Pratham Books Champion : Tathagata Trust

The following pictures were sent to us by Tathagata Trust, Assam.

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On International Literacy Day (2013), Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. In 2013, over a 1000 sessions were happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Shalini Garpha

This story was sent by Shalini Garpha, an ardent lover of children books (especially picture books). She also loves writing short stories and has penned two picture books and plans to publish them some day. Shalini is currently pursuing Masters in economics from Dharamshala.

It was first of a kind for the kids of Govt. Primary school Dharamshala and me as well, the storytelling session on “Paplu The Giant” left kids with their mouth wide open in awe watching the charming illustrations and me giggling along seeing their excitement.

Class strength- 30

Covered-1st , 2nd and 3rd class.

Kids patiently listen as the story of Paplu unfolds.

And so excited they were to see Paplu hide behind trees, they all jumped up and rushed from their seats to have a glimpse of it!

  

The moment when kids learn that Paplu said only half the magic words his mother had taught and now has barely any piece cloth left on his body, they burst into fits of laughter

As Paplu scared away the bad guys, there was a loud cheerful applause and that is how the story “Paplu The Giant” ended, with all love.

After a small break, to end the session on a lighter note ,we read Chee Chee Drip drip and made all the funny sounds!

I got the opportunity to conduct a storytelling session at Govt. Primary school, Dharamshala. I did the story in mix of English and Hindi both. My mimicry skills and expressions came a lot handy as the kids were all into the story, we had fun making sounds “Whoosh whoosh”, Chee chee, shee shee, and drip drip!

I concluded the session making them realise if they wanted to read more interesting stories they needed to study-read-write well, while leaving the class I noticed two boys quickly pulling out one of their text book and reading- discussing some story, perhaps it was an impactful day.

I could not thank Pratham Books more for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

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On International Literacy Day (2013), Pratham Books took a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'.

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. In 2013, over a 1000 sessions were happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champions : SAP Labs

Priti Dhingra sent us the following report of the storytelling session conducted by employees of SAP Labs.

We visited Sneha home care (http://www.snehacare.org/snehacarehome_bangalore.html). Sneha Care Home is a ‘home away from home’ to 95-100 HIV infected children.

Our main agenda was to bring in reading habit and to build an aspiration to learn in the children.

· Skit based on the book

· Fun activities (measuring Paplu, dressing up Paplu, dancing along with Paplu and Soni )

· Fun Quiz based on the book

· Drawing competition for the kids.

The 7th day of September began with lots of excitement and anticipation as we headed towards Sneha Care Home and Shining Star School for HIV Positive children. We had been planning and preparing for this day and had come up with a skit for the children to articulate the story “Paplu The Giant” along with a few more activities strewn around the same story.

Our aim was to stress on the importance of book reading or rather reading in general while still making sure that the kids have fun. As we entered the premises of Sneha Care Home, we were welcomed by the lush greenery. We were later told that children there actively participated in gardening and dwelled very close to mother nature. As we made our way towards the school, we were greeted by numerous cheerful smiles. We couldn’t help but forget our apprehensions and started mingling with those adorable kids.

While couple of us started to set the stage for the skit, others helped the school’s staff arrange kids into groups and assemble them near the stage for the play. We started with brief introductions about ourselves and then went on with distributing the face masks among the children. The play opened with the main character of the story “Paplu” coming on the stage while the story was being narrated accompanied with the background music. As the skit progressed, it was evident from the chuckles and chortles coming from the audience that the play was being well received.

We had planned the skit in such a way that kids could also become an active participant. There was a part in the play where “Paplu” is being dressed by tailors and as expected kids had a nice time dressing up Paplu. After this we had organized a quiz based on the skit. Kids were teeming with enthusiasm and almost every one of them wanted to answer. We had a hard time deciding whom to give chance to. This showed that they had really take in the play and had really enjoyed it. We had also given prizes for the quiz winners.

After the skit we had planned for a drawing competition for the children. Each child was given a drawing sheet along with the required stationary and colors.

It was the best feeling to watch those small children so engrossed in painting and coloring. They drew all sorts of pictures like flowers, animals, solar system, village scenes etc.  and our very own hero of the story “Paplu”

Finally we had to select few of them for prizes. It took a lot of time and we ended up giving five prizes for best five and another fifteen consolation prizes.

We played with the kids and laughed with them. Our very presence there gave us immense satisfaction and we couldn’t help but feel gratified to be given the opportunity to spend time with those innocent and loveable kids. Every individual has a right to be happy and so do these kids. We all felt fortunate that we could bring smiles to their faces. We hope that we can do this again.

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Saakshi Kapoor Singla

Saakshi Kapoor Singla posted the following collage of her storytelling session at Gopal Saraswati School on her blog. The session was conducted in Noida on 5th September 2013.

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Big Thinkers

The following pictures were sent to us by Rajalakshmi Swaminathan from Big Thinkers. Big Thinkers conducts life skills and leadership programs for young minds (6+yrs).

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : IDF CCCC Bal Gurukul

Sanjay Ram sent us the following note and pictures from the storytelling session held at Charumathi Child Care Centre, Nalgonda. The storytelling session was coordinated by Indian Development Foundation. Indian Development Foundation is a national NGO working for health, education and development.

Th campaign was done in IDF CCCC Bal gurukul , Nalgonda on 12th Sept.

In this facility most of the children are orphans or semi orphans and all are HIV Positive.

Children enjoyed the sessions and wanted to hear more stories.

Pratham Books Champion : IDF CSS NAM Bal Gurukul

These pictures was sent to us by CSS NAM Bal Gurukul. The storytelling session was coordinated by Indian Development Foundation. Indian Development Foundation is a national NGO working for health, education and development.

Mrs.Vemuri Vijaya Lakshmi sent photos of the story telling sessions at Centre for Social Service Nimmagadda Anandamma Memorial Girls School (CSSNAM Girls School).

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.