The last week of September and we are picking up speed.
In Pre-K today, we learned colors, and sang about numbers, greetings, saying our name, fille/ garçon, grand and petit. Children watched as Tom the monkey puppet peaked out of my bag and said hello. Then he showed the children all the things he had brought that were either grand or petit.
In Kindergarten, we learned a song about a whale (une baleine) and three ships (trois navires) who need to be careful not to be swallowed by the whale. We read Anno's Counting book and used words that rhyme, like maison, cochon, poisson, lion, papillon, and mouton. We sang a song about a grand chapeau, un petit chapeau, and talked about how speaking French could help when traveling.
In first grade, we are learning vocabulary for play, go, ball, with, at the park, school and house, and dog and cat. Children are formulating long sentences using these words. We continue to sing Petites Mains, and added a new song about fish, called Les Petits Poissons. We have read the book Anniversaire à la Ferme, sung the happy birthday song, and talked about farm animals. We are writing a little bit in our French book.
Second grade is close to finishing chapter 1 in Grenadine. This chapter features introductions of the characters in the book, La Défense in Paris, school supplies, common verbs used in class, such as regarder, écouter, écrire, répéter, venir, montrer, donner and prendre. We play Jacques a dit, the French version of Simon says, with these verbs. We began singing the numbers song for this chapter and will soon learn a fun song about the silly things Grenadine puts in her bookbag when she gets ready for school.
Third grade took home their first French homework this weekend! Alex et Zoé provides a project for each chapter which consists of entering the chapter's vocabulary into a small "dictionary" that I make for them. We cannot do this in class or there will be no time to teach! But the kids enjoy seeing their words accumulate in their dictionary, so they will bring their book home monthly to enter their vocabulary into the dictionary. Third grade is learning vocabulary for greetings, numbers, and classroom commands, and becoming familiar with the design of the book and with the new characters.
Fourth grade is cycling through vocabulary from last year, which is helping to refresh some memories. This chapter uses the word savoir with old and new verbs. Savoir means to know, and our characters talk about the things they know how to do in this chapter. For example, je sais nager, or I know how to swim. Our new verbs include: faire la cuisine, to cook, faire du ski, to ski, faire du cheval, horse back ride, faire du judo, do judo, jouer au tennis, play tennis, jouer de la flute, to play the recorder, jouer du saxophone, play saxophone, and jongler, to juggle.
