快要開學了! The summer is almost over!

My children's school will begin the 2009-2010 school year exactly a week from today, on September 1. This is the first time in our school's history to have the first-day of school before the Labor Day weekend. Typically, schools begin the day after the Labor Day long weekend, on a Tuesday. So many of our neighboring school districts are still following this traditional and will begin school on September 10. My kids are mourning the end of their summer. I am worried about their morning regiment once the school begins. How am I going to get them to wake up at 7:30 AM again when they have been sleeping until 10 AM, and sometimes even until 11 AM?!

To get them into the swing of things, I took my kids to the library after lunch today. They have been reading over the summer, but nothing really challenging. My 9 year-old daughter have enjoyed the Beacon Street Girls series by Annie Bryant (http://www.beaconstreetgirls.com/) and the Camp Confidential series by Melissa J. Morgan. She has read all of the Beacon Street Girls books, except the two latest books (Sweet Thirteen and Ready! Set! Hawaii!). As for Camp Confidential, she also has read all of the Camp Confidential books that have been published so far. Two more Camp Confidential books are scheduled to be published in the next 7 months--Extra Credit (September 3, 2009) and Politically Incorrect (March 4, 2010). My daughter is waiting anxiously for our library to purchase these books.

Unfortunately, schools don't usually assign these books as reading material. Beacon Street Girls and Camp Confidential are fine for summer readings, but as my daughter is heading into grade 5, these books are not difficult enough to be on the grade 5 reading list. And hence a trip to the library was necessary today. I want her to pick out some books that are more appropriate for her grade level. I steered her towards the Newbery Award winning books (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newbery_Medal), but she wasn't going for them. Instead, she borrowed some Nancy Drew Mysteries. Those are books that she thought I would approve, but realistically, I still think she should go beyond these books as well. At this point, I am not going to push her too much. As long as she gets into the habit of reading, I am happy.

Going back to our library visit. I actually saw 4 families from my children's school at the library today. During the school year, once in a while, I would see only a family that I know every time we visit the library. So it was rare to see so many parents from our school at the library in one visit. I got to chat with them about their summer break and how everyone was doing. I guess all the parents are trying to get their kids back into the swing of things before the school starts next week.

時間過得好快喔! 再七天就要開學了。 兩個小孩已經開始感覺到開學後的壓力了。今天帶他們去圖書館借書。 我希望女兒能借一些有點深度的書, 符合五年級的小朋友該讀的書。 在美國, 沒有教育局指定的閱讀課本。 都是老師採用現有的兒童讀物來教學。 小孩子上了五年級之後, 老師就會陸陸續續的介紹西洋英文文學名著給小朋友做為上英文課的題材。 所以只要看得懂, 小朋友自己就可以到圖書館借一些西洋文學名著來看。 當然這種事, 我的女兒不可能會自願去做的。 從五月中, 加州政府的基測 (STAR test) 結束之後, 老師就不再積極的教學生新的課程。 小朋友就自由的等著暑假的到來。 就在那時候, 我幫女兒在圖書館找到二套系列的書-- Beacon Street Girls (Beacon 街的女孩), 作者是 Annie Bryant (http://www.beaconstreetgirls.com/) 以及 Camp Confidential (露營密事) 作者是 Melissa J. Morgan。 這二套系列的書籍非常適合閱讀能力較強的小三女生, 或者是給小學高年級的女生做為輕鬆簡單, 閒暇時可閱讀的書籍。 不愛看書的女兒就靠著這二套書過了一個愉快的暑假。