Sunday, September 30, 2007

小老二爱学习

老二这个孩子,现在也看是跟着我们学习了。不容易啊这孩子,经常想个法子气得我呕喽呕喽地倒不过气来。

1, 拒绝学习
这孩子发音不准由来已久了。父母姐姐奋力校正,目前为止效果甚微。比如,vanilla 和banana,这俩字,校正了一万遍了。老二急了,“banana, banana, all kinds of banana, why I have to say banana AGAIN?"

2, 胡乱篡改
今天晚上洗好澡,套上小裤头,老二低头一看,高兴了。嬉皮笑脸跟我说,I am sleeping beauty. (低头一指小裤头上的) She is sleeping 鼻涕。

3,一意孤行
昨天整理房间找出来大的以前的中文故事书,我就开始给老二讲了。今天晚上讲得是"小老鼠的新家”和“小猫和朋友”。刚讲完,大的近来让我给她检查作业,就这点功夫,小的拿起书来念了。我这一听,没晕过去,人家居然把每一页都翻译成英文了。天呢!中文教育天天失败中。

倒气儿去,以后再写。

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

家家有本难念的经

我们家的目前最难搞定的就是这个poo in the potty的问题。每天定点,但是人家祖宗就是不给我好好地坐着。一般在吃过晚饭以后,小祖宗开始自己换上diaper,diaper外面套上小裤头,小裤头外面再套上小短裤,小裙子,要不就是漂亮裤子。打扮妥当了,这个K胖子自己找个没人墙角一趴,开始用力了。 我这半箱子剩下的diaper估计就全当了马粪兜了。

另,今天给老公买了一本cook book,老公看了几分钟,说了,这个周末,我给你整只chicken吃吃。好了,我的任务来了,到哪儿去找只便宜鸡给这位折腾呢?用小的的话说了,那叫做,this is very (s)cary啊。

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

小挑衅者

自从potty train了,小祖宗就不得了了,拽的跟什么似的,在学校里见了老师们,家长们就炫耀了,I am potty trained. I don't use diaper any more. 指指自己的屁股,see? 那意思,看到了吗?没以前的鼓包尿片了。结果今天就尿裤子了,回来居然还兴高采烈, I peepee in my 小裤头 one time。

看见我的V8, 小的想喝,我说不行哈,你根本就不喝那个,不能浪费。小祖宗一脸不高兴,Why? Why I can not have it? Because you said that? 我,就是我说的,怎么滴吧?

她爸在热菜,小的一指头就把microware给戳停了。老公赶紧过去,no touchie! no touchie! 小的咚咚咚跑过来抱着我告状,Daddy 欺负 me. I am sad。

菜做好了,不用大人吩咐,小的爬上楼叫姐姐吃饭。姐姐,you come downstairs 吃饭饭,understand? You don't come now. You don't have 饭饭!下~~~来~~~~~now~~~~~!

Friday, September 14, 2007

太高兴了

自从两个月以前在家里potty train彻底失败以后,我就放弃了。最多不就是花钱嘛。钱这东西咱有点儿。上星期小的在学校里peepee in the potty, 全班老师同学唱歌跳舞吃蛋糕以后,小的再也没尿到potty里一滴peepepp。我已经不伤心了,但是,人家老师还是不断的安慰我,she will peepee in the potty for you at home. No worry.

直到昨天,daily report上说了,我们家的这位,peepee 在potty里两次,一天只用一个diaper,没有accident。我哈哈一笑,嗯,昙花啊,又是。小的估计很不愤,今天又是没有accident。晚上全家出去吃饭,回家的路上,还有差不多5分钟到家的样子。小的问了,Are we going home soon? I need go potty. 赶紧地对着小的唠叨,不要尿啊,千万不要尿啊,我们很快就到家了。忍着哈。

冲进家问,一把我就把小的放到Dora Potty上了,咱们Kathy还就真得peepee在potty里了。我和她爸这叫一个激动啊,抱着小的又唱又跳,连potty带着peepee 我们统统照相留念了。半小时以后,小的又在楼上自己peepee在potty里一次。

我们太激动了。这个就是trained了吧。咱们以后就不穿diaper了吧。小内裤咱们穿着就放心了是吧。语无伦次了我。

Thursday, September 13, 2007

笨孩子

晚上出去吃饭,等菜的工夫我就问老大了,

- 一个树上有5只鸟,妈妈用枪打下一只来,树上还有几只鸟?
- Four. (想了一会儿). There is no bird on the tree. But there are four birds on the ground.
(基本上这个时候我和老公都半傻了。 再问,)

- 你有5个苹果。然后你吃了两个。现在还有几个苹果?
- Three.
- (我哈哈哈哈哈。。。。)No, there are still five apples. Two in your tummy and three outside of your tummy.

然后祖宗就哭了。

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

What Kathy knows

I have been working with Kathy on her pre-school workbook. The little girls know quite a lot of stuffs that we have never taught her at home. This reflects that she did learn something at school.

As of this evening, I found that Kathy knows the following,
  1. Counting objects, not only purely counting from left to right, but she could count the mixed objects separately. For instants, on a page with several cats, dogs and pants, she could count each object separately without error.
  2. Comparison. Kathy knows big vs. small or little, more vs. less, tall vs. short, hot vs. cold.
  3. Major Colors.
  4. Basic Shapes.
  5. Link two same objects together.
  6. Link baby and mother animals.
I am still analyzing her for stuffs that she understands. The little person surprises me time to time by naming stuffs that I did not think she knew.

左右分清

昨天发现老二居然左右部分,做workbook的时候,问她哪边left, 哪边right, 小人完全惘然。还好学得快,一两遍教过,小人记住了。今天再问,还没忘,不错不错,很欣慰。

今天再教点什么呢?小人不会的东西太多了。伤心啊!

Writing improvement strategy - 2

I have to post the pictures of Sarah's diaries here to remind me about my own strategy.

Instead of having her writing her diary everyday, I asked her to write every other day but with more detail on some thing that happens on that specific day. To give her enough time to finish a completed article, she is also allowed not to have to do her writing and reading workbook on the days when she's writing her diary. We started with adding weather. My plan is to let her include some sentences on weather for couple weeks then include the second topic on her thought. By the end of this year, Sarah should be able to write the meaningful couple pages long diaries.

NO RUSH, LET HER TAKE HER TIME. - I will remind me this time to time.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1278/1367611817_730623abed.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1296/1367611145_8db1220a4e.jpg

Monday, September 10, 2007

Performance Plan

Words from teacher. We will have a busy year.

I want to start by saying thank you for your email. I appreciate you informing me of Sarah's accomplishments. Also let me add that it was very nice meeting you also. Please accept my apology for not responding to you sooner but I wanted to gather information regarding Sarah so I could make the best decisions for her. I looked through Sarah's records and spoke to many teachers that have worked with Sarah. Everyone shared positive comments.

After looking at Sarah's records, we will be placing Sarah in a math group that will be taught third grade objectives. We will assess her knowledge on the second grade concepts as well. We want to make sure Sarah has a firm foundation on which to build more complex and abstract math skills. You asked how you could support Sarah at home. I would suggest that Sarah do several things at home. You can pick and choose these concepts. If you believe Sarah has mastered a particular concept, you may want to just review that strategy every few weeks. These are the concepts I would suggest: telling time, elapsed time, counting money and making change, basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills, adding and subtracting numbers up to three digits and with and without regrouping. In addition, I would suggest work on measuring items, talking about attributes of shapes both plane and 3-D, and solving word problems. Make sure Sarah can explain how she solved a problem both orally and in written form. This is just a start of the concepts and can share more as the year progresses. Also, the books that you are speaking of, I believe are the basic books that you find in educational stores. While these are certainly great practice tools, the skills covered in those books are not necessarily as rigorous as MCPS' curriculum. MCPS also requires students to be able to explain their thinking in both oral and written form.

This week, I will begin my Class reading testing. This will allow me to assess Sarah's reading level as well as her comprehension level. This is a test that is mandated by the county and requires both oral and written comprehension skills. Once I have determined Sarah's reading level, I will begin to plan my instruction so I can best serve Sarah's needs. If Sarah needs third grade reading materials, I will be using their texts. At home you can support Sarah by having her read at least 20 minutes a day. The text needs to be on her instructional level in order to best serve her needs. The way to determine this level is to look at texts that she does not know all the words but is not struggling with most of the words. In order for students to practice their reading skills, they need to actively engage in using these strategies. If she reads all the words without using reading strategies, then she is not engaging in text that is challenging enough for her level. Sarah must also be able to demonstrate comprehension in oral and written form. Be sure to ask her about the text and have her elaborate on the text. Again, the practice books aren't hurting Sarah's skills but I am not sure they are challenging her in the way that MCPS requires students to do so.

Ms. Liu, it was great to meet you at Back to School Night and I thank you for your active participation in Sarah's education. I hope I answered all of your questions and if I did not, please do not hesitate to email me again. I look forward to corresponding with you in the future regarding Sarah and her accomplishments.

Help Sarah to improve her writing skill - first draft

After reading Sarah’s diaries for two weeks, I am on a mission to help her. The reason is simple; I can not stand that I’d have to take several deep breaths to hold my temper while reading her several “then”, “after that” repeatedly. It is time to stop the free writing and for me to step in to help her.
Not being a good writer myself would definitely hold back the progress. However, a mission is a mission, I am determined. There are several steps that I am planning to take,

Explain to her constantly on how important writing skill is, in term of laying out the thoughts on paper to communicate with others, using the correct terminologies to express the ideas without letting the readers misinterpreted, and more.
Spend quality time together on writing one event per day. Explain the art of language while editing her work.
The last but not the least, give her time to improve, encourage and applause her, lower the standard.

I am looking forward to a six-month evaluation. Hopefully Sarah can write some meaningful short essays then.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

lunch box

大的现在很拽地每天带Blooms买回来的现成lunch, 很拽地装在流行卡通人物的lunch box里,最后很拽地装到带拉杆的书包里。小的也学会了,拎着姐姐去年的Tickle Bell lunch box, 很拽地跟我说,I am going to school with my lunch box. See?

今天早上,小的给自己lunch box里放了一小袋cookies, 一袋juice。怎么装着去的又怎么给装回来了。小人物居然没舍得吃。放学回家把cookie袋子让我打开,吃了两片,人家又给放回lunch box。估计明天又拎着上学了。

这孩子啊,也挺好玩的,一个lunch box也能拽起来。

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

美好的陪睡

享受的陪睡。对我来说,真的就是一天最美好的半小时,一小时,哪怕只有几分钟。从凌晨5点半起床开始一天没停,终于可以躺在床上,陪着旁边的胖子宝,讲着不用动脑筋的故事,指使老公端茶送水。多美好的日子。

Monday, September 03, 2007

长周末-2

我觉得吧,我们家就是热闹,热闹地我头痛。真是盛赞full time mother,不得不佩服,那种和孩子24/7作战的能力。我是不行了。

我们家大的,永远都在说话,我就问她,你说这么多话累不累啊?人家说不累,一点都不累,而且,还有不少话都没来得及说就被time out了。

我们家小的,也不知道从哪里学来的,从楼梯上往下走着唱歌,下两登楼梯人家就高举双胳膊,吼几声杀鸡咏叹调,听得我啊,只有两个字可以形容了,痛苦啊。今天尿了裤子以后,这咏叹调也暂时休息了。天呢!

小的和我都感冒了,Steve喉咙不舒服。讨厌的天气,什么时候才能正常。一会儿热一会儿冷总搞得人浑身烦。

Saturday, September 01, 2007

长周末

一大早Steve报告,1998年再Macy's买的衬衣袖子领子都破了,9点钟全家出发直奔Hagerstown Outlet Mall. 大的一路上不停地唠叨,瞎编的故事烦得我想打她屁股板子。小的一如既往地吃手指头,打岔,吃喝。到了Outlet, 她爹带着俩小的一头就扎进Playground。顺顺利利买了不少刚过中午就胜利返航了。
下午睡起来开始整理小老大的房间,小的激动地一件一件穿了脱,脱了在穿姐姐穿小的留着给她的衣服。最后挑了一件背带top, 美了吧唧地穿着去吃饭。这衣服不是大嘛,一边的肩带总往下掉。她爹一边给往上拉一边教育,

- You cannot be this sexy.
K: What sexy? Me?
- Yes, 穿好了,不能露出来。
K (伸手就把两边肩带都拉下来了):Like this sexy?

这孩子到底是懂还是不懂呢?我怎么糊涂了。她不应该懂。

对了,老二班里送旧迎新。三名三岁的老将升班,三名两岁的小小人加入。一对金发双胞胎cute得让人见了就想咬一口。白天玩得高兴,一见他们妈来接了马上热流盈眶痛哭惨烈。另外一个中国小女孩,两岁三个月,不懂英文又怕生,一个老师每分钟盯着,一步不离。小女孩不会自己吃饭,问她吃饱了没有,中文英文问都没反应。上周五我看了她10分钟,正好大家吃snack的时候,我这通喂啊。看着也吃饱了,问也没回答。于是把剩的一点杯底儿的奶准备倒了,这不是赶着全班都出去玩嘛。小女孩嚎啕啊。感情还要喝奶。那您这说话啊孩子。感慨啊,做daycare teacher真是不容易。

btw, 发现我真是一点都不会喂饭了,特别是喂水,孩子喝得累,我喂得更累。

As of 9/1/07, Sarah weighted 53 lb and Kathy was 33 lb. Both are around 75%.