Go, Go, Go; Allez, Allez, Allez!

We completed our January calendar this week!

This past week the Grade 4, 5 and 6 students came across the verb "aller" in the story we read about a family's trip to Vietnam.  Grade 7 and 8 students will be using this verb extensively as they work on their invention projects this week. We all enjoyed this video in French , Spanish and English which will help us remember what the verb "aller" means!

Allez, Allez, Allez!

Grade 7 and 8 students, please remember that you must bring to class your ideas for your invention project as we are starting our work on the rough copy on Monday.

The Grade 4, 5 and 6 students have been learning/reviewing vocabulary on the parts of the body in preparation for their project.  Here is a good site online that reviews this vocabulary through games. My favorite is "whack-a-word".

Vocabulary games/activities: Le corps humain, level one

Finally, la grande question: Où est le drapeau français?

(Indice: Il est près du bureau de Mme Christensen.)

À lundi!

Mme Christensen

Conversations and clothespins

What would these have to do with French class?

Well, in our Grade 5/6 class each student gets une pince, one clothespin, per full sentence spoken in French. By the end of class, each student has a small pile of pinces on his/her desk.  We count all the pinces up at the end of class, resulting in points for the whole group.

Great job so far, 5/6! We will watch a French cartoon and have popcorn once we earn 500 points/pinces.

Here are some samples of work from 4/5 and 5/6 in our unit, Ma Famille et Moi, which has us discussing our family pastimes.

In the 4/5 and 5/6 class we have been enjoying reading a story about a girl's trip to Vietnam to see family. We will continue working on describing our family activities and family members as we work towards our unit project.

In Grade 7/8 we had a quiz on the verb aller and had reading evaluations based on reading passages about inventions in classrooms. We brainstormed some of common frustrations we experience in everyday life and explored how these experiences could inspire an invention.

Now for la grande question: Où est le drapeau français?

Voici l'indice:

Bonne fin de semaine!

Mme Christensen

Des inventions partout! Inventions everywhere!

In our Grade 7/8 class we are starting our unit on inventions. At the end of our unit, we will be presenting our inventions to the class, Dragon's Den style.

We brainstormed a list of inventions present in our classroom:

One student wisely noted that we are God's creation:

We also read examples of student-created inventions and observed the use of the future tense with aller in the explanations regarding what each invention was going to be used for and what problem it was going to solve.  Aller means to go.  Here is the verb aller which we are studying for a quiz on Tuesday:

Here are more samples of sentences using the verb aller, found in the resolutions we wrote for our bulletin board that we showed you last week:

Good job, grades 7 and 8!

In Grades 4/5 and 5/6, we've been finishing the illustrations of our family leisure activities and using this vocabulary to play charades or the "voice change game".  In Grade 4/5 we watched a video about family leisure time.

Maintenant, la grande question: Où est le drapeau français?

 Voici l'indice: 

Bonne fin de semaine!

Mme Christensen

Résolutions pour 2017

Prior to Christmas break, the Gr. 7/8 class communicated in French using the passé composé to describe events in the past.

This term, we are working on communicating our thoughts about the future, using the verb "aller". We brainstormed a number of resolutions to talk about what we plan on doing in the future. Here are just a few:

We wrote about and illustrated our resolutions which are now on the French bulletin board (above)!

Here are a few samples of our work:

The Grade 4,5 and 6 classes have been continuing their discussions regarding what their families like to do for leisure: 

Finally, la grande question: Où est le drapeau français?

Bonne semaine!
Mme Christensen

Joyeux Noël et Bonne et Heureuse Année!

Our month has gone by so fast!  This past week we practiced singing a very well-known French Christmas carol called "Il est né, le divin enfant" (He is born, the divine child).  This carol reinforced the Christmas vocabulary that we have been learning this week.. Here is a link to "Il est né" plus other Christmas carols and popular Christmas songs:

French Christmas songs with lyrics

In Grades 5/6 and 7/8 we watched an episode or two of the "Simon's cat: Christmas collection" and replayed the episodes slowly, describing the action in French in the present tense. In Grade 7/8 we drew up a list of verbs that we used in sentences to describe what was happening. Within 50 seconds of the first episode, we had used at least 30 different verbs! We will work more with verbs in the present tense as well as in the futur proche when we come back to classes in January.

We had a lot of laughter in the classroom as we watched these episodes of Simon's Cat. Please enjoy:

Simon's Cat--Christmas collection

And finally, LA GRANDE QUESTION! Où est le drapeau français?

Voici l'indice:

Have a blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our world needs Him now more than ever. See you, en janvier!

Joyeux Noël!  

Bonne et Heureuse Année! 

Bonnes vacances!

Mme Christensen