The Book Club Archives - Page 2 of 2

Remember how I was feeling very let down last weekend because hardly any of the kids had read their stories? Like some of you suggested I thought an incentive would be a good idea. I welcomed the kids armed with a bunch of Perks and when I asked, ‘So how many of you read the story today?’ ALL hands went up.

Each and every one of them.

And they had drawn the Firebird too. Here are some of them. Take a look..

Such happiness. Oh I know next week they might not read the story again but that doesn’t stop me being happy now.

Earlier in the day N and her friend decided to make ‘posters’ for The Book Club. The language is not all perfect but I liked the sentiment.

“I am mad for books”

“Reading is the best. I love reading” “Even if it is raining, still I will read”
Not sure what that means! 🙂

Cute aren’t they?
And then H, the biggest TV addict in the family, pitched in at the last minute with one of his too.

And No, there was no prompting from me at all. I was amazed at how they echoed my thoughts from the previous post.

The activity

We paired up the kids (except N, who wanted to go solo!) and played dumb charades of book names. There was plenty of whispering and giggling and laughing till they came up with their acts. After we finished one of the girls remarked, ‘Aunty our book club is the best because we have the coolest activities.’ I’ll be satisfied with that for now and will wait for the day they say ‘We’re the best because we read the coolest books’. Yes, I’m ambitious.

The new story

Mercifully we had few disturbances (specially from H and N) and so could read most of the story. Titled ‘Home’ it told the tale of a Srilankan girl who has to move away from her small village to London. It talked about the concept of home and how it’s not a ‘place’ but people who make up a home. I am hoping the lessons they pick up here will stand them in good stead later on in life.

The plan for this week…

…is to explore Srilanka a bit. And another story spinning session (with a difference).
And of course we’ll have a brand new story, one on dinosaurs. This one has been chosen by H. In fact beginning this week I was thinking, once a month we could take turns to let the children share a story they’ve read and enjoyed.

Before I sign off – A huge thank you for keeping up with us and for your suggestions. Do keep them coming. Book/reading related crafts and activities or anything to enhance their creativity would be very very welcome. And of course if you stumble upon a good story do do let me know.

A let down

Book club Saturday began on a bit of a disappointing note (for me) because only two children had read the story and that was really sad. It’s just five or six pages (and in 14 point size – that’s huge) The thing is the kids like to read and they enjoy the story but once they’re home, other things take over – TV, computer games, friends, but mostly TV… and the story lies forgotten till the next Book Club Meeting.

I wish we had limited TV transmission. Yeah I know I know that’s selfish and impractical and that TV has it’s uses. Eight months of bedrest during pregnancy taught me that well enough.

Wish i could put that on all TV sets!

It’s just that it’s SO ADDICTIVE!! Sigh!

And then I reminded myself that it had been just a month.

I was wondering if I should ask the moms to tell the kids to finish the story. I had not wanted to involve them because the moment there’s any kind of pressure and the reading becomes a compulsion it loses it’s fun. I’m still a bit undecided on this one. I certainly do not want the moms to push but maybe reminding and encouraging the kids would help. Or maybe they could get the kids to read just a page a day, before they sleep. It would hardly take five minutes.. yes five minutes, that’s it.

My other problem is H! He is completely disruptive, to put it mildly. No amount of talking is helping. He argues and wants to read first and hates to hear a ‘No’. Help guys. What should I do? A bit at a loss here.

The meeting..

And so we spent the first half of the meeting finishing the story. Then we went on to talk about the Firebird and what it would look like. ‘I don’t know‘ was the first response. Then slowly they came up with wonderfully imaginative descriptions and together we made up a fantastic creature. And then we talked about other imaginary birds and animals… Centaurs, Phoenix and Unicorns.

A Turkish Story

I was pretty excited about the story for the day. Actually I’ve stumbled upon a site packed with stories from across the world. I picked the story of a boy in a small English village. He has a Turkish father and an English mother. The story talked about cultural differences and how what’s right in one country may not be so in another one.

Time always falls short and we intend to continue the discussion today along with finding Turkey and England on the Globe.

This Saturday ..

I have another lovely story called ‘Home’ about a young Sri Lankan Girl who has to move to London.

Wish me luck guys.

Category: The Book Club

Super news at The Book Club!