Abhay's field trip!

Abhay is not fond of his summer camp and I can’t believe this has happened after I went through the trouble of listing out all the summer camps in our area, assessing their pros and cons in terms of his preferences, working out the logistics of pick-up and drop to finally zero in on the one that seemed perfect for him! Despite all the legwork, my five year old would rather spend his mornings at home instead of his summer camp. Can’t blame him when he is the odd man out in his batch – he is too old for the Summer splash program for 2 to 5 year olds and too young for the Snow flakes program for 6-11 year- olds! So each morning, I have to don the role of a motivational speaker goading my reluctant five year old into attending a camp for which I had to pay a pretty penny for! Okay I admit it …..I  mucked up….but is it fair to rub salt on my wound every day? So more than him, I can’t wait for the summer camp to be over! J

Over the weekend, however, Abhay was excited to go his camp as they were to take him on a field trip to Cubbon park. In order to prep him up for the upcoming trip, I had him read “The Class Trip” a Level 1 Scholastic Early Reader by Grace Maccrone and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. It’s been a while since I had Abhay read to me, so this was a good way to get back into practicing his reading. Everyone in class lines up before the school bus to go on a class trip. The teacher puts on her hat with a polka dot bow and announces its time to go. The children take their seats, sing and talk on their way to the zoo.  As they reach the zoo. Sam is fascinated by the animals he sees and wants to stay while his friends move on. The teacher asks Sam to keep up with the group whereas Sam is engrossed in watching the elephants walk, the lions run and polar bears enjoying the sun! Sam gazes at the fish that swim, frogs that leap, and turtles asleep! When Sam turns around, he has a scare that his group is not there! Sam then looks up high and then looks down low and tries to stand on tippy toe – that’s when he spots the hat with a polka dot bow! Sam runs to his teacher and stays with his group throughout the rest of their class trip. Being the eldest in his group, Abhay must have felt as lost as Sam actually was during his field trip!