We can take online joyful learning experiences to a new level by combining the best practices in education with inspiring hands-on lessons that parents and children can enjoy together.

◆◇Starting a Writer’s Notebook　June 13th—June 17th

This workshop is to inspire children to see themselves as true authors. The writing activities in this workshop are meant to help young authors develop their sense of voice and enthusiasm for writing. Participants will learn a variety of strategies and techniques for generating ideas and producing meaningful writing.

PRICE: $27.00($22.00 cash payment)　　　AGE: 6—10

◆◇Backyard Science　　June 20th—June 24th

By sharing what we discover in our own backyards, our children will be able to experience firsthand how wildlife, climate, and geographic landscapes differ across the globe. Through this workshop we have the ability to create eye-opening explorations for our children.

PRICE: $27.00　　　 AGE:4—10

◆◇Poetry Makers　　June 11th—July 15th

When sharing poems with our children, we not only teach them how to appreciate the beauty of language but also that our words have the ability to affect others in deep and meaningful ways. In this four-week online workshop, we will strengthen our children’s understanding of themselves, each other, and the world around them through the power of writing poetry.

PRICE: $27.00　　　AGE:6—10

When my father married my mother in 1943 he gave my mother a 1937 crown coin and told her to keep it in the back of her purse and not spend it. This would mean that she always felt that she was protected and would always have money if she really needed it.

When I was married in 1970 my husband who had heard this story obtained a 1937 crown for me and I have always kept it in my wallet and I have always had enough for my needs.

A friend recently fell on hard times partly through external (外部的) circumstances and partly through poor planning. Friends and I have loaned her money, paid her bills, even given her food and tried to teach her budget techniques, but none of them has been a solution. She has just slipped deeper and deeper into financial trouble and depression.

Last week she looked pale and unwell, very depressed and hopeless. I then thought about how the crown, a reminder of another’s care and love, had protected me so I went to the bank for a $100 dollar bill. I told my friend the story and asked her to keep the $100 in the back of her wallet. It turned out that she didn’t have a wallet so she put the money in a little pencil case where she kept her coins. She immediately felt better. “I feel rich and thank you for being a good friend” she said and we were both a bit teary.

The reason for passing this on is not to praise any generosity on my part but to show the power of “random acts of kindness”. I went home and remembered a little wallet I had that I’d never used and thought “I’ll give that to my friend.” I opened it and inside found $100. The universe is very just and if your heart is open the reward always comes.

Moscow city authorities have begun using comics（漫画） with characters from Russian fairy tales to explain to migrants（移民） how they should behave. They say a 100-page guide is needed to "keep a positive image" of the city and could help reduce "tensions" between natives and migrants. But critics have pointed out that foreign migrants and natives may be regarded as antagonists in the manual(手册).

Russians and migrants have repeatedly flooded in Moscow recently. Many migrants from ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia, the Caucasus（高加索） and North Caucasus, arrive in Moscow every year, attracted by the capital’s job opportunities and relatively high salaries. A significant number of them work in the Russian capital illegally.

The new guide in Russian seeks to explain the "dos" and "don’ts" to migrants. They are urged not to cause trouble, by staring at women, or eating or talking loudly on the streets. They are also warned that the police may routinely（例行公事） stop them to check their documents.

In the manual, Russia’s famous "three warriors" are meant to represent the city’s law enforcement agencies（执法机关）, while Prince Yuri Dolgoruky (a historical character) is used for tours around Moscow.       Meanwhile, Vasilisa the Wise and The Snow Maiden test the reader on Russia’s language and history. A special section of the book explains the importance of following Moscow’s strict residency and employment rules, stressing that migrants could otherwise be deported(驱逐出境) or banned from entry.

The manual was written primarily for illegal migrants, Alexander Kalinin, who heads the group Support for Working Migrants in Moscow, told BBC Russian.

"We want to raise their level of law awareness," he added.

Migrant characters had initially(最初) been identified as representatives of different nationalities, but the book’s authors later decided to drop this idea so as "not to offend anyone", said Mr. Kalinin.

"The old conflict between Russian heroes and non-Slavic invaders is being revived," Yevgeny Varshaver, a migration expert told BBC Russian. He also suggested that the language used in the book would be "difficult" to understand for some migrants who were not native Russian speakers.

Both honeybees and ants are social insects that live in groups called colonies. They survive by means of their collective intelligence. Their decision-making power is distributed throughout the group; that is, no one ant or bee makes decisions for the group. Instead, they work together. As Deborah M. Gordon, a biologist of Stanford University, says, “Ants aren’t smart. Ant colonies are.” The same is true for bee colonies. Although bees and ants are quite different physically, they have a lot in common in terms of their behavior. Specifically, honeybees and ants have similar roles within the colony, both have communication systems, and both have the capacity of learning.

Ants communicate by using chemicals called pheromones, which can alert others to danger or to a food source. For example, when worker ants find a promising source, they let the rest of colony know how to find it by leaving a trail of pheromones on the way back to the colony. The other ants pick up the message using their sense of smell. Bees, on the other hand, use movement to communicate with each other. Worker bees send message to each other by means of a “dance”. Different speeds and movements send different messages. For example, when worker bees called scouts go out to find a new hoe for the colony, they return and do a dance for the other worker bees that indicates the location of the new home and how suitable it is. The faster the scouts dance the better the new location is.

Honeybees and ants are both capable of learning. One Chinese study found that bees can be trained to learn and remember a route to a food source. The researchers also found that bees can be taught to recognize hidden objects and use the concepts of “sameness” and “difference” to accomplish certain tasks. Ants take this one step further. Recent America research has shown that ants not only have the ability to learn, but also can teach their foraging skills to other younger ants. They observed that older ants accompany young ants in search of food and teach them the route and how to avoid obstacles.

As we can see, the social behavior of honeybees and ants is quite similar. Both coordinate complex actions and accomplish crucial survival tasks by cooperating in groups consisting of many individuals. Unintelligent as they may be as individuals, as groups they often show amazing brilliance as they go about their everyday activities.