Wednesday, October 26, 2011

No Girls Allowed

 
Last week the Book Worm Club Members listened to a story about the Berenstain Bears. Sister bear enjoys playing with Brother Bear and his friends and very quickly proves to be better at their games than they are, what really annoys them is how she gloats when she wins. The boys take action by setting up a only boy club; No Girls Allowed !This seems really unfair and Sister Bear feels very hurt, but with the help of Mama Bear and Papa Bear, Sister Bear not only finds a way to cope, but makes some more friends and makes the boys realize that sisters are a blessing too!

 Following the story all the brothers and sisters of the Book Club divided into groups and were allowed to rummage through the Pirani household to gather things to set up their own 'shelters'. These were supposed to provide a comfortable shelter nook for our 3 year old members to be able to get into and out of with out the shelter collapsing. Alhumdulillah the little girls (Hafsa Irfan, with her side kick Hibatullah were quick and did a very neat job, Masha'Allah.

Girls' shelter
the acid test


The boys needed a little help from Safaa Aunty and eventually manged to put the following together.:

Boys group1

little ones checking it out
Boys shelter group 2

After the shelters were made and tested, Lubna Aunty carried out a demonstration to explain how volcanic islands are made (refer to Volatile Volcanoes  http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6031488757069918746#editor/target=post;postID=3480496433320033777). The demo showed how hot, bubbling semi liquid lava can cool and harden to become an island.

Powdered raw sugar to form the 'lava'

As the sugar heats is melts and becomes sticky
nut are added to the mass which 5 yr old  Muhammed best described as 'gooey'
the reddish, hot, bubbling toffee 'lava' being poured to cool
the now hard and ready to eat toffee 'Lava'





Sunday, October 16, 2011

Yertle The Turtle

This week the Book Worm Book Club was hosted at Almas Aunty's  place, which is always a fun place to be Alhumdulillah. Lubna Aunty read us two stories Masha'Allah! To begin with she explained how all living creatures have 3 basic instincts ; the instincts for survival and to flee from harm towards shelter, the need for food, water, dispensing of bodily waste etc, and the need for procreation. This instincts can be very emotional and can also lead to the desire for power and prestige. These instincts are found in all living creatures, but the need which distinguishes humans from the rest of creation is the need for religion; the desire to follow, worship and look up to One who is Mightier or Greater than oneself.

The first story was Yertle the Turtle,we saw how the last need can turn into arrogance which then literally led to the "down fall" of King Yertle. Sohaib had prepared a diorama of a scence from the story; King Yertle sitting on his rock of a throne. After listening to the stories he and Lubna Aunty guided the Book Worm Club Members to build origami turtles of their own, which were then stacked up as were the poor subjects of King Yertle in the book.

The second story was about an elderly gentleman and his elderly pets who hire a wolf as a housekeeper and eventually find themselves not only doing the housekeeping but enjoying it as well!

Alhudmulillah everyone enjoyed the stories, which Lubna Aunty were read in English and translated into Urdu as she went along- her Urdu expressions made the stories even more lively and entertaining,  and we hope that Sohaib will consider conducting an origami workshop for us soon, Insha'Allah.








Monday, October 10, 2011

Volatile Volcanoes

Ms Frizzle's Science class were just in time to watch a new island appear out of the ocean, as were the Book Worm Club members who were enjoying this book. The children in the book watched the earth's plates move, magma collect and bubble and finally spew out of a volcano to rise above the ocean and cool to create an island. The Book Worm Club Members could not dive into the depths of the ocean or float within a volcano so they did the next best (and much safer) thing ; make their own volcanoes and erupt them.

Safaa Aunty and Ayesha Aunty organized the activity; the members were asked to prepare the volcanoes prior to the session and youtube videos were emailed to guide the families in making them. After the book was read (courtesy of Safaa Aunty, who read part of it and then had Isa, Muadh and Sohaib complete it) everyone trooped out in the balcony to erupt the volcanoes with the help of Ayesha Aunty.

Interestingly each volcano not only looked different but each family made it from a different material as you can see below. Our safe eruptions were carried out using a little water, baking soda, food dye, liquid soap and then topped off with vinegar which gave a frothy bubbling splash, Masha'Allah!


our seemingly dormant volcanoes


Sohaib and Nabeeha's bubbling plaster of Paris volcano
The Pirani's cardboard volcano

Muhammed's clay volcano with cotton trees

Rayyan's dough volcano

Saaim's unsuspecting paper mache volcano
the food colour, baking soda, water and soap swirling together in vinegar to make a cool eruption!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Ramadan Presentation by Sohiab


 The following is a presentation shared with us by Sohaib, Mahs'Allah, we all enjoyed listening to his account about his Ramadan and were so impressed by the art work of his display that his little sister  reproduced it at home and one of our younger members Muhammed sat down with colours and paper to make a rainbow just like Sohaib's.

Sohaib's Presnetation



Nabeeha's presentation




Muhammed's Rainbow