to forbid
tattered
intricate
urn
tender
to linger
embroidery
embedded
to distinguish
curfew:
distinctive
sympathy
kerosene
circumstance
scornfully pneumonia to sprawl Nomads Burqa Stint Undertaking Wilted Scraggly refugee maim hollow
Toshak Landmine Nan Hijab Propane
Eid – “A Moslem festival coming at the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Hobble – “Walk in an awkward way, typically because of pain from an injury.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Karachi – “A cart on wheels, pushed by hand, used to sell things in the market.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Kebab –“ Pieces of meat on a skewer, cooked over a fire.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Latrine – “A toilet, esp. a communal one in a camp or barracks.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Rubble – “Waste or rough fragments of stone, brick, concrete, etc., esp. as the debris from the demolition of buildings.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Scornful – “Feeling or expressing contempt or derison.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Shalwar Kameez –“ A long, loose shirt and trousers, worn by both men and women. Men’s are all one color, with pockets in the side and on the chest. Women’s are different colors and patterns, sometimes elaborately embroidered or beaded.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Soviets – “The Soviet Union before its break-up, including Russia and other Communist countries.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Turban – “A man’s headdress, consisting of a long length of cotton or silk wound around a cap or the head, worn esp. by Muslims and Sikhs.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Happy Pie (Pi) Day:
In grade 6, students were asked to research pie recipes to share during class. Special thanks (and vouchers!) to Jisu, SuYoun, Sandrine, HanSeul, and Minji for sharing their findings. Here is the recipe we used in class, try it out at home!
Ingredients
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
5 apples/pears - peeled, cored and sliced, drizzle with lemon juice
butter
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a small bowl stir together the sugar, flour, cinnamon.
Place one of the pie shells into a 10 inch pie pan. Put 1/2 of the sliced apples into the shell and sprinkle half of the sugar mixture over them. Top with the remaining apples and the remaining sugar mixture. Dot with butter.
Cover apples with the top lattice crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
Pastry:
1 3/4 cups flour 1 tsp. salt 1/2 cup oil
Mix together, add three tablespoons of water. Roll out between waxed paper.
January 25:
Happy Chinese New Year! Many of you seem to be on holiday already. This is to remind you to keep reading in English throughout the break, and to try to spend some time listening to English/speaking English/writing English.
Everybody should have read at least one free choice book, fiction or non-fiction, over the course of the two week holiday. There is no formally assigned homework.
Enjoy your time with family and friends; safe travels if you are planning to leave Suzhou.
January 2:
Happy New Year!
Here are some of the books I read during our break:
"Quake! A Novel" by Joe Cottonwood; this one has a quiz available on bookadventure.com
"The Magic Thief" by Sarah Prineas; this one is similar to 'Harry Potter' crossed with 'Oliver Twist', an enjoyable, not spectacular read. The first in a series.
"Tangerine" by Edward Bloor; an interesting story about soccer and urban development. It's similar to "Hoot" and "Flushed" with a little more family drama thrown in for good measure.
"The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly; a period piece/coming of age novel about a little girl in 1899. If you like science and historical fiction, this might trip your trigger.
All of these books will be back on our shelves on January 4th.
What have you been reading? Send me an email to let me know!
Don't forget to log onto http://www.bookadventure.com
You can sign in and play grammar games in the 'kids' zone' and pick books that have multiple choice quizzes so that you can check your own reading comprehension!
November 1:
Here is a list of family vocabulary:
grandmother, grandfather
mother, father
daughter, son (offspring)
sister, brother (sibling)
aunt, uncle
cousins (the children of your aunts and uncles are your cousins)
niece, nephew (the children of your sisters or brothers are your nieces and nephews)
Welcome!
This will be our main point of contact for publishing pieces, checking homework, and finding links to other valuable information. This page will be linked to Dragon Net, and we will use the forum options on Dragon Net for some class assignments. Each section will have a page, and each student will have their own space. Students will be able to view each other's work and comment on writing assignments, as well.
Halloween Vocabulary:
Try to make categories of the words below. Draw pictures of each word, or alphabetize the words:
Entry #1:
I am reading "The Girl from Yamhill", which is Beverly Cleary's memoir. I picked this because I used to love reading 'Ramona' books as a child and I used to read a lot of them with my daughters. I also was interested in comparing a memoir to an autobiography. The beginning of the book is a history of Cleary's ancestors. I thought it was a rather slow way to start the book, but I think she wanted to make it clear that her parents came from people who valued hard work and sacrifice. Throughout the rest of the book, Cleary highlights these values in all descriptions of her father and in the expectations her parents set for her as a student. I connected to the ideas in the first section of the book because my family also has instilled a strong work ethic in me and we have several properties that have remained in the family through several generations, as did the Cleary family in Oregon.
Entry #2:
Throughout the middle of the book, Cleary shares a lot of information about the financial struggles her parents faced, and her mother's obsession with finding the perfect house. Cleary also spends time describing her childhood illnesses and friendships. I could relate to this section because of the descriptions of the financial struggles because my parents were both children during the Depression, and it definitely influenced who they became and how they handled money. I contrasted Cleary's childhood to my own; she moved from house to house and town to town, whereas I still go home to visit my mom in the same house where I was born!
Entry # 3:
The ending of the book focuses on Cleary's relationship with her mother. I could connect with this section well, since I am now the mother of a teenager. Cleary frequently writes about things her mother did that she didn't understand, but I understood the situations myself. The book describes an odd boyfriend relationship that Cleary has during high school. Her mother supported this relationship, even though the boy was quite a bit older than Cleary and not very nice. I found this section disturbiing. In the end, Cleary gets out of the relationship, but her mother does not make it easy. She struggles with her mother because her mother doesn't want to let her go to college, but by the end of the book, Cleary is allowed to leave home and attend community college. I chose this book because I thought I would learn about Cleary's profession and how she wrote her books, but it was much more personal than that. I understand that a lot of the misunderstandings Ramona has with her family are obviously related to Cleary's own relationships with her parents. Ramona invariably gets more support from her father, as did Cleary, and is often puzzled by her mother. Cleary was an only child; I wonder if adding Beazus as a character is her attempt to give her own mother the daughter she thinks her mom wanted? Aside from this idea, I think I gained more insights into my own parenting situation than I did into her life as a writer.
Vocabulary from "The Breadwinner"
to forbid
tattered
intricate
urn
tender
to linger
embroidery
embedded
to distinguish
curfew:
distinctive
sympathy
kerosene
circumstance
scornfully
pneumonia
to sprawl
Nomads
Burqa
Stint
Undertaking
Wilted
Scraggly
refugee
maim
hollow
Toshak
Landmine
Nan
Hijab
Propane
Eid – “A Moslem festival coming at the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Hobble – “Walk in an awkward way, typically because of pain from an injury.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Karachi – “A cart on wheels, pushed by hand, used to sell things in the market.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Kebab –“ Pieces of meat on a skewer, cooked over a fire.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Latrine – “A toilet, esp. a communal one in a camp or barracks.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Rubble – “Waste or rough fragments of stone, brick, concrete, etc., esp. as the debris from the demolition of buildings.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Scornful – “Feeling or expressing contempt or derison.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Shalwar Kameez –“ A long, loose shirt and trousers, worn by both men and women. Men’s are all one color, with pockets in the side and on the chest. Women’s are different colors and patterns, sometimes elaborately embroidered or beaded.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Soviets – “The Soviet Union before its break-up, including Russia and other Communist countries.” (THE BREADWINNER)
Turban – “A man’s headdress, consisting of a long length of cotton or silk wound around a cap or the head, worn esp. by Muslims and Sikhs.” (OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARIES)
Happy Pie (Pi) Day:
In grade 6, students were asked to research pie recipes to share during class. Special thanks (and vouchers!) to Jisu, SuYoun, Sandrine, HanSeul, and Minji for sharing their findings. Here is the recipe we used in class, try it out at home!Ingredients
Directions
Pastry:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
Mix together, add three tablespoons of water. Roll out between waxed paper.
Happy Chinese New Year! Many of you seem to be on holiday already. This is to remind you to keep reading in English throughout the break, and to try to spend some time listening to English/speaking English/writing English.
Everybody should have read at least one free choice book, fiction or non-fiction, over the course of the two week holiday. There is no formally assigned homework.
Enjoy your time with family and friends; safe travels if you are planning to leave Suzhou.
January 2:
Happy New Year!Here are some of the books I read during our break:
"Quake! A Novel" by Joe Cottonwood; this one has a quiz available on bookadventure.com
"The Magic Thief" by Sarah Prineas; this one is similar to 'Harry Potter' crossed with 'Oliver Twist', an enjoyable, not spectacular read. The first in a series.
"Tangerine" by Edward Bloor; an interesting story about soccer and urban development. It's similar to "Hoot" and "Flushed" with a little more family drama thrown in for good measure.
"The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly; a period piece/coming of age novel about a little girl in 1899. If you like science and historical fiction, this might trip your trigger.
All of these books will be back on our shelves on January 4th.
What have you been reading? Send me an email to let me know!
December 6:
Here is a link to a list of recommended books. I will try to post more links, as well. Keep reading!http://www.haisln.org/recommendedreadinglists.html
Table of Contents
November 3:
Don't forget to log onto http://www.bookadventure.comYou can sign in and play grammar games in the 'kids' zone' and pick books that have multiple choice quizzes so that you can check your own reading comprehension!
November 1:
Here is a list of family vocabulary:grandmother, grandfather
mother, father
daughter, son (offspring)
sister, brother (sibling)
aunt, uncle
cousins (the children of your aunts and uncles are your cousins)
niece, nephew (the children of your sisters or brothers are your nieces and nephews)
Welcome!
This will be our main point of contact for publishing pieces, checking homework, and finding links to other valuable information. This page will be linked to Dragon Net, and we will use the forum options on Dragon Net for some class assignments. Each section will have a page, and each student will have their own space. Students will be able to view each other's work and comment on writing assignments, as well.
Halloween Vocabulary:
Try to make categories of the words below. Draw pictures of each word, or alphabetize the words:1. candy
2. ghost
3. costume
4. pumpkin
5. skeleton
6. scary
7. black
8. orange
9. soul
10. sweets
11. witch
12. vampire
13. dracula
14. monster
15. chocolate
16. October 31st
17. goblin
18. 'trick or treat'
19. haunted house
September 1:
Check out the official site for 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'!
http://wimpykid.com/
Sample Journal Entries:
Entry #1:
I am reading "The Girl from Yamhill", which is Beverly Cleary's memoir. I picked this because I used to love reading 'Ramona' books as a child and I used to read a lot of them with my daughters. I also was interested in comparing a memoir to an autobiography. The beginning of the book is a history of Cleary's ancestors. I thought it was a rather slow way to start the book, but I think she wanted to make it clear that her parents came from people who valued hard work and sacrifice. Throughout the rest of the book, Cleary highlights these values in all descriptions of her father and in the expectations her parents set for her as a student. I connected to the ideas in the first section of the book because my family also has instilled a strong work ethic in me and we have several properties that have remained in the family through several generations, as did the Cleary family in Oregon.
Entry #2:
Throughout the middle of the book, Cleary shares a lot of information about the financial struggles her parents faced, and her mother's obsession with finding the perfect house. Cleary also spends time describing her childhood illnesses and friendships. I could relate to this section because of the descriptions of the financial struggles because my parents were both children during the Depression, and it definitely influenced who they became and how they handled money. I contrasted Cleary's childhood to my own; she moved from house to house and town to town, whereas I still go home to visit my mom in the same house where I was born!
Entry # 3:
The ending of the book focuses on Cleary's relationship with her mother. I could connect with this section well, since I am now the mother of a teenager. Cleary frequently writes about things her mother did that she didn't understand, but I understood the situations myself. The book describes an odd boyfriend relationship that Cleary has during high school. Her mother supported this relationship, even though the boy was quite a bit older than Cleary and not very nice. I found this section disturbiing. In the end, Cleary gets out of the relationship, but her mother does not make it easy. She struggles with her mother because her mother doesn't want to let her go to college, but by the end of the book, Cleary is allowed to leave home and attend community college. I chose this book because I thought I would learn about Cleary's profession and how she wrote her books, but it was much more personal than that. I understand that a lot of the misunderstandings Ramona has with her family are obviously related to Cleary's own relationships with her parents. Ramona invariably gets more support from her father, as did Cleary, and is often puzzled by her mother. Cleary was an only child; I wonder if adding Beazus as a character is her attempt to give her own mother the daughter she thinks her mom wanted? Aside from this idea, I think I gained more insights into my own parenting situation than I did into her life as a writer.