Writers Cafe 2010

Writers’ Café 2010 Our Voices Our Words Our Stories

Woodstock Primary School Extension Writing Programme

Five Dollars on the line I stabbed the sharp hook through the tiny piece of squid, and wound it around once, twice, three times. Ready. I cast my line into the cold, salty water and watched as it slowly sank out of sight. Then I waited for a slight movement, just a little tug. Before long, my hopes turned to joy. There was some movement! But it was just nibbles and nothing much else. My happiness went from 100 all the way down to 50 again. There was a voice inside my head saying, “You can do this Jaiden, just be patient.”

Fishing off the beach was so much fun. While our lines were in the water, we built sandcastles and decorated them with shells, stones, and sticks and sometimes we put a little starfish on top. We always argued about who could build the highest sandcastle and whose was the best. Nana and Poppa kept telling us to calm down, and if we didn’t that was the end of our fishing. When we behaved, Nana and Poppa told us if we caught a fish, we would get five dollars. So we were always on a mission to catch at least one.

Then suddenly I saw a small group of dancing, splashing snapper prancing around the top of the water. I threw my line out just past them and slowly reeled it in. Everyone else was baiting their hooks and had missed this little moment, so this was my big chance.

“Aaahhh!” I screamed in happiness. “I caught a fish!” I had five dollars on the line. Oh, but should I reel it in quickly or slowly?

“Poppa, help me please!”

“Hurry up, that’s our dinner on the line!” Poppa shouted. “Come on Jaiden, reel it in fast!”

I could see it coming closer and closer and closer. It was a beauty.

“Yes, five dollars for me!” I screamed. And everyone laughed.

Written by Jaiden Dombroski

The Chocolate Scheme If I could steal those delicious chocolate chips again, I wouldn’t hesitate.

You see, the scheme all started at afternoon tea. Mum had brought out the chocolate chips, but she only gave me a tiny handful and that left my taste buds wanting more. So that disappointment, together with my love of chocolate, gave me the idea to steal the rest of the packet. The whole packet.

When the coast was clear, I crept into the crowded pantry. I closed the door and my eyes scanned through the shelves until I spied my target. I climbed up the shelves, a little bit worried that they would topple over on top of me, and reached for the chocolate chips. Treasure in hand, I quietly slipped down the staircase of shelves, but was more careful this time because I had the delicate bowl in my shaking hands.

Back on the ground I pulled the lid with all my might. POP! It flew off into the darkness. I counted down quietly to myself. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 …” and I grabbed a HUGE handful. I gazed at my treasure and I couldn’t resist its chocolate taste. “It’s just you and me,” I said. Then without waiting another moment I stuffed the handful of chocolates into my open mouth.

Second handful. Third handful.

Fourth handful. I knew I was being greedy but I couldn’t stop. Fifth handful. Sixth handful. The door creaked.

Someone was coming! What would happen to me? Then there was a blinding flash. It was Dad taking a picture of me! He snatched the chocolate chips from my hands and firmly put them back on the shelf. And that was that.

But, I had eaten six handfuls. Hmmm … perhaps I could increase my score next time!

Written by Daisy Bunting

Grandpa’s Grandpa s Gully The sound of the wind whistled through my ears as I ran as fast as I could down the dirt track, eager to reach the bottom of Grandpa Pete’s gully. Fresh mud oozed its way through my toes and rubbed its dark layers onto my heels. The tuis’ call echoed all around and the thick bushes waved their heavy branches. Stray glimpses of light shone through the leaves above and into the creek. The water glistened as it flowed silently down stream. Suddenly movement struck the water and little droplets hit my face, like tiny bullets shooting through the air. What was it?

I sprinted over to the side of the creek and peered eagerly into its depths. To my amazement long, smooth eels slithered in and out of the thick weeds, as if they were a bunch of children playing hide and seek. Quickly I stepped away from the slippery, muddy creek edge and walked amongst the tangle of ferns. Grandpa’s hammock peeped out of the bushes, inviting me to rest and wrap its edges around me. I sighed and gazed up through the leaves at the clouds as they rushed by overhead, travelling with the wind.

I look on and think about my day and how much I love being in my Grandpa’s gully.

Written by Litara Allan

New Zealand is the Best Country in the World Ahh, New Zealand, I’ll tell ya mate this country is sensational. There are so many reasons to love it. Four million people have this at their feet – beautiful landscapes, delicious kiwi kai and a proud sporting heritage.

Where else would you rather be?

The landscapes of New Zealand are down right amazing, from the Southern Alps of the South Island to the shifting tides of the North, and everything in between. Lush, green bush is full of the sounds of bird life; shimmering golden sand spreads across the East Coast, while dark black sand stretches over the West. It is photography heaven. You can’t go a couple of kilometres without finding beauty, so if you were a photographer, traveller or local you would not want to be anywhere else!

Kiwi kai – sizzling steaks on the barbeque, the first lick of a hokey pokey ice cream, the first touch of great kiwi lamb on your lips. It’s like flavour fireworks in your mouth. Who wouldn’t want that? Other countries have good food, but New Zealand has the BEST! New Zealand also has a proud sporting heritage with heroes like Olympic gold medal runner Peter Snell, former Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming, and Sir Colin Meads, widely considered one of the greatest rugby players in history. And their legacy has continued with current sporting stars like reigning Olympic, world and Commonwealth shot putt champion, Valerie Adams, Black Caps Captain Daniel Vettori, All Blacks captain, Richie McCaw and Irene van Dyk, one of the world’s bestknown netball players. We certainly are a top sporting nation.

So in conclusion, you must surely agree that New Zealand is a chart topping country. With its breath taking beauty, sensational kiwi kai, and a proud sporting culture, New Zealand really is the best country in the world! But don’t take my word for it, get out there and see for yourself!

Written by Sam Wallbank

Shivneet My cousin Shivneet is 15 years old and I think he’s great. He is tall and lanky, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, and hands that look like they dangle about a mile out of his sleeves. His thick, black hair shines and his skin is light brown and smooth. His black eyes crinkle up when he laughs really hard. He’s got clean, white teeth and his shiny braces stand out from miles away. Shivneet loves to wear his trendy, bright, baggy shirts with his dull, black and grey designer skinny jeans, and his polished leather shoes. He also loves to wear his loose, woolly, sweaters, which look so comfortable.

Playing on the computer is where you will often find Shivneet. Mouse clutched in one hand, and the other hovering over the keyboard, eyes glued onto the screen. This is what he calls fun. Baking is what he does in his spare time. “Where’s the baking powder?” he yells to his Mum. I love to smell the delicious aroma of his baking. It makes my mouth water. He can bake almost anything – cakes, muffins, tarts, you name it. With his white apron wrapped tightly around his waist and a wooden spoon clutched in his hand, he looks like a master chef. Shivneet is also a champion mathematician. No one can beat him. His strategy, quickness and brains make him the smartest mathematician in our family.

What does he dislike? That’s easy, television! Whenever he’s reading a book or doing his own stuff and the TV is on, he’ll yell, “Turn it down, or turn it off!” Although he loves gaming, especially his Nintendo DSI, he is very strict about dong his homework. Clearly he’s very smart and when he’s set a task, he’ll always finish it. He’s so smart that we call him ‘the wise and knowledgeable one’.

Shivneet thinks he’s funny but he’s not! “Hey Amol, want to hear my latest joke?” he always asks. I pretend I’m listening. “What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor? Where’s my tractor!” I try to laugh and not hurt his feelings, but he’s just not that funny!

I love being around Shivneet. He’s very helpful and kind and whenever someone’s feeling sad or down, he can always find a way to cheer them up. He’s pleasant, social and calm, except when he’s around his 13 year old sister. He loves annoying her and she always yells, “Shivneet’s calling me names!” and “Get out of my room Shivneet!” The jokes he plays on his sister always crack me up.

His room, his messy, cluttered room, is the place he loves to be. A pile of homework books sit on one half of his desk and on the other half are some old comics. His three-day-old shirts and trousers lie on his unmade bed, waiting for his Mum to take them to the wash. All this, combined with his playstation games, makes it the perfect place for a boy to be!

Written By Amol

Grainy wet sand soaks in between my toes and luminous rays of sun beat down on my hot back.

Pohutukawa trees create an umbrella over the hard prickly beach grass and cracked shells cover the soft black sand.

Crabs snap crossly beneath the rocks.

Tiny sprats swim, swoop and dive in the cold sea.

Kina and paua hide under rocks, desperately trying to avoid Uncle’s sharp knife.

Gentle waves tumble onto my skin, spraying salt over my face.

So refreshing it is as if I had drunk a cold glass of water.

Slippery, slimy, seaweed hangs from hard, still rocks.

Surfboards slide down massive, foaming waves.

Throngs of people swim and play.

I look on and think what a great day I had.

I feel peaceful and content and ready to go home.

Written by Santana Taniwha

soccer Score Every Saturday morning in the winter term we drove to soccer. It took about five minutes to get to our game, so while we were driving I thought through some moves I might be able to use in the game.

As soon as we arrived I couldn’t wait to start practicing. And then it was time to play and I was ready to go on. We took our positions on the 16 metre wide field; I was in defence. The whistle blew and we charged. I sprinted, tackled, dodged, kicked, everything. My teammates were struggling with the other team, but I rushed towards them. Bam! I booted the ball out of the group of players and sprinted down the sideline. I felt like my lungs were going to explode! I was getting closer to the goal. The opposition crowded around me like sharks surrounding a swimmer. I was close enough to score a goal, boof! I booted the ball toward the net. It flew through the air, rebounded off one post, hit the other, then scored!! Everyone high-fived me and we ran all over the field. I felt great.

Fifty-five minutes later, and after a lot more slipping and sliding in the mud, the game was over. We won, 1-0! We shook hands with the other team and ran to the sideline to hear the player of the day. And you guessed it. The player of the day was … me! “Well that was unexpected!” I said. And everyone laughed.

Written by Euan Safey

Introducing Dylan is my eight-year-old brother and he is pretty great, well most of the time. Although he loves to wear shorts and t-shirts on cold winter days, in summer he wears the complete opposite. He’s crazy! Dylan loves his cargo shorts, long sleeved shirts and his vest, but he never wears jerseys or jackets. And you certainly won’t see him in a tuxedo anytime soon. He’s got little freckles sprinkled all over his nose and his rosy cheeks light up his face. His bright eyes glimmer when he laughs at one of my silly jokes, although sometimes I suspect he’s just pretending to laugh. He never combs or brushes his hair, even when Mum nags at him. Dylan walks with a slight limp and when he runs, he looks a little bit like a penguin waddling along .

Dylan hates spiders. He thinks they’re horrible and disgusting and they are yucky creatures from another planet. He’s always telling us, “I make this promise - I will never ever think spiders are cool and interesting as long as I live!” In the weekends Dylan loves to play in the garden and pull out the weeds for Mum. “La la la … hello little wormy, hello beetle,” he sings. “Aaaahhhh a spider!” he bellows from the top of his lungs whenever he sees one. My brother is addicted to the playstation and as soon as he hears, “Dylan dishes!” he quickly shuts the door and starts another game.

When I’m around Dylan I get the impression he wants to be a model like Dan Carter advertising underwear. After his shower, he leaves the door wide open and poses in front of the mirror, trying to show off his pipis. “Grrr! Roar! Who’s the man? I am!” he says.

“Dylan, what are you doing?” I ask suspiciously.

“Aaaaahhhh, go away Jaiden!” he squeals and slams the door in my face.

“Gross!” I shout as I run away.

… Dylan His room is filled with the smelly stench of an eight-year-old boy. Books are strewn across his dressing table, clothes hang out of his draws, and toys are scattered across the floor. His fabulous artwork lines the walls, torn bits of paper lay everywhere, and bits and pieces from a recently dismantled object are scattered in the corner.

His terribly made bed sits in the middle of the room, and towels hang off the door, still wet from his last shower. A multi-coloured kite flies from his ceiling and board game pieces can be found in all sorts of weird places. Don’t even look under his bed!

Dylan has a great life being a try hard model, a gardener, a boy who adores his clothes, someone who is very, very scared of spiders and perhaps someone who is going to have to spend a whole day cleaning up his room. That’s my brother. I have warned you about him, but that’s just him, and you can’t change that!

And as you can see he loves his animals.

Written by Jaiden Dombroski

LAWS ARE IMPORTANT Have you ever wondered what would happen if laws didn’t exist? What a crazy mixed up world it would be. I strongly believe that laws are important. Without laws, murders, stealing, and speeding on our roads would become common.

No one would be safe.

Firstly, everyone’s lives would be in danger and criminals would be free to commit murder if there were no laws. In 2009/2010 there were 65 murders in New Zealand and that was with laws; imagine the number without laws! If people lost their temper on the street, just imagine how far it could go!

Murders in our streets! Unthinkable!

Secondly, without laws stealing would become a common activity in our neighbourhoods. If you left the door unlocked by accident, or maybe left the window open, it would be bye-bye valuables. All this stealing would have a devastating effect on people’s happiness. No one would bother with things like games, books, or laptops because thieves would help themselves. No laws, no stuff!

Thirdly, we have laws to stop people speeding – 50km areas and 100km areas – anything over this and you are breaking the law. Without laws people could speed and cause serious injuries. Recent research shows that in 2009, speeding caused 113 deaths, 516 serious injuries and 1,945 minor injuries. It’s like there are no laws already! Crazy!

I strongly believe that laws are important. Without laws, murders, stealing and speeding would become common and there’s no way anybody would like that! So come on, listen to me and let’s all obey the law!

Written by Emma Campbell

That Was Summer Remember that time When you heard Mr Whippy’s song And you rushed out to buy an ice cream And you had to wait in a queue of children forever?

Forever?

Then you were licking an icy cold snow freeze And it was dripping down you chin.

The ice cream was slowly dribbling onto the front of your t-shirt and making puddles on the hot concrete.

That was summer.

Remember that time When you were racing around at lunchtime Desperate to get the soccer ball into the goal Before the school bell rang?

Then you had to go inside to do reading Long, hot reading.

Your cheeks were dark pink And salty beads of sweat ran down your face And there was no escape from the heat.

That was summer.

Have you ever heard summer?

Sure you have.

Remember that time When you were at the beach And a crowd of sea gulls were circling overhead and screaming out their cries as they landed on the shore?

And remember the sound of the rustling of waves as they crashed in and receded back out to sea?

And all the people chatted, shouted and laughed Remember how loud it was?

That was summer.

And if you try really hard Can you remember that time When you were sucking on a juicy piece of pineapple And it dripped down your chin as you bit into it?

And after you were finished your hands were all sticky And tiny, stringy pieces of pineapple were stuck between your white teeth?

Remember how hard it was to pull them out?

But you didn’t care because it tasted cool and delicious?

And as soon as you were finished you were desperate to eat more.

That was summer.

Written by Maia Barbuzza

My Little Sister Kelly Kelly, my little sister, has brown hair with golden streaks that shimmer in the afternoon sun while she plays. Her hair reaches her shoulders and at the ends it twists into small blond curls. Tiny freckles scatter across her nose and nearly reach up to her hazel eyes. Her eyes grow bigger when she cries and smaller when she laughs, and her cheeks glow bright red when she races around, which is her usual pace. Kelly is only a short girl, but she thinks she is nearly as tall as me. “Yeah right!” I say. Kelly loves fashion and looking cool in front of her friends. She likes to wear colourful skirts, colourful t-shirts and her favourite black, knee-high boots.

When we are at home, Kelly always hangs around me. She sticks to me like super glue that will never break and is such a pain, so I always say, “Leave me alone!”

Then Kelly runs to Mum and says, “Sophie hit me and choked me!”

I yell back, “No I didn’t, Kelly is lying!”

Kelly screams, “Yes you did!”

So Mum says, “Kelly, go to your bedroom and you too Sophie!”

Sometimes Kelly drags me into her room and gets me to play games with her.

But when she turns up the music I say, “I’m going now.” Although Kelly is really small, she is super speedy and she always catches up to me. “Run!” Kelly says, but at the same time her hand reaches out, grabs my hoddie, and pulls me down. I fall. Kelly is so cheeky sometimes.

Whenever Kelly is around her friends, she is always sweet and charming. She likes her friends and they like her, but when she is around me she can be very mean sometimes. She kicks me, chases me around, and makes me do things her way. I scream at the top of my voice and say, “I want to do things my own way!” Then Kelly starts to cry louder than you can imagine.

Kelly’s room, her sweet smelling room, contains one bed with a roll out bed underneath (both are perfectly made), an out of this world laptop, and one hundred thousand soft toys. Everyone wants to go into Kelly’s bedroom and she always says, “Sit down or dance around!” However, if anyone gets caught sneaking into her room if she’s not there, you better watch out because she will growl.

Even though Kelly is cheeky and a bit mean, I wouldn’t change her one bit.

Written by Sophie Lewis

Lift the driving age.

Have you ever thought about the driving age in New Zealand? Well I have and I strongly believe it should increase from 15 to 18 years. From terrible crashes and an awful amount of deaths, to illegal customised cars, the government has to make a move!

Firstly, let’s consider the huge amount of terrible crashes on our roads.

Worldwide the average amount of deaths from crashes each year, ranges between 12,000 and 17,000 deaths. That’s unbelievable! In New Zealand, 2009 was a bad year. There were 100 fatal crashes and 361 serious injury crashes. And it is preposterous how many of these happen as a direct result of the actions of young people. From the year to end January 2010, 47 15-24 year old drivers in this country were killed. That’s more people than I have in my class! Young kiwis have a 60 per cent higher death rate on the roads than young Australians, whose driving age ranges between 16 – 18 years. That’s all the proof we need to raise the driving age!

Secondly, think about the illegal performance parts young boy racers buy. There is a part called nitrous oxide, which with the touch of a button, injects a mixture of gases into the fuel and immediately speeds up the car. Then there’s customised suspension, which can be really dangerous if you don’t drive carefully. One wrong nudge or turn and that’s it, you crash. Young boy racers enjoy doing this to their cars and they are often the ones speeding and crashing. It’s crazy! Perhaps if they were older they would behave in a more mature way on our roads.

By now, it should be clear that the driving age should be raised to 18 years. All the terrible crashes and devastating deaths, as well as all the illegal alterations carried out on cars owned by young boy racers, point to the fact that 15 is way too young to be driving a car. There can be no doubt that we absolutely have to lift the driving age to 18!

Written by Luke Brooker

Tasha is my 22 year old big sister. Her hair is black, with caramel streaks running through it and she wears it slicked back into a bun. Tasha likes to wear tight, black, denim jeans with her big, black jacket. She also wears her precious purple and white shoes. I really like those shoes and sometimes I have a go at wearing them.

But she always catches me and that really sets her off. “Santana take them off now!” she yells at me until I decide to give them back. Tasha’s eyes are dark brown, which perfectly matches her brown, tanned skin. People only get to see her smile sometimes, usually when I’m being funny. Although Tasha is older than me, I’m nearly as tall as her. I tease her and say, “Hey shortie!”

She just ignores me and says, “Whatever.”

Sometimes I think Tasha doesn’t like me very much. She says that I’m always getting in her business and she tells me to go away. When I’m up late playing on the computer, she checks the time and says, “Shouldn’t it be your bedtime?” I get really annoyed with her and she gives me a cheeky smile that makes me madder than ever!

Tasha loves facebook and she’s always on the computer. And if she’s not on the computer she’s listening to her iPod. She loves my brother Rhys and she buys him the best clothes ever. I think she does it to make me jealous. Playing netball is the best thing my sister and I love to do, but she always gets the ball off me. “I win!” Tasha says.

“Wanna play again?” I ask.

“Nah.” “Let’s play two-square then?”

“Okay,” she replies. I am the best at playing two-square and Tasha needs a bit more practice, so she gives up easily.

Tasha basically lives in her room at her Dad’s house. Her pink sequinned lamp sits alongside her draws and a large pink duvet covers her bed. She absolutely hates it when I go into her bedroom so I never dare to go in there.

Tasha is stylish, she loves facebook and playing netball with me. Perhaps she might even give me her purple and white shoes one day … yeah right.

Written by Santana Taniwha

My Dad My Dad Claudio is an active, outdoors kind of guy. We run around and play together all day; we chase each other until we are too tired to run anymore. Dad’s got big, brown, dark eyes and when I was little everyone told me my eyes looked just like his. A three-day black, grey, bristly stubble often hangs on his chin, and gives away the fact that he is in his fifties.

Dad’s hair is black and straight with a bald patch on top, so he usually shaves it all off.

Sometimes, he lets it grow for a couple of weeks until it gets to be about one centimetre long. Then he cuts it all off again. Dad’s loose shirts rest lightly on his back. His belt holds up his warm winter pants and his favourite cap always sits by his bed, ready to go for a ride over his bald patch.

Surfing at Raglan – that’s my Dad’s favourite hobby.

Positioned on his surfboard, his feet gripping to the hard surface, his arms swinging around to take him in different directions, and his eyes fixed in front. Dad makes Mum and I wake up at eight o’clock in the morning, just so he won’t miss the best waves. “Hurry up sleepy heads,” Dad says. “We want to get there in time don’t we?” Not really, I think. I would much rather go surfing around lunchtime. Mum and I watch Dad from the car and laugh because we think he looks like a surfing gorilla.

Dad repairs surfboards too and I have to say, he does a pretty good job of it.

People, especially other surfers, like being around my Dad because they have things in common to talk about and they like to organise stuff like when they will go out for their next surf. Dad says, “What’s up mate? Beautiful day today ah? Do you wanna go out for a surf?”

“Yeah mate, could do next week.”

“Alright, see you next week!” Dad says.

“Yeah, see ya bro!” his friend replies.

He’s always organising stuff with his friends.

Dad likes reading too. He enjoys lying on our old, red couch, holding onto one of his thick novels. He always gets tired and after a little while he falls asleep. Dad also likes spending time with his family and especially playing with me. “I’m gonna get you!” Dad says.

“Ahhhhh!” I shout as Dad catches me. I have heaps of fun with him.

Dad hates junk food. Every time Mum buys chips or chocolate he looks pretty annoyed.

And when we have takeaways he says, “Not fish ‘n’ chips again.”

“Come on Dad, we haven’t had them since last month!” I reply.

“Alright, but don’t eat too much. They’re bad for you if you eat too many. You don’t want to become a fatty, do you?”

I shake my head in agreement.

Dad also dislikes the swimming pool. I mean he loves to swim, but not the chlorine. He says it smells bad.

So that’s a bit about my Dad. I think he’s the best Dad you can get.

Written by Maia Barbuzza

Kaz is my little brother; we call him Kazzy. He’s four years old and he lives in his kindy clothes of little white sneakers, shorts and long sleeve tops. He wears funny colours like green jeans and sometimes he wears purple socks. Kaz has black vampire hair and cheeky brown eyes.

Like me, he got his Japanese looks from Mum, and his American looks from Dad. His olive skin tans in the summer sun.

Kaz loves playing dress ups, especially wearing girly dresses and pink high heels. On Halloween he wore fairy wings. It’s just not right. He says that if I break his skirt, he will scratch my face. For a little guy, he can be quite mean!

I have to share my bedroom with Kaz. I have all my cool toys, then Kaz invades the room with his girly-girly barbies and stuff. He pretends that he is the cutest kid on earth, but seriously he’s not. And if you think I’m used to it, I’M NOT! It’s surprising Kaz can fit in his bed because he has tonnes of teddies piled all over it. Sometimes I throw them on the floor because they smell like mould. He has pictures of Thomas characters on his sheets and he loves them. Kaz has lots of other toys spread all over our house. His blocks, toy trains and trucks, lie next to his laser pointers, masks and books.

Have I mentioned that Kaz is annoying? He sings Justin Bieber songs and he can’t stop singing the chorus. “Baby, baby, baby, oh!” he sings. I like it when he just sits at a table and plays with his Thomas trains. Quietly.

Kaz hates getting in trouble, and being called names. That makes him madder than ever!

Sometimes I annoy him just to get a reaction, but you should meet my big brother Tai. It’s like my brother is going to make Kaz’s head explode! One time Tai annoyed Kaz and he started crying. “Waah!” he wailed. Then Mum came.

“Tai, what did you do?!”

“Nothing!” my big brother lied, “Ko, did it.”

“WHAT!?”

“Ko, go to your room!”

“Aw!” So I’m in my room and my blood is boiling. Out of us three boys, Tai always gets his own way. It’s because he’s ‘the oldest.’

Sometimes I feel sorry for Kaz but mostly he’s just like an annoying little marble, rolling around on a little wooden desk, making annoying little sounds. But he’s always going to be my little brother and I guess I’ll always have to stick up for him, and that’s that.

By Ko Lohrer

Hay diving Most of all, we liked playing in the hay bales, in the red wooden shed, at the back of Grandad’s farm.

One day we played hide-and-go-seek through the loose piles of hay, built hay walls, but best of all we dared each other to jump into what we called the ‘Death Pit.’ It wasn’t really a Death Pit; it was just two levels of hay bales, shaped into a circle filled with hay. We kept jumping off level one until someone shouted, “Bet I can jump off level two and avoid hitting the floor!”

“Cannot!”

“Can so!”

“Cannot!”

“Can so!”

This went on and on until someone jumped off level two and got the glory. “Good going!” we all said.

Then the dust flew as Mum drove up and parked her purple SUV next to the barn. “Oh no!” I said, “Mum’s coming, hide!” We were having so much fun we had forgotten we had to be back at the house by 12 o’clock. I decided to make a run for it. I jumped and swerved to avoid lots of obstacles and I was only a couple of metres from the front door when I stopped to catch my breath. All of a sudden I felt a ‘plop’ from above. A gigantic bird poo landed right in the middle of my forehead!

“Yuk!” “Ha ha ha!” Everyone pointed and laughed at me as I walked off feeling embarrassed and angry.

But it wasn’t all that bad and later I loved to tell the tale of the day when I played in the barn, a bird pooped on my head and everyone laughed.

Written by Jordan Edwards

Now that we have Computers, We do not need books Just because we have computers that give us information about most things, doesn’t mean we don’t need books anymore. While you can look up most things on a computer, there are so many different types of books to read, and you can curl up with a great book anywhere you like. I know computers are fun, but so are books!

Firstly, there are so many different types of books to read and they are all so enjoyable. We can laugh at comedies and have our hearts broken in romantic stories. And if you join them together you can laugh and cry at the same time.

Maybe you can scream at a gruesome horror story, or get carried away in an awesome adventure story. Or perhaps you would like to read a novel, poetry collection or a picture book. And what about fairy tales, historical fiction or thrillers?

Computers simply can’t compete with all the great books there are to read!

Books are much more portable. I know you could go somewhere like the park with a laptop instead of a book, but what happens when it runs out of batteries. You say you could bring some but what happens when they run out?

Yes, but how many can you carry? Plus can you use a laptop on a plane? No! It messes with the plane’s technology. Books aren’t electronic so they are just fine to read at high altitude. And would you really want to snuggle up under your covers with a computer? Of course not!

By this time you have got to agree that just because we have computers, doesn’t mean we don’t need books. Think of the range of brilliant books there are to read and consider just how portable books are. Of course we need books – now, let’s get reading!

Written by Laetham Snowling

Marco Polo Most of all we liked playing Marco Polo. Our favourite place to play was in my parents’ room. There was only really three rules for this game – the tagger had to be blind folded; when the tagger said, “Marco,” everyone else had to say, “Polo,” and if you were tagged, you were it.

First we covered Brook’s eyes with a chiefs’ scarf. She was it. I scampered for the window, my favourite hiding place, and waited. Matt dived onto the bed, Holly dashed behind the computer and Joe crept onto the arm of the couch. For every step Brook took towards me, I leant further and further backwards, until my back was pressed up hard against the window. “Marco!” Brook shouted.

“Polo!” the rest of us replied.

Then the unthinkable happened. Just as Brook reached out to tag me, I fell straight through the window! The glass shattered and flew onto the hard concrete around me. The amazing thing was I had fallen nearly two metres, landed on my feet, and had escaped unscathed. The window however was completely smashed into tiny pieces, and fragments of glass lay around my feet. Even though I didn’t have a scratch on me, I think I was in shock. I was trembling but nothing had happened to me!

Slowly I picked my way through the glass and dashed back into my parents’ room. Everyone had heard the glass break, but no one had seen me fall or really knew what had happened. They all stood there and stared at me like I was from another planet.

“Another game?” I said, and everyone laughed.

Written by Sam Wallbank

A TORTUROUS RIDE The Fearfall at Rainbow’s End stretched high above me. I watched as people climbed into their seats and slowly it crept up, up, up into the air. It hung there for several torturous seconds and then it rushed straight down to the ground. I was next.

I felt like I would be locked inside my tight harness forever. My hands gripped tightly around the bars, my teeth clamped together and wind rushed through my hair, as my seat lifted high into the sky. My stomach felt empty. I looked down and saw people scurrying around like little ants. My face was red and I just wanted this to end. High above the ground, my legs swung back and forth. The voice inside my head kept repeating itself over and over again saying, “Just relax, calm down.” I closed my eyes and started to count. “One, two …”

I felt a slight pull … “three, four …” my heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest … “five, six …” I heard a click. I took a deep breath, squeezed the bars as tightly as I could, and in a flash, the tall Fearfall whooshed down to the ground. My stomach was left high in the air, and I felt like I was going to collapse!

After we hopped off I was dizzy and my eyes were watery. I knew I had conquered the Fearfall and I felt proud and brave. I had achieved something I thought I’d never do, but there was no way I was going on another ride. “No more!” I said, and everyone laughed.

Written by Santana Taniwha

A Smoke Free World Have you got someone in your family who smokes? If you have, you will understand how it feels to wonder if that person might be diagnosed with lung cancer, or if they will have a heart attack one day. Some people have started smoking when they are older, but the youngest smoker I have heard of is two years old, which is disgusting! Still only a tiny, growing child and at risk of cancer! There are many ways smoking affects our lives - from the money it drains away, to the shocking diseases and deaths it causes, and the bad influence it has on children. So, should cigarettes be taken off the shelves and never sold again?

Absolutely!!

Smoking is expensive. Most New Zealanders who smoke tobacco, smoke more than half a pack of cigarettes a day. If they quit smoking they would save at least $40 a week, or $160 a month.

Some New Zealanders feel that the economic recession is having an impact on their financial situation and smokers experience more financial stress than non-smokers. So quit smoking and save!

You will have lots of extra money to spend on other things!

One third of New Zealanders believe that the dangers of smoking have been exaggerated, however tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand. Between 4,300 and 4,700 New Zealanders die each year from a smoking related illness.

Second hand smoke is poisonous; it causes death and diseases, killing around 350 New Zealanders every year.

That’s one non-smoker a day dying from exposure to second hand smoke.

Deaths, diseases and deaths! Maybe, just maybe, you could be a cigarette’s next victim. If we all join together and help people to give up smoking or never to start, we could downsize the deaths.

Believe me when I tell you, some parents underestimate the level of influence they have over the decisions their children make about smoking. Parents’ smoking and their attitudes towards smoking are key influences in predicting whether children and young people will develop their parents’ habits. New Zealand research shows children who have a parent who smokes, are THREE TIMES more likely to become a smoker compared with those whose parents don’t smoke.

Parents are supposed to be responsible for their children, not a bad influence on them!

Please consider all the horrible things that happen when you smoke. Why start when you know the devastating problems you can cause for yourself and the people around you. Come on, think about the wasted money, the horrible diseases and deaths, and the bad influence smoking has on children. Why be a victim of all that when you can be someone who is smoke free and healthy.

Smoking, face the facts.

Written by Jaiden Dombroski

Grandma Although my Grandma Surjit is 62, she acts young and she’s GREAT! Her long, black hair is a mixture of grey, silver and white. Her eyes are black in the daylight but they turn hazel at night, and her skin is wrinkly with black beauty spots scattered all over her cheeks. She shuffles along and whenever she walks to her bedroom, it feels like it will take her half an hour to get there. Grandma wears a beautiful Indian salvar everyday. Her favourite ones are orange, blue and green because she wears these colours all the time.

When it is cold, she wears long cotton pants and a woolly vest that she has sewn herself. Clearly Grandma doesn’t want to get dirty when she goes grocery shopping so she always wears a white coat over her clothes. I think the coat is dirty because she has had it for about 12 years and hasn’t washed it yet!

Sewing is what Grandma does all the time. It makes her feel great. Head down, fingers pulling the fabric through the machine, and her foot pressing gently on the pedal. She doesn’t just sew for herself. She sews shirts for my cousins, pants for my brother, and boxers for me. Grandma also makes up weird sandwich combinations. Her craziest one had butter, apricot jam, chips, and sundried tomatoes. Grandma said, “Just try it, you might like it.”

But I said, “No way!”

Grandma is a bit of a hazard on the road. She doesn’t mean to, but sometimes she drives through a red light. We shout, “Stop Grandma!” but she acts like she doesn’t hear us.

What does Grandma dislike? That’s easy. She hates loud noises. When I watch television she always yells, “Turn the volume down to seven.”

“Okay,” I sigh. But when the volume is down to seven, I can hardly hear the TV, so I slowly put it up one by one – eight, nine, ten, eleven - until she shouts at me again.

“Hey, put the volume down! I can see what you’re doing!”

When I come home from school I always find Grandma in the same place – upstairs in the lounge. She loves the quiet space and spends lots of time resting on the comfy sofa or watching television. Her special ornaments from India sit on the shelf where she can admire them. Grandma always says, “Give me a hug little darling!” so I give her a quick one. She kisses me and her red lipstick stains my cheek for the rest of the afternoon.

I love my Grandma no matter what. Even if she wears the same white coat day after day, makes weird food and is a hazard on the road, she’s special and great.

Written by Aman Sagoo

Let us climb trees Woodstock Primary School is surrounded by trees - big ones, small ones, native ones - you name it, we’ve got it. These trees loom overhead, begging us to climb up their tall trunks and swing playfully from their strong branches. But are we allowed to climb them? NO! Just imagine what we could do if tree climbing wasn’t banned. We could be active, take risks, build confidence and of course HAVE FUN! But all we are allowed to do is stand there and stare at them. It’s ridiculous!

For a start, the trees’ tall branches would provide us with another way of keeping fit and active. By pulling ourselves up we would improve our upper and lower body strength. Our busy arms would grip onto the branches while our strong bodies would cling onto the trunks.

The fitness benefits would be amazing!

Believe me when I tell you that some children are lacking in a lot of confidence and haven’t had a taste of what ‘risky’ play really is. According to recent educational research, caregivers can harm their children’s development if they ban activities like tree climbing.

Children need to experience what it means to take a risk; it’s how we learn. Climbing trees can actually help us!

As you know, climbing trees is a great source of FUN! And it’s free. Good free fun; what parent doesn’t want that? Kids love to explore the treetops and have adventures in the outdoors. Having fun all day long and feeling the fresh breezes blowing against our young faces is the best. At the end of the day we love to come home and tell stories about how high we climbed in the trees. It’s the best fun!

You must agree that climbing trees can improve our fitness, give us confidence and you guessed it, provide us with loads of free fun! Us kids are begging to be allowed to climb trees and you simply can’t ignore us!

Written by Litara Allan

Books Versus Computers Have you ever thought that all we need to have a happy life is computers?

THINK AGAIN! Computers are not good value for money, kids need books to learn to read, and unlike computers, books can be enjoyed anywhere, anytime, anyplace. I strongly disagree that computers should take the place of books. We need computers, but we absolutely need books too.

Have you ever wondered what happens when you buy a laptop? Your wallet gets lighter that’s what! The average laptop costs about $2000, while the average picture book costs about $15. Clearly there is a price difference. I seriously believe that books are better value for money, don’t you? Come on now, you definitely get more books for your buck!

Now, think of the children. It is most likely that kids would not learn to read using a computer. Children need to hold books in their hands to learn to read. They need to turn the pages, point to the words, and sound out the letters—it’s that simple. No books, no reading!

People can take a good book anywhere. Imagine snuggling up in bed to read a great book or relaxing on holiday with your favourite novel. Now swap ’book’ with ’computer’, it’s just not the same is it? People always get frustrated and angry when their computers stop working, don’t load or they get a virus in them. A virus in a book? Impossible!

Books are loved all around the world. They are treasures that last forever.

Can we really say the same about computers? Loved? Treasures? Not so much. I strongly believe that we need books as well as computers. Books are great value for money, children need them to learn to read and you can read a book anywhere you like. Books will be around forever!

Written by Daisy Bunting

SCOTT, MY DAD Scott, my Dad, has jet-black hair, which he wears slicked back, and his goatee beard hangs neatly under his chin. This is because he ties it with a rubber band. He has dark brown eyes and very lightly tanned skin. Dad works at Acorn Building Supplies and his uniform is a green t-shirt with two yellow stripes on the sleeves, a logo on his chest and a pocket on the other side. He also wears cargo pants, with one million pockets. Lucky for Dad, I polish his black shoes every morning.

When he’s at work, Dad usually walks around with a happy expression as he inspects the stock. And when he’s in a bad mood he yells, “I have to do everyone’s work around here!” Dad spends ages at his desk, which is covered in worksheets and papers and his ‘work’ computer. He has a hole built into his office so he can see if a customer is coming to ask for something. Sometimes I get to go to work with Dad. He loves this and always lets me take his shiny, black playstation 3. He enjoys having spare time at work because then we play pass outs in the stockyard. Sometimes our ball gets caught on the flat roof and I have to get it by climbing up on the plywood. Although it takes him ages, Dad loves to cook. His food tastes delicious and it’s well worth the wait. His favourite food is lasagne and we both love it. His other favourite food is lamb chops – Dad loves his meat!

To me, Dad is a great person but some people are wary around him, and I don’t see why.

He dislikes mean customers and tells them to leave or they’ll have to pay extra for everything.

They say that my Dad can’t do that. “I will never let people be rude to me,” he says. I don’t understand my Dad when he rants on about the government trying to find new ways to fine us. He tells me, “If you ever become part of the government, tell them to stop fining us!”

And since I don’t want to disappoint him I say, “Okay Dad, whatever you say.”

Dad is an awesome father. Usually he’s really cool but sometimes he can be very strict, especially when I accidentally knock over one of his speakers. Sometimes he loses his temper at the cat because she is always meowing around his legs. The cat thinks my Dad’s sole purpose in life is to feed her and as soon as he stands up, she meows and meows until he yells, “I fed you two minutes ago!”

I would never change my Dad one bit but to make him happy I would like to change the Government thing!

Written by Laetham Snowling

That was summer...

Have you ever felt summer?

Sure you have.

Remember that time When you were sprinting with the bat and nearly scored a run but someone hit the wickets with the ball?

Then the bell rang and you had to go inside and do maths for half and hour with no open windows or fans.

You were boiling and your face was red.

So red.

That was summer.

Remember that time When you went to Raglan beach And a giant wave charged at you and salt water shot into your mouth?

You fell down and the wave crashed against your body.

I was laughing so much that I started coughing And we had the best time ever.

That was summer.

Remember that time When you and I were fighting over the strawberries And suddenly Mum squirted me straight down the back of my t-shirt with the hose And I screamed so loud at the top of my lungs that my neighbours heard?

I squirted Dad and he squirted his cousin and his cousin squirted Mum’s brother Until the backyard was full of water being sprayed and squirted in all directions.

You hid under the stairs but you stayed hot.

We were soaking wet and cool, cool, cool.

That was summer.

If you try very hard Can you remember that time When you desperately needed a swim?

Mum was too busy to take you to the pools and you got so mad you were about to erupt like a volcano!

Finally Mum gave in And do you remember the moment you charged right into the cold water and it swallowed you up?

You were so happy you smiled for the rest of the day.

That was summer.

Written by Aman Sagoo

Granddad Edward My Granddad Edward lives in England and only comes to visit us in New Zealand once a year, for about five weeks at a time.

Granddad has hardly any hair, but when it does grow longer he pulls it to one side like a comb-over. His hair is white, thin and straggly, and it often sticks up, so he hides it under his favourite cap. Whenever he goes out he puts on his big, black, fluffy jacket and fitted shirt, which he tucks neatly into his grey trousers. His shoes are smart, black leather. Although he looks kind of boring, when you get to know him he’s a really cool guy.

Although Granddad is a fully-grown man, he acts like a little kid sometimes. He is always on his laptop playing games. When he loses he shouts, “Yes, yes, no, no, no!”

And when he is in the mood to chat, we create cool raps and crack jokes. The rest of the time, Granddad goes shopping for wine or sits by himself and does his crossword puzzles.

Granddad also loves sleeping. He says it makes him smarter and taller, like a giant.

“I’m going to bed right now!” he says every night at 9.30. When he wakes up in the morning, he’s really grumpy if there’s no cereal that he likes. He shouts at my Dad, “James, get some real cereal, not these unhealthy Coco-pops!”

Granddad’s a really aggressive driver and whenever someone does the slightest thing wrong he shouts, “Oh you total waste of time!” Sometimes the other drivers hear him and it’s so embarrassing.

Whenever Granddad’s wrong he storms off and mutters strange angry words to himself and when he comes back into the room he’s silent and doesn’t talk to anyone.

My Granddad has a bunch of different personalities.

Some people think he’s funny but he can be really offensive. One time he said to my Dad’s friend, “You’ve got a strange face don’t you think?” She stormed off and my Dad was really angry with him. When visitors are at our house he doesn’t talk to them much, he just watches television and when they ask him a question he mutters, “Yes … aha …” and we know he’s not really listening.

The living room is where Granddad loves to be. Sudoku and brain twister books lay scattered all over the sofa and his half read newspaper sits on the floor next to his shoes and socks. Nan says, “Oh Ed, tidy up this room of yours. It’s like a battle zone.”

So that’s my awesome Granddad. I wish I could visit him in England and he wishes he could live with us in New Zealand.

Maybe one day.

By Luke Brooker

Children Watch Too Much Television They are rectangular and sometimes square, big and small, and they entertain kids and adults everywhere. Yes, that’s right, television, one of the things that occupy most households throughout the world. Although television is great for relaxing, often it teaches kids bad habits and bad language, it wastes parents’ money and it makes kids lazy. I strongly believe children should not be allowed to watch so much television and after reading my argument you will agree too.

Firstly television teaches kids bad habits and encourages them to develop bad language.

At school kids spend a lot of time talking about the violent television shows they watched the night before. This distracts them off task and as a result, they get into trouble and may even get bad grades. Children also pick up and use disgusting language thanks to shows like The Suite Life on Deck, Cory in the House, Zeke and Luther, and many others. When I was seven, my family had Sky but I started to pick up bad language so Dad cancelled it. I was really grumpy but now I know why he did it.

Secondly, parents spend lot of money buying televisions, My-Sky and TiVo and this is a big waste of money. When parents spend their money on these things, there is often very little money left to spend on other things. I know this because it happened to me once. Our family bought a 52 inch plasma television the same day a Lego Arc 107 Star Wars Star Fighter came out but we didn’t have enough money to buy it.

And finally kids who sit down watching television all day are often the kids who become inactive and over weight. Who would want to be like that? Kids gain weight from all the hours and hours they spend in front of the goggle box, eating Cheese Balls until the packet runs out or it’s bedtime.

So therefore, after reading this argument, it will be perfectly clear that children should not spend so much time watching television. Television teaches children to use bad language, it is a waste of money and it makes kids inactive and unhealthy. It is absolutely vital that children should stop watching so much television and get outside and play.

Written by Jordan Edwards

People Who Come to Live in New Zealand Should Forget About Their Culture Do you think that people who come to live in New Zealand should forget about their cultures? I strongly disagree! Without different cultures New Zealand wouldn’t be exciting. Cultural celebrations and different languages are a part of who we are and are a part of this country, and we shouldn’t let them go.

Firstly, all the cultures living here have unique cultural celebrations. I am part Indian and we have recently celebrated Diwali, a religious festival of lights. This celebration is about spending time with family and friends. It is so much fun and we love it. I helped Mum make lots of sweet treats; my favourite was bharfie. We lit candles, exchanged sweets and let off fireworks. We have to hold on to our cultural celebrations so they can be passed on for many generations. No one would want to lose these special, fun parts of their culture.

It is awesome to be able to speak two languages. Some people think you are lucky because you can speak another language so why should you forget it? Indian was the first language I learned and I love speaking it. At school it’s like I have my own secret code that no one else knows. I absolutely love this! My language is connected to me and I could never forget it. One language – how boring!

In conclusion, you must definitely agree that people who come to live in New Zealand should not forget about their culture. Our cultures bring us together with friends and family. We enjoy celebrating special cultural events and our different languages are a part of who we are. I love living in New Zealand because of all the different people that live here. Let’s celebrate who we are and hang on to what makes us special.

By Amol Prasad

BIRTHDAY DISASTER! Since Todd was my friend, he invited me, and five other kids, to his birthday party. After watching movies and playing free-for-all gun battles in the back yard (we finished at about midnight) Todd said, “We’d better go to bed,” and we all said, “Yeah!”

Todd told us where we had to sleep.

“Laetham, you can take the bunk hammocks.”

“Okay,” I replied. Usually everyone begged not to sleep on the hammocks, so I got to go on them but I didn’t mind one bit. The hammocks were green and were held up by poles in the middle of the room. I curled up inside my sleeping bag and snuggled down into my hammock. I thought they were great.

Soon everyone was asleep. At about four in the morning I awoke from a frightening dream. I jumped into the air and when I landed, the top hammock ripped and I fell straight through, landed on the bottom one and rolled until I ended up in a heap under a bed. “Uh, oof, ouch, ow!”

I said to myself. The floor under the bed was covered in toys and Lego!

As I clambered out, Todd woke up and said, “Hey, why did you rip my hammock?”

“I didn’t!”

“Yes you did!”

“No I didn’t!”

“Yes you did!”

Thinking fast I made up a story. “A possum crept into the room, thought the hammock was a huge log because my sleeping bag was brown, and started chewing on it.” But, of course, no one believed me and everyone laughed.

Written by Laetham Snowling

The Great Race Every Saturday I used to stay the night at my cousin’s house. We played playstation, soccer and force-back, but most of all we loved to ride our bikes around the roundabout. One day we planned to have a race - first to 20 laps wins.

The Great Race started on Sunday afternoon. I bagsed the blue Tarini bike because it had less grip on the tyres than the other bikes; perfect for drifting around the corners. That left Mana with the pink girly bike. A few minutes later, after taping the lap-line, the race began. Three, two, one, GO! I stared at Mana for a moment then pushed down hard on my pedals with all my might. I took the inside lane and that left Mana with the outside one. I was already on my 16th lap when disaster struck. There was no grip left on my tyres and when I turned to the left I flew straight into the curb at full speed. Tiny sparks flew into my face and I nearly swallowed them and my bike slid around and around. I scraped my elbow across the concrete and rolled onto my belly.

I cried for help. My elbow was bleeding and my face had a huge white mark on it with tiny specks of blood bursting through. My hands were pale and blood was starting to trickle out of each palm. My skin burned and I screamed with pain.

My cousin called his Mum; she grabbed her first aid kit from the car and cut up tonnes of big, sticky bandages. My Aunt poured freezing water all over my wounds and carefully covered them with the plasters.

A few hours later, after eating our lunch, I blurted out, “Another race? First to 20 laps wins!” And everyone laughed.

Written by Aman Sagoo

Nana Lois is my Nana and she lives in Sydney, Australia, in the middle of the city.

She wears work clothes all the time and looks as if she belongs on a laptop in an office. Her smart midnight black jacket hugs her waist and her black skirt hangs just below her knees. Clearly Nana looks like a typical hard working businesswoman. When she’s not working, Nana likes to wear her simple blue denim jeans and her millions of t-shirts and jackets. Her clear, blue eyes twinkle kindly at us kids and her hair sits neatly and tidily behind her ears. Nana walks with a fast pace but strangely enough, I’ve never seen her in a rush. She has a skin tone that is perfectly equal, just like my mothers.

However, she is a little bit shorter than my mother (and my Mum is quite short!) Nana has perfect posture; she always sits with her back as straight as a ruler.

Nana spends lots of time working at her office or skyping our family. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Nana says whenever I tell her something really interesting. Nana also enjoys sitting in her chair, in her apartment, watching TV. She lives on the seventh floor of her building, so her garden is on her balcony and her precious pot plants are crammed into every corner.

Inside, Nana has a huge bookshelf full of books and photos of family and friends.

Nana loves candles. She thinks they smell really nice and she puts them all around her apartment. “Mmmm my candles smell good enough to eat!” she says. Nana also loves and respects her family, especially Georgie and me.

“Oh!” Nana yells whenever she sees a spider. Nana hates spiders but she is definitely not a little old woman who is scared of creepy crawlies. She is strong and tough and when she sees one coming, she just whips out a can of insect repellant and deals to them.

So that’s my Aussie Nana. We look forward to visiting her and spending time with her in her city apartment.

Written by Emma Campbell

Summer is the Best Season of All New Zealanders end the year with the best season of all - SUMMER! The king. Summer falls between autumn and spring and is a time when kids play outside, we eat yummy summer foods and the temperature is hot, hot, hot! I strongly believe that summer is the best.

Firstly, who doesn’t like to play outside? Playing outside means climbing trees, swimming, running around, playing tag, grabbing the flag from the game, ‘Capture the Flag,’ shining your torch in a great game of spotlight and competing in endless rounds of beach volleyball. Is there anything more fun?

Secondly, in summer we eat the yummiest foods of all. We are practically always sucking on ice cubes and sipping cool orange juice, and we don’t need to eat warm stuff like porridge and stew. Yuk! We get to eat Pavlova, ice blocks, and ice cream! If you don’t like what I’m saying, you’re crazy!

And finally, the temperature in summer is super hot and no one wants to miss out on that! People moan and groan about how hot the temperature is but seriously, I’ve been to Japan a few times and it was BOILING! I felt like a sizzling sausage on the barbeque. So get used to it.

Slip on some sun block and slap on a hat. Hot weather means singlets, jandals, shorts and sunnies. When the temperature rises, it’s fine by me!

So, do you understand how badly I like summer? I know what you’re thinking - you’re thinking I’m crazy about summer and you’d be right. If it’s summer and you’re reading this, go outside and frolic around, enjoy the summer food and the hot, hot weather. You must agree with me about just how cool summer really is. Oops, I mean hot!

Written by Ko Lohrer

Best Dad Ever My Dad is very nice looking. His hair is short, black and rough and sometimes he has bristly stubble on his chin. I guess he would be in his forties or fifties by now. He’s got dark brown eyes and his forehead reflects the sunlight like a mirror. Dad wears his tidy, black Environment Waikato uniform to work everyday. Their little logo bobs up and down as he walks along; his shiny polished shoes and stripy, black tie complete his uniform.

Walking the dog is what Dad really loves to do. He strides out with the lead clutched in one hand, and the other hand swinging wildly back and forth. He also likes riding his bike at night, the handlebars squeezed by his tight grip and his bike lights flashing incredibly fast. He loves being outside in the fresh air and watching his rubber tyres speed across the smooth, grey road.

What does Dad dislike the most? He absolutely hates it when the sound is on during the ad breaks. He says, “Zap the ads!” and if we don’t, he zaps them himself. He thinks ads are a waste of time. Dad is a bit strict about doing things like homework, but that’s okay because he just wants us to learn more.

I love being around my Dad because he plays games with me. I absolutely love it when we play Top Trumps. This is a card game. Dad shuffles the cards and deals them out. It’s game on. I usually win, but sometimes I think he lets me.

Dad’s garage, his totally messy garage, is his favourite place in the world. It contains old road signs, rectangle wood planks, massive hammers, and loads of other stuff. His most prized possession is his hundred-year-old tin boat, with the paint half scraped off. Dad never cleans up his garage and its like a bomb has exploded in there!

Although he wears boring work clothes everyday and he hates the sound on while the ad breaks are on, he is really special to me and I think he is the best Dad ever.

Written by Euan Safey

Uniforms for New Zealand Students Do you think that New Zealand children should wear a school uniform everyday? I do and I am sure you will agree.

Uniforms make it easy to get dressed in the morning, they give kids a sense of identity and school pride and overall they are cheaper. Uniforms are the best!

Firstly, uniforms speed up the morning routine. At Woodstock School you can choose to wear the uniform or not. I don’t wear one and it takes me forever to decide what I am going to wear each day. I can’t wait to go to Fairfield Intermediate because I will just throw on my uniform and out the door I will go. It’s as simple as that.

Secondly, when you are wearing your uniform you get a sense of belonging to your school. People can’t be judged on what they are wearing and you can’t tell rich from poor, and that’s a good thing. When you can’t tell rich from poor, people don’t get judged. Wearing a uniform gives you a sense of belonging to your school. When you go on a school trip other people can tell what school you go to so you have to behave well because you want to be the best school.

When you are dressed in your uniform you feel a part of the school, like you are part of the same team.

Thirdly, wearing a school uniform saves money. way cheaper than buying five pairs of summer five pairs of winter clothes. Parents only have school uniform and maybe a physical education that is better value for money.

The cost is clothes and to buy one uniform and

In conclusion, I strongly believe that New Zealand students should wear a uniform. They make it easy to get dressed in the morning, students have a sense of belonging to their school and the cost is cheaper. Uniforms for New Zealand school children? Absolutely!!

Written by Sophie Lewis

Whaling Should Be Banned Have you ever seen a whale swimming free in the ocean? It is certainly one of the most beautiful sights in the world. But the world is not perfect and people kill whales for meat, fat, oil, leather and tools. It is completely cruel and unnecessary. Thousands of whales are slaughtered every year; these beautiful animals are becoming endangered, and whaling is breaking the ocean’s food chain. So should whaling be banned forever? Absolutely!

Firstly, the continuous slaughtering of whales is destroying the whale population. Even though whaling was banned in many countries 20 years ago, shockingly places like Iceland, Norway and Japan continue to hunt them.

About 1,400 whales are killed every year. The Japanese kill about a thousand of these saying it is for scientific research. It’s hideous! Whales are killed in bloody hunts and what do they kill them for? Nothing! They kill these wonderful creatures saying it is for research but really they sell their meat. Imagine if humans were caught and killed for ‘research’? Not good is it?

As a result, many species of whales are becoming endangered and that’s devastating. There are approximately 1,170,100 whales left in our oceans and if whaling continues this number will get smaller and smaller. Out of the 11 species of great whales, seven are endangered. Over 14 endangered fin whales have been killed since 2005. Just imagine a world without whales.

Killing whales is also destroying the ocean’s food chain. Whales eat plankton, walruses and seals. If we kill whales there will be too many seals, too many walruses and not so many fish. That’s a big problem!

Whales are magnificent creatures that swim peacefully in the world’s oceans. However, slowly and surely they are being slaughtered and are becoming endangered and the ocean’s food chain is also being destroyed. By now it should be clear that whaling must be banned and never heard of again!

Written by Maia Barbuzza

grandad Grandad wears his slippers a lot, which I don’t mind, but when he waits for me at his front gate wearing them, he doesn’t look like he’s ready to hit the town if you know what I mean. I see Grandad after school everyday. Often he is in his bed, with his brown fluffy rug lying over his knees, and Tatiana his cat, curled up beside him. A while ago he had hip surgery, which has made it difficult for him to get around and it’s also outlawed him from playing golf. I lie down beside him and we have a good yarn about my day.

Grandad’s warming smile hypnotises people into approaching him. As he shuffles along with a slight limp he looks kind of silly. Grandad towers over me as if he is a polar bear and I am a seal. His hair is silver, loose, and thin, and it refuses to touch his neck. His favourite light blue shirt covers his weather beaten upper body, and sometimes he puts on his old leather boots that look like part of a commando uniform, except shorter. He loves them.

Playing tricks, that’s what my Grandad loves to do. He has this one trick where he pokes his teeth out and rattles them. My little cousin Tilly tries to copy him but of course she never succeeds. He looks like a Loony Toons character going mental. His variety of other tricks include: telling stories with a twist, and telling me about his days when he was a pirate and a cowboy (yeah right!)

Grandad has lots of ‘famous’ quotes (well, famous in our family anyway). I’ll say, “Grandad you’re a moron!” and he says, “Yeah I am more on than off!”

Or I’ll say, “What do you know Grandad?” and he says, “A cow has four legs, the Pope is catholic and wears a pointed hat!” I laugh.

Are there things my Grandad dislikes? Of course there is. One of the things he hates the most is when his favourite Yankees baseball team loses a match. He totally flips his lid (on the inside that is) and mutters under his breath, “Gosh those red socks, they get on my nerves!”

Grandad may be a little bit odd but he’s my Grandad and you can’t change that.

Written by Sam Wallbank

BMX Bowl If I could, I would ride the hills at the BMX track again. My big brother Tai, my Dad and I loved to hang out there.

Tai always took off quickly down the track, and zoomed straight down the hill. Going, going, gone. Dad was begging me to go but I wasn’t so sure. I was shivering like I was freezing.

My heart was beating and my tummy sunk in. I took a big breath and slowly released the brakes. I rolled down the track fast! Everything whizzed past and wind rushed in my face. I zoomed over a bump and I said to myself, “This isn’t so bad.”

Then I started to go down again. I swished up, then down, then up, then down. There was a bowl that curved around and I was going to conquer it. I fixed my eyes on the track ahead, took another deep breath and pedalled hard. I zoomed around it. Yes! Before I knew it, I had finished the track and I was desperate to do it again. I rode down, up, down, up, down, and then the big bowl was right in front of me for the second time. I watched these teenagers lean right out on their sides as they flew around it. I tried to do what they did and I leaned out on my side too. Only I fell! I was burning and skidding on half my body. Blood poured out, and the smell of iron was surrounding me. I stumbled to my feet and everywhere hurt. My body was warm.

Dad and Tai ran over to me .. Dad put a bandaid on my sore shin and Tai said, “Man that was a gnarly wipe out!” Dad said we had to go home so I limped over to the car. We put our bikes in the boot, and shut the trunk.

Like I said though, if I could, I would go back and have another go at that track any day.

Written by Ko Lohrer

Treasure Hunt The beach was the perfect spot for collecting shells, sunbathing, fishing and all that beachy stuff. But for us kids, that was boring.

What we loved to do was go on one of our famous crab hunts.

Sneaky, brown crabs scuttled amongst the washed up seaweed; they were tossed and turned until eventually they became tangled up in it. My cousins, my sister and I would spend hours and hours searching for those little rascals. We tiptoed from rock to rock, hole to hole, trying desperately to find our treasure. And if we were lucky, we found some massive ones. Sometimes we would pretend we were Steve Irwin seeking out the deadliest creatures on the planet. We would dart quickly around the crabs, trying to avoid their vicious nippers.

One day my cousin caught a crab that was much larger than mine and he went on and on about it until I got so annoyed that I tackled him onto the cold, wet sand.

“My crab is bigger than your one!” he taunted.

“No way, mine is by far the biggest!” I answered back.

“No!” “Yes!” “No!” “Yes!” This went on and on until we were both covered in sand from head to toe. My sister broke us up by lifting a huge, heavy rock and rolling it onto our toes.

“Ouch!” I yelped.

“Ahhh!” my cousin screamed.

“Mary!!” we chorused together.

And everyone laughed.

Written by Litara Allan

That Was Summer Have you ever felt summer?

Sure you have.

Remember that time When you power walked along the boiling hot pavement and the warm breeze was brushing against your face?

The drinking fountains were crowded with thirsty children And you couldn’t be bothered waiting in line And the sun scorched down on your head.

The soles of your feet were getting sizzled by the hot, hot concrete.

Noisy flies buzzed past your face and tickled your red hot cheeks.

Remember how there was no shade?

That was summer.

Remember that time When you fought for control of the fan inside the hot classroom?

You pushed me out of the way to get the best breeze.

The fan caught its target – You were its target.

Everyone else in the class was sweating Including me.

That was summer.

If you try very hard Can you remember that time When you were sucking on a lime ice-block And you got green stains all over your white singlet?

Puddles of green juice splattered onto the grey concrete And evaporated quickly Leaving tiny, sticky patches for ants to feast on.

And whenever you finished, you went straight back to the freezer to get another one and another one And then they were all gone?

That was summer.

Written by Euan Safey

Lanna My Nana’s name is Elaine but for some reason (which I don’t know), we call her Lanna.

Lanna’s skin is a vanilla colour with freckles sprinkled across her nose. She spends a lot of time styling her spiky grey hair. Her favourite outfit is her aqua blue dress and she likes to tuck a daffodil into her pocket.

Lanna likes cooking. She especially loves cooking peas, kumara and carrots - basically any vegetable. Very, very occasionally, she cooks my favourite meat, roast turkey.

When she opens the oven door a delicious smell escapes and makes my taste buds go wild. I wait very impatiently for the tasty, light brown meat to depart from the oven and straight into my mouth. Yummy.

Lanna also likes gardening. She has tons of flowers and vegetables all around her huge, green backyard. If you had a device that could count all her flowers, I’m sure the results would be over nine hundred. Her daffodils, roses and tulips are the best I have ever seen. Lanna loves having lunch outside on her table set, where it’s warm and sunny. She’ll have a cup of tea, some bread and butter, and best of all, a long talk with my Mum. Lanna’s the most cheerful person on earth. In fact, I don’t think she really dislikes anything … apart from bugs that is. She’s like Voldemort to all the helpless little insects.

She thinks they nibble away on her most precious flowers and vegies.

Whenever it’s time for us to go home, and we are just about to exit Lanna’s driveway, we listen out for her to shout, “Wait, you forgot Jordan’s shoes!” or, “here’s your doll Molly!” Every time we leave we always forget something different and Lanna chases after us.

So that’s my lovely Lanna. She’s very stylish, a great cook, an amazing gardener, and our special Grandma.

Written by Jordan Edwards

yes like an eagle Most of all, my friend Kalib and I loved to lie on the flat roof above our shed. Even though we knew we weren’t allowed up there without supervision, it was our favourite spot to chill out. We didn’t care what punishment was dished out to us.

One time we raced to the back of the shed and climbed the ladder with our bare feet. Kalib dragged the mattress, while I carried the snacks and drinks. We lay on the soft mattress and looked up at the empty sky.

Every minute the sun got hotter and hotter; it felt like we were lying on lava. Our feet rested on the tin roof and we had to keep jiggling them around so they didn’t burn. As we looked into the distance, invisible heat waves danced before our eyes.

We munched on our favourite salsa flavoured corn chips, and the sun beamed straight down on us until Mum caught us up there and shouted, “Get down!� “No!� I replied. “Get down!� “Please let us stay!� “No, get down now!�

This went on and on until eventually we gave up. Silently we climbed down, dragging the mattress, food and drinks along with us. Mum called us in for lunch, yum!

Afterwards Kalib and I tried to climb back on the roof but Mum caught us again. She had eyes like an eagle. I stormed off, mumbling to myself about being ten years old and having no say. “It’s not fair!� I shouted and Mum said, “You can go up there when you’re old enough to paint it!�

And everyone laughed.

ritten y mol

Max-a-Million Max is two and a half and he’s my little brother. Although his wispy, golden hair is blonde like his mum’s, he looks a lot like his Dad. Clearly he has his Dad’s cheeky grin – big, wide, and happy. He’s got bright blue eyes and pudgy little hands that remind me of pool balls with fingers on the end. We all love his chubby cheeks, his chubby little arms and his chubby toes. His little tummy pokes out from his t-shirts and everyone can’t resist tickling him under the chin.

Most of his jeans are worn out, but he takes no notice. He insists on wearing shirts with pictures and logos on them, and for shoes, he wears The Wiggles gumboots that have holes in them (surprise, surprise!) Because of the holes, he hardly ever wears socks. He is still in his nappy stage and like his tops, the nappies have pictures on them.

Running. I think that’s his favourite hobby. With his sneakers flying in the wind and his face bulging, he zooms by. His other hobbies include: bouncing on the trampoline, watching The Wiggles and trying to impress my sister Penny and me.

That boy is what I call, ‘Max-the-Ball-of-Energy’ or ‘Max-a-Million,’ because he loves doing millions of things.

Scream, shout, scream. Max loves to yell because when he yells, he usually gets what he wants. Everyone ends up yelling just because Max wants a bikkie.

Max stamps his feet and shouts at his Mum Kharyn, “Mama have bikkie?”

Kharyn shouts, “No Max we don’t have any left!”

Clearly Max can be annoying sometimes. At other times he’s very cute and everyone coos, “Aww!” or “You’re so cute Max.” Although Max is a ball of energy, he ALWAYS stops to watch The Wiggles. While I’m watching TV, he asks me if he can watch his programme and he does his cute act. “Please Daisy, please?” he begs. And do you know what? He wins.

And when it’s time for me to go, Max makes it hard for me to leave. “No Daisy!” he shouts. That Max-a-Million is a ball of energy all right.

Max talks non-stop from morning till night. He talks about what he sees and strangely these things sometimes magically appear. For example, he was talking about Mr. Whippy and then Mr. Whippy came. Another example is machines. Max loves machines but mostly planes and guess what? “Plane, plane!” he shouted and a plane flew overhead.

His crib, his crinkled, messy crib is Max’s favourite place. It’s piled high with blankets, one dummy, his one-eyed piggy and at least five machines that have wheels. Fifty-five percent of his toys make loud noises and when I come in, it is the one place I wish I had worn the best earmuffs in the world!

So Max can be annoying, cute, maddening, everything! brother and we love him to bits.

But he’s my little

Spring is the most glorious season of all. It’s the season filled with joy, happiness and new life. Spring has perfect temperatures great for inside play and outside play - and it’s the season of growth. Spring is the supreme season!

Firstly, spring has sensational weather – not too hot and not too cold. Cool breezes rush through our hair, while the sun shines down. On cooler days you can lie inside and watch a DVD, and on hotter days you can play a great game outside. No doubt about it, spring weather is perfect!

Secondly, the spring months bring new life. Trees sprout new leaves and stretch high into the sky, baby lambs nibble fresh, wet grass, and beautiful daffodils burst open. And there is nothing more wonderful than hearing, once again, the sweet chirping of birds on a fresh spring morning. You don’t get that at any other time of the year do you?

Obviously you must now believe that spring is the most sensational season of all. The temperatures are just right for spending time inside and outside, and little animals, trees and flowers begin to grow again. Without a doubt, spring reigns supreme over all the other seasons!

By Santana Taniwha

I gripped onto the metal rail attached to the staircase of my doom. The screamer loomed over top of me, begging me to be his next victim. I knew Kieran would tease me if I didn’t go down, but I was trembling with horror at the thought of the long, twisting waterslide.

Slowly, I stepped onto the cold stairs. I climbed faster and faster, and then froze on the spot. I ran back down, and my heart was beating so fast. Dad came up to me and said, “C’mon Lukey boy, you can do this.” So together we walked up the never-ending staircase and finally we reached the summit of the tall tower. It was completely empty, no line at all, and the long, green slide stretched out in front of me. “I can’t do this, yes I can, no I can’t, yes I can, I have to!” I said to myself.

I crept towards the entrance and the man said, “First time buddy?”

“Yep,” I mumbled.

Slowly I lowered myself onto the green waterslide and my head felt like it was going to explode. Dad lay on the slide beside me. “Goodbye earth!!” I shouted as I released my grip.

The wind blew in my face and I was going as fast as a bullet. I was a rocket coming into land, plummeting down, down, down and finally I hit the pit of water. My nose filled with a sudden surge of chlorine, my eyes stung, my back ached, but luckily it was all over.

I stumbled out of the water and high fived my Dad. Fleur, my Dad’s girlfriend, was there to pat me on the back too. As we walked back into Waterworld, Fleur and Dad said, “Doing it again Luke?”

“No way!!” I shouted.

And everyone laughed.

Written by Luke Brooker

THAT WAS

SUMMER!!!

Have you ever tasted summer?

Of course you have.

Remember that time When you were sent to the strawberry patch To pick some for later but you sneakily ate five of the biggest, juiciest ones?

You couldn’t resist because they looked so mouth watering.

All the juice stained your mouth and stuck to your fingers And you coughed and gagged on the seeds.

Remember how you threw the little green tops onto the ground?

That was summer.

Remember that time When we were waiting for my Uncle to stop the speedboat so we could catch our dinner?

We hooked stinky octopus bait on the lines and cast them into the ocean And we sat down and waited and waited and waited.

Remember how I pushed you into the sea?

The cold, salty sea?

When you clambered back into the boat you were mad Mad enough to chuck bait at my head but it missed!

So I picked it up and chucked it into your laughing mouth.

You spluttered and spat out the putrid tasting octopus tentacle.

Remember how hard we laughed?

That was summer.

Written by Laetham Snowling

The Amazing Race The competitors position themselves on the metal stools, The anxious girl seeks out the edge of the pool, Bends her knees, Lifts her arms beside her ears, Clasps her hands together, Fixes her eyes on the finish line, Leans forward, Breathes, And dives.

The water, Connects with her pointed fingertips, Slides up and over, Splashes, Bubbles, Waves, Dances, Wobbles, Until it seems like it must be pulling her backAnd then And then And then She stretches out every muscle in her body, And slams her hand on the concrete wall, Victory!

Written by Maia Barbuzza

Summer is the Best Season of All Is summer the best season of them all? Absolutely! There is no doubt about it. The weather is just right, there are lots of activities to do, and the food is irresistible at that time of the year. Why would you want it to be any other season?

Firstly, the weather in summer is just right – nice and warm. The light blue sky spreads on forever and the hot, hot sun beams down onto the earth. Perfect. There is very little rain so you’re not stuck inside playing playstation all day long. Instead you can play outside in the bright, warm sunshine. The best thing about summer is that you get to wear all your summer clothes like baggy shorts and t-shirts, and these keep you cool, cool, cool.

Secondly, in summer you NEVER get bored. There are lots of activities to do like water polo, playing at the beach and swimming at the pools. There are cricket matches to be played and points to be scored in tennis. These sports keep you fit and healthy, not stuck inside playing on the computer and gaining weight.

Thirdly, the food in summer is the best. There’s fresh fish, golden peaches and ripe red strawberries, as well as ice blocks and soft drinks to keep you cool. You can’t say no to any of that!

It is perfectly clear that summer is the best season of them all. The weather is stunning, there is a great range of sports to get outside and play, and summer foods are irresistible. All this adds up to – SUMMER, THE BEST SEASON OF THEM ALL! Written by Aman Sagoo

My Bedroom...

Bright yellow light illuminates the darkness.

Yellow walls protect me, like enormous pillars.

Bouncy white bed sits on the fluffy carpet, waiting in anticipation for my bedtime.

Two cuddly cushions lie strewn across the puffy duvet and three white pillows stand in a row, impossible to keep neat.

Warm cotton blankets grip my body like a cosy polar bear cuddling me.

Fifteen soft, fluffy teddy bears gaze around my room, hoping they’re the one.

White wooden wardrobe holds piles of winter blankets.

Skinny pink phone rings, yay, it’s my Dad! I look on, I love my bedroom, My favourite place.

Written by Jaiden Dombroski

David John Allan – that is his name. He’s a lawyer by day, a music producer by night, a family man, a rugby maniac, and a creative genius.

Although Dad loves to wear jeans and a tatty, old t-shirt, when it’s time for work he puts on his smart, black suit and matching shoes. His soft, brown curls grow in a remarkably short time and Mum always says he needs a haircut. One time his hair grew so much that he looked a bit like Shrek the Sheep. His tight curls looked as if they were corkscrews or crispy noodles.

When spare time finally comes, Dad is always on for a game of Monopoly. Paper money crinkles and silver tokens plonk onto the board. Mum looks mischievously at Dad’s pile of money and tries to think up her next evil plan to bankrupt him. She’s after her fifth title and it’s game on. Dad is also known for lending a helping hand and he’s always caring towards others. He loves reggae music and has produced a zillion albums, which are played continuously in our house.

Dad hates bad refereeing and he shouts at the TV as if the Ref was actually there. “Oohh come on Ref, that was not a bad tackle!” he complains.

‘The Shed’ is Dad’s favourite place to hang out. Inside is where he can unleash himself and finally have some peace and quiet. Soulful paintings beam down and a collection of coke bottles rattle as he trips over them.

Every Sunday afternoon, when I compete in my flippaball games, Dad goes for a swim. He dives in with a splash, followed by a smooth arm stroke, then another and another. “He could have been a triathlete,” Mum says, gazing dreamily at Dad. “Wow Tara, who is that man? He looks like an amazing swimmer!” someone in my team says.

“Yeah I know,” I reply, “that man is my Dad.”

Written by Litara

Shoot Out! With two all trapped on the scoreboard, And ten seconds of extra time remaining, The tense boy waits in the corner, Squeezed by silence, Seeks out the ball, Wipes his sweaty hands along his uniform, Lines up the ball in the corner of the field, Takes one last look at the waiting goal-keeper, Shuffles a few steps back, Breathes, Runs forward, Connects with the ball, And through the stretching of stillness, Propels it upwards.

The ball Flies through the air at full speed, Climbs, Twists, Spins, Rolls, Curves just beyond the goal-keeper’s fingertips And then And then And then Right before the cheer, Slams into the net!

Written By Amol Prasad

That Was Summer Remember that time When you stole my turn on the yellow motorbike And the radiator broke and no one came to help you because it had stopped at the front of the house?

Five minutes later we found you boiling up like an oven inside your helmet.

You got so hot Hot enough to faint right onto the motorbike.

That was summer.

Remember that time When you were chasing me And I was chasing you And you got hit in the face by my green water balloon?

You got so mad That you splashed me right back in the face!

That was summer.

Have you ever tasted summer?

Sure you have.

Remember that time When you were allowed a trumpet ice cream to cool you down and you made me envious Envious enough to steal your ice cream?

You cried so hard that I had no choice but to give it back untouched.

Remember how delicious it was?

That was summer.

If you try very hard Can you remember that time When our Mums gave us some money and we zoomed down to the dairy?

We hoped the ‘Skofs S and Vs’ were not gone And we bought nearly all the lollies in the shop (well it felt like it!)

We saved them all for our midnight feast But after one lolly, one sweet juicy lolly, we got caught.

Remember how good that lolly tasted?

That was summer.

Written by Jordan Edwards

Laws are Important Have you ever wondered what our world would be like without laws? Boy racers would be speeding on our roads, people with no firearm licences would be shooting away, and driftnet fishing would be out of control! I strongly agree that laws are important. We would most definitely have miserable lives if laws did not exist.

Firstly, without laws boy racers would dominate our roads and who wants that? Crashed cars lying all over town, just waiting to be thrown into the car dump, tyre marks covering our streets and highways and of course, the injury rate would be horrendous. It would be chaos! All of that equals a bad world!

Secondly you wouldn’t need a licence to use a firearm. People, even children, would be free to fire guns where and when they wanted to.

Who wants everyone to have a gun? No one does. Injuries, crimes and deaths would be a common occurrence. And worst of all, those nasty criminals would be indestructible. I’d hate that!

Lastly, driftnet fishing would be free to do and no one would care. Driftnets create walls of death for sea creatures. Just imagine all the defenceless turtles and dolphins trapped in nasty nets and dying by the hundreds.

I mean, who wants spectacular wildlife being killed? Not me! Do you know that driftnets can also kill divers? It’s outrageous! The worst part about it is that some driftnets become lost; these become ghost nets and they go on to kill even more animals. Even our wildlife needs laws!

So I urge you to agree with me that laws are important. We’re lucky the person who invented laws was born otherwise we would be surrounded by bad boy racers, gun owners without licences, and dreaded driftnets on the loose. You must agree with me that laws are very important. What terrible lives we would have without laws!

Written by Euan Safey

one

big shot

With five near outs in his play, And five seconds till he bowls, The tense boy stands with his bat by his side, Squeezed by silence, Lines the bat up with the ball, Stretches his hands along the handle, Aggressively smacks the sandy pitch, Then stares out the waiting ball, Raises his sword with both hands, Holds it still, Waits, Opens and closes his eyes.

Breathes, Steps, And then suddenly, swiftly, pulls back and smacks the torpedo flying towards him.

The ball Flies through the air at high speed, Lands, Rolls, Bounces, Wobbles, Hesitates, Stops, Everyone screams – And then And then And then ‌ Right before the wicket, He dives, Five runs, Safe.

Written by Luke Brooker

ABOUT THE AUTHORS NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

LITARA ALLAN 11 years 6 Hamilton, New Zealand Kayaking, swimming, camping, writing, hockey, touch, water polo, climbing trees, crab hunting I love all the stories I wrote in this book, however Grandpa’s Gully stands out for me. This was the first piece I wrote and I never knew I could produce such descriptive writing. Writers’ Café has helped me to become a better author. I have learnt many different techniques and sentence structures. Writing is one of my favourite subjects and my goal is to keep writing as much as possible because that’s how I will continue to improve.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

MAIA BARBUZZA 9 years 5 Rome, Italy Going to the beach, mathematics, surfing, bike riding My favourite piece of writing is My Dad, which is a character description. I like it because it is very descriptive and it was challenging to write. Writers’ Café has helped me improve my writing by teaching me new language techniques like using persuasive words, personification, repetition, activating the noun, similes and much, much more. In terms of writing, my goal is to enter another writing competition and win it!

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

LUKE BROOKER 10 years 6 Hertfordshire, England Playing Xbox, playing on the computer, riding on my RipStik, sport I think my argument called Lift the Driving Age is by far my best piece of writing because I have used all kinds of sentence structures and signpost words. Before I came to Writers’ Café I was a very average writer. But now that Mrs Porteous has shown me examples of super sentence structures, I am an awesome descriptive writer. In terms of writing, my goal is to combine simple and complex sentences to make my interesting and effective.

NAME: DAISY BUNTING AGE: 9 years YEAR: 4 PLACE OF BIRTH: Hamilton, New Zealand INTERESTS: Reading, writing, playing Taboo My favourite piece of writing is The Chocolate Scheme because I enjoyed telling it without getting in trouble! Coming to Writers’ Café has taught me how to use different sentence structures and other things like activating the noun. I would like to work on writing character descriptions and I would like to get better at elaborating on my main ideas.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

EMMA CAMPBELL 9 years 4 Hamilton, New Zealand Swimming, drawing, biking, playing games, animals, family, books, chocolate I like my argument because it is very clever. It has facts in it that I discovered when I was researching about laws. Writers’ Café has taught me lots, like activating the noun and alliteration. My goal is to try different types of writing. This will challenge me and continue to make me a better writer.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

JAIDEN DOMBROSKI 11 years 6 Hamilton, New Zealand Art, writing, touch, friends and family, swimming, basketball, tennis, T-Ball, running, athletics My favourite pieces of writing are Five Dollars on the Line, because it is a memoir about my fishing experience, and A Smoke Free World, because smoking is very bad and it affects lots of people. Before I came to Writers’ Café I didn’t know I could write stories that were good. Now I have learnt to use many new writing techniques. My personal goal is to write a book and see how far it will go. So look out for the name ‘JAIDEN DOMBROSKI!’ NAME: JORDAN EDWARDS AGE: 10 years YEAR: 5 PLACE OF BIRTH: Hamilton, New Zealand INTERESTS: Playstation, hockey, Lego, building My favourite piece is That Was Summer because it reminds me of good times. The best thing about Writers’ Café is the way it taught me new writing techniques, punctuation tricks and how to write effective descriptions, memoirs and arguments. My goals are to back up my main ideas and to use rich vocabulary and great punctuation.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

SOPHIE LEWIS 10 years 6 Hamilton, New Zealand Swimming, playing guitar, reading, riding on my RipStik, My favourite piece of writing is My Little Sister Kelly because I have used loads of different language features and sentence structures. The best thing about going to Writers’ Café is when I learn new things, especially how to have more detail in my writing. My goals are to use complex sentences and more activating the noun.

NAME: KO LOHRER AGE: 9 years YEAR: 4 PLACE OF BIRTH: Georgetown, South Carolina, USA INTERESTS: Star Wars, Lego, video games, summer, candy My favourite piece of writing is the BMX Bowl because I like the sentence, ‘Everything whizzed past and wind rushed in my face.’ It is really descriptive.

Writers’ Café has helped me learn lots of new language features and sentence structures. I would like to keep working on elaborating - that means writing in lots of detail.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

AMOL PRASAD 11 years 6 Hamilton, New Zealand Soccer, writing, reading, graphic designing, bike riding My favourite piece of writing is Shoot Out because it is based on my own experience and I am really proud of the way I have used strong action verbs to hook the reader in. The best thing about Writers’ Café is we learn new writing techniques every week. I have learnt to elaborate and use techniques I never knew, and in Term 3 I won the Altrusa Writing Competition. In terms of writing, my goal is to move onto a whole new level by using all the delicious techniques I have in my head.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

EUAN SAFEY 9 years 5 Hamilton, New Zealand Lego, playing on the computer, soccer, friends coming over to my house My favourite piece in the book is my argument called Laws are Important. It contains descriptive language features like activating the noun, rhetorical questions, punchy short sentences and commands. Coming to the Writers’ Café has improved my writing so much. I found it useful to study all the amazing models and I have learnt to elaborate on my ideas and use yummy writing techniques.

My goal is to keep practising writing techniques like activating the noun and writing complex and simple sentences next to each other.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

AMAN SAGOO 11 years 6 Hamilton, New Zealand Electronics, playstation, reading, writing, school, drawing, painting, swimming, hockey, cricket, table tennis, pool table My favourite piece of writing is the Great Race because I wrote a lot of detail about how I fell off my bike. The best part about going to Writers’ Café was learning to use different language features and complex sentences. My goals in writing are to use more commands and emotive words when I write an argument.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

LAETHAM SNOWLING 10 years 5 Hamilton, New Zealand Playstation, cats, dogs, cricket, rugby, reading, creating, mechanics My favourite piece of writing is my argument about books because I feel strongly about it and I elaborated on my ideas. In terms of writing, my goals are to keep writing stories for other people’s enjoyment. Writers’ Café is great because it is a place where I can let my ideas flow onto the paper.

NAME: AGE: YEAR: PLACE OF BIRTH: INTERESTS:

SANTANA TANIWHA 11 years 6 Hamilton, New Zealand Netball, volleyball, shopping, travelling, playing on the computer My favourite piece of writing is Whale Bay because I used lots of descriptive words, and I activated the noun. Writers’ Café has helped me to elaborate and use different writing techniques. My goals for next year are to focus on elaborating more and to use rich vocabulary.

NAME: SAM WALLBANK AGE: 10 years YEAR: 6 PLACE OF BIRTH: Hamilton, New Zealand INTERESTS: Rugby, cricket My favourite piece of writing is My Granddad because he is someone I look up to.

I like Writers’ Café because it has expanded my knowledge of writing. My goal for writing is keep on learning new techniques and to work on surface features, like my spelling.

‘Writers’ Café 2010,’ was written by students from Years 4 to 6, who took part in an extension writing programme.

The programme aimed to develop the students’ ability to communicate their experiences, thoughts and ideas to others, through their writing.

They

explored different styles of writing and have become skilled at using a range of language features, sentence structures and punctuation.

Most significantly,

they learnt that they are all authors and they all have something valuable to say.

The students compiled their best pieces of writing for the year into this book, a wonderful collection of their poems, memoirs, character descriptions and arguments.