A ghost at night

By Nethaka Amarakoon, (6 years), Australia

We were at our cousin’s. There were lots of girls and boys there. We tell stories and play. One night all were asleep. At 12 o’clock, suddenly we heard someone playing the piano. It was not closed at night. All got up frightened and crying. Our father and mother went and peeped. "Could it be a ghost?" all said. It was our kitty running on the notes. Still playing kitty the ghost scales. "Naughty Kitty, don’t play in the night you ghost."

My hometown

By Kalendra Abeysinghe (Grade 3), St. Benedict’s College, Kandy

My hometown is Digana town. In Digana there are many things. There are markets, a night shop,
tailor shops, saloons, shops with many necessary items, schools, temples, furniture shops and more.
From my house there’s a ten to fifteen minutes walk to Digana town or within five minutes we can go there in a bus.

It’s very clean and there’s no pollution. My parents always visit there to buy things. Sometimes I go along with them. And my sister goes to Digana to her school (Ecole Internationale). I love to be in Digana forever.

My unforgettable trip

By Samadhi Nisansala (10+ years), Southlands College, Galle

During the August vacation my family and I went on a trip to Bopath Ella. We started from Colombo and went to Bopath Ella to have a bath. In the water we all swam. But Umee akka didn’t have a bath because she was sick.

Then we had our lunch by the road and returned to Colombo. On the way we went to Deepani aunt’s house. She is a friend of our Loku Amma. In the night we came back to our Loku Amma’s home in Colombo.

The next evening we went to Mount Lavinia beach. We went to Galle Face also. There is a very big bridge on the sea. We walked on it.

The following day we went to Boralesgamuwa. There were several swan boats. The next day we came back to Galle with Loku Mama. I like this trip because it was fun and a happy trip.

The zoo

By Nishta Fernando (7 years), Ruwanwella

I went to the zoo in my vacation. There was a crowd. We walked all over. I enjoyed spending time at the zoo. There were canteens and ice-cream shops. We ate ice-cream. It was tasty.

This was the first time I went to the zoo. When I was one year old I went to the zoo but I cannot remember it. We forgot to see the elephant dance. I was sad. I love enjoying in the zoo.

My pet

By Sihas Methnula (Grade 1), Gothami Junior School, Gampaha

I have a cat. My pet is Kiti. My pet is not big. My pet is good. My pet eats rats. My pet drinks milk. My pet sleeps on the mat. I love my pet.

An author I like

By Nirmani Dasanayake (Grade 7), Mahamaya Girls’ College, Kandy

This author is very popular among small children. Guess who it is… Yes, of course, it’s Roald Dahl. He has written a large number of books such as ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’, ‘Danny the Champion of the World’, ‘The BFG’, ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, ‘The Witches’, ‘Matilda’ etc. Roald Dahl’s books are illustrated by Quentin Blake.

Roald Dahl has a fantastic imagination. Although he was a terrible speller at school, he has invented new words such as frothbungling, gloriumptious and gobblefunk. Roald Dahl – the wonderful author – was born on September 13, 1916. He had blue-grey eyes and grayish hair.

He was very tall. His favourite colour was yellow and he loved to listen to Beethoven’s music. Roald Dahl had a lovely motto too. It is: ‘My candle burns at both ends, It’ll not last the night, But at my toes and oh my friends, It gives a lovely light’ Roald Dahl wrote his marvellous books in a brick hut on the edge of the orchard at Gypsy House. Roald Dahl the fantastic author died in 1990.

Life

From an overseas reader

By Pratheev Weerakoon, (Grade 5), USA

When you are born, you begin writing on a clean piece of paper,
As you live your life, you do good and you do bad.
When you are good, you are writing neatly,
Making no mistakes.
When you do bad, you scribble on your clean paper,
Making it look bad.
We are just normal human beings,
We all make mistakes.
Remember, when death comes to you, you shouldn’t be afraid,
Because the cleaner your paper is the better you achieved.
If you didn’t do a good job keeping your paper neat,
You should try better next birth,
But if you keep your paper neat, keep up the good work.
The only person that has gotten an A+ on his paper,
is the BUDDHA,
But if you did get an A+ from your teacher, Buddha,
Then… welcome to Nirvana.

My fish tank

By Binalie Weerawardhana (5 years), Lyceum Int., School, Nugegoda

My fish tank is very nice. It has lots of fish. I like my fish tank. It is very colourful. The fish can swim very nicely. I like my fish tank very much. My fish are gold and silver.

A family boat ride

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

We went to Akuregoda Lake for a boat ride. As we were going on the side of the road we saw three purple swamp hens. Jayantha Mami took a photograph. We also walked up and down the road. My mum walked from the house to the lake and could not find us.

After we all met up we went in a boat. My dad and the boatman paddled. We saw some birds like the little
cormorant and a white throated kingfisher. We also saw some parrots. After the boat ride we went for a walk around the lake. My mum and I saw a big water monitor.

Visiting Sri Padha off season

By Devin Jinadasa (12 years), Asian International School

Have you ever visited Sri Padha off season? I did, and would not recommend it to anybody. We started the climb around 4.00 a.m., while it was still dark.

My cousin Amrit, my father and I took the jungle route to the peak. The route was overgrown with lush and home to thousands of leeches who bit us constantly.

The journey was quite difficult as we had to chop branches of trees to clear our way and step over many little waterways. By the time we reached the top, we were human icebergs – completely frozen from head to foot.

There was no view to be seen at the top as it was misty and cloudy. The Foot of the Lord Buddha was covered with a sheet. The kind caretaker gave us coffee and invited us into his hut to defrost.

The journey back was very misty but ‘leechless’. I nearly plunged to my death by stepping off the path. Luckily, I caught a tree branch and Amrit Aiya pulled me back.

We reached the bottom safely, but full of leech bites. I recommend visits off season to Sri Padha only for those who want to study leeches!

My mother

By Riffeth Rizveiy (Grade 6), Ilma Int., Girls School

My mother’s name is Rifka. She is 33 years old. She always teaches us good manners. She is strict when we do naughty things. She is kind to us when we respect her.

She makes tasty meals and juices. She helps me in my studies. She is an old student of Khairiya Muslim Girls’ School. I won’t get a mother like her anywhere. I like my mother very much.

My father

By Anuga Bandara (Grade 2), Wesley College

My father’s name is Wimal Bandara. He is a teacher at Wesley College. My father is good.
My father is 40 years old. My father helps me to ride my bicycle. My father helps me to learn. I love my father.

The Ramazan Festival

By Binadi Almeida (Grade 2), Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda

Ramazan is a festival celebrated by Muslims all over the world. They celebrate this festival
at the end of ‘fasting’ – which lasts about 28 to 29 days. During this month, Muslims do not eat during the day. They have a meal before sunrise and ‘Break-fast’ at sunset. The month of fasting and Ramazan changes every year. This year Ramazan was celebrated on the 10th of September.

Trip to Kandy

By Shavin Webster (Grade 6), St. Peter’s College, Colombo 4

Our family left for Kandy at 5.30 a.m., on a gloomy Tuesday morning. We had a very calm and peaceful drive up to Warakapola which was our first stop around 7.30 a.m. Afterwards, because we could kill two birds with one stone we stopped at the elephant orphanage at Pinnawala.

It was a great surprise for me to witness so many elephants but so tame.  I even bottle-fed a baby
elephant which was a life time experience for me. Leaving Pinnawala, we proceeded to Peradeniya Rest House for lunch. The environment surrounding the Rest House was very beautiful. Our next stop was the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens which had numerous types of plants and flowers I have never ever seen.

 Since the day was wearing out we visited the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Dalada Maligawa) which was an amazing sight to see.  This temple is boarding the Kandy Lake which is a pride of Sri Lanka. By this time it was closing on the end of an interesting and tiresome day.

Since it was bad weather, we started our journey back home around 6.00 p.m., and reached home around 9.00 p.m. I really enjoyed my trip to Kandy which will be a lifetime experience for me.