This quarter, we will continue our vocabulary study by exploring Greek and Latin roots in the book Red Hot Roots, volume 2.

Below are the quiz dates and links to the Quizlet flashcard sets. Please encourage your son/daughter to use these links to learn the words and quiz himself/herself often.

Quarter 3 (120 words!)

Introduction to lesson 22, 23, 24 roots:
Roots introduction lessons 22 23 24.pdf
Lesson 22
Lesson 23
Lesson 24
22, 23, 24 practice sentences
QUIZ ON FEBRUARY 10

Lesson 25
Lesson 26
Lesson 27
QUIZ ON FEBRUARY 24

Lesson 28
Lesson 29
Lesson 30
QUIZ ON MARCH 9

I’d like to wish you and your families happiness, health and good fortune in the coming Year of the Dragon.  Whether you stay in Shanghai or travel for the vacation, I hope you’ll enjoy time spent together as a family.

I also hope you take advantage of the time to READ.  On an airplane or in a quiet corner of your house- spend some time with a good book.

xin nian kuai le!

As we say goodbye to 2011 and get used to writing “2012″ on the tops of our papers, here are some activities we did in class as well as some ideas for discussing with your son or daughter at home.

Happy Old Year

“Those who don’t understand the past are doomed to repeat it.”

The beginning of a new year means the end of an old year.  People usually look back at the previous year (last year) and think about the good things and bad things.  It is helpful to reflect on (look at and think about) what you did and what happened in the last twelve months.  Students answered the following questions:

• Compared to the rest of your life, was last year good or bad?
• What do you think was the best thing about last year?
• What do you think was the worst?
• What lessons did you learn from last year?

>> DISCUSS: Ask your son or daughter about his/her reflections on 2010.

Happy New Year:

A new year is a time to make a new start.

We usually think about last year, what we have learned and how we would like to make things better.  Looking at the new year, many people want to make a change in their lives.  People also try to predict (tell the future) about what will happen.

Making resolutions  People who want to change their lives make “New Year’s Resolutions.”  A resolution is a decision.  You decide to do something that is important to you.  It’s like a promise to yourself.   However, change is sometimes difficult.  For example, it’s difficult to stop smoking.  So when New Year’s Day comes, some smokers decide to quit and they make resolutions: “This year I am going to quit smoking.”  But many people make resolutions they can’t keep, and they soon start smoking again.  Why?  Because their resolution is too difficult.  Here’s some advice:  make a resolution that you think you can keep!

Making predictions  It is also fun to try to guess what will happen in the next year.  When you try to tell the future, it is called a prediction.  People use cards or a crystal ball to predict what will happen in the new year.  Think about what happened last year and make your guess about next year.

>> DISCUSS: Ask your son or daughter what goals and predictions he or she wrote for 2012.  Do you agree?  What are your resolutions?

I hope the winter vacation brought rest and relaxation for students and their families. I look forward to hearing about all the adventures you’ve had and books you’ve read over the past three weeks.
I also look forward to a lot of learning in 2012!

Semester Exam Planning Guide: Advice for Students

1. Know what to expect. If you don’t know what is on the exam and you don’t have a study guide, then ask your teacher. Classmates can also help to give information about the exam, but they can sometimes be misinformed so make sure you double-check with your teacher. Make sure you think about CONTENT (what you will have to know) as well as TASKS (how you will have to show it). Will you have to write an essay? Will you have a lot of short answer questions? Getting a picture of the exam in your mind will not only help you study but also reduce stress (see also #7)
2. Check the blog. Look at your teacher’s class blog, moodle or wiki. There may be additional resources which will help you study.
3. Organize your binder. Make sure you have all handouts and previous tests to help you study.
4. Be strategic. Remember that there is a difference between STUDYING and LEARNING. Think about how you learn best and which activities will help you to learn. Make sure you match how you are studying to how you learn, and match your study activities with both the content and tasks you’ll need for your exams.
5. Make a plan. Think about the time you have available: on the bus, after school, during flex, weekends. Make a specific plan in your agenda or on another place. Tell WHAT you will study, HOW you will do it, and for HOW LONG you will study. (Use the grid on the back to help you).
6. Be realistic. Give yourself enough time to get things done when you make your plan. (Don’t schedule yourself for 5 chapters of science during your 20-minute break).
7. Relax. You should take semester exams seriously, but you shouldn’t let fear or stress paralyze you. When you find yourself starting to worry or panic, get out your plan and remind yourself that if you stick to it, you’ll get everything done.
8. Get some sleep! You have already learned 90% of what you need to know. You should be doing review at this point to help connect and organize what you know. 7-8 hours of sleep will help you to perform at your best.
9. Be positive. If you dread exams as a cruel but legalized form of torture, and think only about how hard it will be and how you are going to fail, you aren’t helping yourself. Instead, if you think about exams as a chance to shine, to impress, to show what you know and how much you’ve learned, you’ll approach each exam with a better chance of success. Imagine yourself doing really well and how good it will feel to hand in an exam after you’ve “aced” it. Then go ahead and make that happen!

Now that we are well into 2nd quarter, students have a clear picture of their performance in all classes.  One issue I have discussed with students is the need to define their challenges.  Students need to consider each class and use the simple checklist I’ve created to identify what they are doing well and what they need to work on.

Click the image below to enlarge.

Click this link if you cannot view the picture above Simple guide to homework completion

Parents and students can stay organized by using the iCal application and subscribing to the our Academic Literacy 9 calendar.
1. Copy the entire calendar address listed below.

https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/6sht8h8nph1hn1qa7fmu9tp164%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

(Hint: Triple click to select the entire address.)
2. Open iCal and go to Calendar>Subscribe
3. Paste the calendar address into the box and click on Subscribe.
4. On the next screen, change the Auto-Refresh option from “No″ to “Every 15 Minutes”
• Note: If you forget to change the Auto Refresh feature, right click on the calendar title and Choose “Get Info”.

From the New York Times article “The Trouble with Homework”:

• A second learning technique, known as “retrieval practice,” employs a familiar tool — the test — in a new way: not to assess what students know, but to reinforce it. We often conceive of memory as something like a storage tank and a test as a kind of dipstick that measures how much information we’ve put in there. But that’s not actually how the brain works. Every time we pull up a memory, we make it stronger and more lasting, so that testing doesn’t just measure, it changes learning. Simply reading over material to be learned, or even taking notes and making outlines, as many homework assignments require, doesn’t have this effect.
• According to one experiment, language learners who employed the retrieval practice strategy to study vocabulary words remembered 80 percent of the words they studied, while learners who used conventional study methods remembered only about a third of them. Students who used retrieval practice to learn science retained about 50 percent more of the material than students who studied in traditional ways, reported researchers from Purdue University earlier this year. Students — and parents — may groan at the prospect of more tests, but the self-quizzing involved in retrieval practice need not provoke any anxiety. It’s simply an effective way to focus less on the input of knowledge (passively reading over textbooks and notes) and more on its output (calling up that same information from one’s own brain).

This article supports active learning for students including regular, formative feedback to help them assess their own understanding. Self-quizzing using a home-made quiz or online resource such as Quizlet is a useful way to put this into practice.