Reading a story doesn’t mean just reading but also making children understand and explore their feelings and thoughts and when one gets a good response, one is sure that the children have understood the story and that feels really good!! This is a collection of the children’s responses from my sessions.
I read the book ‘The Sea In A Bucket’ by Avehi- Abacus and illustrated by Deepa Balsaver in St.Bartholomew for Std 3. It is a non-fiction book which talks about the Water Cycle with the help of the main character called Sonu.
The responses of children after and before the Read Aloud were good. Before we read a story, we prepare the atmosphere for the story with a Pre-story discussion and discuss certain key vocabulary words from the story so that the children are prepared during the Read Aloud. For this story, I had written the word ‘Water Cycle’ on the black board and asked the children about it. Many children were unaware of this word and felt that it could be a cycle that carries water. Only Ian answered that it is a process in which the rain falls into the rivers and we get water and because of the Sun’s heat, it turns into vapor and forms clouds. For the same story, children from the Mushtifund School responded by mentioning uses of water and various sources of water like wells, rivers and taps. Atharva mentioned that we get water from the rain. The children also mentioned that we need water to drink or else we would die and that it is important for animals and plants. The children also discussed saving water and avoidng throwing garbage in the water.
Another story that I read for the children of Std 3 of GPS Merces was ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers. It is a story about a small boy who finds an penguin and decides to take him home. The children surprisingly knew the meaning of the word ‘lost’ and even translated it in Hindi and Marathi and shared their experiences about being lost and losing their favorite things.
Rupraj stood and told loudly that while going for a tour, he was lost and he felt very scared and lonely. He found his parents soon and he felt good. Yasholaxmi shared that she and her cousin were lost when they were coming back from the fair, they went and stayed near a car and found their parents. She said she was scared and then they felt safe when they found their parents. Devananda said he had lost his favorite book and he didn’t find it. When we asked them the meaning of lonely, the children explained the meaning and stated they cannot remain alone for long time.
The children felt that the boy and penguin may have shared stories on the journey back home and that they would rest, sleep, play, dance or eat when they reach home.
Responses of children for the same story in Auxilium Carazalem school std 3
The children from Auxilium Caranzalem shared that they had lost things like pencils, rubbers, compass box, etc.
One girl said she had lost her kitten and she searched for it everywhere, she found it under the fire wood. The children said that they feel sad when something is lost and when they find it, they feel happy. The children mentioned that penguins live at the South Pole. They shared that they would take food, blankets, water, sweater etc to travel to the South Pole.
Here, many felt that both the characters would play, go for a picnic or go to sleep while Mubin felt that they would have lunch and then sleep.
I read the ‘MOONGAME‘ by Frank Asch to children of Std 2. It is a story about a bear playing Hide and Seek with his friends and the adventures that they come across.The children shared about the games that they play and these included cricket,football, skipping,badminton,kho-kho,lock &key, Ice-water, table tennis. When asked if they knew of any games that do not require anything to play with, they mentioned kho-kho, hide and seek, dend game etc.
Most of the children said that they like to play Hide and Seek with friends and siblings but 3 children mentioned that they had never played this game. I encouraged them to try it out at home. The children knew that the Moon was being covered with the clouds and was not really hiding. They also shared that they do not like to be the Denner.
These open and frank responses from the children give me a feeling of joy during my sessions. There is a sense of great positivity when they interact with us. Bookworm has given me an opportunity to look at children’s school lives from a different angle.