Category Archives: Literacy

Anyone can cook! (A view from Remy the Rat…) by Ocelot12

Image result for Remy the rat 6 have been writing as Remy the Rat (from Ratatouille) to try to persuade humans to allow rats to cook. Remy wants to follow his dreams and the motto, ‘Anyone can cook,’ of Monsieur Gusteau (his mentor and famous chef, now deceased). We tried to imagine how Remy would defend himself to prejudiced humans who are rejecting him purely because of their beliefs about rats and despite the fact that he is a brilliant chef. We had some interesting discussions about being true to yourself and your talents and being resilient in the face of challenges… Go Remy!!

Anyone can cook

For centuries humans have detested rats: you think we only bring disease and death. Why is it that we are enemies? It is not our fault that ticks and fleas choose us to carry them. If you give us a chance to be ourselves (we do not like being given scraps and rubbish), we could help you. I know there are chances out there because I had one. I became a cook at Gusteau’s, the restaurant in Paris.

Most humans say that rats are foul vermin; others (Linguini and Collette) say that we are clever and very hygienic. We are hygienic because we walk on our hind legs when cooking so we do not handle food with messy paws. Also, we debug and thoroughly wash ourselves before cooking and we constantly wash our paws. If I believe my fellow rats are not clean enough, they certainly are not allowed to come in the kitchen.

Furthermore, the only reason that humans do not like rodents cooking is because they are prejudiced. I know humans prejudiced because I had been cooking for nearly two weeks and the restaurant and people admired my outstanding food. Then, once customers knew who had cooked their food, they all called my magnificent dishes vile.

Also, before I was a cook, Gusteau’s was only a two-star restaurant. Then people wanted it to be a four-star. But now the public want the restaurant to be closed because a cook is a rat. The public only wanted the restaurant to be four- or five-star because my meals were delicious, innovative, unique and spectacular. By the time I was found out by Anton Ego, my cooking was being talked about on the other side of the planet! All three of my human friends believe that, ‘Anyone can cook.’ like the once great man said.

I am an enthusiastic, creative cook yet many say I am disgusting and vile. If I am to be gassed and killed then many great recipes will be lost and that will be a loss to Paris. You humans entrust your lives to dogs for the blind and viruses for the ill so why so we can’t you trust a clever, clean rat?

Ocelot12

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Crazy is my superpower


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A Horse for Angel


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‘Acid and Alkaline’ a story by Marmoset29

“As you’re aware, this week is… Science Week.” Miss Hughs paused waiting for a cheer or round of applause. The hall fell silent apart from the one ‘hurray!’ that echoed throughout the over-crowded room. Cat. As heads turned towards her, the brown-haired girl fell quiet and reddened. “Uhum, Reception will be …” the clueless, over-positive headteacher continued in her sing-song voice, unaware of the fact that most of the upper-school were dozing off. Of course, though, that didn’t include Cat…

“Uuh!” sighed Ashley, “It’s almost like she’s got something against us.
“Well she hates you!” Nikki added.
“True but Cat’s her pet.” Ashley debated. Miss Hughs had set each class a ‘fun’ science experiment and for most years it was. From testing ‘zero-gravity space boots’ to building rockets, it looked like most classes would have a ‘memorable experience’. Everyone except Y6, who were doing soil samples.

“You know who she reminds me of?” Jess interrupted the silence.
“Who?” the other girls said in unison.
“I would say guess but…”
“She’s from Harry Potter, isn’t she?” The threesome were BFFs and had known each other since pre-school but the only Harry-Potter-fan between them was by far Jess. “Yup. She’s Dolores Umbridge.” Jess explained.
“Oh, I heard of her – she stepped in as headmaster, always wore pink and tried to be positive but everyone hated her ’cause she was just well, cruel.” Ashley half-guessed. Whether she was right or wrong didn’t matter as they immediately burst into hysterical laughter.

“You’re six minutes late!” Mr. Daly greeted the girls.
“They’re six minutes, seventeen seconds and three milliseconds late to be precise,” Cat butted in. At this comment, even Mr. Daly winced: Ashley’s reaction was different each time. Sometimes, she would just tell her classmate to shut up; other times, it would result in more than one visit to the nurse. Today, however, the popular yet feared girl just held her tongue. “Ashley, you’re with Cat’s group and you two are with Nikki,” the teacher instructed, pointing to Sam and Jess.”

Reluctantly, Ashley joined the group, flopping down on the table as far away from the others as possible. In the back of her mind, she could hear her group talking nerd talk. None of it made sense to her: it was just soil this, soil that or ‘it’s acid’. At that comment, she perked up: if she could find an alkaline soil and mix it with the acid, this lesson could become fun. At least, she could vaguely remember her dad lecturing her about the ‘dangerous’ effects. “So, any alkaline soils yet…?” she enquired, a grin on her face.
“Not yet but…” Cat began.
“Bla, bla, bla – just get an alkaline one already!” Ashley said, cutting the tall girl short.
“It’s not that simple, it’s only from Mr. D’s garden.”
“Ooh, I thought it was from Planet Pluto.”
“Pluto’s not a planet!” Cat said defensively but Ashley wasn’t paying attention. Well, not to her group.

Drilling her carefully shaped nails on the table-top, Ashley almost fell off her chair in shock: the litmus paper was green! “Alkaline, it’s alkaline!” she almost shouted. This time, it was her group’s turn to be asleep.
Fancy that, the nerds bored of science! The girl shrugged as she poured the alkaline soil in with the acidic soil, spilling them both on Cat. Tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for an effect, the girl didn’t recall what happened next…

Crimson dust spiralled around her: it was almost as if she was in a tornado. The red powder soon faded into a lighter shade as it doubled in size. Confused, Ashley was oblivious to which direction she was headed but she could tell she was moving; she couldn’t help but gawk at the scene before her.

Landing on her back, Ashley felt the wind being knocked out of her. Dazed, she hastily got to her feet, dusting herself down. What had happened?  Where was she? As her mind cleared, questions buzzed in her brain. Inquisitive, she saw nothing around her except the same red, orange sand as in the whirlwind. The girl was evidently not in her cramped classroom and she seemed to be alone. Biting at her nails, which were now not so perfect, Ashley walked forward, her curiosity getting the better of her. The disturbingly quiet place was a lot to take in despite its nothingness.

Related imageOut of the blue, a powder of dust erupted into the air as something hit the ground. Cautious, yet curious, the girl stepped back in two minds. The something that had landed coughed, unnerving the girl. As Ashley held her breath, the ‘thing’ moved to get up. Rising from the ground was a, a… it was Cat! Emotions hit Ashley. Shocked. Confused. Relieved. Annoyed. Annoyed. Why Cat, of all people why her? Then the memory of spilling the samples on her classmate hit her. It was probably best not to say…

Meanwhile, back in Mr. Daly’s classroom, the pupils sat in silence and Mr. Daly himself was shouting at a cupboard. “Ashley, come out! This isn’t a request – it’s an order,” but little did he know where she was.

“Where the flip are we?” Ashley half-asked, half-shouted. “How’m I supposed to know, Red-head,” came the reply. “What!!!” Ashley reached for her handbag but there was nothing strapped on her shoulder. The red sand had dyed her once blonde locks red: the diva’s biggest nightmare, after earwigs. “Anyway,” Cat started, a smile of satisfaction broad across her face, “I could take a wild guess and say we’re not in the classroom. Possibly on Mars.”

“Well, I suppose there’s no point just staying here,” and, as if that was a command, they began to walk.

“You know, we could be making scientific history and..” yet again Ashley had tuned out of Cat’s not-so-silent train of thoughts. In fact, Ashley would normally have left the girl behind but a) needed her scientific knowledge and b) just didn’t have the energy to argue. She needed water. A lot of it.
Almost like a radio, Ashley tuned back into Cat’s ramblings. “…famous. What do you think?”
“I’d love to be famous but science is boring!”
“You can talk – you spend your days looking at your nails.”
“And you spend yours looking at books!”
“You learn from books.”
“Learn enough to get us home?”
“I. I mean.” Cat turned a vibrant shade of red. “Look, find me some water and I’ll apologise.” The argument only escalated from there.

They walked and talked or rather walked and argued, when Cat saw something faintly in the distance. Although she was very much an indoors person, she ‘ran’ ahead. Ashley soon realised what her classmate had spotted and jogged to catch up.

Abruptly, they came to a stop. There, before them was a cubzeblight yet unknown to them, even Cat. “Wicked. It’s like a camel with solar panels!” exclaimed Cat as she stepped towards it for a closer look. Ashley didn’t reply but silently agreed. What happened next, though was a horrific scene: the cubzeblight had obviously mistaken Cat for a moneset and attacked. Limbs flew everywhere as if it was a cartoon but by the time the beast was done with Cat, she had no limbs. No limbs and no life. For the first time in her life, Ashley stopped thinking about her appearance. She was confused: her enemy was dead but she was sad.

Hatred bubbled inside her but this time not for Cat – for herself. She should have helped her classmate but was too cowardly to. After a moment of thinking, Ashley stepped towards the cubzeblight: she would die of thirst soon anyway…

Image result for Mars

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‘Science Week’ a story by Iguana24

Dawn was breaking over the town of Southam as James Agoftos wandered his room excitedly… It was Science Week! The crisp air was becoming too much: it felt like a heatwave had hit. Wandering over to the steamed window, he caught a glimpse of something moving below; he ignored it.

On the other side of town, Lila Taylor was hoping the day to be over: she always hated Mondays. Lila got dressed and slowly walked over to her birch door, turning her heating off behind her; she soon saw something whizz past through the blur of her window.

Arriving at school, James gasped at all of the projects in satisfaction. As Lila arrived on the property, she gave a sigh as she found out that they were testing soil samples from ‘Mars’ a.k.a. Mr. Sullivan’s back garden. Sitting down with a smile, James was ready for the coming week, or so he thought… Suddenly, the lights went out and Lila gave a scream! Soon, the backup generators came on revealing something moving in the sample shared by Lila and James.

All of the soil started to float up and bunch together soon to swirl and create a portal. Many classroom objects disappeared into the vortex — including two children… Lila and James!

Cold was the night as Lila awoke from her slumber and began shaking James awake. Looking around, James realised that there were in some kind of vast, red desert… MarsImage result for Mars

Starting to walk, Lila called out, “James! Follow me!”

Following Lily, James saw something quiver in the sand below so he leapt away as it started to swirl, engulfing Lila… James continued to walk; his legs felt like they could give way at any moment. Out of the rocky surface, a strange creature emerged: four wings; elephant legs; multiple sets of eyes.

James yelped and suddenly ran back to leap into the quicksand! He obviously had more chance of survival this way. Much to his surprise, he was alive and quite well: he was at the core… A whole civilisation had hidden there undiscovered for thousands of years: strange and magnificent beasts were everywhere… Then there was Lila…

For some reason, there was gravity, gravity at last. An oasis of water lay still in the middle with Spherisects flying everywhere and Monsoons swinging from vine to vine as the bioluminescent moss lit up the surrounding pools. Glavours were laying in holes dug into the wall. The beasts… the beasts were not attacking then? The Monsoons looked like monkeys with a wingsuit-like structure. As for the Spherisects, they were little red balls with no eyes but a good sense of smell and wriggly arms and legs with blue, bioluminescent bee-like wings lighting the sky. The Monsoons looked to be half a metre wide and one metre tall, and the Spherisects looked to be about 8 cm in height and just 5 cm wide. Wait until Mr. Sullivan hears about this!

Lila tripped into some green goo much like she had tripped into at the start when a rush of oxygen hit her; she had the answers for survival!…

But food… she hadn’t been hungry at all… Could her metabolism have slowed down? Could she survive? Could she tame a beast?… Would they ever get home to tell the tale?…

 

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Martian life: the Spherisect by Zebra3

The Spherisect, a bio-luminescent inhabitant of the rust-coloured planet – Mars – lives a placid, timid life as the most intelligent specimen on the planet. Although it is not fully identified to the human race, scientists are intrigued by its many impressive qualities: it may reveal vital evidence that could enable humans to survive independently on the red planet.

This diurnal extra-terrestrial has a translucent exo-skeleton that secretes luminous light as it ventures into Mars’ darkest crevices. Adapting to the harsh climate, the Spherisect has fascinatingly programmed its skeletal wings to cover and wrap around its spherical body according to the temperature.

Because of its miniscule size and extreme civility, it does not hunt: it absorbs nutrition through its wings by settling inside dew droplets and rain. Although this microscopic insect cannot easily be seen by humans, sensational receptors on Mars’ predators can find the seldom seen Spherisect. Surprisingly for such a harmless looking creature, the Spherisect has its own methods that warn predators: it blinds the despicable beasts of Mars with its rounded body, which is known to glow as bright as the sun. Despite the Spherisect’s many hunters, it is almost impossible to make them extinct: their continuous cell-division cycle will only be complete when the sun dies as Spherisects need the sun to keep their reproduction process healthy.

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Martian life: the Six-winged Terror by Kangaroo29

Probably the most peculiar creature ever known is the Six-winged Terror! All scientists who have learnt about this stunning animal have brought mankind one step closer to actually going to Mars. These mysterious creatures live deep down a trench called Hanzdie. And, in Hanzdie, there are many forests including Itamie, a small forest where Six-winged Terrors live.

These fierce creatures are solitary and the only thing stopping you becoming its lunch are its eyes. Six-winged Terrors have huge eyes but are clearly visible to the naked eye. These beasts have eyes like snakes which means it sees temperatures of other animals. Six-winged Terrors have black markings around their eyes which absorb the sun’s glare.

On their feet, they have special grips which allow them to gracefully glide around trees but, if you get a closer inspection, you’ll see on its back feet it has feet dedicated to rocks and sand.

Six-winged Terrors have extremely sharp beaks mainly for one reason and that is during summer, they leave Hanzdie and go to the top of Mars’ surface. Out of Hanzdie, Six-winged Terrors are small, but their prey is bigger so it jabs its beak into its prey and leaves it to bleed to death.

Six-winged Terrors have two remarkable bits on their bodies. One is its hypnotizing tail which it uses on the face of Mars to escape predators. And second is its spike on its head which it uses to chop small trees to get the golden sap which it uses to recharge its camouflage so it can survive.

During mating season – spring, the end of males’ tails grow very bright and they show it to females in hope to beat other males but sometimes there is a fight to the death. To mark their territory, Six-winged Terrors fly up high and spread their wings and the shadow marks the males’ territory.

Could Six-winged Terrors be the key to survival on Mars? If we study Six-winged Terrors, we may be able to go to Mars but if we go, we could also endanger them by throwing rubbish into Hanzdie.

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Martian Life: the Electric Viper by Jellyfish6

This electric viper is found in the worst storms. It has jetpack shoes to help it in the storms. The storm attacked the electric viper’s prey. It has conquered the strongest beasts.

It goes in a pack of a million electric vipers. They hunt together to get their prey. They stop to meet then bang noses to get treats out of the soil. All the electric vipers do it to get the best out.

It sleeps inside craters the size of icebergs. Only two of them can fit in the craters. If you have a family, then you have to dig a bigger hole.

The electric viper has electric hands so when it sees its prey it shoots it with electric bullets out at him. Then it paralyses them and then the electric viper picks it up and puts it in his pot.

This species is in danger of being extinct. We need to get humans up there to help them.

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Martian life: The Low by Otter14

This magnificent creature, has recently been found on Mars. This strange creature was found when a scientist [called Fin] was mining a sort of iron ore and it just walked by; we saw it suck up loads of iron ore with his big nose. When he made eye contact with the scientist, it jumped up in the low gravity and blew out scorching hot air out of his four legs. This species is extremely rare and dangerous. DO NOT APPROACH ALONE!!!

It has a boiling hot volcano resting on its back. They have a phobia of humans and anything that is not from their planet. When its volcano is full with lava, it glows. At night, its lava also glows so the creature can see: it can’t see in the dark. It has no tail because if lava spills on him / her it will set its tail on fire; but, if it spills it on its skin, it will not hurt: its skin is rock solid.

This species will survive for as long as it wants to as long as his lava keeps on going. Also, if it is ill it will go to a volcano and find as many flammable things [e.g. coal, Mars wood, etc.] to make its lava stronger to get it more healthy. The female has a smaller volcano on her back, so that the males can show off to the females. They sleep in the day time so that its lava is not that visible; it will sleep near a volcano so it can camouflage.

Also, they have big ears so that they can hear if anyone [of their own species] is in danger. It eats space bugs and space bunnies to get more nutrition. Moreover, it sucks up all of the iron ore from the floor so that it can get more nutrition; it also makes his or her skin harder as it makes the scales stronger. If it is scared, it will jump up in the low gravity and blast hot air out of his four hooves so it can zoom away from predators: it is normally slow because of its very heavy volcano.

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Stephen Hawking biography by Marmoset29

Stephen Hawking, (8th January 1942 – 14th March 2018)

A renowned inspiration, Professor Stephen Hawking is world famous for his work in science. A mathematician as well as a physicist, he was the man who came up with the ‘black hole theory’, which has improved people’s understanding of space and the origins of the universe. Not only that, he suffered from motor neurone disease since the age of 21, meaning that he could not speak or write down his theories and that makes him even more of an inspiration because most of his complex ideas were created using his mental skills alone.

Stephen was the eldest of four — he had two younger sisters (Mary and Philippa) and Edward, an adopted brother. His father — Frank — was a doctor and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps but Hawking didn’t. With his mum, Isobel, they made an eccentric family, eating their meals in silence whilst reading books. Visitors would often comment on the masses of papers scattered around the house. However, Stephen himself didn’t learn how to read until he was eight.

At school, he earned the nickname Einstein despite being one of the weakest in the class. His father wanted him to move to Westminster School but, on the day of the scholarship, he fell ill meaning he had no scholarship and ended up staying on at St. Albans school with his friends. Some say that this benefitted him because his maths teacher inspired him to become a mathematician.

In his childhood, he had had several hobbies: playing board games, making model boats and planes, and taking clocks apart to reassemble them but was often unsuccessful. However, throughout his life, he liked fireworks — making and watching them — and, on his 75thbirthday, there was a huge firework display in honour of him.

Despite not learning to read until the age of 8, he had always enjoyed maths: he had liked it so much that he wanted to go on and study it, but Frank wanted him to study medicine. Compromising, Stephen went on to Oxford University to study chemistry and physics. In 1959, he started his degree but hated it. After that, he concentrated less on his work and got a reputation as rather a joker and a daredevil who was simultaneously clever. In fact, he devoted his second year mostly to fun.

After his time at Oxford, he went on to Cambridge University to begin a PhD in cosmology. However, he struggled in the subject due to his lack of maths. Not only that, he began to struggle with everyday things: dropping items, tripping over and becoming, overall, more clumsy. He was a small man and so, when Stephen joined the rowing boat club, he had coxed the boat but even that was beginning to become a struggle. When he returned home for Christmas, his mum noticed a significant change in his behaviour and admitted him to hospital. There, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and was told he would live no longer than two years. At the time, he was 21.

Due to the shocking news, Hawking found it difficult to work, losing hope on his dreams. However, the man soon realised that his disease was slowing, meaning he might live more than two years. This filled him with hope once again and Stephen decided to go back to work, making the most of what he had left.

Just before he had been diagnosed, he met Jane Wilde, who was the most positive force in his life. Against her family’s advice, they got engaged in October 1964 and later were married and had three children Lucy, Tim and Robert. His wife loved him and he loved her but he was reluctant to accept help and even when he began to struggle with walking, he refused a wheelchair as long as possible.

As the illness worsened, the scientist learned that he couldn’t write and he became more frustrated by his limitations especially since in the 1960s and 1970s there was little technology to support him. Luckily though, he was a theoretical physicist rather than practical. As a result of this, he could still think through his work but it is still amazing as he couldn’t write down his thoughts.

In 1985, he visited CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and contracted pneumonia. He had two options: a life-support machine or a treatment that would enable him to breathe but he would never be able to speak again. Immediately his wife had refused the life- support machine, meaning that he would never speak again. A tube was inserted into his neck to replace his airway and he got a computerised speech synthesiser. Although, when he had passed away, it was said that he most regretted not being able to play with his children, he would often give them rides on his wheelchair and sometimes they would type swear words into their dad’s voice machine, joking being in their genes!

Since he was such an inspirational person, Stephen journeyed around the world and met many people like Nelson Mandela, Obama and H.M. the Queen. He also starred in many television shows and cartoons – Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons and Comic Relief. To add to that, he opened the 2012 Paralympics.

Throughout his life, he had adored his space but, due to his illness, he couldn’t ever go to space himself and so, after being in a wheelchair for 40 years, he went on the ‘Vomit Comet’, which was a space simulator. Later on in life, he also wrote a children’s space book with his daughter Lucy.

Yet again because of his disease, he didn’t have much time with his wife and so they divorced. He then remarried one of the nurses but described their relationship as volatile. However, shortly before his death, he regained contact with Jane his first wife.

However unfortunate we thought he was, Stephen described himself as lucky and not only because he was the longest-lived motor neurone disease sufferer, but also because he was able to have the technology that he had. As a matter of fact, he became an ambassador for the disease. Most astonishingly, in the last years of his life, he could only move one muscle in his right cheek (which he used to control his computer) meaning he could only smile and use one eyebrow.

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