Tadpoles Look for Their Mother

A nice feature in the third book of the third grade is that it added one more reading material as homework. But this extra piece is a repeat of a lesson learned in the second grade book. So it's a nice review session. Although my daughter had forgot most of what she learned last year, :) she was still able to get through these pieces without needing much help at all.

Here is her translation of one of such review pieces:

Tadpoles Look for Their Mother

There was a group of tadpoles; they had big heads, black bodies, and fine tails. They were swimming in a river.

They saw a little ducks following the mother duck in the pond and playing, so they swam over and yelled: “Mother duck, mother duck, we want to look for our mom, too!”

The mother duck said: “Your mother has a big mouth, so go ahead and find her!”

The tadpoles kept swimming and swimming, and then they saw a fish that swam by them. The tadpoles saw that the fish had a big mouth, so the yelled: “Mother! Mother!”

The fish smiled and said: “I’m not your mom; I am the fish’s mom. Your mom has a white stomach, so go ahead and find her.”

The tadpoles swam and swam for a few more days, and grew two back feet. A white swan swam by, and the tadpoles immediately yelled: “Mom! Mom!”

The white swan smiled and said:” I’m not your mom; I am the swan’s mom. Your mom has four legs, so go ahead and find her.

The tadpoles swam and swam for a few more days, and grew two front legs.

They saw a big turtle swimming, and the tadpoles saw that the turtle had four legs. The tadpoles quickly swam to the turtle and yelled: “Mom! Mom!” The turtle smiled and said: “I am not your mom; I am the small turtle’s mom. Your mom has green skin, and her head has two big eyes, so go ahead and find here.”

The tadpoles swam and swam for a few more days, and their tails began to shrink. They saw a frog on a lotus leaf, with a big mouth, green clothes, a white stomach, and two big eyes on her head. The tadpoles immediately swam over and yelled: “Mom! Mom!” The frog mom lowered her head and looked, smiled and said: “Good kids, you have grown into small frogs, come on over here!” Hearing their mom’s words, the small frogs hopped up, and hopped next to the big frog. They were very happy and yelled: “We finally found our mom! We finally found our mom!

The Chinese original:

小蝌蚪找妈妈

有一群小蝌蚪，大大的脑袋，黑黑的身子，细细的尾巴，在河里游来游去。

它们看见小鸭子跟着鸭妈妈在水里玩，就游上前去叫着：“鸭妈妈，鸭妈妈，我们也想找我们的妈妈！”

鸭妈妈说：“你们的妈妈又大大的嘴巴，你们到前面去找吧！”

小蝌蚪往前游呀游，有一条鱼从它们身边游过。小蝌蚪看见鱼有大大的嘴巴，就高声叫起来：“妈妈！妈妈！”

鱼笑笑说：“我不是你们的妈妈，我是小鱼的妈妈。你们的妈妈又白白的肚子，你们到前面去找吧！”

小蝌蚪往前游呀游，过了几天，长出了两条后腿，一只大白鹅游过来，小蝌蚪连忙大声叫：“妈妈！妈妈！”

大白鹅笑笑说：“我不是你们的妈妈，我是小鹅的妈妈。你们的妈妈有四条腿，你们到前面去找吧！”

小蝌蚪往前游呀游，过了几天，又长出了两条前腿。

它们看到一只大乌龟在前面游。小蝌蚪就快快追上前去，叫着：“妈妈！妈妈！”乌龟笑了笑说：“我不是你们的妈妈，我是小乌龟的妈妈。你们的妈妈的衣服是绿色的，头顶上有两只大眼睛，你们到前面去找吧。”

小蝌蚪到处游呀游，过了几天，尾巴变小了。它们看见荷叶上有一只大青蛙，大大的嘴巴，绿色的衣服，雪白的肚子，头顶上还有两只大眼睛。小蝌蚪连忙游了过去，叫着：“妈妈！妈妈！”青蛙妈妈低下头一看，笑着说：“好孩子，你们长成小青蛙了，快上来吧！”听了妈妈的话，小青蛙就往上一蹦，蹦到了大青蛙身边。它们高兴地叫着：“我们找到妈妈了！我们找到妈妈了！”