Winner: Water

We need water. Even animals and plants need water. We get water from rain, taps, wells, canals, ponds and rivers.

We need water to bathe, drink, wash clothes and prepare food.

We boil water and drink so that all the germs get killed. Water is precious, we must save it. During the dry season water is scarce, so we must save it.

Indumini Samayadasa,
Year 2J,
Asian International School,
Colombo 5.

Winner: A day’s work of a postman

The postman is the happiest person in the Postal Department. He is free because he does not work at a desk in an office. He is not surrounded by a heap of files. He does not answer questions of people who come to the Post Office for various transactions. He keeps the company of different people when he goes around.

We can see how happy he is when he is at work. Let us see his duties.

He comes to the Post Office early in the morning, before the other officers come to work. He has to sort all the letters that he has to deliver in his area. It is his responsibility to deliver all the letters.

He starts his work on his bicycle. He rings the bell when he goes to the doorstep of the houses and delivers the letters.

The postman is a friendly person. He knows almost all the houses he should go to. These people are also friendly with him. They know that he does a responsible duty. Confidential and important letters are delivered safely.

The postman who comes to our house is friendly. He never forgets to speak a few words after delivering the letters. He talks on various topics, politics, society, education or about the prices of commodities. Sometimes the climate affects him. When it rains he finds it difficult to ride his bicycle. Though he has a raincoat, during heavy rains it is of no use. No one can say what time he will finish work.

The people who work in offices have a time schedule to stop work, but the postman has no such scheduled time. When he has many letters to deliver he takes a lot of time. It depends on the number of letters he has to deliver for the day.

Mohamed Sajith Sahib,
Grade 8C (T),
Hameed Al Husseinie College,
Colombo 12.

Winner: My class teacher

My class teacher is Wasanthi Rajamanthri. She is fair and pretty. She is kind. My teacher wears pretty sarees. She has colourful handbags. I like my class teacher very much.

Fathima Amaarah Ishreth,
Grade 1A,
Lexicon International School,
Kandy.

Winner: Biodiversity and the environment

The environment refers to our surroundings. It includes trees, flowers, rivers, streams and animals. Biodiversity means the variety of life on earth, plants, animals, micro-organism, deserts, rainforests and coral reefs. Some of the benefits of biodiversity are the protection and formation of soil, maintenance of the eco-system, sustenance of ornamental plants and nutrient storage.

Trees are useful to us. We cannot live without them. Some birds and insects make nests on trees.

Trees give us medicine when we are ill and they provide shade. People cut down trees indiscriminately. When a tree is cut we must plant another tree in its place.Air, water and land are the main parts of the environment. People pollute them for their needs. Air pollution is caused by cars, buses, trains and factories that emit carbon dioxide.

We must control vehicles which run on diesel, protect the forests and avoid using chemicals if we want to protect the atmosphere.

Throwing polythene, plastic and pesticide bottles into waterways causes pollution. We must keep rivers, streams and the sea clean for fish and protect coral reefs.

Dumping polythene, plastic and mixing it with soil causes land pollution too. We must use compost fertiliser to protect the soil. Let us protect the environment and save our planet for future generations.

A.A.Udani Chathurangi Perera,
Sarasavi Uyana College,
Peradeniya.

Winner: Insects

Insects are small organisms which have a large population. They can be harmful to humans. Some harmful insects are mosquitoes, spiders, bees and certain types of ants. Harmless insects are ladybugs, beetles, earthworms and butterflies.

Insects are different from humans. Millipedes have so many legs and earthworms have no legs at all. Insects are amazing. The ant population outnumbers humans. A cockroach can live for one day without its head unless we trample them, scorpions glow in ultra violet light because of a chemical in their armour.

Insects can live in bad weather conditions, therefore some of them are unique.

U.A. Vihanga Deneth,
Grade 6A,
OKI International School,
Negombo.



 

My favourite festival

My favourite festival is Sinhala and Tamil New Year. This festival is celebrated in April. The New Year generally falls on April 14.

The New Year is a national festival. Buddhists and Hindus celebrate it in different ways. The festival has many special customs. Buddhists and Hindus light the hearth at auspicious times.

They also take their festival meals at auspicious times. Milk rice is our special food. This is a very special day for Buddhists and Hindus. New Year is a happy time for us.

Amandi Umayangana Panagoda,
Grade 7F,
Central College,
Piliyandala.








 

The wind

The wind is air moving from one place to another. Sometimes the wind brings harm to people. It can make us homeless.

But the wind does not blow always. Sometimes the wind turns out to be an enemy. At other times it is our friend. The wind helps us to fly kites, dry clothes and sail ships. We can use the wind to generate electricity. We can measure the wind direction and speed using a wind gauge. The wind brings different weather conditions to our country.

We have two monsoon rains and winds in Sri Lanka. They are the South West monsoon and the North-East monsoon.

The South West monsoon blows from May to September. The wind blows from the South West crossing the Indian Ocean. The wind from the South West is usually wet and brings a lot of rain to the South Western part and to the hill country.

The North East monsoon blows from December to February. It blows from the North East crossing the Bay of Bengal. It produces only a small amount of rain.

Ehansa Arunadee,
Grade 4A,
Lyceum International School,
Panadura.

A beautiful town in Sri Lanka

There are several beautiful towns in Sri Lanka and Kandy is one of them. Kandy is the main town in the Central Province. The world famous Temple of the Tooth Relic is situated in Kandy. It is a sacred place as the Buddha's tooth relic is enshrined there.

The Kandy perahera is world famous too. Every year it is held in July. Locals as well as many tourists come to view the attractive procession. The Maliga tusker takes the sacred Tooth Relic on its back around the town. There are whipcrackers and Kandyan dancers too in the procession.

The most beautiful botanical garden in Sri Lanka is situated a few miles away from Kandy. It is full of nice flowers and various kinds of trees.

It has become a popular destination for tourists as well.

The Kandy lake is situated in the heart of the town. Both local people and foreigners go on boat rides in the lake. Kandy has a temperate climate.

E. Thilakshi Sarangika Edirisinghe,
Grade 7,
Kegalle Balika Vidyalaya,
Kegalle.

Television

Television is an important medium of entertainment. Everyone can enjoy watching television. We can gain knowledge by watching useful programs on television.

We can watch many programs on different channels.

There are many programs telecast on television such as news, sports and educational programs. The programs improve our knowledge.

Little children like to watch cartoons. There are good as well as bad programs on television. We must select and watch the good ones and avoid the bad ones.

K.P.G. Isuri Sewewandika Bandara,
Grade 8A,
CP/WILL/Nugogolla M.V,
Nugogolla, Matale.