Posted in French

Videos speak louder than words!

Salut les parents!

Another 2 and a half exciting weeks full of learning and fun is over.  The students proudly recited the poem “Voici mon coquelicot” during the Remembrance Day ceremony.  Apart from that, they also learned the song ,”Mon beau coquelicot”.  We did different exercises where the students had to put the missing first letter of the word after hearing me say the word.  That exercise develops both their listening and writing skills.  In addition, I was reading different sentences to them with already familiar vocabulary and expressions, and they had to match them with the correct photo. Regarding the vocabulary,they started learning the shapes so now when they describe an object,they can give me more details.We also continued practicing the vowel A combined with other letters and last week they learnt another poem related to numbers “Un,deux,trois”.Poems are catchy,repetitive and help students learn vocabulary and pronunciation. In addition, I love how they describe photos from the Taoki book.What makes me really proud is to see them fully engaged with a huge enthusiasm to learn.That drive for taking risks and acquiring new knowledge is what makes my GRADE 1 so so special! Je vous adore mes anges!Enjoy the videos.

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xhuYpPqDwGv9fl59e7KL7ow8InOqRlUS/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17ehtaPcQUdgvKz0zxnMoZl3vDGb83s86/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sguASh_ZU7BoDBx2-5JpKp7ZdoAjHXce/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucNqmUCaL9uYnYScG0Wlr_zDhOY-tkXs/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OpVwjR6mCJ44l029GF_jzgAqE1cpD0rZ/view?usp=sharing

Posted in French

Tell me,and I forget,teach me,and I may remember,involve me and I LEARN!!!!

Salut les parents,

This week we continued practicing the colours, as well as fall vocabulary.  We have added verbalizing numbers and reciting 3 poems about the colours. The students also made beautiful cards for one school in Israel  with french wishes.  We also kept on practicing the vowels A,O,I,E,U  and we learnt the expression ‘Il y a’ (there is)  which the kids used along with the sentence “Je vois” (I see) in order to describe what they see in a picture that I showed them.I was so proud to hear them using these two sentences with the vocabulary they already know like colours,numbers school and fall.Doing puzzles,playing french games and wordwall games with their reading buddies help them practice,learn and have fun.

This week’s challenge: To learn a poem for Remembrance Day!

Posted in French, General Studies, Jewish Studies

Special days in Grade One

Global Maker Day

This past Tuesday was Global Maker Day 2023. The students loved taking part in a day full of collaboration and creativity with schools from around the world. 

1A and 1B loved using their design thinking skills on Global Maker Day. There were four different STEM challenges to choose from: make a monster, a game, a new playground, or build a 3D school model. Special thanks to everyone who sent in all the recycled materials. There was more than enough cardboard and containers for the building.

There was a buzz in the room as the students chose their groups and started to brainstorm. With materials and tape in hand, the building began, and absolutely everyone was engaged and having so much fun.

Morah Ada and I were amazed at all the different building that was going on in the class. The students collaborated as they tested and adapted the designs to meet with success. Students presented their STEM challenges to the class. They were so proud of their final products. Global Maker Day was a success. We were inspired to be innovators, problem-solvers and share our work globally. 

A visit with Ottawa Firefighters

The JK, SK, and Grade One classes had special visit yesterday afternoon. A group of Ottawa firefighters from our local Station 23 came to talk about fire safety with the children. Firefighters discussed their roles as community helpers. The students also learned about making fire exit plans at home.

The children were excited to go outside and get an up close look at a real firetruck and learn about all the gear firefighters need to use.

One of the firefighters just happened to be the father of a SK student, which made the visit extra special.

 

 

 

 

Posted in French

Learning French is so much fun!

Hello Parents,

More than one month has gone by and lots of interesting and fun things have been happening in our French class. As you already saw, I sent home the booklets we created with the kids regarding the classroom vocabulary and the vowel A. Please practice reading the new words with them and the expressions (Je vois). The students benefit considerably from the older kids during reading buddies.As you can see from the photos, not only do the little ones read some syllables to them and the booklets we prepare in class but they also write some words.  We are also learning to sing 2 songs “Salut bonjour”and “Dans mon sac à dos”.The highlight of these last 2 weeks was the Terry Fox Day when the kids learnt to say “Terry fox est Brave”and on Orange Dress Day the kids learnt to say “Je compte””.I am so so  proud of the amount of french my kiddos use every day.I think the photos talk for themselves!

IMG_6265 Terry Fox est brave

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Posted in French

My busy bees are Buzzing!!!!

Dear grade 1 parents!

Joyeux Yom Kippur!

 

Another 2 weeks of fun and educational activities for our kiddos.While we continue applying our routine and rules, kids seem to be adjusting beautifully, showing great enthusiasm for learning.The focus during these 2 weeks was the colors,the numbers 1-10 and the french greetings.We also talked about Rosh hashanah and learnt some of the food we consume that day like apples,honey,fish,pomegranate.Of course part of our daily work is revising the letters by playing games,writing words and reading syllables.Here is the song “Bonjour,Salut” in case the kids would like to practice singing at home.

https://youtu.be/KnvAjx3uTUA?feature=shared

Posted in 1A, 1B, French

Bonjour!Bonjour!Bonjour!

Hello OJCS parents and welcome to Grade 1!

Can you believe another school year is upon us?If you don’t already know me, my name is Madame Efi Mouchou. This is my 2nd year at OJCS. I look forward to forming relationships and teaching your kiddos. 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. Last week we spent time getting to know each other and establishing the classroom rules. We played games revising the letters of the alphabet, and practicing the calendar, we did some writing activities and we read lots of books.This week’s focus was on the french greetings, and saying our name in French. I look forward to meeting you all at back-to-school night on the 19th when you will have the chance to see your kids’recordings.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me through email or a phone call.

e.mouchou@theojcs.ca

Posted in French

Summer blog

Salut,salut les amis!

Here is the blog with many fun activities and games for the students to do over the summer.I highly encourage them to spend some time when they feel like it as it will help them revise everything they have learnt this year.

Posted in French

Ithaca

A journey to Ithaca never ends………..

 

My dear parents and students,

 

Our educational journey is almost coming to a close for this school year, with lots of positive moments and maybe a few challenging ones, at times. Speaking for myself, one of the greatest moments was when I joined the OJCS school, meeting such beautiful people and appreciating the Jews values and heritage that are celebrated. Being a diplomat’s wife, I am certainly used to developing an appreciation for different cultures and traditions and making lifelong friendships, but teaching in a school with a trilingual curriculum is unique. Shifting from “Good morning” to “Bonjour” and “Shalom” daily, opens a door to a whole new world not only for our kiddos but for us, the teachers as well. I don’t want to start listing the advantages of such education because; I am sure you all know them very well, and you can see the results everyday. However, I would like to stress  that as we all try to achieve our goals, it is important not to lose sight of the journey. Ithaca, in Homer’s Odyssey, symbolizes this idea of a destination as a long and winding journey, where the supreme aim is to find fulfillment, such as changing careers, getting a new job, passing an exam, coping with a serious health problem, moving to another country, or school, going through the loss of a parent, and so forth. Constantine Cavafy (one of the most renowned Greek poets) wrote the poem “Ithaca” in 1911, inspired by Odysseus’ journey home after the end of the Trojan War. Cavafy describes Odysseus seeing amazing things, without caring for the destination as he is, advised: “Do not hurry your trip in any way.” That’s what we should all pray for dear friends and students, a long trip full of adventures, difficulties that grow us, and numerous learning opportunities so that when we reach our destination, we will be rich in maturity, knowledge, and wisdom. No matter the hardships, never give up!

Now I would like you all to listen to the poem recited by the amazing Sean Connery and set to the music of Vangelis Papathanassiou. 

 

Sean Connery reads ITHAKA | Powerful Life Poem by C.P.Cavafy

 

Posted in 1A, French, General Studies

A school where fun never ends!

The school is buzzing right now! There has been so much activity lately at the school, and students are shining. Kids enjoyed spending a morning with their grandparents doing fun activities in all three languages, and they proudly showed them their work. For Mother’s Day, they made beautiful cards with wishes in French, and we read how people celebrate this special day in other countries. They keep practicing their reading and writing skills through reading buddies and playing games so that they can review all the new vocabulary, such as spring, the parts of the body, and animals. We are currently learning about animal habitats like the sea, the jungle, the farm, and the type of food they eat, and of course, as the weather steadily improves, we spend some time outdoors. As the end of the school year is getting closer, I insist on reading with the children daily so they can finish Grade 1 positively and successfully.

 

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The Three Little Pigs

 

1A had fun reading The Three Little Pigs recently. After reading the story, I challenged the class to build three solid houses that the big bad wolf couldn’t blow down. The requirements were that each group needed to make a straw house, a stick house, and a brick house. The students got excited and started to build. The Big Bad Wolf/Mrs. Bennett came calling.

                                                                 

I huffed and puffed, used a hair dryer, and made wind with a plastic top. As much as I huffed and puffed, I could not blow the houses down. All the structures were stable and standing: the children were so happy.      

The class wanted to write a new version of the Three Little Pigs. Listen to the children read their story of The Three Little Pigs.

Listen to the stories we wrote and recorded. We hope you enjoy them.

 

Posted in French

Le printemps est ici!

 

The students had another two weeks of great learning at the OJCS. Spring is finally here so we started exploring the vocabulary, reading stories and short poems, creating sentences with the words and doing fun and  educational activities. We also visited the restaurants that Grade 5 created. We saw the menus, we spoke with the owners, ordered food and drinks in French, and we voted for the best restaurant. The kids enjoyed it a lot.We celebrated the 75th anniversary of Israel by working in different stations, making the salads for the pitas and the falafel,l and dancing traditional dances. Finally the students learnt the song ”tête, épaule, genou et pieds” because the body is our next topic. On Friday they did reading buddies with Grade 5. Grade 1 proudly read to them, wrote a few simple sentences related to the story, and played word games. As we are slowly heading  to the end of the school year, I see my stars truly SHINE!.Their talent to switch from Hebrew to French and vice versa is staggering.They learn from me, and I learn from them!!!!!!