Tag: kids

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Dragons and giants at the book club

Come Saturday and it was the second meeting of The Book Club. Since our last story was about a dragon we kicked off with a craft activity – making a dragon out of paper cups. It was fun if a little chaotic, but the kids seem to thrive on the confusion.

Hard at work

This is what they looked like.. Not very ‘scary dragonish’ but dragons nonetheless. As one of the kids put it, ‘It doesn’t need to look scary since the dragon of our story was a nice one.’ Which was of course undebatable!

 

I have to add that N behaved perfectly while H was as much trouble as possible. Twice I turned him out and twice I took him back in. 

Story of the week

The story for the day was The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. The older kids were thrilled because apparently they were doing it in school too. Like last time, they were all eager to read, which is suprising since I thought that would be too much like school and they wouldn’t like it. Rather than an exercise in reading it turned out to be an exercise in patience as they waited for their turn. 
Over chips and biscuits we dealt with some interesting words. We took turns trying to talk in a ‘gruff’ voice like a giant. We discussed the difference between frost and snow. The kids wanted to know what hail was too. One of the girls wondered what a peach looked like and because we happened to have one it was seen and duly appreciated. The demand for more chips was firmly declined because often mouths were found to be too full to read!

Then we stumbled upon some similes and metaphors and so we talked about them. Here’s how the kids figured out the difference.
Simile: H is as naughty as a monkey.
Metaphor: H is a monkey.

So his naughtiness wasn’t in vain after all!

We had barely done half the story and it was way past our stipulated time of one hour so it was a wrap.

For next week..

Activity on The Selfish Giant

I’m at a bit of a loss on this. I thought we could maybe…
1. Make a ‘perfect garden’ diorama together. However, it’s the ‘together’ that might pose problems unless I plan and allocate tasks.
2. Or maybe they could make their own gardens out of playdough but that would involve arranging for boxes. I definitely do not want to pressure the mums at home.
3. Or we could do something on winter fruits and flowers.
What do you think? Which one should I go with? Do drop a line if you can think of anything else to do with giants, winter, selfishness, gardens. I’m hoping I can figure something out till the next meeting.


The story for next week

…is almost decided – The Happy Prince. Another one from Oscar Wilde. Maybe I can tell them a bit about the author too then. Or, if Amazon obliges, I’ll take up We the Children of India by Leila Seth. This one is suggested by my sister. Thank you S.
Huge thanks to all of you too for your suggestions from last week. I’m already on the lookout for a story that can be acted out like Cathy suggested. Uma, special thanks to you. Pratham books has some great titles as well as Art Tales. Sangeetha those quizzes are a great idea but I’m keeping them for later. For a month at least the focus is completely on having fun. Taking baby steps.
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Starting a book club

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, often something good stems from something not so good.

N plays every evening with a bunch of girls. Since it’s a mixed crowd across age groups, they often end up simply ‘hanging’ out much like teenagers : chatting, arguing and sometimes fighting, often ending in tears for at least one of them.

Many times I have tried to make peace but convincing a group of 11- 12 year olds to give up prejudices, however temporary, is hard. After N came home on two consecutive days crying since the girls had ‘boycotted’ her for some reason I decided to do something about it. In no way am I implying she’s always a victim. I am sure there are days she’s at the other end too.

I’ve often shared here, how I’ve been trying to get the kids to take to reading and also that that I’ve had little success.

I’d been toying with the idea of a book club for a long time and I thought it would be a great diversion for the girls. It would give them something constructive to think about and talk about. And so The Book Club was born and inaugurated this Saturday, without any fanfare, I might add!

Here’s the plan

1. The children meet each Saturday for an hour. They get a story to read which they have to finish till the next meeting.
2. Since none of them are into heavy reading, it shall be short stories first. If the story is too long it’ll be broken up into parts. Or we’ll take up excerpts.
3. When we meet the following Saturday we’ll talk about the book.
– one of the kids will do a short recap.
– we’ll pick some tricky words to talk about.
– pick some characters to discuss – their favourite ones, what they liked or didn’t like
– we’ll discuss alternative endings or anything else that takes our fancy
4. And – this one’s purely to keep the kids hooked – we’ll do an activity based on the book. It could be drawing a scene from the book, or acting out a sequence, or dressing up like the characters.
5. Oh and one last thing to keep the kids coming – there’ll be some snacks too!!

We’ll have a few rules

… For what’s a club without rules?
1. Read the book before you come to the meeting
2. No interruptions. Raise your hand if you do have to interrupt.
3. Listen to each speaker
4. Address the group not individuals.
5. Be polite
6. Any problem? Suggestions. Do discuss. 
(I find the stories too long, too short, too simple, too tough. 
I have exams I will not be able to read the story.)
7. If you cannot come to a meeting let us know in advance.

So this Saturday we had our first meeting

Since it was the first class and the kids hadn’t been given a story I asked them to draw a scene from their favourite story and let the others guess what it was. We had a Mermaid, a Rapunzel, a Cinderella, A Red Riding Hood, an Alice in Wonderland and even a Supandi.
Then I gave them the story for the next week. A simple one called ‘The Dragon Rock’ (I have to keep H enthused also, you see). Since we had time I got each of the kids to read a paragraph from the story. They had so much fun that we might make book reading a regular feature.
I am keeping it an open exercise as of now because I don’t know what the kids will like. I don’t even know if they’ll keep coming but I sure as hell am going to try.

 

On next week’s agenda

..is a craft activity : Making a dragon
and a brand new story.

Now here’s where I need your help… 

This is a first for me and I’m pretty much on my own so I’m hoping you guys can be my sounding board. 
1. If you have any tips about book clubs do let me know.

2. If you can think of book related activities drop me a line.

3. If you know of any short stories that would appeal to the age group of 6-12 ping me please, specially ones from other cultures – Chinese folk tales or Russian stories. I’m leaving out Panchatantra and other Indian stories since the kids might have read them and the novelty factor is essential to keep them hooked. Links would be hugely appreciated since I can print out the stories.
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K is for kiddie talk

My blog’s in imminent danger of dying… of boredom. Hence today I bring out my star performers to perk things up – my bachchas – a tried and tested way to infuse some life in this space. 

They’re growing up fast and instances of me laughing at their expense are getting fewer. Not far is the day when they’ll be laughing at me. Quite like my niece. She was puzzled when her mum (my cousin) started signing off her messages with Lol.  It was much later that she discovered my cousin thought Lol stood for ‘Lots of Love’. That now is a family joke.

The point I’m trying to make is that before the kids get a chance to laugh at me I might as well enjoy their little gaffes. 

These are dedicated to my son, H. Here goes..

He was passing me empty bottles as I filled them up with water. And he says, “We’re almost done Ma. There’s one bottle that’s half filled and this last one is already… Fulfilled.”

Another day in the kitchen he watched me flip over a pancake, completely awed. (I swear only my kids are awed by my cooking skills). Then says he, “Mama you’re such a great cooker.” Come to think of it ‘Cookie’ suits me better. And while we’re at it.. I’m a great mixer too.

While holidaying at a resort he drove us crazy saying he wanted to play Goose Ball. Wondering what that is.. take a look…

 While telling me about an exceptionally naughty classmate he concluded with, “I think his marbles are lost… his adaptation of ‘Losing one’s marbles’.

So what’s the funniest thing your kids have said to you?

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For more ‘K’ entries at the fun Challenge, ABC Wednesday, go here.

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Fitting in

Desperate sobs wracked her tiny frame as she stood there alone, clutching her doll.
A bunch of girls played close by ignoring her with deliberate ease. Not one made a move to approach her .. to soothe, to befriend, to console.
Why would they? Wasn’t it they who had refused to include her?
“Just look at that monster,” they’d said, laughing at her.
Her crime?
Her doll didn’t ‘fit in’.

Who said children couldn’t be cruel?

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And with that nine-liner we kick off the week-long Festival of Words at Write Tribe. Today we were required to write a piece of fiction consisting of exactly nine sentences.
For more super nine-liners click here.
I'm taking part in the Write Tribe Festival of Words -3
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A special link

As soon as a baby makes his or her debut before friends and family the ‘resemblance’ discussion starts. And so it was with H and N. One look at H’s large feet and he was claimed by the Husband’s ‘side’. (at seven, he and I share a shoe size!!). N, was a bit of a mystery. She was definitely not like The Husband and not much like me either, at least that was the family consensus. Finally after much debate she was pronounced to look like my sister.. and that I think was how the first link formed.

The twins adore my sister…

My sister handles masihood brilliantly. She pampers the twins silly – buys them weird and wacky gifts, regularly treats them to ice cream, takes them for walks in the rain and even has the courage to take them to a toy shop and say that magic word ‘choose’.

A special link..

However with N there’s something special. Perhaps because N is a lot like her.. not just in looks but also in her personality. 
– They’re both no food people (Dumping tiffins, passing over breakfast to siblings, not noticing that they haven’t eaten anything for hours on end)
– Hence they’re both thin as sticks (the sister was for a long long time)
– They both like to sleep in weird postures (that, I am not at liberty to elucidate here)
– Both have scant regard for authority (specially mine)
– Both are extremely impatient with my ‘conservative’ ways (yes already)
– And recently when N got braces they were in the exact same teeth my sister had hers (I never needed any)
As N grows up I’ve come to value this connection between them. While the kids are young she’s a fun aunt. When they grow up, I see in her a special confidante who’ll perhaps see their point of view better, because she has the benefit of perspective.
That’s my sister teaching N the essential skill of whistling.. something I’m yet to master.
Linking to Marathon Bloggers for our one week fun fest ‘‘A story for every picture, a picture for every story”. Today’s prompt was ‘Links’.


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