Au revoir et merci
“Au revoir et merci” is a song that I have been singing with all of my French students since the start of L’ÉCOLE de NICOLE in 2008. And now, mes amis, it is with those words that I leave all of you. This is my final post on my blog, not only for ChildLight Montessori families, but for all of my French students, their families and my followers.
I have really enjoyed working with your children and will miss them dearly, but my family is pulling me in a different direction. It is time to embark on a new teaching adventure, one where I will teach and learn from my own daughters. We are making the switch from public school to homeschool and we are all very excited about it!
As much as I have loved sharing my passion of French with all of you, I know that I would not be successful at both homeschooling and continuing on my current path. I have decided to “close” L’ÉCOLE de NICOLE and focus completely on my daughters’ education. It is a new journey that feels right for our family.
I thank my husband, my daughters, and all of you for your wonderful support and love. You will always hold a special place in my heart and are leaving me with many fond memories. I wish you all a continued love of learning French.
And with that, I say… ”Au revoir et merci”
Enjoy these pictures… my last two classes:
le 21 mai
Today we finally had the performances of “La soupe de pierre” by the extended day children. The younger children in the morning were a fabulous audience. Did they come home and tell you about it? The adults in the afternoon were well-behaved, too. Thank you all for coming to support your children today. It was truly a lovely day. Since I was hiding behind the curtain, I didn’t get any action pictures, but I think these are good moments to remember.
Here are the houses and firepit in the town… all created by the children:
Here are the children at their first dress rehearsal:
Some of you wanted the recipe of the soup we made so here it is: La Soupe de Pierre recipe. I’ll also give them a hard copy in their French folders next week. If you somehow missed my last post of the children making the soup, you’ll want to check it out here.
Next Tuesday is the last French day. I’ll look forward to “wrapping up” the year with everyone.
Merci et à la prochaine…
“La soupe de pierre” is coming
Just a reminder to all of you extended day parents that the French play is this Tuesday, May 21st at 12:30pm. We are all looking forward to sharing our hard work with you.
Here is the soup-making in action… amusez-vous bien!
C’est le mois de mai!
This month we looked at many things spring and we also did a bunch of review since this is the last time you will all see me this year.
We had some fun with two different songs. Earlier in May, we sang and danced to Savez-vous planter les choux? It’s a fun song about planting cabbages using different parts of your body. They had a great time picking out various body parts to use instead of simply our hands. You can check out this cute video here. In the second class in May, we did a fun circle game song called “À la ronde du muguet.” We danced around some Lily of the Valley (du muguet) and when the song is done, the idea is that you are supposed to be very quiet. Some of the children couldn’t help themselves from laughing. Andre, Eva Mae and Aria were winners of this game, being very silent.
We looked at key words focusing on the chicks and their hatching. We saw many different colored “poussins.” What a wonderful experience for the children to observe that whole process!
We did a review of many of the animals we have seen this year by using finger puppets. The older children are so comfortable speaking and repeating in French. It’s been great to see their progress.
We listened to the story, “La chenille qui fait des trous.” Eric Carle’s stories are so wonderful. This one includes fruit, days of the week and even counting. The children enjoyed watching my “chenille” chomp through all of the various foods before it turned into a “papillon.” I love this youtube version of it and I have a feeling your children will, too.
So, I guess that wraps up the year. It’s been a pleasure teaching and learning from your children. Thank you for sharing them with me. I hope you will continue to nurture their interest in French.
Merci et à la prochaine…
le 14 mai
It’s hard to believe that French is coming to a close in just a couple of weeks. Next week, rather than have a regular French day on Tuesday, the younger children will get to watch the Extended Day children perform their play, “La soupe de pierre.” This is a French folktale that many of you may know as “Stone Soup.” There certainly is a lot of excitement for it!
MORNING CIRCLE
Before jumping in this morning, I let the Extended Day children share a few thoughts about the play they’ve been working on. It’s been a fun few months preparing for the big day and they wanted to share some feelings about it so that the younger children have a better understanding when they watch it next week. At some point next week before the play, the younger children will listen to the story in English.
We continued to look at our bugs this week. Have you seen any of them outside lately? We reviewed from last week: une abeille = a bee, une fourmi = an ant, une sauterelle = a grasshopper, une libellule = a dragonfly, une mouche = a fly, une coccinelle = a ladybug, and une araignée = a spider. We played a hide and peek game to practice these. I was so impressed with how much they retained. Une coccinelle is certainly a favorite!
We had some more fun with our circle/game song. This week, the “muguet” was just starting to open. Maybe by the last week of French, I’ll be able to show all of them beautiful, fragrant Lily of the Valley. You can check out “À la ronde du muguet” here.
Last week, we started a game called “Où est Georges?” In Pat, Arleen and Jen’s class, we had time to play this again. The children were so excited. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the younger children were able to give their responses in French. C’était fantastique! In Valerie and Rachel’s class, we read a story about a little dog looking for a friend to play with him. Merci, Paige, for bringing in this bilingual book to share. The children were great listeners and seemed to enjoy the story.
EXTENDED DAY
Today we had another dress rehearsal. Each week, I’m feeling more confident that we’ll be ready. We’ll have one final practice on Monday afternoon. Tuesday, May 21st, is show day! It looks like we will have quite an audience. From what the children have told me, there might be as many as 30 adults watching!
This Friday, the children will work with me to prepare “la soupe de pierre.” You’ll all have a chance to taste it next week after the play. We can’t wait to share!
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Merci et à la prochaine…
le 7 mai
I missed seeing everyone last week, but it looks and sounds like the teas were a huge success. What a milestone for all of you!
MORNING CIRCLE
With spring upon us, the bugs are starting to wake up, too. So, why not have some fun with bugs in French?! We saw une abeille = a bee, une fourmi = an ant, une sauterelle = a grasshopper, une libellule = a dragonfly, une mouche = a fly, une coccinelle = a ladybug, and une araignée = a spider. We first played a matching game and worked on repeating these words. They did a wonderful job with this activity.
We then learned a new circle game song. It’s called “À la ronde du muguet.” It’s a song about circling the flower, Lily of the Valley. The first one to talk or laugh has to sit in the middle. There was lots of giggling and smiling. Be sure to check it out here.
We ended with a game that we will continue next week. It is called “Où est Georges?” I played it with the extended day children at the start of the year and it was a big hit. It encourages the children to speak and introduce themselves. For the younger children, they are now more comfortable speaking French, so this is the perfect game for that. Ask your child if they remember the game with the frog (la grenouille.)
EXTENDED DAY
Today was our first dress rehearsal and it went very well. I was worried with having a week away from practicing that the children would have forgotten their lines. Lucky for us, they remembered and all is well.
If possible, please continue to practice “Sur le pont d’Avignon” at home. You can check it out here.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Merci et à la prochaine…
le 23 avril
I hope everyone was able to enjoy vacation. It was good to be back, even if it was a bit gray today.
MORNING CIRCLE
Today’s theme focused on “Boucle d’or et les trois ours.” Did your child tell you about the little puppet show that I did for them? Before jumping into the story, everyone got a picture card from the story and we played a matching game. We saw Papa Ours (Father Bear), Maman Ours (Mother Bear), Bébé Ours (Baby Bear) and Boucle d’or (Goldilocks.) We also saw du gruyau (oatmeal), des chaises (chairs) and des lits (beds.)
This story lends itself well to talking about “petit” and “grand.” We organized the various parts from the story into groups of little and big. They did a fabulous job with this.
With all of their concentration and focus for the upcoming tea next week, they really needed to move. So, we played “Écoutez/Regardez/Répétez” which is a copycat kind of game. They did a wonderful job repeating as we went through various actions. It was a lot of fun!
I’ll see you in a couple of weeks. Enjoy your special teas and I’ll be back in May.
EXTENDED DAY
We are on full play rehearsal mode. We are counting down the days until the big day on May 21st. Starting on May 7th, we will be having dress rehearsals so the children will hopefully feel even more “into” the play.
I hope you can continue to practice “Sur le pont d’Avignon” at home. Be sure to check it out here.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Merci et à la prochaine…
