Dear Children,

Aunty Mali will be on leave for a couple of weeks and I am given the task of taking care of her children in her absence.

While promising to do my best I thought of talking to you children today on the subject of being safe when you browse the Internet. I have given a set of rules and guidelines to my seven-year-old son when he wants to go on-line, which will help him to be safe in the wonderful world of the Internet.

Remember that parents set these rules because they really love you and they would do anything to keep you from harm’s way. So here are my guidelines for you kids who do go on-line at home or at net cafés:

1. Do not give out personal information such as your address, telephone number, parents’ work address/telephone number, or the name and location of your school without your parents’ permission.

2. You should tell your parents right away if you come across any information that makes you feel uncomfortable.

3. Never agree to get together with someone you “meet” online without first checking with your parents. If your parents agree to the meeting, be sure that it is in a public place and bring your dad or mom along.

4. Never send a person your picture or anything else without first checking with your parents.

5. Do not respond to any messages that are mean or in any way make you feel uncomfortable. It is not your fault if you get a message like that. If you do, you should tell your parents right away so that they can contact the service provider.

6. You should talk with your parents and come up with a set of rules for going online. They can decide upon the time of the day that you can be online, the length of time and appropriate areas for you to visit. You should not access other areas or break these rules without your parents’ permission.

7. You should not give out your Internet password to anyone (even your best friends) other than your parents.

8. You should check with your parents before downloading or installing software or doing anything that could possibly hurt the computer or jeopardise your family’s privacy.

9. You should be a good online citizen and not do anything that hurts other people or is against the law.

10. You should help your parents understand how to have fun and learn things online and teach them things about the Internet, computers and other technology - I know I do from my son!

Happy and safe surfing, until next week,

Uncle Les

A rising swimming star

Sithari Perera who shone at the novices and international schools’ swimming events conducted on two consecutive weekends, signalled the entry of yet another rising star in the world of aquatic sports.

Young Sithari, under the supervision of David Bolling won the 200m IM, 50m Dolphin and 100m breast stroke events for her school, The British School in Colombo in the under-12 age group at the International Schools’ Swimming Championships organised by Asian International School last weekend.

In the previous weekend, too, swimming for the British School in Colombo, she won the 200m, 100m, 50m Dolphin and 100m breast stroke events at the Novices Meet conducted by the National Aquatic Sports Union in the under-12 age group.

Sithari trains regularly under coach Wilson.

Dinosaur-depicting stamps:

The most favourite theme among collectors

Francis P. Gunasekara

Dinosaur-depicting stamps have turned out to be one of the most favourite themes among collectors the world over. The fossils of these ferocious animals have been excavated in a number of countries and these have helped to determine the forms of appearance of the creatures.

Dinosaurs sre pre-historic monsters whose body-shape has been somewhat similar to the present day birds, crocodiles, lizards and snakes.

Of these the long-necked brontosaurus, referred to as thunder lizards is best known to some people.

It was reported on TV that the first ever high-tech museum of dinosaurs was opened in China to the delight of children and adults as well.

In that museum all types of known dinosaurs produced in monster-size are shown as “living creatures” with technically worked movements to the amazement and thrill of many anxious visitors.

We have shown along with this article, some of the queer-shaped dinosaurs who may have looked like, determining from the fossils that have been excavated so for in various parts of the world.

According to “The Giant book of fantastic facts” published in England the great blue whale is the largest living creature that ever existed, weighing about three times as much as the largest dinosaur so far known.

From the same source of information, we learn that a dinosaur by the name Prachiosaurus which roamed the earth some 150,000,000 years ago was 75 feet long, weighed 40 tons and yet had a brain which weighed only seven ounces!

The name of dinosaurs are difficult to pronounce and not easy to remember. These are some of the their names; Archacepturyr, Edaphosaurus, Indricotheriun Machaerodus and Saurolorhus. Stamps that you see here are from the following countries: Vietnam, Sahara, Cambodia, Congo and Somalia.

Folk tales of Sri Lanka:

The revenge

Retold by R. S. Karunaratne

Once upon a time there lived a fox and a hare in the forest. They were friends who spent the time happily together.

One day the hare found a pumpkin seed in his hair. When he wanted to convey the big news to his friend, the fox also told the hare that he too found a pumpkin seed in his hair.

On the same day the hare planted the pumpkin seed in his frontyard of his house. The fox planted it in his backyard. From then onwards the hare watered the plant but the fox completely neglected it.

After some time the hare was delighted to see a huge pumpkin on his frontyard. However, the pumpkin plant on the fox’s backyard had withered for want of water.

“Now that you have a big pumpkin, shall we cook pumpkin milk rice?” the fox suggested.

“How can we do that? We need coconuts, rice and a ‘Hiramane’ (coconut scraper)....”

“Wait. I know how to get them, I have a brilliant plan,” the fox said.

“What’s it?”

“We’ll go to the village tomorrow. You lie on the roadside as if dead. When someone comes close to you I’ll run away with his belongings!”

“That’s a fine idea!” the hare exclaimed.

On the following day, the hare lay on the roadside and the fox hid himself in a bush. After some time, the fox saw a pingo man coming towards them.

“Oh, this is a surprise”, said the pingo man leaving aside his pots and pans. “Today I can take this hare and give it to my wife for cooking”.

When the pingo man came very close, the hare ran away as fast as he could. When he turned towards his pingo load, he saw a fox running away with one of his clay vessels.

The fox and the hare did the same trick to a man carrying a sack of rice and another carrying a “Hiramane”.

Aimed with rice, coconuts and a “Hiramane” the duo went to prepare pumpkin milk rice. The fox started scraping the coconuts and the hare washed the rice and lighted the hearth.

The pumpkin milk rice started boiling and the fox asked his friend to bring some leaves without the stems to be used as plates. So the hare went out looking for stemless - leaves. The fox in the meantime added more fuel to the fire.

When the pumpkin milk rice was ready for serving, the fox started eating it. Soon he ate all the pumpkin milk rise leaving nothing for his friend.

When the hare returned home empty-handed, he found his friend lying in the kitchen.

“See, what happened, The pingo man, and those who were carrying rice and Hiramane came here and ate all the pumpkin milk rice after beating me.”

“That’s okay. I’ll wash myself and come back in a minute,” said the hare leaving the kitchen.

When the hare returned washed and refreshed, the fox asked who did all that washing for him.

“Why, the washerman is there to do those things.”

“Then I must also go to him”, said the fox getting up with some difficulty.

When the fox saw the washerman, he said, “Washerman, Washerman, please wash me clean”.

The washerman got hold of the fox’s tail and started beating him on a stone.

“I was waiting to catch you all these days. What did you do with my fowls?” The washerman demanded.

The fox remained silent. The washerman started beating the fox again on the stone. When his anger subsided, the washerman threw the fox into the river.

“So my friend hare, you took your revenge!” he muttered under his breath.

From that day the hare and the fox remain enemies.

Young scribes

I am the wind
I am the wind
Running a reckless race
Through the town and country side
Over the hills across the fields
Over the ocean, beside the rivers
Blowing clouds across Sun’s face
Buffeting birds flying home
I fight the trees, taking away
Their covering of leaves,
Stealing boats and filling the sails,
Of a sailing yacht
I am the wind,
Running a reckless race

T.M. Devika Nilanthi,

Grade 10,

NWP/M/M/Weragala Vidyalaya

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Friendship is one of the most valuable gifts of nature

Human beings and animals alike make friends with other.

Being able to make friends is a divine power. To make friends with others one should be humble, polite, true and understanding.

Friends are of many varieties such as friends of fun, friends of play, friends of affection and friends of sharing. A person with any kind of these friends finds life interesting. He can face any problem in life without complaining. He becomes a man of content.

There are enemies who come in disguise as friends too. One must have to be intelligent enough to be able to distinguish between real friends and false friends. Otherwise it is better to be alone than making friends with an unsuitable person.

Shalini,

3 C,

K.C.I. , Colombo 16.

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My favourite subject

My favourite subject is English language. Learning the English language is important because it is an international language. A person who knows English well, can communicate with foreigner easily. Thereby he can learn more about foreign countries too.

Most books on different subjects are published in English. We can read them if we learn the English language well. This make us more educated. In future we might have to travel to foreign countries. If we know English, it will be easier for us to get friendly with the foreign people and get their assistance.

English is also an interesting subject. This is specially because the English sounds are different to the sounds of our own language.

V. Divya,

3C,

Kingston College International,

Mutwal

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If I were a butterfly

I see butterflies fly here and there in my garden. They adorn my garden and I admire them. If I were such a colourful butterfly, I would fly high up in the air, from garden to garden and suck nectar from flowers.

I might also collect some nectar for my children’s friends. They would be very glad to drink nectar of flowers for they have never drunk it. I would also disclose to the children, the secret of my beautiful colours.

This is a question that most small children often ask from their mothers. Perhaps, they would be very happy to know the real answer to this.

Niroshini,

3C, Kingston College International,

Mutwal