It’s time for a new task for our Ami du jour. This time we will be focusing on les animaux. We have talked a lot about animals this year so the student’s new challenge is to bring in a toy animal or stuffed animal. They will share it with the class and tell us what the animal is in French as well as share one little fact about the animal (it could be something like “J’ai un chat chez moi.” (I have a cat at my house) or “Les lions dorment beaucoup.” (Lions sleep a lot). Whatever little fact they would like us to know. When it is your child’s turn I will email you the previous evening to give you a heads up.
Thank you so much for your help with our Ami du jour tasks!
We are almost finished cycling through everyone for the Show and Tell activity and are nearly ready for our next Ami du jour task. The next time their name is chosen by our wheel the Grade 1s will be bringing in a photo of their family in order to introduce us to “les membres de ma famille.” We will be learning the French family terms as well as reviewing “c’est mon” and “c’est ma”.
I will once again send out an email notifying you when your student’s turn is coming up and photos can be either printed out and brought in physically or digitally sent to me to project for your child’s presentation.
I look forward to learning more about les familles des élèves!
This trimester we studied the French vowel sounds to help improve our French reading. We used a variety of activities, read alouds, worksheets and games to help us become more familiar and comfortable with the pronunciation of les voyelles. Each vowel was first introduced using a comptine (a rhyming story) and it can be helpful to review these comptines to solidify our knowledge of the vowels or continue practicing ones that are a little more difficult. I am posting the comptines for each of the vowels for your continued review and practice! Enjoy these fun, silly little stories!
Our “Ami du jour” (Friend of the Day) will be starting a new activity as of Wed, March 2. The day before, during French we will spin our wheel to determine who the Ami du jour will be for the next day and that friend will bring something in for Show and Tell. We are working on our oral French and will be using phrases such as “C’est mon” or “C’est ma” to explain to the class what has been brought in.
Tomorrow we will spin the wheel in each class to determine who our first Show and Tell presenter will be!
Today begins our French reading homework and so I have created a little Je Lis tutorial video in case you would like a walk through of the site. Your students have their green homework duotangs in their note totes so they should have everything they need to get started on their reading.
Please see the video below for the tutorial and don’t hesitate to email me (e.cohen@theojcs.ca) if you have any questions.
September was a whirlwind of a month and now that we are into October we are beginning more and more elements of our French learning. It has been a pleasure working with your children and I have seen so much growth and learning already in the short amount of time we have had together at school.
One element that has been newly introduced to the students is our homework platform for French. As mentioned at Back to School Night and in the Back to School Night video (available HERE) the French homework will focus on reading using a platform called Je Lis. Nightly reading is an essential component to your child’s success in French and is expected to be completed Monday-Thursday. This should take approximately 10 minutes a night only. Though we will not be starting this homework component until next week, I wanted to give you some information on the platform and expectations. I showed the students the website today and gave them their login information in case you would like to explore the site before homework expectations begin.
The goal will be for your child to eventually read these books independently: fluently, with expression and accuracy without any assistance from an adult. Your child must also be able to demonstrate an understanding of what they are reading by retelling in their own words or answering questions. This will come with time as we learn more and more French vocabulary.
In order to keep track of your child’s reading progress, we will be communicating through the green duotang “Devoirs”. These will go back and forth from school. In this duotang is a reading log that you must complete each night. Please write the name of the book and the level as well as checking the difficulty level of the book. Please keep in mind that these books should be read independently by your child. If your child struggles to read the book or has more than three errors per 10 words, it is too difficult (sad face- 😕). If your child has a few errors and understands what is being read, it is just right (neutral face- 😐). If your child makes little or no errors and has an excellent understanding of the content, it is too easy (happy face-😀). We will be adjusting the levels as your child progresses through the year. Once a month I will also be asking the student’s to record themselves reading so that I can assess their reading. This can be done by scrolling down on the chosen book and choosing the “record” button. Once the recording is done you click “stop” and then “submit”. This will allow me to access the recording your child has made.
At the start of next week (Monday, Oct 18) I will be adding a tutorial to the blog to show you exactly how to access the features of Je Lis however if you would like to explore the website in advance, Je Lis can be accessed by clicking HERE.
Input your students Login Name and Password (found in their green homework duotang) which is case sensitive and then you can access their account.
Enjoy the Je Lis program and don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions!
