Handmade greeting cards are popular with middle school students. They are a sweet way to show love to friends and family. To make one, you need simple things like colored paper, scissors and glue. You can cut the paper into different shapes and write warm words on it.
Li Hua likes making handmade cards a lot. Last month, it was her best friend Lily’s birthday. Li Hua wanted to give her a special gift, so she decided to make a card. She chose pink paper because Lily likes pink most. She cut the paper into a heart shape, drew some small flowers on it and wrote “Happy Birthday”. She also put a photo of them together on the card.
When Lily got the card, she smiled happily and said, “This is my favorite gift!” Now Li Hua often makes cards for her family on festivals. She says, “Making cards is fun, and it makes people I care about happy.”
Spring is a warm and nice season in our school, and our teachers take us to the school garden for a spring outdoor activity every April. It’s a short and happy activity after our morning classes, and all Grade Eight students love it very much.
When we get to the garden, we can see green grass everywhere and many colorful flowers blooming on the small flower beds. Some of us like to walk slowly along the little stone road, and we can always hear small birds singing loudly in the tall trees. We often stop to watch the little birds fly from one tree to another, and their sweet songs make us feel great. Others like to fly small and light kites on the open grass, running with kites in our hands makes us feel free and relaxed.
Our teachers walk with us and talk with us about the beautiful spring scenery around us. Sometimes we sit on the soft grass in small groups, sharing some small snacks we bring from home with our classmates. We never feel bored in this short activity, and it lets us get close to nature and take a little break after busy study. This spring activity is a small but lovely part of our school life. It makes our usual school days more interesting and lively, and it always brings us a good mood for the rest of the day.How do the students feel when they hear the birds’ singing in the garden?
①Reading after class is an important part of students’ school life. Some students think it takes up homework time and dislike it, while others read every day and benefit a lot from it. Then a question comes: Is after-class reading good for students? My answer is “yes”, and here are my reasons.
②First of all, after-class reading helps students build up more English and Chinese words. When we read different books, we meet many new words in different contexts（語(yǔ)境；上下文）. We can remember them easily and use them in our study. They expand our vocabulary（詞匯量） and help with our schoolwork.
③Besides building vocabulary, after-class reading helps develop a good reading habit. A good habit can’t be formed（形成） in one day. If students read a little every day, it will grow little by little and keep students from feeling bored with school textbooks. It will stay with students long and benefit（有益于）their study.
④ ▲ After-class reading also plays a key role in improving students’ writing ability. Reading different books lets us learn writing skills from famous writers. We learn to write good sentences, tell interesting stories and express（表達(dá)）ideas clearly. This helps us do better in writing tasks and exams.
⑤What’s more, after-class reading makes school life more colorful. We can know more about the world outside textbooks, like foreign stories and different lifestyles. It opens our eyes and makes us more knowledgeable（見多識(shí)廣的；學(xué)識(shí)淵博的）.
⑥It’s true that homework is important for students, but we don’t need to spend all time on it. Spending 15 to 20 minutes on after-class reading every day is a good choice. The gains from reading are valuable（有價(jià)值的）, and they will help us a lot in future study and life.