Video Essay: Genetic Science

We have been discussing genetic science and how science has more and more influence on our lives. It seems that there is nothing they can't do but is this to the ultimate benefit of mankind, Stav discusses.

The Werepuppy

The Werepuppy another superb book by Jacqueline Wilson that's about a lonely kid called Mickey who bought a weird puppy to cure his phobia of dogs.

Mickey is a sensitive kid. One night his parents went out so he and his sisters watch a horror movie about werewolves. So from then the problem started, he had cynophobia. His dad was very disappointed by him because he wanted his son to be a real man. His sisters who were mean to him called him Mickey Mouse. A kid at school called Darren bullied him. Then one day he met a badly behaved werepuppy.

This book is full of superb moments, Wolfie is naughty and amusing. My favorite part is near the end but you have to read it yourself.

I thoroughly recommend this book, the readers will have a difficult time putting this wonderful book down without having any nightmares.

by Lefteris

Allstars Celebration Quiz

We have been learning about those weird and wonderful traditions and celebrations.

Try our quiz

Epic Inca Quiz

We have been studying the Incas recently and Lefteris has decided to quiz you all on the subject.

Making a Compass

Sailors have been using a compass for thousands of years when they navigate. Compasses always point to the magnetic North owing to the magnetic field of the Earth. It isn't difficult to make a compass! 

      To make a compass, we need a needle, a piece of brown paper, and some water. First, we magnetize the needle ( by rubbing it on cotton ). Second, we float it in the water with brown paper.

      The first problem, was that the paper sunk all the time, but then, we took a thicker piece of paper and it floated better. The second problem, was that we couldn't recognize which of the two ends were pointing North, but then, we solved the problem by looking at the sun.

      We had some problems, but we enjoyed making a compass! So, the next time I'm in a mountain, I'll know how to use it!!!!!!!

By Lydia

C.S. Lewis

This is the man responsible for all those fantastic Narnia adventures.

Check out Nick's review of one of them HERE

R L Stine

R L Stine is the kid's King of Creeps. He always wanted to be a writer and began with jokes and funny stories. In 1986 Stine got scary when he wrote his first horror novel Blind Date. In 1989 he started his Fear street series that became the best selling young adult books in history. Then, in 1992 came Goosebumps and now Stine is read in 32 different languages all over the world. They have been made into TV shows and Hollywood movies.

Visit his site below, he even has a questions and answer section for just about any question you might have for him. You could even write your own interview.

Check out an Allstar review of Night of the living Dummy II

MINECRAFT QUIZ

Stav challenges you to the ultimate Minecraft quiz

Rotten School

“Rotten school” is by R.L. Stine who writes the “Goosebumps” series but this is a hilarious book. It is set in a school where everybody does anything they want. Seriously!

The protagonist of the book is a guy named Bernie Bridges that lives in the school, he is a boarder. Bernie learns that a guy has a watch that has many functions and it attracts all the girls and he wants it. Is Bernie going to get this watch?

What made me laugh most, was about a competition they had for who could eat the most and a kid was sick and he threw up all the food.

I thoroughly recommend  “Rotten school” because it is a disgusting comedy, although I advise you not to read it after eating.

By Tasos

My Great Adventure

It never rains in Greece, except when it does! Maria's camping break fell victim to one of these exceptions.

Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy

Horrid Henry tricks the tooth fairy by Francesca Simon is a comic adventure book about a boy who does all sorts of bad and nasty things. It is one of the popular series of Horrid Henry books that has been delighting children for decades.

Henry tries to trick the tooth fairy, as he wants money but he doesn’t succeed, he threatens his brother for money who has already lost a tooth, He also gets angry as his friends have lost their teeth. He then goes to a wedding and causes more trouble, he eats chocolate and his teeth begin to hurt.

This book is horribly hilarious as Henry causes a lot of problems My favourite part was when his teacher fainted because he couldn’t stand horrid Henry.

I highly recommend everyone to read this book as they will go through the world of horrible things. Also readers will have a difficult time putting this ludicrous slapstick story down.

Allstars sports Quiz

Tasos challenges you to his Allstar Sports Quiz.

Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson is probably most famous for her Tracy Beaker books that were turned into children's TV series for the BBC. But, she has written so much more and even some fantastic books for boys. She began by writing crime novels for grown-ups and didn't take her A'level in English until she was 40!
She now has a library of over 15,000 books and shares her skills with would-be writers teaching creative writing at University of Roehampton.
Read Jacqueline's diary HERE.

See what the Allstars thought of "Glubbslyme" and "Starring Tracy Beaker"

Roald Dahl

This year the world is celebrating Roald Dahl's 100th birthday (13th September). Celebrating? Yes, because without him we would not have Willy Wonka, BFG, Matilda, The Twits, The Fantastic Mr. Fox or so many more of our favourite characters.

But did you know that Roald Dahl's story is as interesting as any of his books?

He was a pilot in the war and he wrote the script for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and one of the James Bond movies as well as lots of books for grown-ups.
Find out more at his site HERE

Jeremy Strong

This week's featured writer is Jeremy Strong. He has become a firm favourite with Allstars and my own kids (I've read some myself, but ssshhh!). He used to be a primary school teacher but now he writes fantastic books for young readers. Read about him here and go to his site to download some of his stories. You'll laugh your socks off!
Check out his books HERE

Travel: Pelion

Pelion, is a green mountain close to Volos, which is the capital of the region of Magnesia. It is located in central Greece, by the Aegean Sea. It is the best place for a peaceful weekend.

    In Pelion, you can visit museums and learn about the history of Centaurs and Theofilos. Centaurs were mythological creatures with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Theofilos, was a major folk painter of Neo-Hellenic art. He was from Lesvos, but he lived and painted in Pelion and Volos.

    Pelion is actually a large mountain with many traditional villages and exotic beaches. Makrinitsa, Milies and Tsagarada are the most traditional villages of Pelion with grey stone roofs, elegant houses and paved paths. Mylopotamos, Fakistra and Agios Ioannis are popular exotic beaches with deep blue water. Pelion is a favorite destination for all seasons of the year.

    There are many delicious restaurants with local dishes such as: " spetzofai ", shells and fish. Tsipouro is a local drink that everyone must taste and take with them, when they leave Pelion.

    A steam train, that works only on summer weekends for tourist reasons, departs from Ano Lehonia to Milies, crossing a region of extreme natural beauty.

    Whether you want to spend your time shopping or just browsing there are many small shops which sell biological products like local pasta, trahanas, hilopites, aromatic herbs such as oregano, Rosemary, sage, etc. Traditional spoon sweets and flowers like camellia, gardenia and hortensia.

    If you want to spend a few days of relaxing family vacation, drink and taste pure traditional products and swim in crystal-blue sea water, then Pelion is the ideal destination for you.

By Lydia!!!!😀⛸💎❤️

Book Review: Starring Tracy Beaker

This book is called " Starring Tracy Beaker " by Jacqueline Wilson. It is set in the Dumping Ground, the orphanage where Tracy Beaker lives. It's an adventure comedy book that makes all the people laugh. Also, this book is the latest book of the popular writer Jacqueline Wilson, but is it as good as " The fourth grade nothing"?

YES, IT IS!!!!!!!

    The protagonist of the book is Tracy Beaker, a little girl that lives in a place called the Dumping Ground, an orphanage. The book is set in a small town in England. Tracy knows that she has a mother super star. But is it the truth? Tracy, does everything for her mother. Christmas is coming and Tracy wants the best presents for her mother. "A Christmas Carol" is coming on the school theatre and Tracy is Scrooge, but all her dreams begin to fade. Will she play in "A Christmas Carol"?

   This book, is the best because everybody laughs when he or she reads it.

    I recommend it to all children of all ages. You must read it. IT'S SUPER!!!

                                                                                                                               

I LOVED IT!!!

                                                                                                           

By Lydia!!!❤️❤️❤️

Alex's Super Quiz

Alex Loves Super Heroes... Who doesn't? But how much do you know about them? Up Up and away!..

George's Pokemon Quiz

George is craaazy about Pokemon. This is his Quiz,
Can you catch 'em all?

Book review: Pokemon Black and White vol. 12

Pokemon Black and White by Satoshi Yamamoto and Hidenori Kusaka is an adventure book for lovers of Pokemon manga. This book doesn't feature Ash Ketchum, it has a Pokemon trainer called Black and Black wants to catch all the Pokemon. 

This is vol. 12, it's just a part of Black and his sister White's adventure around the world catching Pokemon. In the half of the book it follows Black on his way to becoming a Pokemon master. The other half follows White to becoming a Pokemon master. My favourite character was the doctor, he had funny eyes. 

This is a fantastic book full of excitement, you should catch all the pages.

By George

Book Review: Beware! Killer Tomatoes

 Beware! Killer Tomatoes is a hilarious book by Jeremy Strong which is about a very clumsy boy, Jack. This brilliant story mostly takes place in a hospital.

 Jack is a boy who is very clumsy and now he has broken his leg. No one knows how or why he broke his leg, let’s just say that it was a tomato related accident, and THEY are after him. Jack is in a ward with two kids, Princess La La, whose real name is Kristy and Liam. Jack also meets a girl, Maisie who chooses not to speak. Jack tells Maisie exactly how he broke his leg and she decides to help him escape before THEY find him.

 This book is full of fantastic moments, my favourite being about how clumsy Jack is, for example Jack’s first big accident was when he was 5, he fell off the first floor of a building and landed on his head. He has been having accidents ever since.

 Beware! Killer Tomatoes is a book for everyone to read and is full of jokes and surprises. I recommend this book, you will be stuck on it until the very last page.

By Alex

The Princess and the Frog

Vasileia's Princess and the Frog will change your ideas of fairy tales.

The Elves and the Shoemaker

Vasileia has rewritten the classic fairy tale "The Elves and the Shoemaker" but she has her own ideas about the motives of the characters. She has done such a fabulous job of this retelling that you will have to look forward to her own AllStar fairy tale corner. 

All-Star Wars Quiz

Andrea is an obsessive Star Wars fan. Can you solve his nerdy questions? 

Maria's Movie Quiz

Maria has made an Allstar quiz for all you film buffs.

Lydia's Athens Quiz

How much do you know about Athens.

Allstar Animal quiz

Nick has made an animal quiz. The fastest and the smartest!

Lydia's Tricky Quiz

Lydia has come up with some tricky questions for you. Be careful, it's not called a tricky quiz for nothing! 

Quiz: Are you an expert gamer?

This is the first of my ALLSTARS' quizzes, why is it that they always do better than me?

This is by Philip

Allstar Books quiz

We are making quizzes. This is my first test. 

Book review: The Twits

The Twits is another hilarious story by RoaldDahl this superb story is about two dreadful people who play tricks on each other.

Mr. and Mrs. Twit who are the bugliest {Bad+ugly} couple in the whole universe love playing tricks on each other. The hilarity begins with the worm spaghetti and it ends with Mrs.Twit flying in the air.But the real story is with a monkey called Muggle Whump who turns the tables on the terrible

TWITS

 

This book is full of funny moments, my favourite part was when Mrs.Twit was flying with many balloons.

I thoroughly recommend The Twits, the readers will have a difficult time putting this funny book down.

By Lefteri

Book Review: Hedgehogs in the Hall

Hedgehogs in the Hall is another book from Lucy Daniels’ well-loved Animal Ark series. It is set in Welford, Leicestershire when   Mandy and James discover some hedgehogs at the bottom of the bonfire just before Guy Fawkes night. This is a touching story for Animal lovers everywhere.

  

This book takes us into the wonderful world of the Animal Ark, a veterinary surgery run by Mandy’s parents. James’ Labrador, Blackie disturbs a family of hedgehogs at the bottom of the bonfire in the garden. The mayhem ensues when the mother breaks her leg and the little ones go missing. They have to take the injured hedgehog to the Animal Ark and find the little ones before it’s too late.

This book is full of thrills and chills as they are searching all over the place to find the little ones and nursing the mother. 

It is a highly entertaining read as it gives a lot of information about  Animals. A real page-turner for those in love with animals.

By Nick  

Book Review: Rumpelstiltskin

Once, there was a poor miller who went to a king and told him that his daughter could spin straw into gold. So, the king took the girl and gave her straw to turn into gold. A little magician called Rumpelstilskin appeared and promised to help her make gold. So, when the king saw gold he wanted to marry her. So, will the king marry the princess and live happily ever after?

          The book is full of entertaining moments as the author creates comedy with unexpected twists and vivid descriptions. My favorite part, was when they made gold.

          What made an impression on me was that the king married the poor girl because she could make gold and not because he really loved her.

          I thoroughly recommend " Rumpelstilskin " . Readers will have a difficult time putting this classic fairytale down.

By Lydia

Stonehenge

Vasileia talks about one of the & Wonders of the ancient world, Stonehenge.

Around the World in 80 Days

A book that made a big impression on me was called ‘’Around the world in 80 days’’ by Jules Verne.  This fascinating adventure story takes place in the whole world.

The adventure begins in London when a bet is made between two men, the protagonist whose name is Phileas Fogg and a newspaper man. In 1872 there were no airplanes and he started travelling around the whole world on trains and ships, and he had to do that in just 80 days.

The thing that impressed me most was that Phileas Fogg finished his journey earlier than 80 days. It also impressed me how he experienced his difficult adventures.

 I liked this book very much. You should read it because it is going to teach you many new things.

by Tasos

cover by jimtierneyart.com

Book Review: Night of the Living Dummy II

The Night of the Living Dummy 2 is another spooky ‘Goosebumps’ book by R.L.Stine.                         

The book tells the story of a girl called Amy who had a dummy called Dennis. The dummy was old and rusty so she bought a new dummy. That night the dummy did some horrible things so she tried to get rid of him but she COULDN’T…

This book is full of scary moments. My favourite part was when the dummy started talking and when Amy’s sister said to Amy that she knew that the dummy did all those horrible things.

I thoroughly recommend The Night of the Living Dummy two. The readers will have a difficult time putting this scary book down.

by Lefteris

Book review: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The lion the witch and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is a magical fantasy. It is the first book of the chronicles of Narnia. In this book the children discover Narnia and their adventure begins.  

Four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy have been sent away from London due to the Second World War. Lucy finds a room with a wardrobe. This is the place where the adventure starts. The wardrobe leads to the world of Narnia, a magical land full of talking animals, witches and a lion called Aslan.  

They are each given magical gifts and prepare for the big battle with the cruel witch’s army.    

This story is full of excitement, surprises and thrills as it talks about the children discovering the magical world of Narnia. My favourite bit was when they fought the cruel witch’s army of evil creatures and spirits.

I thoroughly recommend this book as it takes people into the world of Narnia. It is not an easy book to read because it has difficult words but you will have a difficult time putting this magical story down.

by Nick

Film Review: Zootopia

Voice acting good enough for an Oscar and custom popcorn. Zootopia has it all, or does it? Stav gives the low down on Disney's latest anthropomorphic animal animation.

Book Review: Cub in the Cupboard

Cub in the cupboard, part of the animal ark series, by Lucy Adams is a moving story that takes place in Welford, Leicestershire where Mandy and James find an injured fox cub in the woods.

This story concerns a fox cub which is injured from a trap in the woods. Its mother and siblings are dead, Mandy and James decided  to take care of it and take it to dad, who is a vet. They are trying to get rid of the traps left by the hunters. Ιt is quite a moving story but it is well-written. In other points it is thrilling. This book is both gripping and tragic, as the cub is fighting for its life.

I thoroughly recommend people who love animals to read Animal Ark books as they make them feel that they are in a world of animals. Readers will have a difficult time putting this enchanting story down. 

By Nick

A Career in Modelling

Maria discusses the pros and cons of a career in modelling

The Tinderbox review

Nick reviews the classic fairy tale 

The Tinderbox review

The tinderbox by Hans Christian Andersen is an excellent story  about a solider who comes back from war and finds a magical tinderbox which summons three dogs that bring whatever he asks.     

The tinder box tells the story of a soldier who comes back from war. On the way home he meets a witch who asks him to go down a hole in a tree to bring a magical tinder box. The soldier goes down the hole to go to bring the tinder box he gathers as many farthings as he wants. He tricks the witch and takes the tinderbox as well. He goes into town to enjoy the power he has. Then he decides that he wants the beautiful  princess. Will the solider get everything he wants, will he deserve them?

The book is full of exciting moments and the author creates tension with a hero who is a bad person but gets everything he wants.

I thoroughly recommend the Tinderbox, readers will have a difficult time putting this classic fairytale down as they will be kept in suspense until they reach the very end of the book.  

Undersea House

Students were asked to describe their ideal home. This is one of my favourites.

The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling

         Once upon a time, there was a little orphan boy named Tom that lived in an orphanage. One day, a beautiful woman went to the orphanage and adopted him.

          This woman had five more children. When the children saw their new brother they made fun of him and when they played games they left him out.

          When Tom finished school he wanted to go to another country to university his stepsisters and stepbrothers told him that he wouldn't do well and that he wouldn't take the job he wanted.

           Six years later, when Tom came back to his home, he was a handsome man. He was very tall and slim. When his stepsisters saw him, they wanted to marry him because with his job he became rich and had a lot of money as well as being very handsome!!!!!!

By Lydia!!!!!!

Video essay- France bans religious dress in schools

In 200 France banned the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols and clothing from schools.

Joanna gives her views on the subject in a video essay.

Click HERE to read the original story in the Guardian

The Dramatic Game

Philip Tells the story of a most dramatic day at Wembley

A Terrorist Attack

Angelos Wrote a story about a terrible day

Book review: Glubbslyme

This book is called "Glubbslyme" and the author is Jacqueline Wilson. All the herbs and potions of this book come from a real seventeenth century herbal book. It's an adventure comedy book that makes all the people laugh. Also, this book is the latest book from the popular writer Jacqueline Wilson.

          The characters of the book are Rebecca,a little girl and Glubbslyme, a frog. The book is set in a small town in England. 

Rebecca went to swim in a lake one summer day. When she came out of the lake, she saw a frog on her foot. Rebecca hates frogs, but when she met Glubbslyme, he became her best friend.


This book, is the best,because everybody laughs when he or she reads it. I recommend it to all children of all ages. 

But is it better than "Tales of a fourth grade nothing"? No, it isn't better than "Tales of a fourth grade nothing"!!!!



By Lydia

Warm the Snowman

Another heart-warming winter's tale but with a wicked twist in the tale.

A Christmas Tale

Lydia writes and narrates a beautiful Christmas story.

Teaching the Time

Don't just teach the time... Make a clock!

and this is how to use it...

[click through the slides]

  

Angelos tells you how to make it HERE