My pet is a good dog. Her name is Feather. She is five years old. She likes to eat bones. I love to play with her. She loves to jump. Her colour is brown. I love my dog and my dog loves me.

Myself

By Aaisha Sameen (11 years), Muslim Ladies College, Colombo 4

My name is Aaisha. I am a girl. I am eleven years old. I go to Muslim Ladies College. I am in Grade Seven. I have four sisters.

My favourite subject is Maths. My favourite colour is pink. I love to play with my sisters. I have a pet dog. I am proud to be a member of the Funday Times Club.

My sister

By Daniella Fernando (Grade 3), St. Lawrence's Convent, Wellawatte

My sister's name is Melissa Nehara Fernando. She attends St. Lawrence's Convent, Wellawatte. She likes to eat pizza and to drink Nescafe. She likes to wear three-quarters with long t-shirts and also short skirts. I love my sister very much.

My country

By Mariah Imthiaz (7 years), Bishop's College

The name of my country is Sri Lanka. It is a mango shaped island. It has rivers, ponds, bays and waterfalls. In Sri Lanka the longest river is the Mahaweli ganga. The highest mountain is Piduruthalagala.

The president is His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa. Colombo is the capital city of Sri Lanka. It has a zoo with a lot of animals, birds, insects and snakes. It also has a very old museum.

The botanical garden is in the hill capital. Kandy is the hill capital of Sri Lanka. The Dalada Maligawa is also in Kandy. The Sacred Tooth Relic is kept there. Kandy also has a beautiful natural lake. The first university of Sri Lanka was built near Kandy in Peradeniya. It has a campus with halls for students to live in.

There are many races living peacefully in Sri Lanka. The National Flag symbol is the lion. The National Tree is the Na tree and the National Bird is the Jungle fowl.

My friend

By Gnanesvari Anand (11 years), College of World Education

I love my friend
To whom I send
Many cards
With lots of regards

Her name is Clair
She always plays fair
She is thin and nice
And she's always wise

Her favourite colour is
yellow
And she loves to eat
marshmallows
She accidentally
pronounces
'Strawberry'
for 'library'

Her favourite sport is
football
As she is very tall
She likes chocolate
fudge
And I love her so much

My dog

By Yeran Fernando (5 years), Lyceum International School, Nugegoda

My pet is a dog. Its name is Tommy. It is two years old. I love it very much.

Our trip to Polonnaruwa

By Ashane Perera (Grade 5), St. Benedict's College, Kotahena

During the holidays, our family went on a trip to Polonnaruwa. We went in our car. We stopped at Galewala on our way. We visited my father's friend, Duminda Uncle. He has a small son. My sister and I played with him in the water. We had our dinner and we stayed the night there.

The next morning after breakfast, we went to Polonnaruwa. We visited many places in Polonnaruwa. Some of them were Galviharaya, Thivanka Buddha statue, Sathmahal Prasadaya, Vatadageya, Hatadageya, Kumara Pokuna and the Parakrama Samudraya. These places are
wonderful. Our ancient people have built these wonderful structures. I am proud of our ancient
people.

After visiting all the places we were tired. We spent the night at a hotel. The next morning we returned home. I learnt about our ancient cities in our English lesson later. I think that my trip is very useful for my lessons.

My ride in 'Bumble Bee'

By Rashvin Senanayake (7 years), British School in Colombo

I went to my friend's house to have a ride in Bumble Bee. Uncle Suresh had got the car from America. We first had a look from the outside. Its colour was yellow with black stripes. It was a left-hand drive and a two door.

We went for a drive. The car went so fast that my dad was very scared. My dad shouted to slow down to Uncle Suresh. The car was just like the one in the Transformers movie. I had a great time.

My father

By Ahamed Ahzin (9 years), Amal International School

My father's name is Mohammed Lafeer. He is 46 years old. He works at the S.L.P.A. in Colombo harbour as a Ship Captain.

He likes to eat fruits. His favourite fruits are mangoes, apples and papaw. His favourite vegetables are carrots, spinach and radish. His favourite drink is coffee. His hobbies are reading newspapers and
exercising.

He is very kind to me and my family. He is very good, handsome and active. Even if he is free, he always does something. I love my father very much.

At the zoo

By Thihansa Ranaweera (Grade 3), Musaeus College

During the August school holidays, we went to the zoo. When we went to the zoo, we saw a lot of animals. The tiger has black stripes on his body. The cheetah has small black spots on his body and can run very fast. There are snakes in the zoo and some can swim.

There are some chimpanzees and a gorilla too. The sea otters are good swimmers. There are elephants also. The giraffes have long necks. It was a wonderful trip.