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!

 

Read More...

Written By You

The Fall – A Short Story in Three Parts – Part Two

The second of a three part short story. If you missed the beginning, start reading here

 

My hands have no feeling.

My feet up to my lower thigh is numb. My stomach and chest is icy cold. I feel so light-headed I might as well faint. I have propped up my rigid body by a peeling black-painted gate which is pricking my back.

Someone stole my blanket, and now I am as good as a chunk of ice.

Read More...

Sports

Stories from the Stables Part 2 – Topper. Ouch!

Our Stories from the Stables series from Carolyn Ward continues with a  flea-bitten grey with a shocking attitude.

 

Topper.  I swear that pony could scowl.

It was my week to ride him, and I had just hauled him all the way down to the outdoor school and stood him in the middle to check his girth and stirrups.  As I reached under to tighten up the girth he turned his head toward me and eyeballed me, then stepped over with his nearside foreleg; and stamped on my left foot.

I hissed a very rude word and frantically pushed him to move him off. My foot sunk into the woodchip surface with his heavy weight crushing it down.  By now he was still looking directly at me, so I started punching his shoulder to try and get him to step off.  Today’s teacher was a crosspatch I have no fond memories of; if she had found out about it I’d have been bawled out for having my foot in the wrong place or something.

Read More...

Home, Health & Style, Popular

5 Things Parents Wish Their Kids Would Do …

… and 5 Things Kids Wish Their Parents Would Do!
Hello there! I’m Cat and I’m 12 years old, almost 13 (yay!)  I’ve picked out 5 things I wish my parents would do, or rather… Wouldn’t do!  And my mum has done the same with 5 things she wishes that my brother and I would do.
Go grab a piece of paper and do this with your parents – you might surprise each other!

Read More...

News & Politics

Who Was Margaret Thatcher?

margaret thatcher

If you have been listening to the radio, or watching the news today, you may have heard that a woman called Margaret Thatcher has died.
You might not have heard of Mrs Thatcher – or Baroness Thatcher to use her correct title – but if you live in Great Britain, your life has been affected by her. Some adults find it amusing or shocking that tweens and teens haven’t heard of her, because she was such a large part of our lives when we were growing up. It is strange for us to realise that she is ‘History’ to you, not current ‘Social Studies!
So, who was Baroness Thatcher, and why is everyone talking about her death?

Read More...