Stories…Essays
JR and the Pirates
By
Tor Willis-Hansson .. age 8
JR is a kitty. He lives in the USA. He is a Maine Coon cat.
He is cute and old and he belongs to my grandma and grandpa.
This is the story :
One day JR woke up in the morning.
Grandma and Grandpa put him in his cat-cage
and took him out to the car.
They drove him to the beach and put him on a surfboard.
Then they put the surfboard and JR on the water.
JR liked to ride on the surfboard…
but then there came a BIG wave and washed him off!
First he sank, but then he washed ashore on an island.
JR saw some shark-fins and then a pirate-ship and he knew
the pirates were coming to get the treasure chest they had buried.
Out of the ship there came a lot of pirates…. but first the captain.
JR
had a plan. He hid the real treasure map….
……..and he made a new fake one 
that showed the treasure on the other side of the island.
So when the pirates went to the other side
he swam out to the ship and cut the anchor rope.
But just when he cut it, and was climbing up the side of the ship,
there came some sharks and pulled him down by his tail.
Now Jr got so mad because it hurt that he bit
and scratched the sharks until they let go.
Now the pirate ship was floating away and JR was under the water.
He saw something glowing down there in the sand on the bottom and
started digging there. He found the treasure chest and opened it.
He got into it and it started floating up to the top of the water.
Then he started to row home. It took lots of days and nights.
On the way home he got to a waterfall and was very scared when the chest
went down the falls. The lid broke off and JR hurt his paw. He got an
idea to eat and drink by using the lid to fish and get water in it.
When he picked it up the lid had lots of fish and water in it.
Since he was hungry he ate some of the fish.
Now it was winter and the ice came and he thought he would never get
home and he got cold and it started raining and he was all wet. He got
out on the ice to wee-wee and some kids threw snowballs at him. Then it
got even worse. One of the kids rolled JR into a big snowball and
rolled him into the sea.
Then there came some crocodiles
but JR threw some snowballs at them and scared them away..
Then JR rolled home in the big snowball.
He crashed into the door of his house and
Grandma and Grandpa opened the door and JR rolled into the house
inside the big snowball and then BAM!
He hit the wall where the snow fell off him.
Grandma and Grandpa
were so happy to have Junior back that they fed him his favourite
cat-treats. And then they had a very happy Christmas Eve.
The End
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Music….
what it means to me
By: Emily
Hogan..age 14
I love
music because it´s fun and it´s one of my biggest interests. I don´t
know why or when it started but I was very young.
But now I
am in two bands, a school band that doesn’t have a name yet and NoName.
It’s great playing in it after school.
When I grow
up I want to be a singer. That is probably what many girls dream of ,
but I really want to be a singer. I like rock and pop and
sometimes country music, but I don’t listen to it often.
I don´t
know who my favourite singer or band is, but I like Skid Row, and many
other bands. My dad is from Ireland and in Ireland there are many
musical people. My dad is good at playing the guitar.
He, my
sister and I are the ones most interested in music in our family.
I can play
some instruments too. I can play drums, guitar and piano and I can play
a little bit on the bass.
I want to
learn to play many songs on the guitar
My friend
and I are writing a cover of “First cut is the deepest” but we haven’t
finished it. We have changed the words in the song.
The song we
are practicing now is “Black Velvet” and we are going to play that song
in two weeks at the Youth Center but we are not sure that it’s going to
work because we have trouble playing it together
We don’t
write our own music, we do covers. We can play rock, country and pop
music… all sorts of music.
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Auntie
Pat by
Jacob Görtz … age 9 (drawing of tent and bike)
Auntie Pat has a
summer cottage in the woods in Canada. I was there once and it was very
cold but we still had fun. Once Auntie Pat sent me a tent! Another
thing that Auntie Pat has given me is a ”trick-bike” that can hop or
bounce on the front wheel. The seat is higher than the
handle-bars. Sometimes I sit on the handle-bars and try to steer
with my bum. It is a funny looking bike and the only one in
Stångby.
The Flight Home
Jenny Olsson A Course
It was the summer of 2001. I remember it clearly
because that was the year I met my new cousin for the first time.
My family and some of our relatives were
sitting in my aunt’s backyard eating lunch.
My mother looked to the sky, pointed at an airplane
passing by and said: “That’s us tomorrow”.
We had been in Canada for almost four weeks and
were looking forward to flying home the next day. I was tired of the
scorching heat and longed for the Swedish climate and my friends.
The following morning we got up early to get to the
airport in time.
With my aunt at the wheel, we all scrunched in
the van and headed for the airport.
Halfway there my mother decided to check the tickets
one last time. All of a sudden she started to laugh hysterically. As we
all turned to look at her she exclaimed in a high pitched voice:” Our
plane left yesterday!!”
All I remember was this feeling of
hopelessness coming over me. I would have done anything to be beamed
into my own little bed at Glasmästarevägen 1.
Anyway, we continued to the airport, what else
could we do?
After waiting on stand-by for nearly seven hours,
there was finally an opening on a plane to Amsterdam. Hurray!
Unfortunately we missed the connecting flight in Amsterdam and had the
pleasure of checking out the cafés and tourist sites. So we dragged
around in the capitol for half a day before we at last could make the
final stretch home.
After what felt like half a decade of
traveling we were home at last, sitting at the table eating a casserole
that grandma had made and left in the fridge for us to eat.
This is a trip home from Canada that I
will never forget. It is first now, looking back that I find it amusing.
Confirmation by
Isabel Mecklenburg A course
I felt the suspense in the
room. Nobody knew what to expect from our first meeting. I only knew
about four people but I’d seen a few in school. I knew I wasn’t the only
one who was scared. I could see it in their eyes. I had waited for this
moment for a long time.
We went to camp in Blekinge
at Olsängsgården for two weeks last summer. I had a blast. We had a
sports/confirmation camp so we had sports activities every day. We
jogged every morning. You could choose between 3 km or 7 km. I wasn’t in
the best shape so I ran 3 km every morning except for one morning when I
ran 7 km. We played soccer, handball, volleyball and other sports during
the day and it was really fun. During the day we also studied the bible
and different ways of interpreting it. When you first hear the word
study it sounds very boring and serious but the way they thought us was
a lot of fun. We got to come up with little sketches, for example how
you can prevent mobbing. We had books where we could write down our
personal thoughts and also paste in poems and texts. We also wrote down
the ten commandments and much more.
Confirmation is very
important to me because it is a difficult age to be 15 years old. You’re
on the verge of being a real teenager but you’re still a child.
Confirmation gives you the chance to find out a bit about yourself and
how you feel about God and life. When you are at the camp you’re
constantly close to one another, there grows a bond between you. During
the confirmation I learned how I should treat people the way I want them
to treat me. A person doesn’t ask a lot of life, just to love and be
loved in return.
I am now continuing with
confirmation by becoming a teacher and leader for new confirmation
candidates. I want to give a part of myself and all that I know about
God and life to teenagers who are in the same kind of situation that I
once was. I’m now a seeker and I find out more and more about myself and
what I believe. I want to love and be loved in return.
The Industrial Hotel
by Astrid Byrman .. B course
My family and I were
on a holiday in Denmark a few summers ago. We stopped in a small town
called Lemvig and decided to stay the night there. Eventually we found a
hotel with the suspicious name ”The Industrial Hotel”. As soon as we
came in to the lobby I realized that we would not have a totally
pleasant stay there. All the rooms had a weird smell which could be
described as a combination of smoke, mushrooms, and as I imagined, a
dead person. The latter could have to do with the fact that the hotel
reminded me of Norman Bates’ motel in the film Psycho. The girl who
stood in the reception looked a bit like a corpse. She was thin, had
brown teeth and black clothes. As I wrote in my diary at the time: I’ll
be happy if I survive the night.
We went out to have a nice
dinner since I no way would set my foot in the scary hotel’s yucky
restaurant. Later it was time for bed. Mum unfolded my spare bed and was
met by a gorgeous sight, a big yellow stain. Someone had peed in my bed
and they had done nothing about it! We called the reception but nobody
answered so I ended up sleeping between mum and dad in their double bed.
I did not get much sleep that night…
MY
FIRST YEAR IN SWEDEN
by Stephen Hutchinson …
age 13
My first day in Sweden was the 15th of June 2004.I was upset because I
had lost my friends my old house and life style. But in a way that kind
of life style was about to change because I was going up into
secondary school and that would be tough in London. I was also
worried about moving here because of the language and the school
,life-style and the task of learning a new language.
The first 2 months were great I made a few friends from the
swimming-pool because I spent most of my time there. Then towards
the end of the summer holidays I had more friends than I thought. But it
was a shame that none of them were in my class. At that time I was
playing football in Veberöds AIF and I was the star player.
Then came the big day. First day at school
. To be honest, I was more scared than I had ever been
before.
I walked
into the school-yard and nearly everybody was playing football. I didn't
quite dare to go up to them and ask if I could join in, so I just
watched. Then one of my first friends (that I had made at the pool) came
up to me and made me feel a bit better by talking to me. He started
introducing some of his other friends to me.
Then it was time to go into class. I hardly knew anything of what was
going on or where I was supposed to be. But otherwise it went quite
well. Then, 2 months later, I was getting tired of not being able to
express myself as well as I would have wished to… but I managed to
survive.
In November we got our first snowfall. I was really surprised that
it came so early but it was great because I had only seen snow once in
my life. But, also at that time, I was being bullied a bit at school
because of my accent and being different, so I went to my mum and dad
about it because bullies were hitting me and framing me. So my dad went
down to football training that night and had a right go at them. They
were really scared, which goes to show that nobody takes bulling
seriously here in Sweden. The day after at school they were as nice as
anything but that was only because of my dad, otherwise they would have
been just as bad.
After that it was Christmas. Unfortunately it wasn't a white Christmas
but it was good enough. I got some wonderful things and I loved the
sledge because we have a pretty good hill at the back of our
garden.
Later on it was school again and nothing big happened until January. In
Veberöd every year there is this big indoor football competition called
Romelecupen. It`s great. Teams from all over the place came and compete.
We never had anything like that in London. I spent nearly
all of my time down there watching matches and being with friends.
During this event it was my birthday and I found out that one of my
friend was born the same day as me and had the same initials as me S.H
.
Then in April the snow was finally starting to disappear and about that
time I got this chat website called Lunar-storm and that made me feel
more like everybody else because everybody has it.
But from then until summer there wasn't really anything that happened
except I was really being able to talk Swedish at a pretty high
standard. Then in the summer holidays it was time for the swimming pool
to open again which was really good because I had been waiting all year
for that. The first month of it being open was great I was their all the
time, but then I caught this skin problem which meant I had to miss the
swimming pool for at least a month.
So there you have it… my first year in Sweden.
No, which country is better? Well, living in Sweden is a lot
better, but the schooling in Sweden is not in the same league.
Schools in England are not as nice as Swedish schools, nowhere near,
but the education and the way they deal with bullying in England
is much better!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
26th March 2007
My Superpowers
”So Master”, asked Bananaman. “You are
saying that I am going to kill the greatest superhero in the world”.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I am saying”,
said the Master. “But to kill him, you will need the Bananadog”.
Something moved in the corner and before
Bananaman knew it, the Bananadog was eating away at his banana-costume.
“I know you are the right person for this
job because you cannot die”, said the Master.
“OK I will do it, but only because I
cannot think for myself” said Bananaman. “Also because I am mad, crazy,
scary and evil”.
“Which superhero am I going to kill”?
“The Jumping Cucumber”, replied the
Master.
Ten minutes later, bananaman took off
into the sky with Bananadog beside him. There beneath him, he saw
something green jumping around in circles. It was the Jumping Cucumber!
All of a sudden, Bananaman shot a banana at the Jumping Cucumber. The
Jumping Cucumber fell to the ground. He was dead.
“What am I going to do now”? Bananaman
asked himself. “There aren’t any more superheroes to kill. By the way
Bananadog, thanks for the bananas”.
Bananaman then destroyed the world and
everything fell and fell and fell…. . Everything was dead except a
yellow thing that floated around in space,
Hannah Hogan, 11 years old from
Svalebo School.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
18th January
2007
The
Weekend’s Match Report
Liverpool were too good for Watford. My
dad likes both teams, so he was not too unhappy. Arsenal is my team and
they are playing better all the time, just like Liverpool. Watford will
go down, but could win the F.A Cup.
Oliver Berner , 8 years old from
Svenshögs school.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
National News 8th May
2007
A New Animal is Found
This new animal is a mix between a horse and a dragon and it’s found in
China. The mix is called a chricko. The man who found it is called
Millon.
Millon was on his way to his stable when he suddenly heard something. He
went in and there was a 20cm long chricko in front of him. The
researchers say that the mix is a chricko and it is 100,000 years old
and very unusual. The chricko is being sent home where it is going to
stay for one year. After one year, it will be sent back to the
researchers and they will see how it is. If it is okay, Millon will take
it home and it will stay with him.
By Siri McGarvey
---------------------------------------
New Animal Discovered
Cathy, from Notting Hill, went to the sea on the 22nd April
and saw a dolphin, which had red eyes. When they took the dolphin to
the vet, they saw that it wasn’t a dolphin at all. It was a new animal.
Cathy was allowed to name it and she chose the name Treeker. If you ever
see a dolphin with red eyes, now you know what it is.
By Sophia Grip
---------------------------------------
National News 8th
May 2007
Sea Monster Seen Close to City
A young woman spotted a sea monster near Chicago yesterday evening. The
sea monster is green and it has 100 eyes and 200 arms. It’s very
dangerous and eats small children who enjoy carrots, lettuce or candy.
The sea monster is a cross between an octopus and an unusual shark that
Daniel Barnes, who lives in Sweden, keeps in his swimming pool.
By Alexander Strahl
----------------------------------------
New Shark Found in Hawaii
The new shark was found by scientists, who were studying the temperature
of the sea, off the coast of Hawaii. The scientists said that the shark
had twenty-one eyes, in which ten eyes were at the front and eleven eyes
at the back of its head. The scientists think that the reason for the
shark having ten eyes at the front and eleven at the back is to catch
swimmers. When the swimmers see the shark pass they come out from hiding
and swim for it. With its eyes in the back, the shark can see the
swimmers and eat them up. That is the scientists’ theory why the sharks
have eyes at the back of its head. The scientists also believe that
there are not many species of this kind (1000-5000 sharks).
By Daniel Barnes
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Advertisements
8th May 2007
The
New Robot can do it
There is now a new robot from the U.S.A that can clean, do the dishes,
serve coffee and even make the food. It is called the RK2000. Even
President Bush has one. We have interviewed a woman called Miss Brush,
who also has one. She says:
-It is really nice to have Michael, as I named it when I got it. I love
him!
The RK2000 came out on the 1st May 2007. It was made
particularly to help old or sick people.
By Penellope Ness
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Game Reviews 8th
May 2007
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is an online-game made by Tom Arnoldi. Arnoldi, who
lives in Denmark, released the game in June 2006. In this game, you can
make your own character and you can climb to higher levels. To reach a
new level, you must kill animals and endure different quests. The game
has good graphics and only costs approximately 300kr per month.
By Max Arnoldi
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Dragon
Ballz
This is a game that can be played on either Nintendo, X-Box or
Game-Cube. It was made in Japan in 1992. Dragon Ballz is about people
who defend their planet and fight for their freedom. It has good
graphics and the character’s hair grows when you get better.
Packed with the greatest warriors, Dragon Ballz explodes with special
skill capsules, awesome level stages and the exciting single-player
mode; Dragon world. Do you have what it takes to survive and win?
By Clement Mitha
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Show Business 8th
May 2007
James Bond seen in Liverpool
Maxi Arinddi thought that he saw James Bond in Liverpool last week. Maxi
was on vacation when he got tuberculosis. He started to see visions. He
had just to the movie watching Casino Royale. This weird bug bit Maxi
and that’s how he got tuberculosis.
Writer: David Resch
Name: Måns Petter Albert Sahlén Zelmerlöw
Born: 1986 in Lund
Family: Mum, daddy, sister and girlfriend
Lives: Stockholm
Interests: music and sport.
He likes to play football, tennis and golf.
He likes to eat ice cream with chocolate sause
He plays Danny Zuko in grease
He came third in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
He came fifth in Idol 2005
He won the Let’s Dance competition.
By: Michael Hogan
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Show Business 8th
May 2007
Johnny Depp;
Chimneyman?
It was the night of the 25th December and Johnny Depp was climbing the
roof of his house. The neighbours came out and wondered what he was
doing. He said that he was going to be Santa this year. He had tied some
pillows around his belly to look more like Santa. He had tied the end of
a rope around the chimney and the other end around his belly. Then he
squeezed himself through the chimney but he didn’t get very far…. he got
stuck because he was too fat. He panicked and screamed for help but no
one came because the neighbors had gone into their houses and were
sleeping. But he wasn’t surprised they were because the time was 1am.
Then he felt something picking at his head. Then he felt something
walking with on three toes. It was a bird. The bird jumped down on
Johnny’s belly (or pillow) and started to pick at his nose. Then the
bird took off and Johnny fell through the chimney and he was hanging
over the fireplace (where there were only ashes of course) with his feet
nearly on the ashes.
By Hannah Hogan.
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Show Business 8th
May 2007
Ola Salo’s Hair BLUE?!
Just after Ola Salo had won the Eurovision Song Contest entry for
Sweden, he wanted to look good when he performed in the Eurovision Song
Contest on the 12th May. So …. he bought new shampoo. Was it
a good idea? Don’t think so. When he had showered, his hair was BLUE!
What’s going to happen now? Should Ola Salo perform in the
Eurovision Song Contest or not? We’ll see.
By Felicia Steen
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Sport
8th May 2007
Wolves beat the Geopardos
On the 15th April, the Wolves met the Geopardos in a soccer
match in Los Angeles. The Wolves won by four goals to two. Angelo
Johnsson scored the first goal in an impressive way by flicking the ball
over an opponent and then under the goalkeeper’s legs. Then in the
middle of the game, a crazy spectator ran in the middle of the field
dragging a blue and red scarf, which are the Geopardos’s colours. The
referee had to catch him first before the game could continue. This was
the Wolves second win running after winning their previous game against
the Snakes. Christoffer Nelson, who was playing for the Geopardos, had
to be carried off after breaking his leg.
By Josefine Persson.
Sport reporter
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United crush Celtic
Manchester United beat Celtic 5-1. The goals were scored by Ronaldo,
Brown, Heinze, Rooney and a McNamara own goal. Lennon scored a late
consolation for Celtic. All this happened at Old Trafford last night.
Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson said
Sport
8th May 2007
that he did not care about Celtic scoring. He just wanted his team to
try and score more goals.
By Samuel Sutton.
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A Tie! 2-2
Jonas Team Lund’s bollklubb, also known as LBK, tied 2-2 against Uppåkra
on the 5th May 2007. The scorers for LBK were Daniel Barnes
and an own goal. I don’t know the name of this player so he will remain
anonymous. LBK is now in second place after Bara. LBK now has seven
points after three matches played.
By Teddy Ericson.
----------------------------------------------------
Sport
8th May 2007
The World Show Jumping Championship
The World Championship was won by Clara and her horse Jenny in May 2007.
The event was held in London, England. The reason she won was that Jenny
has been in good form of late and that her rival’s horse was a bit angry
and irritated. One of the reasons for this was that her rider was not
treating her very well. Jenny had a time of 1minute and 25 seconds and
knocked only two fences down.
By Michaela Bjarnason.
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Weather 8th
May 2007
The Weather for Skåne
It will be sunny in both Malmö and Lund. It is going to be twenty
degrees. The weather for Hässleholm, Eslöv and Kristianstad will be
unsettled. Thunderstorms and heavy showers are expected in central Skåne.
In Österlen, the weather will be cloudy and windy whereas north-western
Skåne will be sunny and warm.
By Aiden Doyle.
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A sixth grader from Palettskolan wrote this after
hearing the story of the Pilgrims’ journey to the New World.
DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL ON THE MAYFLOWER
1.
Dear Diary
I hate being sick, I hate sailing, I hate mom and dad. They
are the most stupid parents in the world. Just because they
are so religious we must leave England.
The hold we live in is so small and we share it with like 3
other families. And the smell of vomit. I just can’t stand it
anymore. My clothes are dirty and I can’t wash. And my parents
just say
“Everything will be fine, Patience, when we come to the New
World.”
I hate them. They’re stupid
2.
Dear Diary,
One week gone and every day I get more and more tired of this
ship. I want to go home; I miss my friends and I miss my warm
and cozy bed. Hope, my sister, is sick and my parents just
pray to God that he will help her. For goodness
sake, he will not jump down from heaven and help her! Everyone
on this stupid boat, oh sorry, ship, pays to God. What
can God do? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I hate God! I think
it’s mom and dad’s fault that Hope is sick. They took us to
this ship and they don’t do anything to help, no they just sit
here and pray to God.
3.
Dear Diary,
My sister is better than before. The captain says that we are
almost there. I don’t know if I am happy or not. Everyone in
our hold thanks God. In a way, it is good we are there because
then we can maybe and eat, drink and most of all we don’t have
to sleep in the hold. And no VOMIT! Yes! I just hate it ! And
the smell of sickness mixed with old, salty meat is
disgusting. I can’t wait to change my clothes and wash my
hair. I haven’t washed my hair since we got on this stupid
ship.
And all this is my parents’ fault.
|
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Most limericks
written by pupils do not scan correctly. We practiced scanning,
and then the pupils wrote limericks. Here is an example.
There was a young
prince of New York
Who loved to devour
lots of pork
He tired very hard
To cut down on the
lard
And now he’s as thin
as a fork |
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SYNONYM POEM
I'm charming
And beautiful.
I'm appealing
And alluring.
I'm delightful.
I'm gorgeous.
I'm stunning
And radiant.
I'm everything
You're not.
By Sara H F year 9
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Interesting
Differences: Seattle and Lund |
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HAPPINESS
Happiness is green.
It tastes like sweets.
It smells like aftershave.
Happiness looks like a meadow
And sounds like the laughter of
children.
By A.B. year 5 Klostergårdskolan
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BOY HEROES
”We pulled all we could”
The boys saved a man up out of a hole in the ice
Translation by: Hanna Eriksson, grade 6
The boys were going with flowers to their big
sister.
On their way to her they saved an ice-fisher’s
life.
“We reached him a long stick and pulled as much
we could,” says Edvin, 9 years old.
The twins, Adrian and Edvin Andersson, and their
friend Dan Bjurström, 10 years old, were on their way with
flowers over Braskens bridge in Linköping. Suddenly they saw a
ice-fisher.
“He walked a couple of steps, then the ice broke
and he plunged into the water”, says Adrian.
The man called for help. The boys ran down and
near the shore Dan found a strong stick.
“I reached the man the stick and then we held
each other and pulled. Then I dropped the stick but Edvin got
hold of it again.
Lifesaving in school
The boys succeeded to pull the man to the shore.
There they got a grip on his hands.
“Everyone pulled at the same time and we got him
up”, says Edvin.
How did you know what to do?
“We have worked with lifesaving in school, so it
wasn’t so hard”, says Edvin.
Weren’t you afraid to fall in to the water?
“Yes we were, but we didn’t care. We wanted him
to get up out of the water.”
The boys shouted to a woman that biked by and
asked her to call the fire brigade.
The man was transported to the hospital. He was
very, very cold but otherwise unharmed.
“We offered the flowers for a life”, the boys
say.
RULES:
Never walk on ice if you don’t know if it can
hold you
1. Never be alone on the ice.
2. Always have ice studs with you and other
safety devices.
3. Always test the ice with an ice nail.
4. Never walk on ice if you don’t know if it can
hold you. The ice should be at least 10 centimetres thick.
5. Remember that new ice, spring ice, snow
covered ice and sea ice is often thin.
6. Near sea grass, open channels, bridges,
headlands and sounds the ice is often week.
7. The higher speed you have, the further out you
come to weak ice and the harder the rescue is.
8. Always have something between you and the
person in trouble.
9. Never leave children near the ice.
10. Always say where you are and when you’re
coming back.
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Interests
Music….
what it means to me
By:
Emily Hogan…age 14 in 2006
I
love music because it´s fun and it´s one of my biggest
interests. I don´t know why or when it started but I was very
young.
But
now I am in two bands, a school band that doesn’t have a name
yet and called NoName. It’s great playing in it after school.
When I grow up I want to be a singer. That is probably what many
girls dream of, but I really want to be a singer.
I like rock and pop and sometimes country music, but I don’t
listen to it often.
I
don´t know who my favourite singer or band is, but I like Skid
Row, and many other bands. My dad is from Ireland and in Ireland
there are many musical people. My dad is good at playing the
guitar.
He,
my sister and I are the ones most interested in music in our
family.
I
can play some instruments too. I can play drums, guitar and
piano and I can play a little bit on the bass.
I
want to learn to play many songs on the guitar
My
friend and I are writing a cover of “First cut is the deepest”
but we haven’t finished it. We have changed the words in the
song.
The
song we are practicing now is “Black Velvet” and we are going to
play that song in two weeks at the Youth Center but we are not
sure that it’s going to work because we have trouble playing it
together
We
don’t write our own music, we do covers. We can play rock,
country and pop music… all sorts of music! |
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My Hamster
by
Jakob Görtz grade 4
My hamster is a goldish grey. He has 3 levels in
his cage. He has a wheel, plastic tunnel, toilet,
water-bottle, bridge, house, food bowl
and a wooden tunnel with holes.
His name is Stripe. I got him at Christmas 2006.
He has made a fort and sleeps in it.
I have a hamster ball that he can run in.
He runs very fast.
He is a tame hamster but he bites when he gets
scared. You can hold him too. |
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THE OGRE AND THE
PRINCESS
By Runa
and Britta in grade 1
Once upon
a time, there was an evil ogre who lived in a cave behind a
waterfall. He was very lonely. He wanted a girl to stay in his
cave and sing to him so that he could sleep. But everyone was
scared of him and thought he would eat them. Really he liked to
eat goats and pigs.
One day.
Princess Anna went to the waterfall to watch birds. She had her
magic hairband with her, but not on her. The magic hairband
helped her to think wise thoughts.
Princess
Anna started to sing. The ogre loved it! He wanted her to sing
in his cave so he called his friend Golden-Eye the eagle.
Usually Golden-Eye brought him goats and pigs, but now the ogre
said, “Please bring me that singing girl.”
Golden-Eye
swooped down and took her up in the air. She was screaming so
loud that her fairy godmother heard and sent fairies to
Brittunaland to tell Prince Rupert what had happened.
Meanwhile,
the king and queen were looking for the princess. The decided to
go to the waterfall. The ogre saw them in his magic mirror and
called the eagle to take them too. The ogre told the king and
queen that he would not let the princess go as he needed music
to help him sleep.
Prince
Rupert came bursting through the wall of the cave in his magic
uniform. He wanted to kill the ogre, but the princess said, “he
is bad because he cannot sleep.”
Then she
put on her magic hairband to think wisely. The idea came to her.
“We can
give him a music centre so he can have music when he wants.”
The ogre
was happy. Prince Rupert married the princess and they lived
happily ever after. So did the ogre. He listened to Britney
Spears. |
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Argumentative Essay:
American Health Care System
By: Sarah Ohlsson
America. When most of us hear this word we
think about the president, the tragedy of September 11th,
loads of fast foods, obese people, various cultures as well as
fine education. We think of America as one of the most powerful
leading countries in the world due to their strong economic
position. People all over the world see the United States of
America as “the Land of Opportunities”. Although, what most of
us don’t realize is that behind America’s immense number of
strengths lay a number of weaknesses. One of the most noted
social issues in the United States today is the debate
concerning the American Health Care System. Compared to a large
number of other countries, the American Health Care System does
not, in all aspects, provide the typical high standards that one
could expect. Although the quality of the care itself is among
the best in the world there are issues, such as access to care,
that definitely could be improved. I believe there are some
potential solutions to this problem but what primarily needs to
be done is to raise awareness to as many people as possible. The
reason I have selected to write about this is related to the
fact that not only is it a current issue in the US but also a
problem that affects millions of Americans. What are appropriate
solutions to this national problem?
The main reason why the health care is so
poor in this great nation is due to the cost of health
insurance. A staggering 50 million Americans out of 300 million
can’t afford health insurance. In addition, even if they apply
for health insurance many of them will be denied insurance. One
reason is that in order to get a health insurance in the first
place one would have to be 100% healthy. If a person, at the
time of applying for health insurance, has a condition that
could potentially develop into a health issue, that person will
most likely be denied health insurance. Studies say that 18 000
Americans will die annually because they lack health insurance.
In the 2007 documentary “Sicko” by Michael Moore,
a woman who applied for health insurance was denied insurance
and the insurance company stated that the reason was because her
Body Mass Index was too high.[1]
Considering the
fact that a large number of Americans are either overweight or
obese, that leaves a lot of people unable to receive good health
care.
[1] Sicko (2007) documentary film by Michael
Moore
Moreover,
many of the overweight people in the US today are also often the
ones with a limited income.
Another case involved a middle-aged couple
who were denied health insurance because the wife had developed
a brain tumor. The insurance company stated that her condition
was so severe that it would probably cost them more than they
would gain in insurance fees and therefore it was not considered
to be a good deal for them. A couple of months later the woman
unfortunately died. She and her husband couldn’t afford all the
treatment that was needed for her to recover.
Is it fair that someone has to lose their
life because the medical treatment that is needed is too
expensive? Furthermore, isn’t the purpose of health insurance
companies to financially help those in need of medical care?
 Judging
from this case, one could easily conclude that the insurance
company’s only interest is to protect their profits rather than
actually provide help.
Given the current world economic crisis, more and
more people are losing their jobs. Normally employees in the US
receive a health insurance along with the employment itself.
Unfortunately losing your job equals losing the health insurance
as well. In other words, most Americans are dependent on their
jobs to provide their insurances. In fact, many American
companies use this argument in their advertisements when seeking
new employees. Another factor that has restricted the ease of
access to health insurance is the inflation in insurance
premiums which has risen 57% over the last six years.[2]
The United States health care spending is
higher than other OECD countries (Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development). In fact, more money is spent on
health care in the United States than any other nation in the
world, public and private spending combined. On the other
2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_health_care_system
hand, in the World Health Organization’s ranking of the overall
quality of the world’s health systems the United States is
ranked #37, just above Slovenia. It’s quite remarkable that “the
Land of Opportunities” is so far down on the list.
Despite this, the United States is a leading
nation in medical innovation with a per-capita spending that is
three times higher than in Europe. It is not the care itself
that is poor, it is rather the system of receiving medical care
that needs to be improved.
When Bill Clinton was running for president, one
of the promises he made to the voters was to improve the ever
raising health care costs. Though the chances of President
Clinton reforming the health care seemed positive, no results
were seen during his presidency. The first lady, Hilary Rodham
Clinton, also realized that something needed to be done. Her
goal was to improve the chances of all citizens receiving health
care while minimizing the number of denied insurance
applications.[3]
 The
health care in the United States is in some aspects are worse in
comparison to other North American countries such as the health
care system in Canada. In 2006, the per-capita spending for
health care in the US was an estimated $6,714(US), while in
Canada the estimated amount was only $3,678(US).
[4]According
to the chart on the above, the coverage for 2.5 million New
Englanders is about as much as the coverage for 27 million
Canadians! Moreover, studies show that Canadians live about 3
years longer than Americans due to health care. In addition, the
infant mortality rate is lower than in the US. Even the small
country of El Salvador in Central America has a lower infant
mortality rate than the United States!
The US citizens must cover the health care
costs themselves whereas Canadians have the advantage of having
most of the health care costs paid for by the Canadian
government.
[3]
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18802
[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems_compared
Why is the American health care system so
expensive? In order to provide an answer to this question one
would have to understand how the health care money is spent.
The picture below shows where the money go.
 A
large majority of the spending, or 46%, goes towards paying
hospitals and physicians.
In addition, 3% of every dollar spent is
direct profit to the insurance companies which is half of what
the government pays.
So, what could be done to improve the America
Health Care situation?
The simplest as well as most suitable
solution would be to have a free market for health insurance.
This would require forbidding health insurance companies to give
discounts to employers. In addition, insurance companies
shouldn’t be allowed to discriminate people with pre-existing
conditions. Today the market is unfortunately restricted as the
consumers do not have a free choice to switch between service
providers.
Another solution would be a single-payer
market which exists in Canada and several Western European
nations. This is basically a form of government-provided health
care. This could be combined with an expansion of Medicare, a
program which covers individuals 65 years or older as well as
disabled people, to the whole population. This would of course
require an increase of taxes which is a delicate issue in the
US.
As there are large differences in income and
wealth in the US, I believe the health care spending should be
based on the individual’s ability to pay. This would mean that
really
wealthy people would have to pay a portion of the health care
themselves in an attempt to subsidize people with no or low
ability to pay for health care.
As I’ve stated in this argumentative essay,
the injustice in the health care system in the United States has
been evident for several years and of course needs improvement.
If people finally decide to stand up and do something about
this, they need to realize that it requires a lot of time and
patience. Fixing and improving something as wide as this topic
in one of the largest and strongest countries in the world has
proven difficult although several attempts have been made over
the years. I strongly believe that a powerful country like the
US really could improve their health care system, to a level
where it’s fair to every citizen, if only the government was
prepared to take tough decisions. This however would probably
mean political suicide for some politicians. The question is,
will they ever have the courage to take necessary steps? |
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