Language & Literature

Comic Book Characters and Diversity

We’re very pleased here at Jump. In the last few months, several of our favourite comic book characters have been changed and redesigned. This isn’t just about new costumes.
It shows that the designers and writers want to make these stories more diverse. After all, not every person in the world is white and male…so it seems silly that superheroes should be!
Read on to find out about the transformations of Batgirl, Thor and others.

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Written By You

Are Rewards the Right Approach? Written By You

14-year-old Gabriella told us that her school gives lots of rewards for doing well, or for good behaviour. It got her thinking about reward systems, and if they are a good idea.

I’m sure everyone has been offered a reward for doing the right thing at some point in their lives, whether it has been your parents rewarding you for your actions or teachers at school.

When you are presented with the idea of a reward it makes you want to succeed right? Or does it? I know from personal experience that people aren’t necessarily excited by the prospect of being given a reward and when they are, they are usually set on the reward and not the idea behind it. For example, prizes for winning competitions often attract entries and participants often enter because of the prize and not because they are really interested in the theme of the competition. The same kind if thing comes out of rewards at school.

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News & Politics, Popular

The UK General Election – An Explanation for Kids

Every five years, United Kingdom elects a new parliament. This is called a General Election and it’s pretty complicated. If you’ve ever wondered how a country decides who is going to run things, this is how! We asked our contributor Tina Price-Johnson to write an explanation of the General Election for kids.

When I was in Year 9, my school ran a mock general election, so we could learn how an election works.  I was chosen to be the Liberal Democrat candidate, and two other students were chosen to represent the Conservative Party and the Labour Party.  We didn’t have any other parties at that time!

We had to pretend we were running to be elected as a Member of Parliament (MP), and the other students in the school were the voters.  We created posters and learned what each party stood for, so we could debate in front of the whole school and give our speeches.  We spoke to students in the hallway, and each of us had a team of other students to help us out.  This is exactly what all the candidates for MP in your local area will be doing. More or less! 

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Food and Recipes, Toys and Games

Offline Minecraft Activities

minecraft activities

What to do When Your Parent Says ‘No More Minecraft Today!’

You could wail, ‘That is UNFAIR! You are horrible to me, you are so MEAN!’… or you could talk to them about WHY they are banning Minecraft for the day. Is it perhaps because you’ve been playing for hours and hours, and they think that you should get off the computer/iPod/Playstation?
We are willing to bet that is the reason, not because they want to annoy you. We parents worry that you are online too much, that you are ruining your eyes, that you are going to turn into a big square person who looks just like Steve!
So instead of complaining, how about you and your parents have a look at these fab OFFLINE Minecraft activities that are all to do with Minecraft, so that both you and your parents are happy? (Remember our article about negotiation? That is what this is!)

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