2017 saw the 50th birthday of Potential Plus UK and to celebrate we held a writing competition across our ezines, based – naturally – on the theme of “Fifty”. It was a tough job choosing winners from such high quality entries, with poetry being a favoured form. Here are the winner, runner-up and highly commended entries from the PPUK ezine Spark for ages 7 and under.
Winner
Nathan G-K. The Maths of Fifty
Runner-Up
Adam H. 50 Do Battle on the Train
Highly Commended
Simeon G-K. Fifty Steps Say Neigh
Winner
The Maths of Fifty by Nathan G-K. (aged 7)
Five lots of fifty things
Five ways maths can bring
5 x 50 to get the
5 in the 250 words ring
Five kings to birthday sing
5 x 10
25 x 2
Who said maths isn’t for you?
Two digits remain from
16 x 3 (48)
I really feel maths is for me
48 + 2
46 + 4
Another way to open the door
89 – 39
Isn’t 50 very fine
50 – 0 (zero)
50 is a super-hero!
Better not do take away
Cause this is a time for party and play
So if you divide 100 by 2
You’ll get the number for you
So we looked at
Addition
Division
Subtraction
Multiplication
Potential Plus’ 50 Celebration
Runner-Up
The Fantastic 50 Do Battle on the Train by Adam H. (aged 7)
Tom is 7. He won a competition for designing an electricity-creating hoover. He lives in a communal house which has 50 children. All the children love reading and have memorized all the words in the Latin dictionary. Tom’s prize was a visit to Hogwarts with the other children from his house.
Saturday morning, they were all extremely excited as they left home to catch the train from Kings Cross. On days out, they call themselves the Fantastic 50.
The Hogwarts Express platform was full of the noise of bustling people and the hot smell of smoke. Then the whistle blew. There were 25 compartments so the children divided themselves into pairs and jumped on board. Half-way through the journey, they heard deafeningly loud yells of “Incarcerus”. They also heard a scream, so they unsheathed their wands. Tall, hooded figures dressed in black appeared in their doorways. The children looked at each other, took deep breaths and, as one, they shouted the stunning spell: “Stupefy!”, as they rushed forward. Throughout the train, there were enormous “bangs” as the Death Eaters were blasted backwards. The children collapsed in their seats, relieved that the Death Eaters were defeated. Fortunately, the trolley lady came along.
.
The children read and played different board games and Tom beat his friend Peter at chess with 2 bishops and a queen. After an hour, they looked out of the window and saw Hogwarts! They finished their sweets frantically and, with a last wave, stepped off the train.
Highly Commended
Fifty Steps Say Neigh (A Poem about Horse-riding and High Potential) by Simeon G-K.
(because I thought it rhymes with the outside poster that said fifty shades of grey)
When I first went on my very first time
I felt a bit nervous
I thought I would fall
The pony’s much bigger than me
His name was Bobby
And riding is a good hobby
But I had to use my brain
And every pony’s not always the same
But I was brave and didn’t doubt
I knew I wouldn’t fall
After I tried it all
It didn’t matter if they were tall!
Now I ride on Mimi
Sometimes she can be a bit cheeky
So I have to keep control
Fifty trotting steps trotting is my goal
Keep trying everyone. Never give up!
Thunder Football by Zeeshan M. (aged 6)
Once there was a boy called Thunder. He liked playing football and he had a lucky shirt with the number 50. One day there was a match against 50 Feet and Thunder and his team called SC1 lost 15-3. Thunder felt really sad and started to think what to do. He thought it would be good to train for 50 days and nights. He trained in his garden, he trained at his house and he trained at his friend’s house.
One day he heard SC1 were going to play against 50 Feet again and Thunder felt confident that this time they would win. The day of the match came and the crowd came to cheer them on. The teams came onto the pitch. The referee blew his whistle. SC1 had the ball and they passed it to the midfielder, he passed it to Thunder and Thunder took a shot and he scored. But then 50 Feet scored a hattrick!!
Thunder knew he had to do something, he thought about his training and he slide tackled 50 Feet to score some more goals. Thunder was so happy that he kept playing really well and the final score was 50-3. Thunder celebrated with fireworks and a big party.
