The happiest thing this year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kECO8JZvos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEOnTnvkyf0

Our ten Chinese poems

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSsnvxXzvvc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFmcShWOZeE

Our last project 快乐天堂 (kuài lè tiān táng)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I31L4_WTdwE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drVC2AtqWE4

Group Pictures

Week 39

Hi

Time flies and there are only three weeks left.

For this week, we are at the 20th lesson of our 3B book. So the homework for this week is to read the vocabulary and  phrases at least three times each day and there will be oral quizzes.
Bring the flashcards to study and practice at school and complete the green writing book pages 61-61. The homework is due on Friday.
For the test on Friday, they should have the samples in their folder already and there is one questions that need to be fixed. For the writing part in the test, please correct the question "guǎng", it should be "kuàng".
You can also find the sample in our "Test Samples" section.

Schedule this week

All books borrowed from our library should be checked in this week.

CRT test:  Math on 5/21 and 5/23 Chines AAPPL on 5/24

Dual immersion meeting at our gym after school on Wednesday.

Supplies needed:)

Hi
There are some supplies we are out of, so if any of you can offer some to our classes, that will be great!!!
We need some facial tissue, wet wipes and whiteboard markers.
It's just one more month of this school year, so we don't need too much of them though.
Thanks.

Week 37

Hey all

Here is the reminder for this week.
We started our L18 this week so please bring the flashcards to school. We will need them to study.
Read all the words and phrases for L18 everyday at least three times.
We will have our last science unit test on Friday and the computer based test next week so please study all the cards or vocabulary list I gave you. If you can't find them at home, please go to the "Science" section to find all the materials.

Please finish green writing practice book L18. It's due on Friday too.

All test samples for the following week were uploaded in the "3A Test Samples" section for your reference.

Samples for science test and Chinese tests

Hi

I have uploaded the last science test sample and all last four Chinese tests samples for the following weeks.
For the science sample,  I will give them the Chinese versions with English instructions on it at school and upload the sample in both Chinese and English versions in the "Science" sections and here too. Also in class, they will be required to write down the notes and Chinese pinyin for themselves.
Again, the test is on 5/10 (Friday). From two weeks ago, the whole fourth grade are reviewing all the science units during rotation and  I will also spend one more week to help them review all the units in Chinese. If they are not sure about any concepts or vocabulary, they can ask questions at school any time. The previous materials are all in "Science" section too :).

Science quiz tomorrow

For the quiz tomorrow, they need to identify different types of animals.
Fish: has fins, gill, scales, can swim....
Bird: has a beak, wings, feathers, hollow bones, lay eggs, build nests....
Insect: has no backbones, has three parts of body, has three pairs of legs; some have wings, some have antennas....

Website for Last Science Unit: Animal

Here is a good website with illustrations for kids to understand different kinds of animals.
For the last unit, they need to be able to distinguish the differences among mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and also among herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and plants.

Link 1: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/animaldiet/omnivore.htm

Link 2: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/classification/kc_classification_amphibians.htm

Tasks this week

Hi

It's our 35th week. We now turn to our new Chinese lesson and science units.
Just follow our routine for every week and we will find everything is as easy as pie (why pie? :) )


We will have a weekly Chinese test on Friday. See sample updated on "Test Sample" section.
Bring L17 vocabulary cards to school and read the for home set (either color) for homework at least three times  every evening.
Complete green writing book p.35-p.36 and turn in before Friday.
For science, we now start the Utah environment unit and will have in class pop quiz right after each or every other lesson.

Also you need to turn in the 12th comic and 10th poem with a parent's initial by tomorrow.

Hi all : )

This week is fast. We did a lot of fun things.

We rapped the Chinese poems and we were very good at that. Don't forget to review all the poems because I am going to video tape the rap tempo you make with all the poems we learned. I have heard some of them and was very amazed.

We also learned to play Chinese chess. It is a fun game and it excises your brains for thinking of strategies to win and help you learn more Chinese characters. Some of us are already very good at it right now.  You are welcome to beat me!!! 

The science test for the fossil unit are done today and most of them did a great great job. They can celebrate now....however we are going to have the last unit test on the 10th of May. Ms Liao is also giving several pop quizzes to help you find out the concepts that you can't get very well and thus can reinforce them.

Tomorrow

Just a heads up! New York Times might come back again tomorrow with a photographer!!!!

Just remember to be how you should be and don't forget about our Big 3!

Read the Chinese poems including the 9th and L16 flash cards !!! Being back the 8th and 9th worksheets!

Week 33 Homework and reminders

1. Week 33 Chinese test is on Friday. The sample is uploaded in the "Test Sample" section.
2. Science test (fossil) is on Friday too. They have the science vocabulary flashcard to study and the test reminder was also sent home today.

Fossil Test Question Sample for 4/12

Part one:

Match the terms on the flashcards to the correct pictures. There will be five questions.

Part two:

It will be five “True or False” questions.

They need to know the questions below to decide if my statement is correct or not.

In what kind of rocks we learned can we find fossils?

What does it mean when we find a fossil of trilobite in Utah?

What does the word “extinct” mean?

What are the four kinds of fossils we learn in class and how are they formed?

Which part of the sedimentary rock is the oldest or youngest (layers on the top or bottom)?

3. Bring L16 flashcards to school.
4. Write green book p.25-p.26 (Due on 4/12)
5. Read L16 flashcards three time every day.

They also need to turn in 10th Chinese comic and 8th Chinese poems and should be able to recite it to parents and Ms Liao. If I don't see homework turned in, I will ask them to write down a note for themselves on the planner.

Week 32 Homework and reminders

L14 stories
The stories are all in the green book with writing homework. For the stories in each lesson, you can find texts with and without pinyin and with or without English meanings.
You can also go to the website of Xuele to listen to the stories. Please go to http://xuele.edumall.sg/xuele/slot/u107/index1.html and find 三年级 then click on it and it will show 三上、三下。
Choose 三下 and it will now show stories from 11-18. Click on 13看电视 and it will show all the buttons in the middle (somehow it will now show lessons from 12-20 and 看电视 is now labelled as 14). Click on buttons that are accessible to listen to the stories. Some are not accessible because it will ask you to enter password which we don't have.

New Vocabulary
To review our new vocabulary in book 3B, please go to our youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/msliao327 or http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/level-3-new-words.html.

Test
The test samples were also uploaded here http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/3a-test-samples.html.

Chinese poems
You can find our Chinese poems from 1-5 here http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/chinese-poems.html and 6-10 here http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/chinese-poem-6-10.html.

Science test for the Fossil unit will be on 4/12 Friday and they will have flashcards to study.

Green writing book
Writing homework should be turned in once before the end of every week and get one parent's signature when they have done the error fixing.

3B L14 New words

Hi
We are going to have a REAL writing test this Friday.
There will be no word bank to copy from so I believe it will take a lot more time and hard work to practice. Please practice as early as possible (the sample was given this Tuesday.) Don't wait until the last moment to study.

New test format

For next level, we will have a different test format.
The first part will be Chinese character writing and the second part will be word-and-sound matching.
All these answers can be found in our new flashcards (green sets for home and orange sets for school).

Here is the test sample for this Friday.

3A vocabulary

We have finished 9 lessons in textbook 3A. Next week we will start five lessons in 3B.
In order to  be very well prepared for next level, you need to review all the vocabulary in the 9 lessons in 3A. It's our homework for Monday, 3/18.


Please go to http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/level-3-new-words.html to study.

There will be new test formats for next level. You will need to know how to write the taught words without copying from the word bank.


Now we are in our 7th Chinese poems, here is the link to review all 7 of them. http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/chinese-poems.html and http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/chinese-poem-6-10.html.

Welcome to Week 29!!! Here is the work for this week (updated 3/14)

Homework:

Monday
1. Read L11 Stories 3X (Here are all the stories!)
2. Week 29 test on 3/15 (Friday) (See sample in "Level 3 Test Samples")
3. Fix, sign and turn in week 28 test.

We will say goodbye to  our 3A book and will start 3B next week.
We will only learn L14, L16, L17, L18 and L20 in 3B.
In next level, we will add word phrase flashcards and also you will need to memorize character writing and be tested.
New materials will be provided next week.

Tuesday
1. Read L11 Stories 3x
2. Fix Blue book L11 (Due 3/15)
3. Read and complete worksheet foe Chinese poem No. 7

Wednesday
1. Read L11 stories 3X.
2. Read Chinese poem 7 (oral quiz on Friday 3/15.)

Thursday
1. Read L11 stories 3X. (When you are listening to our stories in the textbook, you should also  use our blue READING book to look up the meanings of the word or phrases you don't know and to practice word recognition.)
2. Read Chinese poem 7 (quiz tomorrow) (Link http://lindachliao.blogspot.com/p/chinese-poem-6-10.html)
3. Week 29 test
4. Bring blue book (Fix L11, sign, and turn in.)

Friday
1. Read L11 stories 3X
2. Fix week 29 test (sign and turn in on Monday.)
3. Read Chinese poem 7 to parents (sign and turn in).

Week 28 Starts (updated 3/8)

Our Homework

Monday
1. Study Week 28 test (on 3/11)
2. Write Blue Writing Book (Due 3/11)
3. Read L11 vocabulary 3x
4. Bring L11 flashcards
5. Check "Science" section for more videos about "weathering and erosion."

We had our third science test today and THUMBS UP for those who did a nice job. You prepared and you deserve a good score for yourself.  For those who didn't have what you expected, try to spend more time practicing, ask questions any time to make sure you understand every point we learn, or be careful and double check the answers you write. Also we have plenty of resources for learning and reviewing on this blog, please come back at lease twice a week (Monday and Friday) and see what updates we have. If you want to study for our oral tests, poems, or listen to stories in our textbook, then you would want  to come back at least three times a day.

Though we have finished three units (water cycle, weather and rocks and soil), I still will keep on updating the resources  (in Chinese and in English) I collected for you and please come back regularly to review. We will have a science test in May administrated by the state and I believe you would love to be very well prepared then.

Tuesday
1. Read L11 vocabulary 3 times
2. Read Chinese poems 1-6. ("Chinese Poems" sections can help you review.)

A reminder for our kids about parent teacher conference.
1. If your appointment is at school time, please come five minutes earlier and wait by where we meet. If you come with your parents after school, just be there at the time we arranged.
2. What you need to show off: ) (1) Pick your favorite poem and read to us. Please also review what the poem is about as well. (2) I will ask questions from L10 stories, so please make sure you are well prepared. (3) Pick a word for the L10 vocabulary list, tell us how to pronounce it and make a compound/complex/ long sentence with the word. Be careful! You would want to also review all the other words for the list. I might ask you extra questions. Good luck tomorrow!!!

Wednesday
1. Read L11 vocabulary 3 times
2. Early today tomorrow

Thursday

1. Read L11 vocabulary
2. Bring Blue Book (Finish L11)
3. Week 28 test on Monday
4. No school on Friday
5. Chinese comic #8. (Get a comic form from classroom or use any blank paper you have)

Science Test on Monday

They have a sample of the test to bring home and prepare for the study today.
The first part is what the test will look like and the second part is the exact same questions with pinyin.
They will need the vocabulary list and the practice sheet to study (the yellow paper that has nine illustrations on it).  See below for questions in English



Download the test sample with pinyin here

 Science Test: Rocks and Soil/March 4

Questions in English

(Note: For the word bank, I will switch the spots of vocabulary but keep their pinyin. I won’t read the answers in the word bank when they take the test.

For the question part, I will keep the question order but remove the pinyin and read to them instead.)

1. ____ is inorganic. It is a single substance.

2. ____ has one or more minerals in it. It’s a natural occurring object.

3. ____ is a rock that is formed from cooled down and hardened magma.

4. ____ is a rock formed by high pressure and you can see layers in it.

5. ____ is a rock that is formed under high temperature and high pressure inside of the Earth.

6. ____ is a process that ice, wind, water, plants, animals or change of temperature makes rocks become smaller and smaller.

7. ____ is a process that the minerals inside of a rock have a chemical reaction or dissolved and makes the rocks break, crack or become smaller.

8. ____ is a process that a rock becomes smaller and is carried away by wind, a river, a glacier or animals and the sediments are left at somewhere further and flat.

9-11. What components can we find in soil? (See practice paper #7)

12-14. What are the layers of soil? (See practice paper #8)

15. There are many plants that can live without soil because they do ____ to provide their own nutrients and also release oxygen.

16-20. What are they in a process of photosynthesis. (See practice paper #9)

Week 27 Homework and upcoming events

Upcoming Events
Career Day: February 26th
Wax Museum: February 27
Dual Immersion Meeting: February 27
Early Day out: February 28, 29
Science Unit Test: Rocks and Soil: March 4.
Parent Teacher Conference: March 7 and 8
Spring Recess: March 23- March 31

2/25
1. Fix Blue Book L10 (Due 3/1)
2. Read L10 Stories 3X
3. Read Science Vocabulary 3X

2/26

1. Fix week 26 test (fix, sign and return)
2. Read L10 Stories 3X
3. Read Science Vocabulary 3X
Wax Museum tomorrow.

Science Vocabulary list and Week 27 Chinese test sample now updated

Hi
I have updated our science vocabulary list for Rocks and Soil. They are the words you will need to know to understand to the science knowledge in this unit and to prepare for the test.
There are both a written list and an audio demonstration of the vocabulary for you.
Please check it out in the "Science" section.
The Unit Test will be on March 4 (Monday).

For Chinese test sample, please see "Level 3 Test Samples"

Lantern Festival

元宵节(元宵節) Yuán Xiāo Jié
The fifteenth of January on the Lunar calendar is Chinese Lantern Festival. It's an extended celebration of Chinese New Year. (It's on February 23, 2013, but while I am writing this article, it has passed the mid night in Asia. It's still Lantern Festival here though to the Chinese people here.)

We eat round dumplings, called Yuan Xiao, which are made with sticky rice. They can be sweet and can be salty. The size of Yuan Xiao is like a golf ball. We usually fill ground peanuts, sesame paste or cooked sweetened red beans inside of Yuan Xiao.
You can also make Yuan Xiao like traditional Chinese soup. We then fill meat inside and add vegetables in the soup.

Another activity we do on Lantern Festival is going to a Lantern Fair. There are always wonderful lantern fairs at city halls, citizen squares or parks in different cities. They usually exhibit beautiful and delicate lanterns with the specific theme: the animal of the year. Young kids will also carry their own handmade lantern to the fair. Lantern riddles is also a game we play on that day. The questions are written on the lanterns and we pick one to answer.  The answers are mainly about Chinese words, idioms or names of places. To answer the questions, you have to pay attention to the hidden clues in the questions. 

Sky Lantern

A sky lantern is made of wooden frames and thin paper. We write wishes on it with brush pens and light up the 金纸 /jīn zhǐ /(golden paper) inside it to make hot air fill the lantern so it rises to the sky.

There are different versions of Yuan Xiao Stories, but mainly it's about families getting together. Here are two similar versions of stories, one is Chinese only and the other one has Chinese and English subtitles.

2/19-2/22 Homework

2/19
1. Study week 26 test. It will be on NEXT MONDAY. They will have a sample today.
2. Write Blue Writing Book (Due 2/22 Friday).
3. Read L10 new words 3 times. (Oral quiz on 2/22 Friday.)
4. Bring L10 yellow flashcards.

 L10 New vocabulary, stories and a test sample were all uploaded. Please see different sections on the top of the blog homepage. L9 will be skipped first.

2/20
1. Read L10 new words 3 times
2. Read Chinese Poem 6 (See http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1696187660301626037#editor/target=page;pageID=5425056394324291098)
3. Dual Immersion Meeting is on February 27 (Wednesday). All parents are invited. We will be very happy to see you then.

2/21
1. Wear Blue (NO BULLYING)
2. Bring Blue Book (Finish L10)
3. Oral quiz: L10 vocabulary
4. Read L10 new words.

Some words do not match their sounds in the blue book. This is due to the computer program; there seems to be some bug for generating worksheets. I tried to fix it but failed. I am not sure what caused it. But this mistake doesn't happen to our flashcards and the yellow writing book we use at school. When you study, please use the flashcards you have and correct the mistakes in the blue writing book.

2/22
1. Read L10 vocabulary 3X
2. Week 26 test on Monday (2/25)
3. Chinese Poem 6 (Complete, read, sign, return and oral quiz on Monday.)
4. Comic (If you forgot to take a comic form from school, just get a blank paper to do the home work. Use the Chinese you have learned.)
5. They got a Chinese science vocabulary list from me today. They are the words students need to be familiar with (no need to practice writing) in order to understand science lessons. They can start studying now. The unit test will be on March 4 and the full vocabulary list will be ready for them on Monday too. You can also find the list in "Science" section.

How to study vocabulary

Being able to say a word in another language and knowing its meaning in a person's mother tongue doesn't mean you can use the words. If you want to be able apply a word in real communication, there is a lot of work to do. I have some personal suggestions based on my own experience in learning foreign languages (English and Japanese) and knowledge of teaching foreign languages. The following practice is what I also do  with the whole class at school.

1. Read aloud. As many times as you can until you remember the sounds. Listen to what yourself says is important. (It's almost impossible to learn a language with one's ears and mouth closed.)
2. Be very familiar with the meanings. (There are meanings on the back of our flashcards.)
3. Use your own words to explain the meanings in the target language. (We do it several times when we start a new lesson. I demonstrate first and then they try.) Just pick a word from our flashcards and see if you can recognize it, pronounce it and show how to do it or  tell yourself and others what it means especially when it's a verb or an adjective. If it's a noun, ask yourself if you can show it, point at it, imitate it, describe it or draw it.  These oral or kinetic activities help you to plant the word in your long term memory.
4. Use the newly learned words to make as many sentences you can. Fun sentences are also encouraged.

There may be other more effective ways to different people and mine may not work the best to everyone. But please realized there is really no short cuts to succeed in learning a language unless you try every possibility to find a way that works for you and stick to it until you internalize it.

Science updated

Here is our vocabulary list so far.

I will also keep on updating content of what we learn in class in the "Science" section.

火山 (huǒ shan ) volcano 

岩浆 (yán jiāng ) magma/lava

岩石 (yán shí ) rock

矿物 (kuàng wù) mineral

物质 (wù zhí) substance

融化 （róng huà）melt

火成岩 (huǒ chéng yán) igneous rock

沉积岩 (chén jī yán) sedimentary rock

变质岩 (biàn zhí yǎn) metamorphic rock

高温 (gāo wēn ) high temperature

高压 (gāo yā ) high pressure

风化 (fēng huà ) weathering

物理风化 (wù lǐ fēng huà ) physical weathering

化学风化 (huà xué fēng huà) chemical weathering

酸雨(suān yǔ )acid rain

侵蚀 (qīn shí) erosion

搬运 (bān yùn ) move/ carry away

沉积 (chén jī ) cumulate

Why intonation is important?

There are five intonations  in Chinese. Chinese words may have same ways of PINYIN but have different intonations. It's very crucial to speak Chinese with correct intonations because when you put  a diffident intonations to a word, it may mean a totally different thing. So when you are practicing the vocabulary on our flashcards and stories in our textbook and even our famous Chinese poems, you should try to say it based on the intonation mark attached to the pinyin.

Here is a good example.

Try to say the three things: (梨子)lízi (李子)lǐzi (栗子)lìzi

If you go to a traditional Chinese market and say
 "我要买lizi。( I want to buy a lizi)"
Without speaking with correct intonations, you might get something you don't want at all.

This is because (梨子)lízi is an oriental pear, (李子)lǐzi is a plum, and (栗子)lìzi is a chestnut.

Same thing as we mentioned in class, "我要Shuijiao. (I want shuijiao.)"

(水饺)shuǐjiǎo means dumplings and  (睡觉)shuìjiào means to sleep.

So please practice the intonations more to make sure you can express yourselves well.

2/12 Homework

1. Read L8 stories 3x
2. Chinese Poem 5 (practice and complete the picture; see Chinese Poem 1-5 section as a reference!)

So far, we have 4 Chinese poems that need to be turned in. Most of them did a great job turning in homework! For those who haven't turned in worksheets for missing any of them or have a returned worksheet for having no signature on it, please complete your work by Thursday. The fifth worksheet is coming up! :)

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year to you all.
We just past the Chinese New Year's Eve a few hours ago based on the Lunar calendar at the Asian time zone and it's officially the first day of the Year of Snake today.
We learned stories of Nian (年) and how it becomes the celebration of the beginning of a year. We sang songs, did calligraphy and did arts and crafts and made our classroom the most festive room ever. We learned how different food symbolized different wishes and how they turned into lucky phrases we need to say during Chinese New Year when we meet our families and friends. As a Chinese tradition, we also got red envelopes from Ms Liao. Everyone wore bright or red color or even traditional Chinese clothes to say good bye to the Year of Dragon and welcome the little dragon (snake).

Wish you the best in this new year.

By the way, if you go to google.com, you will also see a fun game with a little red snake in it trying to eat all the lucky signs of Chinese New Year.