Inventions and imaginations

Our Grade 7/8's are currently working on the rough draft of an invention---they have been tasked to invent an original (imaginary) device that will solve a challenge or frustration that they encounter in the school environment! Once finished, they will write and speak about their inventions before the class, presenting a 2-D or 3-D prototype of the device. Pictured above is an invention that is featured on the cover of our text.

The Grade 5/6 class is designing floorplans of a school--they can base their design on our school, another school or the school of their dreams! We have just started this work this week. I heard today that one student has included a swimming pool in his school's design! Students will also be writing and speaking about their schools once the floorplans are done.

Our Grade 3/4's have been learning vocabulary and expressions related to classroom objects and subjects as well as parts of the school.

In all cases, before we move on to any reading or writing, we have spent a good deal of time with vocabulary and concepts orally. In our 3/4 class today we had fun practicing vocabulary orally by playing charades as we tried to act out and guess which room of the school we were pretending to be in.

Bonne fin de semaine! Stay warm!

Mme Christensen

Bonne fête à toi!

A regular occurrence in French class is the creation of classroom birthday cards for each student that is having a birthday.

We start by choosing paper that is in the birthday person's favorite colour: Quelle est ta couleur favorite?

There are five parts to consider as we write up a card in French:

The greeting:           Bonne fête, __________! /Joyeux anniversaire, ______________!
Age:                         Tu as ________ ans aujourd'hui!
Description:             Tu es ___________ et _______________! ( Students use appropriate                                                      masculine or feminine adjectives already learned in class to complete this sentence.)
Imaginary Gift:        Je te donne _________________. (We brainstorm vocabulary for presents that                                           the birthday person might want....from a new pet to a trip around the world!)
Closing:                   De ton ami(e), _________________

Most students really look forward to getting their birthday envelope full of small handmade birthday cards and many of these become keepsakes year after year.

This activity is a good example of authentic communication in writing. It gives us a chance as a class at each level to introduce and continuously review the verbs être and avoir, the -er verb donner, masculine and feminine forms of adjectives and lots of vocabulary! 

Here are some samples below for someone who had their birthday this past week:

The outside of a card, above, and the inside, below:

Bonne semaine!

Mme Christensen

Dans ma salle de classe

New units of work have begun for all classes! The Gr. 3/4 and 5/6 classes have been learning as well as reviewing classroom vocabulary which will help them prepare for their particular projects, scaffolded according to their level.

Music is a wonderful way to internalize vocabulary and language structures! Here are a couple songs we have been enjoying in Gr. 3/4:

Mon sac à dos (The Backpack song by Gregg LeRock)

Dans ma salle de classe (In my Classroom, by Alexandre)

Gr. 5/6 students had a vocabulary test Friday on classroom vocabulary. We have been talking about what we have in our desks and whether our desk is neat or messy!

Here is a link to a vocabulary quizlet that we have worked with to reinforce our learning of classroom vocabulary:

Gr. 5/6 School Vocabulary Quizlet

Our Gr. 7/8 students have been talking about what they are going to do (hopefully!) in 2019 using a future tense called "le futur proche" which involves using the verb "aller" which means "to go". Here is a fun song in English, Spanish and a bit of French that helps us to remember that "aller" means "to go". If you're a soccer fan, you'll like this one!

Allez, Allez, Allez (Go, Go, Go by Ricky Martin)

Bonne fin de semaine!

Mme Christensen