Sophia de Mello Breyner School - 5th Grade - PORTUGAL

Class / 5th grade

Daniela Lopes Manuel Padrão Hugo Costa

Diana Oliveira Rafaela Pereira Mafalda Pacheco

Dinis Maia Tomás Leça Mafalda Martins

Afonso Oliveira João Vaz Maria Benedita

André Teixeira Tiago Macedo Cláudio Silva

Pedro Pereira David Maia

Rafael Silva Cristina Ramos Delfina Casalderrey (teacher)

Once upon a time there was a girl who was born on the seabed.

     One day, she was in the Atlantic Ocean to explore new waters when she was caught by a stream and came to “Praia da Aguda”, near Arcozelo.

           The worst thing is that the Girl from the Sea did not arrive in the best way because it was wrapped in a plastic bag. As we all know, plastic is dangerous for marine animal life and contributes to the pollution of the oceans.

To make matters worse, she was caught by the fishermen of Aguda. The fishermen pulled the net and in the middle of the fish, they found the Sea Girl.

-No! Please do get me!-said the Sea Girl to the fishermen - I am not a fish!

-So, who are you? - the fishermen asked in amazement.

-I'm the Sea Girl! - she said.

The fishermen were very nervous, they tried to help, but they did not know how. With the confusion, the girl freed herself and fled through the holes of the fishing net to the sea. When she left, she also freed herself from the plastic bag.

The next moment she tried to find her way home, but as if she had been lost, she stuck her head out of water and searched for land.

For fear of the fishermen, the Docks were not the best option, but in the distance she saw some brown rocks.

-That's weird! - she thought - I've never seen anything like this...

Moving closer, she came upon a sign that said: «Be careful! Do not tread on Barroeira!»

The Sea Girl was confused, but suddenly she heard someone crying. She turned and she saw a small sea worm.

The girl approached the worm and she asked:

-What's up? Why are you crying?

The little worm replied sobbing:

-They destroyed my house!

The little girl asked, in sorrow, where the house was, and the worm pointed to a cocoon on the rock that appeared to be damaged.

-Is this your house? It seems to be fantastic! - exclaimed the Sea Girl.

-I lived here and I built it! - explained the worm.

-I've been looking at these rocks carefully and I'm impressed. You live here alone?

-No, I do not live here alone. All these rocks that you see, covered with this brown substance, are a very important ecosystem. I and my family built the cocoons but many animals live here.

-Do bees live here? The cocoons look like honeycombs!How funny... Does your houses are really like this?

-Bees? Of course not! - and the little worm continued - Yes, these cocoons are our houses. Look, I'll introduce myself: I am from Sabellaria Alveolata species but my friends call me "Saby". And you, what's your name and what are you doing here?

The girl introduced herself and told her the story and how she had got there.

-So, you're the famous Sea Girl! We've heard of you! -said the worm - Our Dolphin friends told us that you went surfing with them.

-It is true. But now tell me, who destroyed your house?

And Saby, very quietly, explained:

-It was the Humans who were out here collecting shells and other things. They are nor careful with the rocks and they step on our homes that they have given so much work to do. Last week, they caught my crab friend, Joe. The poor thing was stuck in a bucket... We never saw him again!

The Sea Girl looked to the side and saw several people, very amused, on the rocks. It was warm and the tide exposed the rocks. There were huge puddles of water. Horrified, the girl shouted:

-You are destroying this habitat! Get out!

People were scared but some of them went to talk to her. The Sea Girl patiently explained to them the importance of Barroeira and the cocoons.

At that moment, the girl decided she had a mission to fulfill. She would travel the Seven Seas and fight for the defense of oceans and marine life.

-Bye Saby! - she cried, plunging into the water.

(...)

Story tellers- the students of Grades 5-b , 5-c,

Lyman secondary school #4, Ukraine

Liza Kumova Katia Grishak

Kate Bordiugova Nastia Ivchenko

Daria Karpinskaya Ivan Lazarenko

Dasha Koval Liza Boyeva

Maria Dovgopola Vera Dovgopola

Volodymyr Chuvankov Daria Ishunina

and Olga Ignatenko - the teacher

So, the little sea fairy continued her journey. Despite the difficulties that she encountered on her way, she was full of hopes and impressions. Her cherished dream was to meet a fairy tale sea prince.

But the sea route was indeed difficult, and after she left the Atlantic Ocean, she entered the Mediterranean Sea, and then the Black Sea. Unfortunately, the picture of pollution was not very pleasant everywhere. Annually, 200 million tourists throughout the Mediterranean are responsible for a 40 percent increase in garbage entering the sea, of which 95 percent is plastic waste. The plastic gets into fish and seafood that we consume.

Suddenly she saw some small sea creatures.

- "Who are you? Where do you come from? I do not remember such animals in our seas."

- We are rapans from the Sea of Japan. It was so long ago, in the middle of the 20th century. But there are already so many of us here. It is said that there are 15 rapans per 1 square meter.

- And what are you doing?

- You can't believe it, we love your mussels and other mollusks.

- I heard that your meat is like chicken meat and mushrooms. It has 16% of protein. I hope we will figure out how to reduce your quantity. Food industry will help us!

- Oh, no! Only not this!

Meeting of 2 boys on the boat

The little sea girl went on her sea journey when she saw 2 boys on the boat. On the one hand, she was very happy, but on the other hand, because of the large amount of garbage, she could not reach them safely and help. Fortunately, Uncle Beaver saw this, quickly built a raft and helped everyone get out on the beach. As the saying goes, "A friend in need is a friend indeed"

...seaweeds, corals...

But the girl always remembered her mission and continued her way. It took her 3 days and 3 nights. And one day she woke up from strange unknown sounds. She saw something terrible. It was a sea monster. Naturally, she was very frightened, but hearing his soft, gentle, calm, tender voice, the fairy decided to make friends with him. It turned out he was bewitched by an evil sorceress. She knew that tons of fish die from water pollution, a huge amount of waste is dumped into rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. And she didn’t want such active young people to help preserve nature for future generations.

... beautiful dolphins.

Once, the sea girl was lying and thinking about volunteers who could help clear the waters. The task seemed to be not feasible. But she wanted to help the young man so much. One of the demands of the witch was to bring order to the sea kingdom (She was sure that it's impossible)

Happy dolphins in pure waters

The girl thought and thought and didn't notice as fell asleep.She dreamt of seaweeds, corals, beautiful dolphins.

When she woke up, she was very upset that it was just a dream. But she knew that she needed to continue the journey. She wagged the tail and swam further (...)

The Sea Girl

by Class 3.2,

Sveti Sava Primary School,

Kikinda, Serbia

Once upon a time, at the bottom of the sea, there lived a girl called Layla. She loved playing with her fish-friends in the sea.

Then, one day, people started throwing rubbish into the sea. The amount of rubbish grew bigger and bigger every day which made Layla ill. She was not able to get out of her bed. She did not know what to do, but watch her polluted home with sadness.

A doctor soon came and told her what to do to get better.

As soon as Layla got better, she called her fish-friends and together they cleaned the sea.

After a few days, the sea was as clean as before and everyone could play happily.

"How the Sea Girl met the mermaids"

The sequel of the story by the "Ladybugs" from Subotica,Serbia

The Sea Girl on her journey got to the Adriatic Sea. She find it very lovely and warm...the animals in the sea were a bit different , but also beautiful. She saw some fish she never saw before and some interesting small crabs too...

"Hello fishies! Hello crabs!"

"Hello Sea Girl! Are you lost here?

You are a long way from your home, don`t you?" -they asked

"Maybe...but I love to meet new friends.Who else lives here ? "- wanted to know the Sea Girl

"ME!!"

The Sea Girl turned around and saw a little mermaid on a cliff.

"I am here and watching the fishing boats.I am reminding them not to pollute the sea, and not to throw plastic in the water. I am keeping safe all the little animals here."

"But you are alone,and the Adriatic is sooooo big!" -said the Sea girl "Isn`t it that a big job for you?"

"Do not worry! I am not alone, I have my sisters too. You know , the people need us to constantly remind them: The sea is beatiful, only when it is clean!"

"Thank you for that"- said the Sea Girl and she said farwell...the sea current was strong,and she was still long way from home.