Roald Dahl

Camden did an oral book report last week.  Each kid had to read a biography and then prepare a report.  They got points for dressing up like their individual, content of the material, props, and presentation.

Camden read about Roald Dahl. He is probably best know for writing children's books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and many others.  However, he also married actress Patricia Neal, wrote screen plays for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and several episodes of Hitchcock TV shows, and invented a few medical devices.  Quite the story.

Camden wrote out her speech on note cards and then had a prop for different aspects of his life.  She practiced it twice for me.  The first time she read the cards the entire time.  She had already told me that Mr. Chadd instructed them to not read from their cards, so she did a second time and very purposefully only looked at her cards for prompts.  It was quite good.  Then she did it for Daddy and Papaw.

She looked adorable as a frumpy English man.

Thankfully her teacher took a picture and sent to me, because I forgot.  She had to get herself dressed and did a good job getting that too big shirt tucked in...and hanging out of the suspenders just made him more realistic.

Her props were:

Cadbury chocolate bar: the boarding school he attended as a child was in the town were these candies were made.  The boys got to taste test the chocolate.  This was where the idea for Charlie came from.

Toy war airplane: Roald joined the British Royal Air Force and was a fighter pilot in WWII.

Pictures of Roald & Patricia and their children.

First Aid Kit: Roald's child was hit by a taxi and had a brain injury.  Roald helped invent a drain to help with swelling and fluid.

BFG book:  One of the famous books Roald wrote was The BFG (big friendly giant).  She listed several of the books in her report.

Gobstoppers:  They had to talk about the contributions this person made to the world.  She mentioned his inventions, his books, and how he inspired new candies - like Gobstoppers.  After her speech, she gave all the kids a few candies and Mr. Chadd the Cadbury bar.

She really, really did a good job with this whole project!  Her teacher even emailed me that morning.

Talk about one proud mom and dad!