Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Yes, That's the book I am reading to my daughter these days.

The story though interesting, she laughs in excitement when she knows that her mouth starts watering at the mention of all different kinds of chocolates that Mr. Wonka is capable of making in his factory: the colour- changing caramel chocolates, most delicious chewing- gums and sugar balloons.

Of course, we are yet to complete the book. But I am letting her make all the predictions about who wins the 'Golden Ticket' to see Wonka's factory. As she first saw the ticket given in the book, she was happy that she was the lucky one! But once I told her that the ticket's place must be inside a chocolate and not a book she was disappointed. She says it's too difficult for Charlie to get the ticket as his chance is 'one- time'. And I had a nice time contradicting it.

Today, truth about the Golden Ticket will be revealed to her and am waiting for her reaction.

Battle of the Books...

My girl is getting ready for her regular "Battle of the Books" competition.
 It's a quiz wherein the children will be given few stories to be read and they will answer questions related to those stories.
The circular from the school goes something like this which I can't resist posting:

"TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty six.
Open your child's imagination. Open a book"... Anonymous.

The best part of children's story books are their illustrations. I have just fallen in love with the illustrations more than the stories. Have a look at one of them:

The Gingerbread Man

After all the hard work, she has at last won the first place (as a compensation for missing the opportunity last year)for telling "The Gingerbread Man story".

Here are the sticks with characters who helped her narrate the story...

Now, after a week...

Now, that after a week she has completely settled down in her school (though she cribs about it while leaving home and enjoys once she enters) it's the school stories that i should be listening and training myself to be heard.

The rhymes and music sessions, the activities of her classroom, and her snack menu are the main topics for discussion.

But after all this, when she is asked as to what she did at school the first thing she says is that "she cried".

Story Telling

It's story telling time these days!!!
I was wondering if this is the righttime to start telling storiesftro her as i was apprehensive about her comprehension abilities.
But she surprised me by understanding and re-telling the story in her own language.
At first, i told nearly three stories and asked her a few questions about the story and she answered them all.
These days, she takes the initiative to either tell stories by herself or she will express her choice for a story.
Of course, i have to modify the characters in the story a bit (as for example: In the story The Fox and the grapes, the fox will become a dog as she doesn't know what's a fox) but who cares.
And at times, two or three stories get mixed up and some real life instances which she remembers creeps into the story.
But even then, whatever she tells is a STORY.