Archaeologist and Writer Dr. Bina Thomas conducted a reading session for the children of Trivandrum on Jan 3 at Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library. Her first book for children ‘Anaconda in My Backyard and Other Stories’ was released last month at Kanakakkunnu Palace Grounds by popular author Smt. Khyrunnisa A.

In this book, Bina has chosen to write about social issues as she feels that the urban middle class children are shielded from ground reality. She interacted with the children, asking them thought provoking questions and and bestowing them valuable insights on the topic of social awareness without being preachy.

On January 3, 2015, Dr. Bina Thomas will be reading from her new children’s book ‘Anaconda in my Backyard and other stories’ at Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library. This will be followed by an interactive session where children can share their little deeds of kindness and hope. Children can ask her about archaeology, and heritage. You also get the chance to pick up a copy of the book at the venue. For more information, call 9847320281 or 7561840542

Click here to register online

The book is a collection of short stories written for children by Bina, who is an archaeologist by profession. Each story tries to sensitize children to the environment, child labour, inequality and civic and social issues. The stories and the cover have been illustrated by Rakesh P. Nair and the book was published by Folio.

“The stories move through a spectrum of value-based models of good citizenship, ranging from concern for the environment and nature to confronting issues such as child labour and sound pollution and the spreading of joy and goodwill through spontaneous acts of mercy, honesty and generosity,” writes Paul Zacharia in his foreword to the book.

The book was released by Prof. Khyrunnisa A at the book fair in Kanakakkunnu on December 21 (Picture Courtesy: DC)

Schoolkutti.com organised a quiz contest, Schoolkutti Master Brains 2014 at Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library on December 7th, for children in the age group of 10-13 years. Mr. Snehaj Srinivas who is the chief coordinator of Quiz Kerala was the quiz master. The event also included a presentation on how to become a good quizzer.

Questions to test the knowledge of students on current affairs, personalities and events from all over the world, were asked. After the initial written round, 12 students were selected for the final oral round. Parvathy Sunil of Christ Nagar International School and Jyotsna Nair of L’ecole Chempaka, Edavacode emerged winners.

Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library presents weekend Science Workshops for Children in January 2015. Titled ‘Young Scientists’, this is a a unique programme that sparks passion for science through fun projects. The workshop will be facilitated by Green Butterfly Edu and will be conducted at Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library.

The following activities will be covered in the workshop.

1. Introduce kids to the structure of DNA
Model Type: Still Model
Materials Used: Straw , color cello tape
Take Home: Completed model and Worksheet
What they learn: How DNA builds our genes

2. Have fun with hands-on learning about the digestive system!
Model Type: Still Model
Materials Used:Ceiling board , plastic sheet, cotton and water bottle
Take Home: Completed model and Worksheet
What they learn: The parts of the digestive system and their functions

3. Want to show your kids the wonders of Sand Clock?
Model Type: Working Model
Materials Used: 2 Bottles , fine sand , stick, and plastic sheet
Take Home: Completed model and Worksheet
What they learn: To make a sand clock and learn to measure the time it keeps.

4. Candle Power
Model Type: Working Model
Materials Used: candle , wire, 2 nails, magnets, motor
Take Home: Completed model and Worksheet
What they learn: How to make electricity from candles

Dates: Jan 10, 17, 24, 31
Time: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Age: 8 to 12 years

Admission:
Rs. 1000/-

Click here to register

Call 9847320281 for more information.

On December 6, little ones at the library were delighted to attend a storytelling session by Asha Dash featuring the magical books by Julia Donaldson. They were excited to venture into the world of the Gruffalo and later the Gruffalo’s Child with Asha as they read the story together.

The event began by reading The Gruffalo to the children and discussing the story with them as usual. The children went through the story, taking different roles, including the fox, the owl, the snake, the mouse and the Gruffalo. The children were invited to explain how the characters felt at different times in the story.

As a rhyming, lyrical book, the story translated naturally to song. Kids enjoyed the catchy songs, humor and the role play too. The event emphasised both the importance of reading for children and its potential to be a pleasurable experience for all.

Rajesh Nair, a project management expert conducted a unique personality development workshop at our library that enlightened children about the importance of setting a target, planning by building a schedule, managing time, communicating well and working together as a team. The workshop primarily aimed at promoting Project Management as a Life Skill for a group smart kids of age 10-15 who are all set to become scientists. doctors, engineers, artists, cartoonists, astronauts etc.

The group was very active, had lots of questions and quickly related to the PM concepts. Rajesh wrapped up the session with Project Management Institute Educational Foundation “Tower game” . Children enjoyed the game, that was fun and informative at the same time.

Thanks to Rajesh for making the complex topic simple and interesting for the children.

Prize winning author Smt. Khyrunnisa’s visit to the Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library on November 9 created a rich, powerful connection between children and reading. She had our young participants enthused, enthralled, involved and hanging on to her every word. Children were engaged from the minute she started narrating her journey as a writer right through the reading of her wonderful books!

It was a unique experience for the children to know about the writing process-finding ideas for inspiration, drafting a story through words and pictures, revising and editing before it goes for publishing. They asked wonderful questions and the author responded with patience, encouragement, and enthusiasm.

She read excerpts from her own book “Howzzat Butterfingers” followed by “The Puffin book of Funny Stories” and also from one out of Richmal Crompton’s William series. The session ended with a fun quiz that tested the group’s knowledge of children’s literature.

Arundathy S Nair, a class 4 student of Cotton Hill HSS, Trivandrum got her first book on poetry released last sunday. The title of the book is ‘Colours’. Their school (Cotton Hill) took the initiative to publish it and got it released in the National book trust book festival that was held in the first week of October at Trivandrum.

Arundathy, maintains a poetry journal very systematically and writes poems mainly about nature. She recently attended a poetry workshop led by poet Soni Somarajan at Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library. Arundhati and her cousin Adityan were very encouraged and inspired by the workshop and said that they looked forward to more such events at the library. This is what Soni had to say about Arundhathy – “Arundathy is one purposeful lady! I look forward to seeing her journal sometime! She gives you a feeling that there is a lot of depth inside her and she is looking for a way to express herself, in her own way. I am glad it’s poetry. Purposeful is the word I would use to describe Arundathy.”.

‘The story is told eye to eye, mind to mind, heart to heart.’ – Scottish Proverb.

Two story-telling fairies visited Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library with a potful of tales.

Two comedians dressed up as fairies, turned up by “accident” in the library, “a little lost” in the midst of the children. To spread happiness, they sang, danced, and told stories from their homeland. The stories were magical, funny, engaging and enthralling.

Schoolkutti.com library oragnised a theatre-based storytelling workshop for children on Saturday. French actor Françoise Calvel selected two books named ‘Panda Goes to School’ and ‘Postman Pat’. She and Ajayan dressed up as clowns and acted out the characters for the children. The Workshop started at 5 PM and 31 children were participated. It was a truly interactive story telling session featuring lively music, fun masks, comedy and puppetry.

The ‘Story Art’ workshop at Schoolkutti.com Children’s Library began with the story of gingerbread man, which was read out by the participating children, from the book ‘Traditional Tales for Boys’.

The workshop was aimed at bringing stories to life, much like the gingerbread man who sprang to life when baked by an old lady. Arts and crafts instructors from Green Butterfly Edu Group patiently taught children various forms of visual expressions through the story – Madhubani through painting gingerbread man and glass painting to make the old lady.

As you know, the story starts in the kitchen. So the first thing the children learnt was painting on pots. In bedtime story books, everything is painted in pastel colours. But here the pots was adorned with acrylic colours and pearl colours. The villain in the story, the fox, was made with a finger puppet. So were the animals – the cow, pig and horse – who ran after the gingerbread man. The story chosen for the workshop was kept a secret until September 14, in vivid and crazy colours.