12／14 Homework

1. Review and fix week 16 test
2. There will be no homework or tests in week 17.
3. For those who turned in homework on time today, I have checked their correction for writing mistakes in the blue writing book. No need to turn in it again next Monday.
4. Happy winter break 12/20-1/1
See you next year 💝😄

12／13 Homework

1. Bring Blue Writing Book
2. Week 16 test
3. Oral test: ___/5. Numbers of correctly answered words out of five.

12/12 Homework. Mistakes in blue writing book

1. Read L5 Words 3X
2. Oral Quiz for L5 vocabulary tomorrow.

There are some mistakes in our blue writing book. The sounds and meanings  for the L5 vocabulary on page 19 were misplaced. I tried to fix it but it seemed to be that there's a bug for the worksheet generating program on the website and it showed the same results.
However, the flashcards they have can show correct meanings and sounds. So please study the flashcards for the oral quiz tomorrow and the written test on Friday.

12/10 and 12/11 Homework

12/10

1. Study: Week 16 test (12/14)
2. Blue writing Book p18-p.19 (12/14)
3. Read L5 Words 3X
4. Bring L5 Flashcards


12/11

1. Read L5 words 3X
2. Oral Quiz: L5 words on 11/13

L5 New Words and Test Sample Updated

New Words http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/level-3-new-words.html

Test Sample http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/3a-test-samples.html

12/6 and 12/7 Homework

12/6
1. Week 15 test
2. Bring Blue Writing Book (Fix p15-p16 and get initials)
3. Read L4 stories 3X
4. Spirit clothes

12/7
Review and fix week 15 test. Turn it in next Monday.

12/4 & 12/5 Homework

Read L4 stories once.

12/3 Homework

1. Fix blue writing book p15-p.16 (Due 12/7)
2. Read L4 Stories once http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/level-3-textbook-stories.html
3. Study: Week 15 test (Due 12/7)

Week 14 and 11/30 Homework

Homework
Fix and review Week 14 test. The total score for this test is 105. Please turn it in again on Monday with a parent signature and fixed answers.

Days have passed so fast and now it's the end of November. Soon it will be our favorite holiday month. So excited.
Here are some little reminders for what to do in Chinese class so we will have a worry-free December.

1. We always turn in Blue Writing Book on Fridays. Read planners before going to bed or before leaving home for school to make sure you didn't miss a thing.
2. We always have tests on Fridays, so remember to study. I will return the tests to you the same day. Remember to fix it and have your parents put initials on it and turn it in again on Monday.
3. We need parents' initials on our planners. You will get a warning for not having that on your planner.
4. Bring yellow flashcards on the first day we start a new lesson. I will remind you by asking you write it down on your planners, but you are responsible for bringing that to class. We do a lot of practices with the cards, so it is very important that everyone bring his own set. You will not want to lose any chances to practice with us and it's a way make sure what you do to study at home is correct.
5. If you can not find your learning materials, like books, cards or worksheet. You can  get a new one but first you have to ask (or beg?) your parents to write a note to me and pay twenty eagle bucks for new materials. Remember, it's a lesson to learn to be responsible. No one will help you take care of things like that when you leave schools in the future.
6. Anything that break class rules will add a warning to anyone who does that. And it will be no fun to get more than three warnings in a week.

Test Samples Updated

Test Samples http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/3a-test-samples.html

11/29 Homework

1. Week 14 test
2. Being Blue Writing Book ( complete p15-p16)
3. Oral Quiz: ____/5 (the number of correct answers out of 5)

11/27 Homework

1. Read L4 New Words five times
2. Bring L4 Yellow Flashcards
3. Hanlexon L4
http://www.hanlexon.com/index.htm
4. Oral Quiz L4 vocabulary
http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/level-3-new-words.html

11/26 Homework

1. Study: Week 14 Test
2. Blue Writing Practice Book p15-p16 (Due 11/30)

There will be an oral quiz for L4 vocabulary on Thursday. They need to be able to read each vocabulary.

11/20 Homework and a reminder for tomorrow

1. No Week 13 Test
2. Read L1-L3 Words once. (Use flashcards, Blue Writing Book or our blog to practice.)

There will be no other homework this week, so they don't need to bring Chinese planners tomorrow.
We also will have an assembly tomorrow morning, so remember to bring your mountain man paper (for English class).

(They can bring board games or other fun things to play tomorrow but we need to remind them not to bring dangerous or fragile things to share. And don't bring pets, please. There might be students allergic to animal fur. And we can not take very good care of pets at school.)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

11/15 Homework

1. Study: week 12 test
2. Bring Blue Writing Book with p.11-p.13 fixed and a parent's initial.

11/12 Homework

1. Review and fix Week 11 test.
2. Hanlexon 3A L3
3. Study: Week 12 test
4. Read L3 stories once

Reminder: We won't have tests in week 13.
11/13 Homework
Fix Blue Writing Book p.11-p.13 (Due 11/16)
Read L3 stories once

11/8 Homework

1. Study L3 Word cards.

2. Week 11 test on 11/12 (Monday).

3. Bring Blue Writing Book on 11/12 (Monday). Complete pages 11-13.

4. No School on 11/9 (Friday). 

11/5 Homework

1. Study: Week 11 test. The test will be on 11/12 Monday.
2. 3A L2 Oral Quiz on 11/7. Range: Extended Practice Book p.11 p.12. As shown in the red squares below.
3. Write extended writing practice book p.11-p.13. Due is on 11/12 Monday.

11/2 Homework and Answers for Science Test today

1. Review and Fix Week 10 Tests: Both Chinese and Science

2. Hanlexon 3A L2

3. Bring 3A L3 Yellow Flashcards

4. Please bring science test on Monday. We need answer correction for Question No. 3. Thank you.

1. Rain is a gas. --- (No, it's a liquid.)

2. Ice is a solid.

3. River is groundwater. ---(No.)

4. Salt water is drinkable water. ---(No)

5. Sea water is salt water.

6. About 1 % of all states of water on the earth is glaciers. ---(No, it's about 2%.)

7. There is about 90% of water, including different states, on the globe. ---(No, it's 70%.)

8. Rain will fall on mountains and flow down to form rivers (runoff). This kind of water is fresh water.

9. The process that water vapor becomes water is called evaporation. ---(No, it's called condensation.)

10. Evaporation happens when there is an energy source that makes the temperature become higher and makes water become water vapor.

 11. The higher the temperature is, the faster water evaporates.

12. When  the gas water cools down, it will condense.

13. The water inside of plants also evaporates(transpiration).

14. When it's snowing, we call it condensation. ---(We call it precipitation.)

15. The dew on a leaf is water condensation.

16. When water comes down from clouds, it is called precipitation.

17. There are four kinds of precipitation. They are rain, snow, sleet and hail.

18. The freezing point is 32 degree F.

19. If tomorrow is 60 degree F, it might snow. ---(No. It won't snow.)

20. If tomorrow is 15 degree F, it might snow.

Welcome to November

Welcome to November

11/1 Homework
1. Please bring Extended Writing Practice Book with pages 7-9 fixed and with a parent's initial on one page.
2. Study for Week 10 test and Science Test. (20 Yes/No questions.) We had reviewed the whole unit and practiced the test today.

We had a great Halloween yesterday. Everyone was excited about the parade, the costumes, the treats and the party!!! WooHoo.

I would like to thank all the parents who helped out for the preparation and helped at our party. Kids really really really loved it.

Early Day Out Thursday and Friday

This Thursday and Friday are early day out. We have school until 1:40.
Though this is a crazy week, we still have our tests this Friday. If you pay attention in class, ask questions when you have any and study at home, it will be just like the other tests you have in "normal" weeks.

Week 10 Test Sample

Here is the link for the test samples.
http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/3a-test-samples.html

Science Test

The test will be written in Chinese and will be read by me on Friday (11/2). There are twenty yes/no questions.
For example: (X) 冰是气体的水。 Ice is a gas.
Students need to listen to me saying a statement and decide whether the description about water is correct or incorrect. Therefore to review the science vocabulary is the key to understand what I read. They don't need to be able to write the vocabulary, but they need to be familiar about the sounds and meanings.

To download more science materials, please see my blog: http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/science.html
There will be more updates later.

Great Science Education Website for Our Unit of Water

Here is the link
http://shoalwater.nsw.gov.au/education/tapstar_home.htm
The website gives good examples and clear definitions of the water cycle.

Week 9

Hi
I hope you all enjoy this week because we had our first snow (actually mine) of this season and Fun Friday.

Homework today is as usual.
Review and Fix week 9 test.

There are two reminders for the following week and one news.

Next week is Halloween and Wednesday is our Halloween Party. Thanks a million for our room parents and volunteers for preparing for our party. I am looking forward to your costumes, kids!!! (My first real Halloween too.)

We will have our first science test (Topic: Water Collection). The test will be in Chinese. I will read the questions to them and them have to decide whether the statement is true or false. Also in some questions I will ask them to write down the answers. Don't worry. If I want them to write the answers down, they must be something you have learned before, like numbers and yes or no in Chinese.

One thing I want to stress is that they must turn in their homework on Fridays.
Some of them told me that they couldn't either find it at home nor in their tote tray "yesterday". That's why they didn't do the homework. However, the writing practice book is always sent home on Mondays and they should keep it at home and complete it before Thursday nights. So that they can bring it on Fridays. If they suddenly can't find their books when they check their backpack again on Thursday evenings, they can get a blank paper, write the vocabulary for ten times and turn the paper in on Friday morning. I will accept that at completing homework, but they will still need to find the writing practice book of their own and complete the pages I have assigned.
I emphasized this again to them today because having good learning attitude do help them learn in many aspects.

We have a new student in my homeroom since today. She studied in Shanghai, China in the past three years. Everyone was thrilled to meet her. I hope everyone can help her to get used to our daily routines soon and they can all learn from each other.

10／25 Homework and vocabulary oral quiz today

Homework:
1. Study: Week 9 test
2. Bring Extended Writing Practice Book (with pages 7-9 completed).

Oral quiz today
They had their oral quiz today. In the quiz, I randomly picked five words from the vocabulary list (words for application) and they had to tell me how the words are pronounced. The score was written in the planner (as Quiz: 休，病。 3／5 correct). The Chinese words written mean the words they didn't correctly answer. 3 means he/she got 3 correct answers out of 5.

Science: Water Collection

For the fourth graders in Chinese program, they learn science in Chinese, but are tested in English.
Therefore, we need extra materials to help them clarify the concepts. And we thank Mrs Todd that she helps to reinforce  the science vocabulary in English.

The animation is very helpful to understand the water cycle.
It includes a lot key vocabulary that will be tested.

For both the Chinese (traditional) and English version, please go to the website below.
http://waterday.e-info.org.tw/index.php/2012-02-23-08-54-00/2012-02-23-08-59-35/88-2012-

For the English version, please view it here
http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/animation_watercycle_en.html

These pictures explain very well about what a water cycle is too.

10／24 Homework

Study 3A L2 Blue Flashcards three times.
And there will be an oral quiz tomorrow!
I will randomly pick five words from the vocabulary list. T
Students need to know how to say it.

Parent Meeting Tomorrow

As the letter I forwarded to you last week, our first parent meeting is tomorrow (10/24), 4:00 pm after school!
Mrs Todd and I together will be expecting you in her classroom then!

10/23 Homework

1. Study 3A L2 Blue Flashcards 3 times.
2. Write Extended Writing Practice Book p7-p9. (Due:10/25) Turn in on 10/26.

Stories, New Words and Test ample Update

I will continue updating new contents of our lessons including stories, new words and test samples so that students can practice at home. I have added 3A L2 which we start learning this week. (We now also have Hanlexon to practice word-sound match. See http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/2012/10/hanlexon-online-learning-lessons.html)

The links on the top of this blog lead you to different materials and websites.

If you want to check the update of stories, new words and test sample, please see stars 1, 2 and 3 below. The picture corresponds to the links on the top of the webpage.

3A L2 New Words Correction

There is one new word needed to be corrected in L2.
The word is 调。It is marked as [tiao2] and [diao4] in our books.
For this lesson, it should be pronounced as [tiao2] only.

When the word is pronounced as [tiao2], it is a verb which means "to alter, to adjust, to tune, to turn up/down, etc."

If it is pronounced as [diao4] in other contexts, it is then a noun which means "tune" or a verb means "to switch, to transfer, to move, etc."


[tiao2]: the number "2" means the second tone of Chinese. There are totally five different tones.

10/22 Homework and Week 9 Test Sample

1. Please bring 3A L2 Yellow Flashcards
2. Study for Week 9 Test. The sample was sent home today.

Hanlexon Website---Login Problems

There are two different problems so far that were found out for causing problems for login and doing the practice.

1. Problem for loging in:
 ----Could be that I didn't enter the correct email addresses, so write to me to let me know if you never receive any confirmation letter from the website.
---- Or could be that  the website haven't update the share list I gave them. I will continue tracking the update.

2. Problem for not able to drag and drop:
--- Tell me what type/make/system of your computer is. I know little about computer systems, but I can ask the website constructor to see if there is any restriction for different computer type.

Chinese Corner

Mr. and Mrs. Xiao are holding Chinese Corner in Sandy Public Library every other week.
They are helping people who are interested in learning Chinese.
The lessons are free. If you like to learn Chinese and Chinese culture, you are welcome to join them.
It starts at 10:15 am. The next meeting is on 10/20.

www.utchinesecorner.blogspot.com

10/17 Homework

Worksheet: Picture Dictionary for 3A L1.
These are the phrases that are in our L1 stories. They need to know the meanings so the stories will make more sense to them.

拼命(pin1 ming4):to try very hard to...
轮流(lun2 liu2): to take turns to...
入口处(ru4 kou3 chu4): an entrance...
挤(qi3): to jostle against; crowded
圆滚滚(yuan2 gun3 gun3): chubby
不好意思(bu4 hao3 yi4 si): to feel embarrassed

We have no school on Thursday and Friday.

Websites for Learning Chinese Characters

Here is a very good website for learning Chinese Characters.

http://www.zhongwen.com/

A lot to explore. You will be amazed.


Want to give yourselves a real Chinese name that each character has Chinese meanings?
This website help you find a Chinese name that is not a direct translation from the sounds.

http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html

But if you really want to adopt the Chinese name from the website, please ask a person who knows Chinese if this name sounds natural or not.

Hanlexon Online Learning Lessons

I just found out that the online lessons can only be shared with at most 50 email addresses. So I will remove your second email address or have students tell me which email address you would like to register.
I have just put your email address that they brought to me today on the share list. So either if you have given me the email address but haven't received any confirmation letters or if you haven't given me any email address, please write to me (chliao327@gmail.com).

The note I sent home on Monday is here.

Here is the video clip of the demonstration of how to go to Hanlexon and do our homework today.

Or view it on our youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=50cQUy_-Qf8#!.

10/16 Homework

Homework today:
Do 3A L1 Scramble at "http://www.hanlexon.com/"
If you gave me the email address to register today, you are supposed to receive a confirmation letter from the website. If you have not, you can send an email (chliao327@gmail.com) to me to tell me the email address.
Then log in and go to My Classes. Do 3A L1 Scramble (which I have demonstrated to them today).

What's in Scramble......

Online Learning Material for our class

I have created online materials for our class and will keep on updating the content.
The website is here http://www.hanlexon.com/
A note will be sent home on Monday. But you can take a look at it first and give me the email you want to register for the website too.

Click here to download the note.

Parent-Teacher Meeting this school year

Hi Dear Parents

We will have 3 parent-teacher meetings this school year.

Here are the dates and time

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 4:00 pm

You will be welcome to come and talk to us at school.

...and You still can write to me or make an appointment to meet with each other when questions occur.

Love to have all the kids in my class. They are WONDERFUL.

Learning Chinese words

Each Chinese word is composed of different parts. The parts of words may represent their meanings, origins, or pronunciation. We used different colors  to mark different parts in a word so it helps learners to understand how a word is formed and pronounced.

Week 7

1. Homework 10/12

Review and fix Week 7 test.
(We will have no tests to study next week because we will only have 2.5 days. But we still need to do reading homework. )

* Writing Homework will not be sent back home again until Monday. (We collect it on Friday and return it on Monday.)
* Fewer of them forgot to turn in homework than last week. Hope there will be zero for the later weeks.

2. Fun Run was really fun today. We had great time this morning!!! Thumbs up for everyone who ran very hard today.

3. Another great thing I wanted to say is that they did very well in the test today. Great job.
 
4. Remember we have two kinds of test formats because we learn a new lesson for two weeks. A test sample will be sent home for reference on the first day of every week and we always have tests on Fridays. If that Friday is a holiday, then the test will be on the next Monday.

Test format for the first week of a lesson

Then Test format for the second week of a lesson

   

5. We have finished our first Chinese lesson in the new level (3A) and  most of them are very familiar with the new Chinese words now. But they still need to work on the story reading more to be more fluent readers and speakers. For the homework, I ask them to read the stories in the blue story book (marked as Extended Practice Book) that goes home. They need to read the part of texts with pinyin first and read the other part of the same story without pinyin so they can be able to learn to recognize words.

It is very important to review at home. Because, in class, we read the story together and found that students who remember to practice reading at home can read more fluently and can catch the meanings of phrases more quickly. Practice makes perfect after all.

(Our Extended Practice Book)

 (Stories with pinyin followed by stories without pinyin, as shown below)

Also the flashcards they have help reading a lot. They need to study both the front side and the back side of the cards so they can retrieve word meanings quickly when they see them or hear them.

6. Reminder of our new Chinese packet:
All blue materials, including flashcards, are meant to be kept at home so they can practice.
Yellow flashcards should be brought to school when they are required to and this will mark in they daily planner.

7. No school on 10/18 and 10/19

10/11 Homework and test reminder

1. Bring Extended Practice Book (-Writing Practice Homework-)
    They only need to have pages 4 and 5 fixed and have parents' initials on one of the pages.
2. Week 7 test (see the test sample)

10/10 Homework

1. Read 3A L1 Stories once. (Same as 10/9 )
2. Study 3A L1 Flashcards (Blue set for at home learning) three times. They need to know both the sounds and meanings.

Next week is a short week, so we don't have tests next week.

10/9 Homework and story reading for 3A L1

1. Read 3A L1 stories once (in Extended Practice Book/ Blue Reading Book pages 4-7) or listen  to Miss Liao read the story here.

There are two stories they need to read in L1. The animation of reading the second story can be found in the official website of our material. http://xuele.edumall.sg/xuele/slot/u107/index1.html

If you forgot how to find the online version of our textbook, you can see the instruction here http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/instruction-for-reading-our-textbook.html

2. Study for Week 7 test. Test Sample was sent home today. Or view it in this blog (see 10/8)

Students were asked to bring yellow flashcards today so we can use them in class. But some forgot to bring their own or forgot to cut them out in advance. So they can only share with others.

Reminder: There will be no tests or homework in week 8.

Week 7 Test Sample (10/8-10/12)

Week 7 Test Sample (10/8-10/12)

The words tested are still 3A L1 new words.

10/5 Homework

1. Review and fix Week 6 test
2. Fix writing homework (It is sent home today because we have no school on Monday. Next Friday we will check the correction of mistakes. So bring it to school on Friday as usual, not on Monday or other days. )
3. Bring 3A L1 word flashcards (Yellow) (Cut out in advance)
4. No school on Monday (10/8)

Students who didn't turn in homework on time or forgot to bring their homework had a reminder slip sent home. They will need to turn in both the slip and the homework on Tuesday.

This week we start to write short journals and will keep on doing that every week. They can understand and speak a lot of good Chinese, but not very much written language skills.
This will help them build reading and writing skills and increase their Chinese vocabulary.

The topic for this and next week is 我的朋友 (wo3 de peng2 you3) [My friend]

10/3 and 10/4 Homework and Week 6 test reminder

10/3
Read 3A L1 Words 5 times

10/4
1. Complete Extended Practice Book -Writing Practice Book- pages 4-5 and turn it in
2. Week 6 test (10/5)

Test Sample for Week 6 was sent home on Monday (or see the picture below). The words can be found in Extended Practice Book in L1.

10/2 Homework and New Chinese Packet

1. Write Extended Practice Book -Writing Practice Homework- p.4 p.5
2. Check New Chinese Packet for Level 3A please (An instruction inside)
 There should be five items inside
 (1 Blue Extended Practice Book; 2 Blue Extended Practice Book -Writing Practice Homework-; 3 Blue Flashcards for home <L1~L11> ; 4 Yellow Flashcards for school <L1~L11> ; 5 Yellow Instruction)

All materials of blue paper/cover are meant to be kept at home. (Only need to bring Extended Practice Book -Writing Practice Homework- to school on Friday) 
Yellow flashcards should only be cut out and brought to school when I tell them to. : )

The New Chinese Packet is for the first half of the school year. Students do not need to study all of them at one time.

The progress of Chinese lessons is now at Lesson One, so students only need to study materials of Lesson One so far.

3A L1 New Words

Here are the new words for the first lesson in our new level.

叔馆入等拼挤喂摇摆轮星期参观排隊胖乱样

Happy Birthday

Wow, we have four birthday boys and girls in October.

Ms Liao wishes all of you have a fabulous birthday!!!!

艾瑪:10/10
梅根:10/20
喬治亞:10/24
喬治:10/26

Birthday boys and girls in October are all invited to sit with Mr. Robinson and have lunch together on 10/2 (Tue.).
Congratulations!!!

9/28 Homework and 10/1 Homework

The homework for today
1. Review and fix Week 5 test
 Most of them were well prepared for the test this week. Keep it up.

Homework for 10/1
1. Study Week 6 test (Due 10/5)
2. Read 3A L1 words 5 times

I will attend a professional development seminar on 10/1. Mrs Yu will come and teach new Chinese words and math topic. Week 6 test sample and 3A L1 new word chart will be sent home on Monday.

This week was really great. We had parents to do enrichment and fun Friday for us. We enjoyed a lot. Thank you for all the things you do for our children.

9/27 homework

1. Read L21 words five times and stories once
2. Week 5 test
3. Bring Extended Practice Book with pages 15~17 completed

9/26 Homework

1. Read L21 words five times
2. Read L21 stories once

Enrichment and 9/25 Homework

Thank you for the volunteers who came today  to do the enrichment. Our children were really excited and had a lot of fun. : )

The homework today
Read L21 new words for five times

2B L21 New Words

9/24 Homework

1. Write Extended Practice Book p.15-p.17
2. Study Week 5 test (see sample in their take-home folder)

9/21 Homework

1. Fix and review Week 4 test.
2. Keep on studying L20 words and stories
3. Students who forgot to turn in their homework (Extended Practice Book p.10-p.12) have had a reminder slip sent home with planner and need to bring it back to school on Monday.

Answer key for week 4 test

Week four: About our courses and tests

We just finished our fourth week and the second test.
Some of the parents and students themselves are worried about what we have been doing these weeks.
I hope this will make you more released or at least help understanding

(1) Some children feel stressful for not knowing what to do in Chinese class because this is only the second week we go through all the routines. So some things may only be done for a second time. But they will get used to it soon after a while. For example, by now most of them understand that when they come in and sit down in my classroom, they need to take out their planners, write down the homework and turn it in to me. The Chinese planner is new this year and they never heard of this term or understand the procedure in Chinese before and never wrote about homework in the planner. Some just haven't get used to it and need to be reminded. For Extended Practice Book, this is the second time they need to complete and turn it in, so some remembered and some forgot  and got a reminder slip for forgetting homework. Please feel less worried because they have two teachers' rules and routines to follow so it will take them more time, especially my rules and routines are explained in Chinese.

I am new to Lone Peak and it also will take me more than a month to know what to do here and I still forget some routines we do at school and need reminded. Mrs Todd and students reminded me a lot [time for recess, rotation, and giving them eagle bucks : ) ] as well.

(2) Tests and courses: The tests didn't seem every understandable for them, even with the answer keys I gave them in advance. I know some of the students are worried. We have two new test formats for Week 3 and Week 4 test. Students may not understand what to do with them. But after these two week, I think they already know what to do. I didn't give them any stress for not doing well these two times but I want them to understand what to do and how to review for test next month.
Another thing that may cause them to feel  uneasy and confused of what we are doing in class I believe it's the pace of teaching and learning now. We have only one week for each lesson in Book 2B so we just go through new words and vocabulary very fast. This is planned. Three lessons in 2B will be finished by the end of September and we start next level in October.  For what we are doing now, we have five days each week to complete learning of 2B. Five days is very little of time to absorb new words, their sounds and meanings, the strokes and stories reading. (We need three days originally to finish learning of new words only, so I know it is difficult to be able to understand, read and write new content.)

The pace for the third level will be slower because we will do more practices in four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and will try not to rely on pinyin from this level.They will have more time for learning next level (3A and 3B). Book 2B is just a transition to it and serves as a step stone for us to get used to our homework, tests and routines as well as to reflect students' learning styles and my teaching methods in 4th grade Chinese program.

(3) Homework and supplementary learning materials:
Students will get a new set of homework and supplementary learning materials from next level. I want to thank all the parents who asked questions and gave me suggestions to make everything clearer. I think the materials from next level will be more systematic and will be explained better.

Please don't hesitate to let me know your questions and let me know how your children feel about school.
Anything helps us improve will help them learn.

2B L20 New Words

9/20 Homework

Today's homework

Study for Week 4 test.
See Mon.-Wed. (meaning some homework has different due date and were marked on Monday to Wednesday on the planner and will need to be completed by its due date)

Reminder: Every Friday is the due date for turning in the Extended Practice Book. For this week, they need to finish page10 to page 12.

Enrichment program-parents needed

We are going to start the enrichment program soon next week and so far we only have parents for the art helper and dance. We still need parents who can help with art and music. If you can volunteer, please call our PTA or write to me. We will really appreciate your help for our children.

9/19 Homework

We learned all of the now vocabulary in lesson 20 and started to read the stories. So students need to study the vocabulary (due 9/21) and stories (10 minutes a day at least, due 9/25).

The new flashcards they brought home today can help students understand more words or phrases they need to comprehend the stories. They can keep these at home and practice. No need to bring back to school.

There is a test for L20 on Friday. Please don't forget they need to read one line from the stories. What they need to read was printed on the Week 4 test practice sheet they brought home on Monday.

9/17 Homework

1. Keep on reading L13 stories (in Extended  Practice Book p1)

(This is the Extended Practice Book)

2. Write Extended Practice Book p10-p12 (Due 9/21 Fr.)

3. Study Week 4 test (Due 9/21 Fri) (They have the test sheet today.) (The answer for question two in part one should be chi, not yi)

4. Check Week 3 test (The test we had last Friday. Please fix the mistakes and review.)

(Here is the answer key.)

Third Week

Wow!!!  We are moving on to the fourth week!!!
Thank you for coming to back to school night and thank you for your support.

We almost finished the first lesson of this year; we will continue to finished the making up story activity and extended reading on page 8 and page 9 next Monday and start a new lesson (2B L20).
Our first Chinese test was a word-and-sound matching test and it will be marked and returned to students next week. Write to me if you want to know the test result before seeing it.

Math learning in Chinese is a little behind math in English schedule because, from 4th grade in Chinese class, we reinforce math.  So we don't go ahead of English class. Next week we will start a new topic.

In science lesson, we learn three forms of water: 固体(gù tǐ )[solid], 气体(qì  tǐ )[gas] and 液体(yè tǐ)[liquid]. They need to be able to say these three terms in Chinese and give examples of each terms, tell us when they can see different forms of water and talk about the importance of water. They like this unit very much.
We will continue talking about three forms of water and learn how a form of water switch to another form.

Homework today: Read 2B L13 stories.
The word writing practice in our extended practice book p5 and p.6 were check and marked. Students need to fix the mistakes once. Just erase the mistake and write it correctly again. Students who didn't turn in homework should turn it in on Monday.

Thank you for all you do for our children~~~

A website for looking up Chinese Words

Here is a very useful website for learning Chinese writing and word meanings.
For those whose can't type Chinese words, just copy a word in PDF or Word files and paste it to the website. Then click on the search button. You can see the stoke animation and word meaning.

The website is here
http://www.archchinese.com/chinese_english_dictionary.html

                                                                 (Click on the button

                                                                 above to enlarge the 

                                                                  film or  just view it on 

                                                                  our youtube channel)

9/13 homework and instruction of listening to textbook stories online

Parents,

I sent one mail to your mailbox and show you the instruction of helping children listen to our textbook story online! please check if you have had it in your mailbox. 

Thank you!

Here is the video clip for listening to textbook stories online!

                                                              (Click on the button

                                                                 above to enlarge the 

                                                                    film or  just view it on 

                                                                  our youtube channel)

Homework: Chinese test (Match words and sounds)

Read L13 Stories (10 minutes at least)

9/11 Homework

Today's homework:
1.
Trace the words on left side of the first page. (School writing practice)
The afternoon class has done a part of this and they bring home to finish the else.
The morning class didn't do the writing practice in class because we were having our picture taken then.

The writing practice book they bring home for homework looks like this

The homework today is the left half side of the first page

2.
Continue studying new Chinese words. And I encourage them to preview the other new words that we will learn tomorrow.

9/10 Homework

The homework today:
Read New Chinese Words in 2B Lesson 13 (only the words with a little check on their handout  )

Reminders:

1. Tomorrow (9/11) is the picture taking day.

2. Those who didn't turn in or finish "20 Chinese Words" homework should turn their homework in tomorrow morning. Thank you!

Happy Birthday

We have six birthday boys and girls in September.
Miss Liao wishes all of you a very very very happy birthday.
生日快乐(sheng ri kuai le)

本 (9/9)
艾瑞兒 ( 9/9)
艾薩克 ( 9/10)
湯姆 (9/12)
塞德勒 (9/14)
雷恩 (9/21)

Our second week

We did Chinese review test today! And most of them did an excellent job in the oral responding part! They gave clear responses in the one-on-one oral test! I am impressed! Also I recorded their responses individually during the test and will send the files through email to the parents and will explain a little bit about their performance! However this job will take some time! So please be patient! Also a few student haven't finished oral test because we have little time on Friday and we will continue that on Monday!

The review test score will not be recorded in the grade system. It is considered as a reference that reveals what they have learned and how much they can apply the language.

However the test on Fridays from next week on will be recorded! Because it's about learning new things! 

Homework today : Write 20 learned Chinese words! I gave each of them a piece of blank paper and they should write 20 Chinese words on them! It's fine if they want to write more than 20! Chinese numbers like 一 二 三 should not be included because they are too easy for them. If they lost the paper I gave them, it's alright to find another blank A4 paper to do this homework. On Monday, I will randomly pick 3-5 words on their homework!

 One more thing, I want to say that I am really proud of everyone of you! You all did a great job on the symphony field trip! You behaved well on the bus and in the auditorium! Really wonderful kids!

A reminder for the field trip and Chinese test

For the symphony field trip tomorrow, students can bring tissue paper with them because I noticed that some of them were sniffing or had a runny nose! Tissue paper will be very useful then! Also they can bring a thin sweater to keep them warm. The temperature changes a lot inside and outside and during a day!

For the Chinese test, the sequence of the questions will not be the same as the one they bring home to practice.
That means students need to be able to read and recognize the words to complete the questions!
We will practice in class again tomorrow! I am looking forward to everyone's good job in the test!

Today's Math

We practiced the extended form of numbers in Chinese.

Chinese words for numbers

一 1 二 2 三 3 四 4 五 5 六 6 七 7 八 8 九 9

one 个(一) ten 十 hundred 百 thousand 千 thousand 万 ten thousand 十万

123,456 is written as 一个十万+二个 万 +三个千+四个百+五個十+六个一

(个 also means the unit for counting things )

Chinese Planner

Starting from the second week, all Chinese homework or test information will be put on students' "Chinese Planner." This is to avoid confusion.
The usage is the same as Mrs Todd's planner.

Week 2 Chinese test

From this week on, we will have a test every Friday for each unit we learn in class.
The content of the test we will have this Friday is the 2A book which they have learned when they were in third grade.
There are three parts.
Part 1: 10 questions for them to orally respond.
Part 2: eight word and sound recognition questions
Part 3: 2 questions for them to write down the learned words or phrases.
(Students will take the test sheet home to practice and bring it back to school.)
We review first and they will have the test on Friday!

First Week

Hi Parents and Students
We had a wonderful week!
The aim of this week was to have the students and I know each other.
I didn't teach a lot of new things, but I helped them remember the way they speak Chinese or use Chinese.
Everyone did a great job. Thumbs up  for all of you!!!

A reminder of the song test: Students will be asked to sing the 早安歌 in pairs next Tuesday. The lyrics are in their purple folder. They can also listen to the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM5gwgd2ehw&feature=plcp

More about this week...

Math we did this week.

Students wrote their Chinese names.

 Worksheet: All about Me

Student wrote about their birthdays, their favorite things, colors, food, etc...

They were asked to bring this worksheet home and have the parents sign on it and turn in it next Tuesday.

Know More about Ms Liao and tell her about yourselves

(please see PDF link below)

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5-ydq8fPkuYa1cxZGRHWDFLSFU