Our dog Abbey died last month. My 4-year-old daughter Lucy missed her a lot and asked if we could write a letter to God to make sure he could look after Abbey well. I told Lucy that I thought we could, and she dictated (口述) these words:

Dear God,

① you, take, dog, of, will, care, my , please (?) She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Lucy

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Lucy and addressed it to God/Heaven. Yesterday, we received a package addressed, “To Lucy” with this note:

Dear Lucy,

Abbey has arrived in heaven.

She isn't sick anymore. ② Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. You don't need to worry about her. She's being looked after very well here. Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. ③ You have a wonderful mother. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I'm easy to find. I am wherever there is love.

Love, God

①Welcome to our talk show, Mr. Brown. You are an actor and busy every day. But you try to find much time to exercise. Could you tell us what you usually do in your free time? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

②I know you like skateboarding, little John. When did you start it? How often do you go skateboarding? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} 

③I know you don't need to go to work on weekends, sir. How do you usually spend your weekends? {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

④Fruit, vegetables and milk are good for us. They are healthy. Do you often have them, Miss Yang? {#blank#}4{#/blank#} 

⑤As a waiter, you work at night and sleep in the day. How many hours do you sleep every day, Mr. Green?  {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

A. I'm busy and tired on weekdays. So I want to relax myself at home on weekends. I like surfing the Internet.

B. I cook at home from Monday to Friday. On weekends, I usually go out to have dinner with my husband and son.

C. Skateboarding is fun. I started to learn to skateboard when I was five years old. Now I go skateboarding four or five times a week.

D. They are really good for us. I eat lots of fruit and vegetables every day. But I hardly drink milk. I think only kids can drink lots of milk.

E. I'm really busy. I have lots of movies and TV plays to make. But I want to keep in good health. So I do some running in my free time.

F. Most of us work and have meals in the day and sleep at night. A night job is different from a day job. I usually sleep for six or seven hours in the day.

    Last Friday night I went to a great party. It was a birthday party for my English teacher Mrs Brown. Students in my class all went to celebrate(庆祝) her 40^th birthday. We began to prepare for(为……做准备) the party two weeks before that, but Mrs. Brown didn't know anything about it.

    We all met at a restaurant at a quarter to seven. There were about 30 people. Mrs. Brown's son took her to the restaurant and they arrived at seven o'clock. Just before seven, we all stayed in one room of the restaurant and it was dark in the room.

    When they got to the restaurant, Mrs. Brown's son asked her to go into the room first. Then we all shouted, "Surprise!"

    Mrs. Brown was really surprised. She jumped when she heard us. Then we sang "Happy Birthday to You" and she knew what was happening(发生). We all had a great dinner and then a delicious birthday cake.

    For her birthday, Mrs. Brown got a beautiful quilt. We all printed(印) our photos on it. So it was a very special quilt.

    Mrs. Brown enjoyed the party, and we enjoyed it, too.

Information Card

    It's June, and summer vacation will begin soon. That's a good thing. Most kids love summer vacation—they've worked hard during the school year and {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Also, the freedom of summer gives them self-esteem (自尊心), happiness, and creativity. When kids have free time, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, causing them to feel good about themselves and believe in themselves.

    But there's another side: the freedom of summer can cause the "summer drop," where kids forget some of the reading, writing and math skills {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Many students go down in reading levels during the summer. Math skills are also easily forgettable for kids during the two months of school break. A lot of teachers spend weeks playing catch-up in the fall to make up for the summer drop. To avoid this drop in learning, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    Traveling can be a fantastic way for parents to encourage continued learning during the summertime. Whether taking the kids on a road trip to visit family, or getting on a flight to travel in a different province or country, the learning possibilities are endless. If you and your family have a road trip or vacation planned this summer, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. With a little planning, parents can create learning opportunities that are so fun. The kids won't even realize you are putting education into their free time quietly and secretly.

Paperless homework will affect students^' handwriting

    A growing number of primary schools in Shanghai are now encouraging "paperless" homework. Instead of writing with a pen, children can finish their homework simply by "surfing and typing" on their iPad screens.

    Many people welcome the use of this new technology in schools. And it isn't difficult to understand why digital homework could be the next big thing in education; it reduces waste; makes it easier for teachers to collect homework; and now that everything else is digitalized, homework should too.

    But there's an overlooked downside to online homework, as it shows an alarming trend(趋势); how technology is affecting physical handwriting.

    In today's digital age, handwriting is already a weakening skill. Can you remember the last time you used a pen? For me, it was when I had to fill out a form at work. To be honest, I couldn't write quite a few characters and had to type them on my iPhone to remind me of how to write them correctly. I know I'm not alone. There are more saying they share similar embarrassment (尴尬) when asked to write by hand.

    In a time when computers, smart phones and keyboards are widely used in the world, is handwriting even important？ The answer is yes. Handwriting plays an important role in the learning process. Writing a character is more difficult than typing. It requires the body and mind work together actively. So for school﹣age children, writing not only allows them to memorize characters, but also trains their brains the way typing can't.

    Too many children, lost in technology, lie on a sofa or in bed with their smartphones or iPads a seldom mentioned side effect of modern technology, which may lead to physical problems later.

    All said, I'm not saying that digital homework should be canceled. Digitalization is an unstoppable trend. But for courses such as Chinese and English language, I hope to see digital homework introduced later into the courses, at least after children have had the ability to write characters and spell words well.