Chapter 2 – We learn a little about Willy Wonka

In Chapter 2 Grandpa Joe starts to tell Charlie about Mr Wonka and his amazing inventions. After the chapter the kids were invited to draw a picture. I suggested they invent their own candy, or draw something from the book, or whatever they would like. This is what they came up:

Fin drew ALL the Kirbys

Emilia made a design, and the design is about love!

Ellen drew the Grandparents squished in their bed, with the factory looming outside

Cerys drew a candy costume!

Demerise drew the chocolate factory, with all kinds of paths

Tyler made a Pikachu

Jake also made a Pikachu

Roisin was so excited about the Sea Gypsy pirate ship she was on the day before. The boat was so big it takes the whole page. There is a sail they each wrote their names on, and Roisin, Layla, Ava and Sadbh on deck.

Jonah invented his own chocolate pirate ship.

 

Nancy was pretty excited to draw her interpretation of the chocolate factory, she made two versions of it!

This factory by Nancy has HUGE chocolate bar windows

This factory by Nancy has Charlie outside smelling the chocolate smells

 

Mr Willy Wonka’s Factory (Chapter 2)

We had 10 children at the Charlie Club for chapter 2 (June 25)!

First up was snack on the porch.

After snack, we did a little get-to-know-each-other activity and talked about our favorite candies.  Answers included cotton candy, marshmallows, smores-without-the-marshmallow-part, sherbet fountains and ice cream.

Then we read Chapter 2, squished once more on Ellen’s bed, just like the four grandparents and Charlie Bucket.  A number of children shared that they too knew people who were in their 90s (I didn’t push for information for fear that they might name some of you who are clearly miles away from 90!)

We were finally introduced to the magician with chocolate, Mr. Willy Wonka and some of his wonderful creations.  I asked the kids to keep their ears open for the sorts of candies that would be mentioned in the chapter and they could make a guess as to what we would do once we were finished reading.

Ideas included chocolate ice cream that stays cold for hours without being in a freezer, violet-flavored marshmallows, color changing caramels, melting feathery sweets, chewing gum that never loses its flavor, candy balloons and candy eggs with pink sugary birds inside.

After finishing the chapter, we came downstairs and some children drew pictures of the factory, or the grandparents in the bed, or other random things like a chocolate pirate ship, a design, and pikachu while I worked with small groups in the kitchen making our own ice cream that was certainly cold and didn’t need to be made in a freezer.

Ellen drew the bed and the factory

Fin draws his picture

Children mixed 1 oz milk, 1 oz cream and 1 tbslp confectioners sugar in a snack-sized ziploc bag….some added vanilla extract too….then they 1/2 filled a sandwich sized ziploc bag with ice cubes to which we added 3 tbslps of coarse sea salt.  Then I sealed the bags and they tossed the bags for a while…and noticed that the bag felt colder and colder the more they shook it (the salt lowers the temperature of the ice) and they did indeed make ice cream!

Making ice cream and drawing

Jake shakes his ice cream

It was pretty chaotic, I mean fun.  As soon as the second group were getting into it, the first group were anxious to open their bags and try their ice cream while the third group were still anxiously waiting their turn.  They generally managed to do this pretty well but it was tricky to keep the ice cream from melting in the heat.  And some observed that their ice cream was salty, so clearly there was some cross-contamination of sea salt….

Once everyone had tried their ice cream (some finished it and others only tried a teaspoonful) we headed out to the back yard for some chocolate ice cream cones!

Next up is Chapter 3 about the colossal palace made entirely out of chocolate…hmmmmmm.

– Tara

 

Chapt 1 – We meet the Bucket Family and talk about longing

After reading Chapter 1, Tara and the kids talked about longing. Charlie longs for chocolate. After trying a square of milk chocolate, the kids were invited to draw something they long for. Or something they remember from the chapter. Or whatever they want.

Here is what they came up with, in no particular order.  They are kind of hard to see, drawn in pencil. But if you click on the picture it should open a full sized image.

Jake longs for a lollipop.

Jake and Tyler longed to play freely. Jake quickly drew this lollipop while Tyler scoped out the playroom.

 

 

 

 

 

Longing for Cake by Roisin

I want a pet too!

First Roisin drew a cake. When others shared some of the pets they wanted, she added how much she would like a dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lollipop with a delicious center

Can I go to bed now?

Cerys drew a lollipop first. As the youngest member of the Charlie Club, she felt a little overwhelmed and drew a picture of her and her brother’s bunk bed. She just wanted to climb that ladder and be alone!

 

 

 

 

The Chocolate Factory by Ruby

Ruby drew the Chocolate Factory Charlie must pass everyday. The windows look just like the squares of Chocolate we had just eaten. The gates are surrounded by lollipops.

 

 

 

 

 

Look at all those bruises on the bananas!

Demerise chose the “or whatever you feel like” part of the assignment. Here are 100 dancing bananas, which are covered in bruises.

 

 

 

 

 

Emilia’s list of longing.

Emilia had a long list of things she longs for. She doesn’t just want them. She LOVES them!

 

 

 

 

Fin has always wanted a bunny.

Fin drew a chocolate factory with chocolate smells and smoke coming from the chimney

 

Fin longs for a bunny. He always has.

When we talked about Ruby’s version of the chocolate factory he decided to make one too.

 

 

 

 

My big sister’s school is haunted.

This monster has big hands and is surrounded by ghosts.
Or the Bucket family squished in their bed.

Nancy asked me if I knew that her sister went to a school that was haunted? Here, on the left, is the school, and that is a ghost outside it! Yikes! She lives so close to the school!

She isn’t even scared. Here is a HUGE monster surrounded by ghosts.

Still not scared!

 

 

 

 

A couple of menu suggestions from Eva, who is STARVING!

Did you see I also drew a toilet?

Eva is starving. So hungry. She drew a picture, and threw it away after she melted chocolate. But she was so hungry, and it was kind of close to pick up and dinner time so I wouldn’t let her get any more snacks. Undeterred, she drew a few things she wouldn’t mind eating. Don’t I know how hungry she is? And then drew a toilet on the back of the paper. That was the side she autographed.

 

 

 

 

And that is mostly it. Ellen kept her pictures, so they don’t get posted this time.

Looking forward to more adventures this Tuesday. Lessons learned: don’t underestimate how hungry a 5 year old might be. Also, don’t underestimate how much kids want to play together. Although they all talked to me about their pictures, it felt a little like they were just humoring me until I told them it was their turn to melt chocolate with Tara in the other room or they could go in the playroom.

 

Chapter 1 Here Comes Charlie

We had a great time today in spite of the rain which started in Union Sq and was truly bucketing down by the time we got here!

We had snack (but missed some backpacked snacks in our rush to get inside), read Chapter 1 about the various grandparents squished in the bed….as they all sat on Ellen’s bed.

We learned about how poor Charlie’s family was and how great it is that we don’t have to eat bread, cabbage and cabbage soup every day.  We learned what longing was…

The read-aloud was a little restless but Courtney and I were blown away when I got to the end of chapter 1, said ‘to be continued’ and there was a collective ‘awwww’ of disappointment in the room!

We came downstairs, everyone had one square of milk chocolate and then they could either draw something from the chapter or something they longed for…they got to melt chocolate which was great fun.

According to the kids, they hadn’t done this before…it was lots of fun..they dropped a square in, stirred it over hot water and one even looked shocked as the square melted and asked ‘Oh!  Where did it go?’  Solid squares won the vote by a small margin (and many kids couldn’t decide which they liked most, solid or melted).

Then there was lots of play.  Inside!

More visuals to follow!