Language & Literature

Talking in Text

Text speak is very confusing for a lot of people, but it is one area in which children and teenagers are far more advanced than adults.  Mobile phones and the internet are recent inventions.
Imagine what it was like for your parents as children.  If your parents are 30 years old, the internet did not exist for them!  Mobile phones were only invented in 1973 but did not become common for 15 or 20 years.  The first ones cost thousands of pounds and were the size of house bricks!

 

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Language & Literature

6 Awesome Classic Books For Tweens

A book can transport the reader back in time. It is hard to imagine a time when we weren’t surrounded by modern technology, but if you read Anne of Green Gables, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1908, suddenly you are bouncing alongside Matthew and Anne in their horse-drawn buggy. Anne and her ‘bosom friend’  Diana didn’t have Instagram to keep in touch, but you will recognise the friendship and fun they have, similar to the connection you have with your BFF!

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Toys and Games

The World’s Longest Loom Band

worlds longest loomband

 

 

What is the longest loom band that you’ve been able to make? Perhaps you managed to make one long enough to skip with, but have you ever wondered about the world’s longest loom band?

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Science, Nature and Tech

Green and Growing: The Life of a Seed

As you know, there is a vast number of different kinds of plants growing all over the world, from snowy slopes to Amazon rain forests to dusty deserts: plant life is everywhere. So how does it all work? Lets start with seeds.

 

 The Life of  a Seed

Picture a seed – I am sure you have all seen them. It will have a hard outer shell to protect it. When it has found the right conditions of warmth and moisture, this shell will crack or split as a root pushes its way out to take hold in the soil. Then the plant will start to grow and a shoot will make its way upwards, with the root growing down, to draw moisture from the ground and provide some balance for the plant, keeping it firm in its place.

Just like you and me, plants need food to grow. Their food is very different from ours, of course! Here’s what they do: the leaves draw water up from the roots, through the stem, and they also soak up sunlight and air. These three things combine to make food in the leaves, where it is stored. Now think of an onion. It is formed to store the food for the plant.

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