Momsters母姊會

              Hi, my name is Sophie Cheng. I live in Lansdale, PA. Today I'm going to tell you about a field trip that my class took. We went from my school, Knapp Elementry, to the Adventure Aquarium in NJ. Anyway, here's how the whole thing got started. On the day before the field trip, Mrs.Middlekauff (my teacher)anounced the groups. I got in the, litterly, BEST GROUP EVER ! I had a group with my two best friends that are on my class (my very best friend, unfortunatly, wasn't in my class when we started third grade)! The only bad  part about it was that there were two autistic students. I mean, I don't exactly don't like them, it's just that. . . they make noises that are a little weird . . . and they sometimes turn off the lights in our classroom . . . and they talk a little weird too! When I got to school the second day, it was kaotic! The grown-ups were puting wrist bands onto our hands, they're were parents hanging around everywhere, and everyone was hanging around talking to each other! Announcements were not long-gone when we were out the door and ready to roll! On the bus, I talked with my friends. The autistic kids were on the other bus that carried Mrs.Berlanda's class, so we didn't have to worry about them. On the bus, I talked with my friends. We talked about our languages, our fears, ect. We even talked about creepy, creepy, creepy bugs and spiders ! When we got to Phelidelphia, the teachers told us. I saw my dad's work office in the distance, if, when we were driving back from a trip, I had saw the right building that my dad tried to point out to me. They also told us when we got to the deleware bridge,but Nadia noticed it before the teachers told us(and I was the one next to the window)! Then the teachers said that we could see the Adventure Aquarium from here, and Nadia and Foazia spotted it since they're closer to the other side, but I only thought I saw it at the last moment. When we got to the aquarium, we walked down the school bus. It was CHILLY! Then, we gathered together to take a class photo (Mrs. Middlekauff LOVES  taking photos) even Kenji and Rafe (the that   people) had to come to. Then we had to get in line to get into the aquarium. Then we were finnaly able to get into the aquarium. First, Nadia's mom (our chaperone) asked us about going to see the penguins. I went crazy but the others just said "Sure!" and we went. When we got to see the penguins, me and Foazia went crazy, Nadia just looked, and Mrs. Popek just waited for us to look enough. Foazia stopped going crazy when we went back in to see some other animals, but I still was. When we got back inside, I stopped going crazy because now that excitment was going with all of us to see the hippos. The hippos were GIGANTIC. and we could see them even from a downward window. I even thought that we saw that kind of little fish cleaning the hippo's backs! Then, me and Nadia wanted to go to the shark bridge, so we went down. On the way, we saw lots of kinds of jellyfish. We also saw some urchin exhibits, and there was this octupus, but we couldn;t find it because it was hiding so well. Finnaly we got to the shark bridge, but there was a problem for me and Nadia. Foazia was too scared  because she was such a scaredy cat, and Rafe had to go to the toilot  so me and Nadia couldn't do the shark bridge  . I could feel my whole face turning red with dissapointment as we (well, I mean me and Nadia) walked back down the hallway. I had been so excited, and Nadia had too. We were talking about it on the bus, we heard that it was really fun from another group in our class that went on it. Just SO dissapointed . Once we found the bathroom, Rafe and someone else in our group (I forgot who it is) went in. Me and everyone else that were waiting took a sip of water. Then, I started playing chopsticks with Foazia. When we were all done with the bathroom and the water drinks, everyone agreed that it was probably time for the snack  Mrs. Middlekauff had told us we could have. We had all brought our own money, but Mrs. Popek decided that she would buy popcorn and we wouldn't have to spend money. I was a little dissapointed that I couldn't get what I wanted, but I was happy that I didn't have to spend my money. Mrs. Popek even asked us if we wanted juice, but me and Foazia said no. I said no because 1.I didn't like juice. 2. It would be embarrasing to have someone that I'm not very fammiliar with buy everything I want.  So we buyed popcorn and ate it. While we were sitting and eating, I heard Mrs. Popek talking about how many injuries Nadia has had ( Nadia had fractured her leg near that time, so I guess that was why Mrs. Popek took up this to talk about). Then, we decided that sitting here to eat was too slow, so since Nadia had finished her juice, we decided that we would eat the popcorn while we walked and saw all the fish. So we kept on walking. Even though this was an aquarium, but guess what we saw! A cookobara (sorry, I'm not very good at spelling the name because I never saw its name, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, just see what word the arrow points to and it will give you the answer)! It is a bird that lives in Australia, I think, because when we heard about it in a CD, we were hearing the Australia song when it got pushed into the lyrics. Then, it was about time for third grade to meet up, so we went to the bathroom. This time, EVERYBODY had to try to go because we were going to ride on the bus without any stops until we got to the school, so the people that didn't need to go had to go to for an "in case". When everyone was done with drinks and toilots for round 2, we met up in the spot that our class was going to meet up in. I saw a penny smasher and one of those places where you can get photos. We got so bored while waiting that someone even suggested making a penny. But we all knew what Mrs. Middlekauff had said no souvineers, so we just stood there. Finnaly, our class came down the escalator. Then we went out to wait for our buses to come and pick us up. This time, it was taking so long to get on the buses. Finnaly someone spotted our buses, and we walked over. Once we got on the bus and it started to drive, things were really different from what had happened on the first bus ride. First, we just tiredly sang songs that are going to be in our spring concert. Then, I tried to take a little nap from how tired I was, but I couldn't because that was when bad part struck-Nadia tickled me everywhere and I had to control my screams and I also had to try to get my screams to reach the ears of the teachers. She even pulled on my hair. Thank god that Mrs. Popek had heard us and ordered her to stop. Then we tried a game that was about trying not to laugh or smile, but I was ALWAYS the first one out. Then mostly I did nothing but sit there and start to feel dizzy . Finnaly, we arrived back at school. My head was pounding by then, and my stomach was tumbling around, but since we were not on the bus anymore, I started to feel better, little by little. When we got to the classroom, EVERYONE got their lunch right away and began to eat (we were not eating lunch at the aquarium, so we had to wait until 2:00 to get back to school and eat). Also, even though this wasn't a suprise to us because she had told us she would do this yesterday, Mrs. Middlekauff put on a magic school bus videp for us to watch while we were eating lunch. After the video ended, Mrs. Middlekauff let us finish up our lunch, trash it, and then have a mini talk time. Everyone was talking about the shark bridge, which made me feel more embarassed . But things always get KAOTIC if Mrs. Middlekauff says we can have talk time, and this time, it got kaotic meaning KAOTIC. Someone tried to lead the whole class to do wierd poses that I couldn't keep up with if I had tried to join in anyway:warning number 1. Someone sneakyly gets out a cromebook:warning number 2. Someone keeps on making the class do wierd poses that I coudn't keep up with if I had tried to join in anyway plus that someone who got a cromebook searching up you tube:cromebook away, whole class sit down, whole class get scolded from teacher. Then, Mrs. Middlekauff said that we would work on fun sheets, but first we had to finish something, drawing our own aquarium! Then, we went out for recess, as normal. After recess, we kept on working on the fun sheets. Then I almost finished a word search, but we had to pack up and get ready for dismissal (at home I finished it, by the way). As I climbed onto my mom's car, I knew that this would be a day that I wouldn't forget soon.

今年春假也排了一趟華盛頓特區遊，因為春假的機票不便宜，所以通常都是安排開車可到的地方，去年讀了佐羅力之超級有錢人後，書扉就很好奇印鈔票的地方，結果去年爸爸小看印鈔局的魅力，沒有排到參觀印鈔局的票，在DC的印鈔局週一至週五的上班日會發放參觀券，僅限當日早上八點開始在門口的小亭子排隊領當日參觀券，參觀券免費但一個人限領四張，好在我們一家四口，爸爸一人去排隊就夠了，因為書扉念念不忘印鈔局，今年爸爸七點半就從旅館出發去排隊，結果還是沒拿到原本想要的十點半票，就選了十二點的票，領了票後回旅館再全家一起走過去。

印鈔局也是一棟不小的建築物，參觀入口處在紀念品店裡，紀念品店大約一半店面，一半展示區，展示一些紙鈔和硬幣，最有趣的是一個身高量尺，可以看自己和多少張紙鈔疊起來一樣高。參觀路線設在工作區上方，不能夠拍照攝影，透過玻璃窗可以看到印刷機，裁切機，紙鈔檢查機，捆鈔機，最厲害的是看到一大塔跟人一樣高，價值六百萬美金的鈔票，排隊等著被送到銀行，真想搬回家哪。導覽員會說明印鈔票的過程，時間，紙和油墨的特殊處，我沒能完全聽懂，大致上知道意思，書扉也說沒完全聽懂，但覺得很有趣，宇昕則很快就開始抗議無聊，想去別的地方，尤其也剛好餓了，更是抗議聲不斷，總算是撐到參觀結束，買了兩張鈔票圖案的明信片後，就趕快去找午餐吃

四月十六日早上去學校跟書扉的導師和特殊教育老師開會，與其說是開會，不如說是老師對家長的說明，當然家長也可以提問，等家長簽完名，這個從十一月六日開始的行政流程總算完成，也就表示書扉可以開始進入gifted program上課，其實也只是一週兩次，每次各一小時左右的非標準課堂進度課程，書扉非常期待，一方面是目前班上標準課程進度的數學她都會了，所以常覺得無聊，另一方面是目前在這個課程的另外兩個三年級學生都是她的好朋友，她既不用擔心認識新朋友的問題，又可以和好朋友一起嘗試學習新東西，看得出來她真的迫不急待了，因為剛好碰到春假前夕，所以第一次的上課將是春假後第一個上課日，這個春假她搞不好會巴不得快上學。

我沒預期到行政流程會耗時將近半年，去年十一月初，在每年例行的教師家長面談中，老師首次提到因為書扉課堂表現極佳，如果父母親同意的話，她將推薦書扉接受gifted program的測試，如果測試達到標準，那麼書扉就可以加入gifted program。書扉的導師徵得我的同意後當場寫了一張簡信，家長簽了名，就可以正式送交給負責特殊教育的老師，算是那天開始行政流程。過了大約一個月後，某天書扉回家後告訴我她去做了一個測驗，後來測驗結果送回家，原來是智力測驗，分數雖不到極高，倒也確實超過一般水平，算是有資優潛力，所以學區給家長一份正式通知，以及另一份同意讓學區進行評估測驗的同意書，家長簽名後寄回學區辦公室，學校就會安排另一個進入資優課程的評估測驗，大約是三月時書扉又回家報告她又在學校做了一個測驗，測驗後倒是很快就將結果的電子資料寄給家長，然後三月底書扉帶回了請家長去學校開會的通知。

喬治最近喜歡上Jan Thomas的一系列搞笑動物繪本。我覺得這幾本書會吸引兩歲到六歲的小朋友。每本書大約四十頁，字體大，色彩鮮豔。這些書很適合剛開始認英文字，可以獨立閱讀初級讀本的小朋友(當然也可由爸媽來唸)，因為書本的用字和故事都很簡單，有初級讀本常有的重複性，比如在「The Doghouse」這本書裡，老鼠、牛、豬和鴨子在玩球，球跑進狗屋裡去了，老鼠不敢進去狗屋，老鼠說牛又大又勇敢，牠要牛進去狗屋裡要球，牛進去了，沒出來，接著老鼠說豬該進去拿球因為豬很臭，然後換鴨子進去因為鴨子很吵，但牠們都沒出來，老鼠害怕地說；「Can you come out, Duck? (鴨子，你可不可以出來？)」，然後狗出來說：「NO！Because I AM HAVING DUCK FOR DINNER. 」，「I AM HAVING DUCK FOR DINNER. 」這個英文句子可以解讀成兩種意思，第一個意思是「我正在吃鴨子當晚餐」，第二個意思是「我正在請鴨子吃晚餐」。小朋友可能一開始只想到第一種意思，就會跟老鼠一樣嚇跑了，但是書本的最後顯示其實狗是邀請了牛、豬和鴨子一起吃晚餐，看到這裡，小朋友了解自己被作者誤導了，就會覺得很好笑。另外，作者的圖很逗趣，這也是笑點。老鼠要牛、豬和鴨子進去狗屋拿球的理由也很好笑。喬治不管看這本書 幾次，每次看，每次咯咯笑。其他本也是一貫的幽默風格。推薦給喜歡搞笑書本的小讀者！

Can 

1995年，聯合國教科文組織定4月23日為世界圖書與版權日 (World Book and Copyright Day)，目的是為了鼓勵閱讀，也要提醒大家一起感念歷史上對社會及人文進展有貢獻的人。之所以選擇4月23日，是因為1616年4月23日，塞萬提斯與莎士比亞辭世 ，這一天也是不少作家的出生及逝世日期(參考文章玩轉英倫：世界讀書日 你讀書了嗎？) 。慶祝的想法源於西班牙加泰羅尼亞的傳說「聖喬治屠龍紀念日」。傳說4月23日這天勇士喬治屠龍救公主，將龍血化為玫瑰送給公主，而公主回贈書本，象徵知識與勇氣。加泰隆尼亞地區的居民在這天有以書換玫瑰的習俗，情人間會互贈禮物，女生送男生一本書，男生則以一束玫瑰為回禮，每年這天書籍都會減價，而玫瑰花則會賣貴很多  (參考文章【世界閱讀日】和莎士比亞、屠龍勇士有關？十件你未必知道的事) 。日本則將4月23日定為法定兒童閱讀日，目的是培養兒童在語言和想象力方面的能力。台灣稱這天為「世界閱讀日」，全台灣個地有不少鼓勵閱讀的活動 (世界閱讀日在台灣)。

那麼，世界閱讀日(4/23)跟我們家喬治有什麼關係?其實關係不大啦，只是媽媽我了解到喬治的名字大有來頭。喬治跟英國的小王子喬治(他爸爸媽媽是那對帥哥美女)同一年出生，喬治出生那天也是美國國父喬治‧華盛頓的生日(二月二十二日)，不過這些完全是個巧合，因為喬治出生前波爸就挑好名字了，之所以取這個名字有兩個原因，第一是波爸的外公的名字就是喬治，第二個原因是，這是天主教的一位聖人(St. George)的名字。天主教有教會年曆，把每一天和一個或多個聖人聯繫起來，把這天叫做聖人的瞻禮日（feast day），通常是以聖人的殉道日或生日當瞻禮日。(同理，很多台灣人慶祝保生大帝和媽祖等等神明的生日)。四月二十三日是聖喬治的瞻禮日。

《大尖山的大冒險》這套書是書扉的阿姨買的，因爲比較難，阿姨家的小朋友們還無法閱讀，先搬到我們家試試，到我們家也放了超過半年，因爲字數多，不是小孩會主動拿來讀的書，中文的話，書扉還不想讀太多字的書，但是英文書的話，雖然她仍偏好圖畫書，但已經會主動去讀僅有少量插圖的純文字書，前提是她有興趣的，目前為止她偏好搞笑類，所以佐羅力系列這種人物比較搞笑的她很喜歡，也會主動拿來讀，但有時透過學校老師的引薦，也會嘗試非搞笑類的故事書，例如羅德達爾(Roald Dahl)的書是二年級老師先讀了《瑪蒂達》給全班聽，因為故事很有吸引力，書扉產生讀其他書的興趣，即使是字數相當多也不搞笑的故事，但不可否認他的故事非常有魅力，媽媽也跟著讀了好幾本，書扉更是把所有圖書館借得到的都讀過了，長短皆有，總數超過十本。所以書扉雖然有某種偏好，但透過大人的引介也有興趣讀不同類型的故事，只是大量中文字的書仍讓她怯步，如果不是媽媽要求且陪讀，仍然不會主動讀純文字的中文書，字數少的中文繪本或漫畫則已經常常自己主動閱讀了，顯然中文和英文的閱讀能力仍有一段落差，英文已經進入純文字書的階段，中文則比較適合橋梁書階段，雖然有相當的識字量，卻仍偏好圖案輔助的閱讀。

大尖山的大冒險這套書不是好笑的故事，且即便以單書來看文字量比一般橋梁書稍多些，整套更是有八本之多，如果孩子不是深受內容吸引的話，要連續讀八本真的不簡單，故事本身雖然很好，但因為沒有書扉偏愛的搞笑角色和橋段，對書扉的吸引力有限，沒有媽媽在旁要求的話，也許她會一度嘗試，肯定無法唸完整套書，故事內容是尖鼠爺爺講述他年輕時攀登大尖山的過程，過程中遇見形形色色的其他動物，也碰到了各種危機和困境，但靠著達成目標的堅定毅力和一些其他動物的幫忙，最後完成攀登大尖山的目標，若要分類的話，我應該會把它歸為成長勵志故事吧，當然要單純的看成小尖鼠的冒險故事也絕對符合，不過作者透過角色呈現的一些人生思考，讓這個故事絕對不僅是一個冒險故事而已，也許小朋友讀到的是冒險故事，但大朋友如我，因為年紀關係，更能感受到冒險故事背後的各種人生體悟，我曾經試著問書扉讀完這套書是否讓她學到什麼，她的答案也挺有趣的，「沒有特別學到什麼啊，如果要說lesson的話，那大概是蝙蝠們說的，不能單從表面任意對人做出評判吧」，似乎我家八歲的小朋友，只是覺得自己念了一個特別長讓她很累的冒險故事，但是，畢竟她才八歲，如果已經有人生體悟，那也挺恐怖的。

在「美國公立幼稚園下學期數學」一文中，我提到喬治他們班開始做Sprint(我將它翻作「數學競速」，其實就是數學測驗)，由於我看到他錯不少題，我開始每天自己做一張練習題給喬治做。當他第一次做我出的練習題時，他用英文念出題目及答案。 我有點訝異，因為平常我是用中文想一些數學應用題直接問他(像是「你有兩台火車，妹妹有一台火車，你們總共有幾台火車？」)，而喬治也會用中文回答我，所以我才會驚訝喬治做數學測驗時，其實是用英文在思考。當下，我不知道該鼓勵他用中文做數學練習題，還是要讓他用學校的英文練習數學就好？我腦中閃過很多問題。讓喬治同時用中文和英文學數學，對他有益？還是會造成困惑呢？如果同時用中文和英文學數學有好處，是怎樣的好處呢？我試著在網路上找一些資料來了解這些問題，到目前為止，我看到的資料以及喬治班上的十以上數字教學讓我感到很有趣。寫來跟大家分享一下。

首先，研究顯示，那些兩種語言都講得很好的人的數學比較好（註三）。這個研究用的標題是「Does Being Bilingual Make You Better At Math? (成為雙語是否讓你比較擅長數學？）」，這個標題暗示雙語與數學之間有因果關係，但其實此研究的研究方法只能證實雙語與數學之間有關係，至於是怎樣的關係，有待實驗證明。因為發現雙語者的數學好，可能是因為（1)雙語讓數學變好，（2)數學好有助於學會雙語，或者（3)會雙語和數學好是因為其他因素，比如頭腦好或家境好。再來，另一個研究發現，大部分雙語都流利的人做數學問題時，用的是在學校學數學時用的語言。比如，在美國長大的台灣孩子，可能說一口流利的中文或台語，但在學校學數學時，用的是英文，那他們在算數學時，會是用英文思考（註一）。最後，一個腦內掃描研究發現，當雙語者用兩種不同語言思考數學時，他們會用腦中不同的部位思考。當他們用比較不擅長數學的語言思考時，他們腦中空間與視覺思考部位比較活耀（註二）。

我大妹的女兒書扉和宇昕喜歡玩撲克牌及各式桌遊，所以我大妹自創學中文字的字卡遊戲及桌遊 (請參考學習中文的字卡遊戲和自製桌遊學中文兩篇文章)，讓她的孩子在遊戲中學會幾百個中文字。她也試著教書扉一些中文部首，但部首的介紹與練習似乎無法引起書扉太大的興趣，所以勉強學習一個月後就停了 (請參考文章中文學習：部首識字的嘗試)。最近，我跟我大妹強力推薦親子天下出版的小行星「識字遊戲100」(+ 點讀筆)，因為我跟喬治用了之後，發現這套學習教材有許多優點。

我們使用親子天下小行星「識字遊戲100」兩個多月了。是的！這個產品 2019年1月21日才出版，我們一月底就收到了，因為媽媽看到預購特價(小行星點讀筆+「識字遊戲100」)就下手了，一千元台幣有找(現在好像已經沒有這個優惠組合了)，加上寄到美國的運費台幣三百元左右，讓熱騰騰的新產品坐飛機來到我們家。產品介紹寫說「識字遊戲100」精選80個常用中文字，但這套教材教孩子的遠遠超過80個字，它教孩子中文字最特殊的地方，也就是象形文字的來源及變化，它也教孩子部首的概念及中文字的組字規則。因為它將孩子的注意力不斷地拉到字的結構上，所以孩子學到的是如何運用這80個「文字積木」堆疊或推敲出成千上百個中文字。每個孩子的中文程度和個性都不同，我相信他們對於同一套教材的反應也會不同。在這篇文章裡，我主要講講(一)我和喬治過去試過的幾個中文識字方法，(二)我們如何使用小行星「識字遊戲100」+ 點讀筆，及(三)喬治對於這套教材的反應。

「上幼稚園前看一千本書」(One Thousand Books Before Kindergarten) 是我們區的圖書館活動，零到上幼稚園前的孩子都可以參加，參與方法很簡單，家長為小朋友報名，取得一張紀錄一百本書的紙，將孩子看過的書名記下來，也可以看一本書打一個勾就好，每填完一百本書就交給圖書館員，再取得紀錄下一個一百本書的紙，直到記完一千本書。每次完成一百本，圖書館員會幫小朋友貼一張星星貼紙到牆上，讓孩子看到自己的成就，完成一千本書後，就會替小朋友拍照，貼到牆上，加入「名人牆」(「Wall of Fame」 ，仿「Hall of Fame」名人堂)。我想這個活動其實是在鼓勵爸爸媽媽爺爺奶奶唸書給小孩聽，因為大人應該比小孩還希望進入「名人牆」吧！要努力記錄一千本書，真的不容易，也該為家長拍拍手。

美國的學校和圖書館為了鼓勵孩子閱讀，可以說是無所不用其極。學期中每個班級有不同的鼓勵閱讀活動，現在喬治他們班的閱讀活動是每天讀二十分鐘，將書名記下來，每週老師計算讀書天數，然後在一張小卡上打洞，集滿二十個洞，可以得到一個小獎品。暑假時，各個圖書館更是使出渾身解數，要吸引孩子上圖書館借書看書。去年暑假，我們村的圖書館舉辦看書得摸彩券，這招對喬治的媽媽很有用，她為了摸彩券就很努力唸書給小孩聽。喬治的奶奶是另一個小村莊的小圖書館館長，她每年暑假都自掏腰包，買一間店的霜淇淋兌換券當圖書館的閱讀獎勵。我婆婆去買霜淇淋兌換券的店會給她一些折扣，因為小孩子看書得霜淇淋兌換券之後，大人帶小孩去吃霜淇淋，通常也會買一隻來吃，所以店家不只贏得贊助圖書館的美名，還得到實際的收益。