Reading Chapter Book: The Phantom of The Opera

Our last chapter book for summer 2012: The Phantom of the Opera (A Stepping Stone Book) ! Tomorrow is back to school and our little lady is Year 2! We must admit that we missed reading chapter books  during the summer since we have lots of excuses really! New baby, new house, new job, new office, travel - we should have sneaked in one chapter book a week but we got too comfortable adjusting to the changes in our family lives. No valid excuse really..

Anyway, here is the how she understand the book, The Phantom of the Opera and right after this video, she watched a very good version of the play and here is the link: The Phantom of the Opera.

I know at the moment, this classic play is showing back home in the Philippines. Maybe we could watch the play once it's showing in this part of the world.







By the way, we got this awesome book from Dubai Mall during our Dubai travel. Let's see if these Stepping Stone books area available here in Doha. (and of course, we will let you know!)

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Exploring Dubai from Doha!

We pretty much got too preoccupied with some minor and huge changes in our lifestyle in Doha and had less of  Exploring Doha for a while.

The Turknoy family decided to re-strategize our priorities. Actually, it was not about changing the strategy but taking our "Keep exploring" mantra to the next level... as it should be.


Finally, we went outside Doha as a family and enjoyed an affordable travel to Dubai. As it was offseason, right after Eid Al Fitr and end of summer season (almost!), we got a really affordable deal at Atlantis The Palm Hotel & Resort. We stayed in the magnificent hotel for 2 nights and it was such a glorious family experience! We enjoyed the Aquaventure and The Lost Chambers for free as we were staying at the hotel.

Just watch for the promotions from the hotel; to stay in such a luxurious place with superb customer service is a great treat. And to think that we stayed at the 'cheapest' possible room, the hotel add ons for all guests is just so amazing and affordable.

The kids definitely enjoyed exploring Atlantis. Our Kylie even signed in excitement several times while shouting - "this is really happening! this is not a dream."

Welcome! 

We can see the Burj Al Arab and Burj Khalifa from our hotel.

our room for our comfort! 

kids could spend hours in this aquaventure - water slides for kids, such great fun!

but then mom and dad needs to enjoy also - the rapids really made our day! kids were so brave holding on to their own! 

LOBBY OF ATLANTIS HOTEL

We had such a full day right after leaving Doha and yet we ended up staying late just for exploring the hotel.

For our second day, we even woke up early for some breakfast treat in our room, headed for an early swim and went to Mall of Emirates and Dubai Mall for some great unexpected fun!

look who's ready for breakfast!

and look who's ready to dip in the pool! 

someone is really happy! 

gotta love the robe after the swim - cozy! 

exploring The Lost Chambers for the curious minds

We went to the Mall of Emirates for one specific reason - SKI DUBAI! We haven't see and experience snow and we were dying to get that experience, albeit fake. 

kids all set!

oh just look at them so cute - someday! haha

and explore we did!

DUBAI MALL Waterfalls - explored the supposedly biggest mall in the Middle East - it was HUGE alright!

a little bit of window shopping of things we want but can't afford! 

We were so lucky to have a local (er, localized?) tour guide in Dubai. She is my  high school classmate - we didn't meet for the past fifteen years and it was exploring and mommy-talking all the way. 

Ochay with our Turknoy family, posing outside Burj Khalifa  - thanks again classmate! 

our photo by Burj Al Arab - someday (again!) HAHAHA - we dream, we dream!

Our third and last day, we went for another swim around the hotel, checked out and head back again to Dubai Mall and waited for our scheduled viewing of Burj Khalifa - after all, it is the tallest tower in the world. So OFF WE WENT TO GO HIGH! Literally.. 

Oh the things we can see from top of the world!

WE'RE ON THE... TOP OF THE WORLD.. POSING.. 

EVERYTHING SEEMS SO SMALL..

Of course, we had to check out the books in Dubai and they had such an enormous selection we didn't want to go! How we wish they have such great selection of books in Doha like what we saw in Dubai. 

BOOKS!

It was so short and sweet, a visit long overdue. We have been staying for more than five years in Doha and it was just right that we explore and travel outside the country. We need it and we deserve it. 

Here's to more happy travels with Turknoys! 

Keep exploring!

 

Story Time at School World

Turknoys just love Story Time. And we are always fortunate enough to find lots of story time activities. This time, we found a Story Time activity at School World in Parco Mall.  This mall is located close to Salwa Road and very close to D-Ring so it was accessible for us.

And what a great story time it had been not to mention what a find the bookstore, School World, is. There are lots of great book titles which are very difficult to find here in Doha. A must-visit for all kids book lover in Doha.

We story time session is so fantastic we are already looking forward to the second session. It's the free things in life... ;)

early bird - can't wait for the story time session to start, he started already on his own!

he's so at home, love the books and can't stop reading!

some of the books read during Story Time!

someone is impatient for the story time to start! ready, set..... go!

funny guy, he knows the book already so he decided to get his own book while listening to the story time!

Kerim definitely spend a very productive day during the Story Time at School World.



Keep exploring!

Maktaba and Mathaf Reading Circles

Another great way to encourage kids how to read is to make them appreciate arts. We went to Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art to join the Maktaba and Mathaf Reading Circle.


Maktaba will be the first Arabic/ English children's library in Doha, Qatar. To say that our Turknoy family is excited about the opening of the library is an understatement. Now, when will they open, we are wondering and waiting! 


For the mean time, we are attending the reading circle to be held in Mathaf Museum every week. 


It was actually the first time for  Kerim to attend a book reading session with another facilitator other than his mommy! We usually have our book reading in the park and at home but it's always me who's reading to the group. He was asking a lot of questions to the facilitator and kept disturbing her from reading the story. He was asking question - "What is that?!" and pointing to the animals and telling the children what those were. Awesome for a my 2.5 year old book lover!


Kylie, on the other hand, created an awesome book cover and participated a lot during the book reading. It was a great experience to be part of the reading circle.

preparing his book cover! 

now on to the text of the book cover!

our little girl presenting her awesome book cover about the birds!

Our little boy asking a lot - A LOT - of questions during book reading

How I wish we could participate in more of these sessions. These sessions aim to encourage families to think about links between stories and arts. Hence,  the art about kids' book cover. It's an awesome idea indeed. Art and book reading. 

Keep exploring!
 

Top Ten Dr. Seuss iPad Applications (PART 1)

Top Ten Dr. Seuss iPad Applications! We have more than ten of these and we have no intention of ranking them and favoring one over the other. They are all favorites of the kids. So, here's our first list of the top ten Dr. Seuss iPad Applications. Enjoy! And hoops, these applications are now on sale for a limited time period - so hurry!

Note: The links will be directed to the original book as we can't help but feel so nostalgic about the good old traditional books.

1. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street - This book is very special as it imparts a great lesson for the kids and for parents too. WE NEED TO NURTURE THE KIDS IMAGINATION. Let them exaggerate, their exaggerated stories are their outlet for their imagination to grow.

We love the iPad application because of the professional narration and background audio. Not to mention that this is Dr. Seuss's first book. And knowing that the manuscript of this book was rejected by 27 publishing houses for being too different and fantasy based.

This book and/ or iPad application is a great reminder that being different is not always bad but rather should be viewed as an opportunity for greatness.

Think different, think Dr. Seuss!

2. The Sneetches The lesson in this classic story is very valuable to us if we really want to thrive in our differences among family members and other people. A classic story to emphasize that racism or classifying an individual according to his color, belief system and origin is not only harmful to the individual but to the society.

3. Horton Hears A Who! We love the book, we love the Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! Movie , we love Horton so definitely, we LOVE LOVE LOVE the iPad application!

" A PERSON'S A PERSON NO MATTER HOW SMALL" is a lesson every human being should comprehend and apply in day to day life. Everyone deserve to be treated fairly at some point in his life, if not every time.

4. Oh, Say Can You Say? It is terrible tongue twisters indeed in this book. It is a great tool for an an advanced  early reader like our little girl. The words are easy but there are some challenging words which teach phonics to early readers. We always have fun reading this by ourselves or just by listening to the narration.

5. Yertle the Turtle We love to hate Yertle's guts as a leader. This is a bit exaggeration but the concept is almost applicable to any leaders. A great story which focuses on WHAT LEADERS SHOULD NOT DO.

6. Gertrude McFuzz: In a word of discontent, this book is a good reminder to be content in what we have. At most times, appreciation of what we have at the moment is the key to happiness.

7. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?  Needless to say, this is our preschooler's favorite. Our little boy learned all the sounds Mr. Brown can do by listening to this application over and over again. Fun way for kids to learn sounds of everything around us.

8. Happy Birthday to You! This application makes our day-to-day celebration of life so memorable. If only we could do the things listed here every day or just our birthday, life will be A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

9. The Big Brag We love this book, another favorite.  The story tells of a rabbit and a bear, who both boast that they are the "best of the beasts." The rabbit can hear far away, but the bear boasts he can smell father. However , both animals re humbled by a mere worm who looks around the world - right back to his own hill - where he sees "the two biggest fools that have ever been seen!

There's simply no use bragging what we can do, there will always be something better than us. The challenge is to compete with our own self. (okay, that's a bit beyond the moral of the story  - but it's our favorite discussion after reading the book!)

10. Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! Another motivation to be imaginative. OH THE THINGS WE CAN THINK! Anything is possible.

We read Dr. Seuss's omBooks everyday and we just can't help reading them again and again. 


What's your favorite Dr. Seuss iPad application?

Keep reading!