Happy Easter to our Project Partners

Happy Easter from the Maltese Partners.

Wishing you a wonderful and a blessed Easter 2012!

Adventures in the Snow

In a land far away near the South Pole there lived a snowman. He was no ordinary snowman. His name was Frosty. He is tall, with a long red bobbly hat and a red jacket. He has a red and green scarf and big, black furry boots. He wears gloves to keep his hands warm. In his hand he has a spade.

One day while he was digging the snow his spade started to do something very strange. He discovered that his golden spade had magical powers. It began to sparkle and make a tinkling noise. Before he knew it, Frosty was on his way to a magic adventure. He flew through the sky on his magic spade and landed with a gentle bump somewhere in the North Pole…

He looked around himself and everything was white, covered in thick soft snow. It looked like a land made of cotton wool. He looked down and saw footsteps in the snow. Frosty decided to follow them and see where they would lead him to. The wind was whistling in his ears as he stamped through the thick snow. In the distance he could see a glowing red light.

As he got closer he could hear bells ringing, the rustling sound of paper and small voices singing. The red light got brighter and brighter the closer he got, until he saw that it was the nose of a reindeer. The reindeer was tied to a sleigh outside a huge house. He followed the sounds round to the back of the house, where a glimmer of light was shining through a space in the back door. Frosty decided to peek through. He couldn’t believe his eyes! There were thousands of elves busy at work making toys and wrapping them up. He looked round the other way and saw a man with a white beard, in a red suit. He was watching over the elves with a very worried expression on his face.

Frosty carefully sneaked into the house on his tiptoes where he was met by Elvis, the head elf.  Elvis greeted Frosty in a squeaky voice,
“Hi! I’m Elvis the head elf in toy land.”
“We are very busy trying to create all of the Christmas presents for the boys and girls all over the World.”
Frosty, looked confused.  “The man in the white beard looked very worried but you seem so cheery, is everything alright?” he asked.
“The man in the white beard is called Santa Claus and is extremely worried because it is Christmas Eve and he doesn’t have enough presents yet, so we desperately need more helpers!” Elvis replied in a pleading voice.

Frosty thought for a moment, then decided to help Santa with his dilemma.  He placed a stripy, pointy hat on his round head as well as squeezing into the emerald-coloured suit, stretching it so much that the buttons popped and hit Santa on the head, with a THUMP!  Santa held his bruised head and a rhombus-shaped lump appeared on his forehead.  Elvis swaggered quickly to collect Mrs. Claus - from the kitchen where she was decorating gingerbread men and mint candy canes and also preparing the reindeers dinner - so that she could nurse Santa’s head better with her glittery, rapid-healing gel.  Frosty then sat on a miniature stool to pull his ruby red, crystal – encrusted tights on to complete his elf outfit.  He did this very carefully however still managed to rip six different holes in the tights!

Eventually, Frosty began to assist with building a variety of different toys including a wooden, multi-coloured train, white chocolate snowmen, a 32 inch television with a DVD player, an electric scooter, roller boots, a Jack in a Box, a pogo stick and a vanilla coloured teddy bear, when all of a sudden he remembered about his Magical spade…

Next, he sprinted over to grab his golden spade, while it started to sparkle and shake as Frosty thought about all the wonderful presents it could make in a microsecond!  He lifted it high over his head, just then, a layer of golden, glittery dust started to spread all over the whole workshop.

Much to Frosty’s surprise, he began to fly up in the air as the magic dust touched him, he shouted “GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!” Before he knew it, he was wishing for millions of lovely presents and they appeared out of nowhere.  Gradually the dust started to fade away as the pile of toys got bigger and bigger, and Frosty slowly floated down.

He did not realise he was going down because he was too busy thinking about the presents.  When frosty noticed he was going down he felt relieved and started to wish more quickly.  He smiled as the pile grew even more quickly.

Santa was speechless and extremely grateful that Frosty had helped save Christmas.

Elvis was jumping with joy as he knew that the children would now have a great Christmas. 

“I have a truly wonderful idea!” he shouted.  “Why doesn’t Frosty come with us in the sleigh to deliver all the presents?”

Santa agreed and Frosty was over the moon and couldn’t wait to help out.

After a delicious meal of turkey with all the trimmings, they packed the sleigh and Frosty jumped in while Santa took the reins.  He shouted, “Off we go Rudolph, light the way!”  

Jamie the painter

Once upon a time, there lived a famous artist called Jamie.  He was a funny wee man and a wonderful painter.   He would paint anything that anyone ever wanted.  His home was a shiny castle and outside the castle was a deep river full of crocodiles and alligators. Even though he was quite scared of them, the animals in the river were one of his favourite things to paint.

One morning he was trying to cross the spooky river to get a better view for his painting, when all of a sudden a long weed became tangled around his ankle.  The more he tried to pull away the tighter the weed became. He started to feel really terrified and was quite sure the crocs were going to get him.  The river looked very fierce.  It seemed as if the weed had come to life and was after him too. Jamie wished he had just stayed in his castle and painted some bunches of flowers instead. Now he knew he was in a lot of danger and he tried to quickly think of an escape plan!

Just at that, Jamie spotted a delivery van coming along the bumpy road to his castle.  A cooker was tied to the top of the van. Suddenly he had a crazy idea. Jamie grabbed his paintbrush and wriggled about so he could reach his pot of poisonous paint. He painted the weed with the poisonous paint, the weed started to shrivel and shrink up until it totally disappeared.

Jamie walked towards a magic button, he pressed it and it took him across the spooky river. He approached the delivery man and asked, “Can I help you?”

The deliveryman said, “Are you Jamie the painter?”

“Yes” said Jamie. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I have an important delivery for you” said the delivery man.

“What is it?” asked Jamie.

“It is a time machine!” said the delivery man in excitement.

Jamie was astonished. He asked the man if he could unload the time machine and then he walked cautiously inside. Lots of buttons and gadgets were everywhere, a window let all the sunshine come streaming through. Jamie lifted his finger with excitement and pressed a big red button.

All of a sudden there was a clank and a bang as the time machine burst into life. He felt a tingle all over his body as the machine took off. Where was he going? He looked down and found that he was wearing a gold suit.

“ Wow, what is happening to me,” he said.

Just at that moment there was a CRASH!  and a BANG!  The time machine had landed!

Slowly the door opened. Jamie tip - toed out. He found himself in a beautiful golden temple. Paint pots were everywhere.  He couldn’t resist the urge to paint and so he painted a large wooden crate that was sitting on the floor.

Something then magically happened, the lid slowly opened and there was the most amazing collection of treasure, sparkling and glinting before his eyes.

“I’m rich beyond my wildest dreams’” he said out loud.

Quickly he loaded up the time machine with his newfound treasure. He couldn’t believe the magic of his paint!

Excitedly Jamie slammed the door and decided to inspect his treasure. 

“This bit of gold looks dusty, maybe I should give it a wipe” thought Jamie.

Jamie gave it a blow and the most amazing thing happened – suddenly a blue and gold creature came out of nowhere. Jamie screeched with fear and jumped behind the treasure chest. 

“Don’t worry I am kind – I am a genie” the creature said with a smile.   Jamie had a good look at the genie.  He was 7 foot tall and his face was blue as a smurf and he was wearing the same golden suit as Jamie. Jamie was gobsmacked he didn’t know what to do.

The genie continued. 

“In order to keep the gold and return home you must complete 2 challenges.

Your first challenge is to collect 10 pots of rare magic paint.  You will find it in a gruesome, grubby snake pit.  However, there is a monstrous and muddy hill which you must climb.  At the top there will be a fierce, ferocious dragon guarding the final pot of paint and that pot of paint is especially magic as it is never runs out.  Don’t worry about the challenge being dangerous, your golden suit will protect you from the snakes and any other danger you might meet.  One last thing, the paint’s magic power is that all the things you paint will come to life.  Now proceed with the challenge – good luck!”

Jamie agreed to accept the challenge.  Nervously he left the time machine and headed East towards the sound of hissing snakes.

As he got closer to the sound he realised they were in a large cave.  He cautiously crawled into the damp, dark cave.  In the centre there was a large snake pit full of angry sounding snakes.  It was then that he realised that some paint pots were right in the middle of the pit – surrounded by the snakes.

Tip toeing he nervously stepped into the pit and started crawling through the snakes.  He was shocked to see that they were biting him, but he couldn’t feel it because the suit protected him like armour and he was able to collect 9 paint pots.

He left the cave and saw the hill he had to climb.  Exhausted, he reached the top and faced the dragon.  Jamie remembered the paint’s magic and he painted a golden sword which the dragon immediately ate.  He then painted a silver shield but it was too heavy for him to hold, he accidentally dropped it and it slid to the bottom of the hill.  Suddenly he had an idea! He made an electric guitar that was so loud when he played, that it knocked the dragon out and he was able to collect the paint pot.

The genie appeared from the 10^th pot of paint and congratulated Jamie

“Fabulous work, you have completed the first challenge and now you face the second challenge.  I must warn you it is twice as difficult.  You must get me a multicoloured pearl from a multicoloured clam from the deepest part of the ocean. There is only one of these out of all the seas, find it and you will return home safely.

Jamie immediately found himself on a deserted island.  He quickly painted a pair of goggles and a pair of flippers.  He then dived into the water and started to zoom quickly to the bottom of the sea.  His golden suit protected him from the crabs and the squids that were squirting ink at him.

He spent ages looking for this one of a kind pearl and was almost ready to give up when he saw a deadly shark swimming towards him with his mouth open wide. Jamie noticed that the pearl was stuck in the shark’s tooth.  He painted a dental kit and very carefully he pulled the pearl from the between the shark’s teeth.

Immediately he was back at the time machine where the genie was waiting for him.  The genie thanked him for the pearl and handed Jamie a piece of the weed which had tangled round his ankle at the start of this adventure.  Jamie nervously took the weed and suddenly felt himself being flung through the air and landed with a thump.  He slowly opened his eyes and realised that he was safely back home at his castle.  He looked around himself and there, lying next to him was enough gold to allow him to live happily and continue painting whatever anyone asked.  He promised himself that he would never cross the river again!

P1S ,  P3T, P4F/T and P6H.

The Toy Shop

One foggy Christmas Eve the town clock struck 11.  The whole town was asleep and the moon was dazzling in the bright sky.  In the middle of the old town stood an enchanted ancient toy shop.  On the outside it was very damp and dusty and inside the shop was very dark, still, draughty with many cobwebs hanging all over the place.  You could tell no one had been in the shop for years.  There were many rats, cockroaches and spiders.  The whole place was very mysterious and very very quiet.

Looking sad and lonely, the wooden toy soldier was standing to attention better than the rest.  He had shiny black boots and a sparkling red uniform with ironed black trousers.  He was all covered in dust as he had been in the toy shop for decades.

Wrapped around itself, the old fashioned wooden yo yo was lying on a dark shelf, under a dark wooden leaky roof.  The yo yo was painted yellow, red, green, blue and pink.  The yo yo had sat on that shelf for years.  The yo yo was wooden and had yellow striped string.  On the shelf there were all sorts of creepy crawlies and beasties like spiders, daddy long legs and even rats.

Flopping to the side, the beautiful stunning rag doll sat there with a devious look in her eyes.  She was totally covered in dust.  When the shop was open over five years ago nobody wanted to buy her because she was damp and smelly.  She looked sad and pale although she had painted on rosy cheeks.

The spinning top sat on its side on the old wooden dusty table.  It sat there cold like frozen ice all covered in dust as it had been sitting there for years.  Although the toy shop was locked the spinning top was slightly moving from the draught coming in from the crack on the broken window.

Standing very tired on the top shelf stood the jack in the box with its rosy cheeks.  It looked as if it had a smirk on its face about to do something really naughty.

Standing tall and very still, the elegant, graceful emotional ballerina stood in her beautifully hand crafted wooden box.  Her tutu twinkled in the moonlight.  Her satin ballet shoes shone. She looked so elegant but sad as she had been in the shop for so long.

Suddenly the clock struck midnight and …

...the toy solider came alive and marched all the way towards the front door. He looked outside and saw so many new things.

The yoyo fell off the shelf landing on top of the soldier. It’s yellow, blue, red, green and pink string wrapped around the solider knocking him down.

Then the rag doll sat up, twirled around and began to sing a lullaby in a quiet voice. When she had finished singing she danced her way over to the spinning top, knocking it over onto the floor.

There was a loud noise and the jack in the box fell from the top shelf. The box smashed into pieces.

High above the other toys the ballerina spun to the music from inside the box. She cried out loudly for her friend jack in the box. All of the toys…

... were now alive. The rag doll went to see if the jack in the box was ok. The toy soldier wandered slowly out of the old shop door into the snowy wonderland. He was followed outside, by his magical friends, deep into the sparkly snowy night. It was a cold crisp feeling that came over them as they were going into the unknown. Never before had the toy shop friends been outside into this world, they had only dreamt all about it whilst they sat on their old, dusty shelves waiting to be taken home by the happy children who passed the window.

The rag doll thought this was amazing, as she had never imagined what outside would be like. She was excited to be there.

The toy soldier took the lead and decided to march his toy shop friends down the mysterious street. By now the street lights were starting to switch off and the sun was rising. They were aware that people would start to be coming onto the street. 

The friends sneaked by the rest of the shops which looked better the their old, withered toy shop. They passed a new looking to shop and gazed in amazement at the wonderful and exciting toys, which were in the window.

They wished they were part of the shop. As they turned to walk away…

...magically the door opened with a creak. The toys turned in amazement. Quietly they tiptoed into the brand new shop. The toys decided to go into the shop.  They couldn’t believe what they were seeing:  a new version of every single one of them.

The toy soldier waddled up to his new friend and said, “Let’s play at shooting!”

The yoyo rolled up to his double and they rolled away together chasing each other happily.

The rag doll toddled gently up to her new friend and said, “You are pretty, let’s play together.”

The spinning top raced over spinning wildly towards his partner.  They glided across the floor together gleefully.

The jack in the box bounced crazily over to his twin.  They stood and knocked heads together laughing manically.

The ballerina danced gracefully over to her new companion and they danced together joyfully.

After a while they sat for a rest together.  The old rag doll was sitting sobbing.

“What’s wrong?” asked the new ballerina
“It’s just that you all look so new and wonderful whereas we look old and dusty.  No one will ever want to buy us,” she said desperately.
“I have an idea!” exclaimed the new rag doll.  “Why don’t we fix up the old toys to look just like us?  Then people will buy them eventually.”
“Yes, let’s get to it!” shouted the new toy soldier.

They set to work fixing them up one by one.  Once they had finished they suddenly saw daylight coming in through the window.  It was time to get on the shelves again.

In the morning the shopkeeper was cleaning up before going home for his Christmas dinner.  He peered up at his empty shelves and was puzzled.

At that moment a sleigh passed over the shop.  Each of the toys hung over the edge of Santa’s sleigh and waved at their old home on their way to their new homes on the other side of the world.

“HO HO HO, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!”

My Winter Wonderland.

One morning I woke up and the light was different. What could have happened during the night? Gently I put my warm feet to the ground. The tingle of the cool floor felt like a thousand pins. As I got out of my bed I felt an ice-cold breeze. I ran to my window and pushed away my soft curtains and peeked out. I thought I was dreaming so I pinched myself - but I wasn’t dreaming, it was real! A white frosty wasteland. It was like I was looking at Antarctica. The icicles were twinkling in the winter sun. The snow-covered grass was covered in the robins’ footprints. A robin appeared, crunching through the snow, and started to tweet a little tune, so I joined in but I added lyrics of course. The trees were bare except for icing sugar coating. When I looked at my driveway it was blocked with ice – no school today! Yippee!!!

Isla quickly got dressed in her pink t-shirt, warm woolly jumper and her waterproof trousers.  She went to wake her younger brother Josh. She helped him dress in his winter clothes.  They dashed downstairs and put on their hats, scarves, gloves, wellies and jackets.  Isla opened the door and they ran outside.  They started making snowballs and threw them at each other.

“This is fun!” said Isla  “Would you like to make a snowman Josh?”

They made a big ball of snow and then they made another one which was a bit bigger.  Then they made a small one.  They sat them on top of each other. They put on stones for the eyes and mouth, a carrot for the nose, then added bigger stones for buttons.  Josh got a hat and scarf to put on him.  Just then, Dad opened the door.

“Do you want to go skating on the pond?” Dad asked.

“Oh yes please!” the children replied.
The children collected their ice skates and walked to the Kay Park. When they got there, their cousin Lynsey was already skating.
“Come on!  This is fun!” she called.

Dad helped Isla and Josh to get their ice skates on.  They started skating round and round the pond.  Suddenly Isla lost her balance and bumped into Josh.  Josh fell over and Isla fell on top of him.  Josh was badly hurt and couldn’t stand up.  Dad picked him up and took him to a bench.  Then Dad called 999, but the ambulance couldn’t come because it was too icy.  About ten minutes later they heard a big wavy noise.  It was the air ambulance…

When the air ambulance arrived there was a sudden gush of wind, which blew Isla’s red bobbled hat onto the dangerous ice. Isla skated with great speed towards her hat, which was now blown half way across the frozen lake.

Suddenly the ice cracked slowly, making shapes like lightning. Isla let out a huge scream and yelled, “help Daddy!”

Meanwhile Josh was getting treatment from the paramedics who had lifted him onto a stretcher bed. Dad was busy helping Josh, and convincing him that he would be ok.  “The ambulance men will take care of you” he said.  He didn’t hear Isla scream because of the deafening noise coming from the helicopters propellers, which were like a herd of elephants stampeding. Luckily Lynsey had heard the terrified screams of Isla and she ran to tell the adults . . .     

“HELP, HELP!” Lynsey shouted. ”Please help. A wee girl is on the ice and it’s cracking.”

The mums and dads all looked at Isla, she was screaming but no-one could hear her because the helicopter was making so much noise.

All of a sudden there was a big BANG! Out of nowhere something magical happened… on the side of the pond appeared a familiar looking snowman! Isla recognised the snowman as the one that she and Josh made earlier in the day.

Isla started slipping towards the big hole in the pond that was filled with freezing cold water. She was chittering and terrified.

Lynsey’s dad had run around to let Isla’s dad know what was happening. He was really worried, Josh was crying and even the ambulance men were ready to help.

Suddenly the snowman dived through the ice and jumped up next to where Isla was slipping. He gave Isla his scarf to cling on to and helped her climb on to his back. With a huge bounce he landed back on safe land at the side of the pond, right next to Josh, dad and the ambulance men. She was safe and the snowman disappeared. Nobody could believe it.

Dad, Josh and Isla went to hospital and it turned out that Josh had a broken leg and got it plastered up. When they got home the magical snowman was still in the garden where they had left him. Josh was sure he saw him move as they walked past!

The next day, when the children woke up, the snowman was gone!

By P6G, P2S, P4M, P1P

Welcome to the Young Writers 2012 Blog!

This is the first post for our new blog. Children from Annanhill Primary School in Kilmarnock, Scotland and from San Gorg Preca College, Hamrun GP Primary, Malta will be busy writing and their work will be posted here. Be creative!