christmas and for the New Year. My whole family enjoys shopping as much as I do. I have no words to explain the happiness when we go shopping.

We buy different kinds of gifts for our friends, relatives, neighbours and grandparents as well. Shopping is an excellent way to spend our time together. We buy loads of things while shopping.

Clothes, toys, books and other stuff are great gifts! It is extremely jolly to wander from shop to shop, choosing what we want for a long time. Sometimes we shop for many long hours.

Our relatives, friends, neighbours and grandparents are impressed when we give them their own, special gifts. We are all filled with joy when we receive our gifts too!

Aranya Dewanarayana
(11 years)
Gateway College, Kandy

How I prepare for Christmas

12 - 14 years

Christmas is on the way. It falls on December 25, every year, to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a gorgeous season with fun and excitement. These days my family members and I prepare to celebrate Christmas.

We are planning to have a Christmas feast on Christmas Day. So we have lots of shopping to do. We are inviting our grandparents, aunts and uncles. We are preparing some presents for them too. We bought food, presents, decorations and greeting cards. I will send some Christmas Cards to my classmates and pen-friend. Next week we are going to paint the house and polish the floor. I will help to hang up the decorations.

My father will buy a Christmas tree. We will decorate the tree with beautiful stars, toys, bon- bons and shining balls. Our mother is making a big Christmas Cake for Christmas Day. I am making some sweets.

I have collected some books to show my relatives. I feel as if I simply can't wait for the day to arrive!

Christmas provides happiness for everybody. In Sri Lanka, even though everybody does not celebrate Christmas, everybody shares the same excitement. Thus, I hope it will be a Merry Christmas for everybody!

Vishaka Basnayake
(14 years)
Mahamaya Girls' College, Kandy

News papers

Newspapers are one of the communication media. It was introduced in England in the 18th Century.

The main purpose of newspapers is to give news. This news can be good and bad. Now-a-day's newspapers have spread world-wide. There is a very large reading crowd in every country. So every educated person reads a newspaper as a daily need.

Newspapers have enormous power because they are directly connected with the people. So they should be clean, truthful, interesting and meaningful.

In our country there are so many newspapers. They are printed in all the languages used in our country, like Sinhala, Tamil and English. They are printed in different names such as ‘Dinamina,’ ‘Silumina,’ ‘Lankadeepa,’ ‘Lakbima’ and ‘Divaina’. These are the Sinhala newspapers. The Daily News, Daily Mirror, Sunday Observer,

The Island, Sunday Leader and Sunday Times are English medium newspapers.There are some newspapers in the Tamil medium, such as, ‘Tinakural’ and ‘Veerakesari’. Among these there are some newspapers for children and the young generation.The Funday Times is my favourite because it gives chances to publish articles for children like me.

Sajana Perera
(Grade 6)
Vidura College

War and Peace

War is not good for us. We have heard about several world famous wars. First World War, Second World War etc. In these situations, it is not good for our world. We have lost valuable lives. In any war, buildings get destroyed. In war soldiers must use weapons, because of that, the environment gets polluted.

Some people take children for war and they lose their education and also become bad people. The children are the future of the world. So the future of the world depends on children. If they become bad, the world will not have a good future.

Because of the war, many people become disabled which influences developing countries because we must spend a lot of money on a war.

There are no advantages in the war. So we need peace for the whole world.

Sachin Punchihewa (Form 3)
Brisbane International School, Kohuwala

My Mahappa

My Mahappa is John Livera. He is thin and tall. He calls me Chuti Kella. He loves me lot. He brings me a lot of sweets. I love my Mahappa a lot. I am sad now because I lost my loving Mahappa three months ago. May his soul rest in peace.

Lakshani Mellawa
(6 years)
Good Shepherd Convent, Kotahena

The water cycle

The water in the seas, rivers, lakes, ponds or streams evaporates because of the heat of the sun. The water vapour thus formed rises up. The air higher up is cooler. This cools the water vapour. It forms tiny drops of water on small dust particles. Many such dust particles together form a cloud. When the clouds pass through cooler air, they get further cooled. The water drops then become bigger. When they become too heavy, they fall as rain.

Duvan
(Grade 3)
K. C. I., Mutwal

My school

My school is Belvoir College International.
It is a big school. My school is in Colombo. I like my school very much.

Abdul Naleer (UKG)
Belvoir College International

My pet

My pet is a fish. My fishes names are Lolly, Polly and Lilly. They love to eat fish food. I have put some beautiful coloured stones. I have a nice fish tank. My fishes are colourful. My fish plays with the other fishes. I have kept the fish tank in my room. One of those fishes are very big. I love my fish very much.

Shimar Zubair
(8 years)
Alethea School, Dehiwala

The rain

Oh! It's rain again,
Children cuddle close up tight.
Oh! Rain. Oh! Rain. What a pain
No more TV till night.

You do make me happy when roads flood up,
But it's cold, shivery cold.
The thundering sound wakes me up,
And my exciting dream had to hold.

Rain drops patter on the roof,
The tip-tap sound it makes,
If my whole body would get water proof,
I'll wait if the whole year takes.

I do like to get wet in the rain,
Like most children do.
Then it will no more be a pain,
Though we will get the flu!

Parami Peiris
(10 years)
Lyceum International School,
Nugegoda

XBOX 360

The owner of Microsoft Company, Bill Gates who's the world's richest man, released his new game machine in November 2005. The XBOX 360 does more than play fancy games. It's a multitasking, multimedia machine.

All games on the XBOX 360 will be in high definition. It's able to display photos from your cameras, cell phones, or hard drive of our PC to which we can connect wirelessly. It works as a regular CD player, but we can also use it to rip tracks from CDs and save them to its hard drive. XBOX 360 is also a DVD player.

This machine consists of internet facility which we can play against other XBOX users over XBOX Live. We could talk to them over headsets too.

Tiger Woods, PGA Tour 06, Call of Duty 2, Halo 2, Quake 4, Fight Club, NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup, Pac-Man World 2 etc., can be played on XBOX.

Milinda Fernando
(13 years)
Mahabage

The happiest day of December

December is called the festive month. The greatest festival, Christmas falls on December 25. It is the happiest day for most children, because they get gifts from their loved ones.
We celebrate the birth of Christ on this day. Sharing is the theme of Christmas. Santa Claus and Christmas carols are popular during this period. All the cities are decorated to celebrate this festival. Dining tables are filled with Christmas cakes and other tasty meals. Christmas is full of fun and we love it a lot.

Thameera Ranasinghe
(12 years)
Kuli/Assedduma Subharathie Vidyalaya

My favourite cartoon

My favourite cartoon is Scooby Doo. The characters are Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Freddy and Scooby Doo. My favourite character is Scooby Doo. I watch it on Sirasa TV at 5 p.m. Scooby and Shaggy are afraid of ghosts. Velma or Daphne give scooby snacks to Scooby and Shaggy, when they are afraid of ghosts. Velma is always telling them,there are no ghosts in the world. Often the friends catch the scary ghosts, and most of the time they are robbers.
I have a collection of Scooby Doo books also. I love the Scooby Doo cartoon very much.

Navodya Ekanayaka (8 years)
Maliyadeva G.C.,
Kurunegala

My little cousin sister

My cousin is a baby girl,
She looks like a little pretty doll.
She likes to drink lots of milk,
Her hair is as soft as silk.

Nushadi is my nangi's name,
Crawling is her favourite game.
She has a dimple in her cheek,
Her mouth is like a birdies beak.

My cousin is just eight months old,
She wears earrings made of gold.
I am waiting till she grows up fast,
Then I'll play with her at last.

Shamindri Jayawarna (10 years)
Colombo International School, Kandy

Coconut tree

The coconut tree is very helpful to people. The coconut tree is found in many parts of
Sri Lanka. They especially grow well in the coconut triangle.

Every part of the tree – fruit, leaves, trunk, shell is useful to people.

Coconut milk is taken for cooking. Cadjan is taken for roofing. Treacle and vinegar are made from coconut toddy.
We must protect the coconut tree.

Mohomad Atheef (Grade 5)
St. Mary's College,
Kegalle

My pet

My pet is a dog. Its name is ‘Whity.’ It is five years old. It is very nice. I love it very much. It is fond of milk. When I come after school it wags its tail.

Ishaq Fahim
(5 years)
Rahula MV

My class

My class is Grade 2 -1. My class teacher is Miss Susantha.

I am the Maths leader for the class.
It is very clean. There are 40 girls in my class. I like my class.

Nirasha Perera
Holy Family Primary GV,
Wennappuwa