Ma famille

I decided to snap some pictures of our bulletin board before I took it down today. These are our "Ma famille" posters. Students had to write 5 sentences describing their families using appropriate masculine/feminine adjectives and possessive pronouns (mon, ma, mes). They did a really great job and I love how they made it their own! I had students make their families as robots, mermaids, cats, royalty and others who decided that they would like to add an extra pet or two! I love how allowing the students to have creative liberty helps them buy in. :) The projects are actually pop outs, which look best displayed on a shelf or counter. Unfortunately counter/shelf space in my room is hard to come by so I had to use the good ol' bulletin board.
(Random unrelated thought that just came to mind: I bet that one day bulletin boards will be replaced by ginormous digital picture frames. Could you imagine how much easier that would be to "tear down" in June and set up in September?! Plus it would be so easy to switch your borders that I would actually change the theme seasonally like those crazy primary teachers! ;)

I know it's a little last minute, but does anyone have any ideas for a creative mother's day project?

Teacher Appreciation Sale!

Thanks to Zip A Dee Doo Dah Designs for the awesome sales poster!!!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Fours-Next-Door

Happy Teacher Appreciation week everyone! In honour of how hard all of you teachers work The Fours Next Door are having a 28% off sale! Why not take the night off from planning and treat yourself instead? Don't forget to use the not-so-secret-code TAD13 when purchasing items :) 

I came across this poster and thought that it was appropriate for teacher appreciation week. Enjoy:)

My Top 5 Keepers!

I not sure if it's just me, but this time of year I tend to get a bad case of the "Shoulda, Woulda, Couldas"? You know when you think about all the things you should've would've and could've done. Well, I've decided that the best antedote is to think about all the wonderful things we did and I will keep for next year. Sooo I've compiled by top 5 favorites and here they are:

1) Owl pellet dissection
I know it seems gross, but the kids love it! They are always so skeptical and afraid to touch it, but once they find their first bone you can't stop them from digging in!

I wish I could show pictures of their facial expressions. They're priceless!

2) Daily 5
It was our first time implementing Daily 5 in English and French class! Why didn't I do this sooner?!?

3) "Les pinces"
After Christmas I started using "les pinces" as a motivational system for students to speak French and boy does it work! It works like one of those baby shower games where you wear clothes pins and if you say one of the "buzz" words (usually baby, bottle, boy etc... at showers that is) then the person who heard you can take your clothes pin. Our "buzz" words are English words ( I do 3 English consecutively as not to stop all communication.) At the end of each double period students get to cash in their "pinces" for classroom money! I also make my "pince" worth a lots of class money so always listen closely hoping to get my "pince". It's also a great way to keep me accountable to only speak French. :)

4) At home reading program
Just after March break we launched a French at home reading program, which has been very well received by the parents!

5) Kidblog
My students have made French kidblogs this year for  and they are really enjoying themselves. They are so motivated that they even make posts at home! It's an awesome blog platform that is students friendly and safe definitely worth checking out!

I feel much better now :)

Neighborhood Blog Party

I am linking up with the wonderful Aspire to Inspire to the Neighborhood Blog Party! Woot Woot! If you want to join in the blog hopping fun click on the link above. It's a great way to get to know the blogs on the block! B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Button . . . he he he I know it's corny, but I couldn't resist . . . my husband's humour is starting to wear off on me :)

In my fridge there is . . .

Currently in French we are working on a food unit. To kick off the unit my teaching partners and I had our students help us to create a word wall . . . or should I say word fridge :) We gave each group of students a theme (meat, veggies, fruit, drinks, desserts etc. . .) and then they each had to create an illustrated card with the new vocabulary to put inside the fridge! Since the students' helped to create the word fridge I find that they use it a lot more. Definitely something I will continue to do in the future! It's also been fun to play games using the fridge like "Qui suis je?".

I wish my actual fridge was stocked this way! 

Who doesn't keep cotton candy in the fridge? I know I do.

"Dr. Poivre" for "Dr. Pepper" I love when students translate proper nouns, way too cute!

Homophone Word Work

I saw this idea on 4th Grade Frolics a while back, but I finally got around to making! Last week I introduced this "Homophone Shaker" to the class as one of our working with words stations. They love it! Although it is a tad loud when shaken with gusto. For the station students shake the bottle to find a homophone. Then they have to try to write a sentence using that homophone and it's "pear" (a little homophone humour lol)! I have placed 15 pairs of homophones in the bottle and if they have trouble coming up with match they can search for it by shaking the bottle some more.

It works best if the word cards have the word printed on both sides

It was my first time dying rice so I was a little skimpy with the food colouring . . .
next time I'll be more generous with it :)

Our Dubbing Ceremony!

We are currently in our Medieval Times unit right now and the students are loving it! Honestly I was a bit hesitant when starting the unit because there is ton of new vocabulary and complex ideas and we would be tackling it in French! Lucky for me I have wonderful teaching partners and together we have been able to come up with some fabulous activities! Most recently we have been going through the steps of becoming a knight and each step of the way the students have had to perform a challenge. As a Page students had to read tongue twisters, do long division, and complete an obstacle course (which ended up being MUCH louder than I expected. . . note to self "Don't do that in the hallway again."). Then as a squire they had to perform endurance tasks such as standing on one foot, hula hooping, singing without taking a breathe and the dreaded "burpies"! At last they were dubbed knights by King Beauetfort! Check out the video of the ceremony (I'm totally loving IMovie right now!).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa46Xfr_D2A&feature=player_embedded

After the knighting we had a royal tournament where students took part in a jousting competition! 

Here is the magic formula . . .

2 wheelie chairs, + cardboard shields + paper jousts + 2 teachers pushing the chairs = Good times! 

(Note to self: "Have students wear goggles next year . . . ").