Joyeux Noël, Bonne Année et Bonnes Vacances!

All our advent candles are 'lit'  this week; Christmas is near!  We look forward to celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus.

We hope you enjoyed the short skit in French performed by three of our Grade Five students in our school's Christmas concert this past week.  

We have been busy! Our Gr. 7 and 8 French club helped to decorate a bûche de Noël, which is a very traditional French Christmas dessert similar to a jelly roll.  It is shaped and decorated to look like a Yule Log. ( 'Bûche' means 'log'.)

Due to the short amount of time that we have during the noon hour, the cake portion had to be prepared in advance. The link to the recipe is at the end of this post.

Prepping the whipped cream!

We melted semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave and let them cool to the perfect temperature for making yummy chocolate curls.

Raspberries were washed and ready, perfect to pair with chocolate!

The chocolate roll was filled with whipped cream...

and garnished with whipped cream as well!

The results were spectacular!

 Here is a link to the recipe from our Dec. 2013 posting:

Recipe: Bûche de Noël

Grade Six students also savored some of this traditional French Christmas dessert.

Grades Three to Five made a craft this week to hang on their Christmas trees at home.

C'est le renne Rodolphe!

Be sure to check out the French Christmas links on the right  side of this blog.  I wish all families a warm and memorable Christmas holiday.  Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année!

À 2015!

Mme Christensen

Expressing opinions!

The past two weeks we have been using these phrases (posted next to our whiteboard for reference) to help us express our opinions on a variety of topics.  The weather is one such topic of great interest (and sometimes debate) here in Winnipeg! 

Dans mon opinion,... (In my opinion,...)

Selon moi,...(According to me,...)

Je pense que...(I think that...)

Je suis d'accord avec...(I agree with...)

Je ne suis pas d'accord avec...(I don't agree with...)

Our Grade Six class has also been using these phrases in their animals unit to discuss briefly which animals are more popular than others and why.

Bonne journée et à bientôt!

Mme Christensen

Preparing for a Birthday!

It was our school secretary's birthday this past week, so some of our French students dropped in to sing "Bonne Fête" and present her with a card!

We've also been preparing birthday cards for students whose birthdays we are celebrating in December.  Each student creates a small card on construction paper for the birthday boy or girl.  Birthday cards for the Gr. 4/5 class (pictured above and below) have four sentences/phrases:

Bonne fête,_______! (Name of recipient)

Tu es (adjective) et (adjective)!

Voici (name of gift) pour toi! (Draw a picture of a gift you wish for the recipient. We discuss this vocabulary before creating the card.)

De ton ami(e), _____. (Name of student giving the card.)

Receiving birthday cards helps to make each student feel special on their birthday.  There is  thought and caring that goes into each card.

As well, it is a very authentic form of communication.  We have the opportunity to practice using the verb "être" as well as a number of adjectives and new vocabulary in context.

Students enjoy adding creative flair and a personal touch to their cards.

Speaking of birthdays, we are looking ahead at the calendar (below) and preparing for the most important one of all, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

We are learning a thematic vocabulary word each day and our French bulletin board (below) displays our Advent "candles".

Three of our students in Gr. 5 recorded a short skit in French that will be shown at our Christmas Concert.  Stay tuned in the next few weeks as I hope to post the skit once our concert is over.  The action takes place at "L'hôtel Bethléem".

Bonne journée et à bientôt!

Mme Christensen

Crêpes--recipe and photos

This week our Grade 7 and 8 class enjoyed learning how to make crêpes based on a simple family recipe!  The results were délicieux!  The recipe is at the end of this post, en français.

Learned about the importance of keeping our workspace clean, using a plastic bin to catch any splatters or splashes.

Strawberry prep!

We took turns forming the crêpe on a breakfast griddle.

Culinary artists, au travail.

Et voilà!  The presentation!

Students were prepared beforehand with some vocabulary (verbs) that we used in the instructions of the recipes.   Here is a simple recipe en français.  The recipe can be multiplied by the number of people to be served. If you have any questions, feel free to ask one of our French club participants!

crêpes

(recette pour une personne)

Ingrédients:

un oeuf battu

de la farine, environ ½ tasse

du lait, 3.25 % -- environ 1/8  tasse

du sel—1/8 cuillière à thé

de la crème à fouetter

du sucre en poudre/sucre glace

du beurre

des fraises

de la sauce au chocolat

Préparation:

1.  Casser l’oeuf dans un bol et battre-le bien.

2. Ajouter du sel et de la farine; mélanger bien.

3.  Verser du lait dans le bol et battre bien le mélange.

4. Verser de la pâte dans une poêle chaud et beurrée.  Étaler la pâte pour faire une forme ronde.

5. Après environ une minute, retourner la crêpe.

6. Servir avec de la crème à fouetter, du sucre en poudre, de la sauce au chocolat, des fraises.

Bon appétit!

À bientôt,

Mme Christensen

French club

Students in one of our Gr. 4 classes have been extending their learning of French by watching a cartoon video series, "Muzzy" and creating a personal dictionary of new vocabulary that they have learned.  We have been meeting once a week at lunch hour.

The Gr. 6 class is starting a new unit called "Les animaux: mythes et réalités"!  We had fun this week surveying our class for our most favorite animals and pets.  We will also explore the topic of less popular animals and choose one to describe and defend, giving our opinions and describing briefly its positive attributes in French.

Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with parents this past week during our student-led conferences!  All students did a fine job reading their compositions and doing the "Spin the Wheel" activity with their parents. Please be sure to turn in your comment forms if you have not done so already.  

À bientôt!

Mme Christensen

Presenting...

...our pieces of writing! All students spent time proudly presenting their writing to each other in pairs as well as to the whole class in preparation for student-led conferences.  

I'm looking forward to meeting with families this week at our conferences!

À bientôt,

Mme Christensen

The world, through their eyes

Students are busily preparing their pieces of writing entitled "C'est moi" for student-led conferences.  Please enjoy a few samples of their illustrations:

À bientôt,

Mme Christensen

Le suprême sacrifice

This Remembrance Day, we honour those who made the supreme sacrifice so that we could enjoy the many blessings we have and often take for granted.

The Gr. 7 and 8 students at the Coronation Park monument, Sept. 2014.

 À bientôt, 

Mme Christensen

Incognito

The Grade 7 and 8 class has been working on a unit called "Incognito" which explores masks, disguises and their purposes.  Our final project will be to create and present in French a mask or makeup design.

This week we have been working hard developing our comprehension skills as we make predictions, listen to an interview and verify our predictions about this actor and why he is disguised in this manner:

In other classes we are working on pieces of writing based on work in September and October.  This will result in a book, one for each grade level.  We hope to have this all ready for student-led conferences in November.  Here we are, doing our very best!

Above, an example of Grade Three work.  Pieces of writing are scaffolded for more detail in each grade.

Un bel effort, tout le monde! Stay tuned for these works in progress.

Happy Pumpkin Day!  À bientôt,

Mme Christensen