ours brun, dis-moi...

This week as a change from a new song, I decided that we would once again have a story with a related craft.  I have recently purchased Eric Carle's "Ours brun dis-moi" (Brown bear, Brown bear) and it has already become a firm favourite with Little Imp.  It is such a good story to read in a foreign language to your little one not only because it is a story that they are probably very familiar with in English, but because the French is fairly simple and very repetitive and as with all Eric Carle books the pictures are colourful and engaging. If you do not have a copy of the story lots of libraries have foreign language children's book now so that may be worth a look.  I bought my copy from little linguist but it is also available from amazon and waterstones - and I have often picked up good condition French books second hand on ebay for a fraction of the new price!  Alternatively, here is a link to a slideshare of the story online: http://www.slideshare.net/smt786/our-brun-dismoi?ref=http://pinterest.com/pin/527132331355014382/


To accompany the story I had lots of ideas for craft activities - in fact if you check out my "ours brun" pinterest board you will see just how many I have come across that I think are worth a try at some point!  In the end, however, I decided to exploit the obvious opportunities which the book offers to introduce colours and animals.

We haven't had the paints out in our craft time for a while and I have a whole load of animal sponges and stencils, so this too seemed like a good starting point.

Each of our toddlers chose to paint whichever animals they wanted from the selection available and using whichever colours they wanted from the available paints.  We then annotated these for them to describe what animals they could see in their picture, along the lines of the book.

So, for example, on the top of Little Imp's picture I wrote out:
"Little Imp, dis-moi ce que tu vois?" (Little Imp tell me what do you see?) followed by "Je vois..."  (I see...) and then I labelled each of her animal pictures accordingly e.g. un chat rouge (a red cat) etc.  Her painting is now proudly displayed on the playroom wall not only providing lovely decoration but also giving us the opportunity to practice some French when we are playing in there and look at it.  I tend to do this with all her artwork as it provides lots of different vocabulary opportunities during the week :o)

Of course, you do not necessarily need to use paints and stencils/sponges to create such a picture.  Your little one could draw their own animals or you could print out some animals to colour in and then stick them onto a backing sheet to label them.  You could also make a little mini book - in fact this is something that I think I will do with Little Imp when she is a little older.

Here are our fabulous paintings to give you some inspiration for your own brown bear style pictures:

Happy story telling and crafting! :o)

Preschool session 5

This session was the last before the half-term holiday and so provided a good opportunity to recap on what we have learnt in our first few sessions ready to start on new topics after the holidays.

We started off, as always, by singing our bonjour song and greeting one another in French.  We then sang "bonjour mes amis comment ça va?" and practiced asking and answering the question " ça va?" with one another and our puppet Jacques.

We then moved on to revising the numbers 1-6 - we did this through playing the game introduced last week - "Où se cache le bébé pingouin?"  - and reading the book "dix grenouilles" (10 frogs) by Quentin Blake.  This introduced numbers beyond 6 and the children were quickly counting up to 10 themselves.  We then completed an activity sheet where we had to correctly identify the numbers on the ladybirds and then count out and stick on the correct number of dot stickers on each one.  The children enjoyed this activity and created some pretty multi-coloured ladybirds to take home in their folders.  

We sang our two counting songs - voici mes doigts and cinq brioches aux raisins - which pretty much all the children are word perfect on now! :o)

We practiced asking and answering the question "comment t'appelles tu?" and sang the little rhyme "deux petits oiseaux" (2 little dickie birds) for reinforcement.

Finally, I introduced a new song - 5 petits pois (5 little peas) which the children enjoyed.  See last week's toddler session post for the lyrics and actions.

As this was our last session of the half-term, all the children were given a certificate (diplôme) which outlines in French and English what they have achieved this half-term.  Namely: to greet people, to give their name, to ask how someone is, to say how they are, to count to 6, to sing a variety of songs and to say goodbye.  Quite an achievement in 5 weeks I think! :o)  I am so proud of my little preschoolers' and the progress they have made in 5 short weeks and I can't wait to get back next half-term and start learning some new words, phrases and songs with them! :o)

Wishing you all a good half-term break and looking forward to another fun half-term of French ahead! :O)

5 petits pois...

One of Little Imp's absolute favourite action rhymes at the moment is 5 little peas and the other week she asked me how to say it in French. Hmm, I replied, I don't know if they have this rhyme in France, I'll see what I can find.  After lots of searching I finally came up with a version from the "Comptines pour enfants" app on my phone and Little Imp is now well and truly hooked on both versions.  It seemed like a good one to introduce at our toddler session and so last Friday that is what I did :o)

Now, I was quite surprised that not many of our little ones knew the English version, so for those of you that are new to this rhyme here are the English words and the actions:

5 little peas in a peapod pressed, (hands clasped together with fingers interlocking)
1 grew, (lift one finger)
2 grew, (lift a second finger)
and so did all the rest. (lift 3 more fingers)
They grew and grew, (move your hands further and further apart)
they did not stop
Until one day that pod went  (drag the suspense out here with a pause)
POP!!! (Clap hands together on pop)

The French version goes like this (the actions are the same):

5 petits pois serrés dans une cosse,
Un grandit,
Son voisin grossit,
Les trois autres aussi.
Ils grandissent, grandissent,
grossissent, grossissent,
et...........
CRAC - la cosse éclate!!!

To accompany this rhyme we were obviously going to need to make a peapod and peas - unfortunately I completely forgot to take any photos this week, so I just have two of Little Imp's to share with you, one of the outside of the pod and one looking in.

To make your own peapod and peas you will need:

A paper plate
green collage scraps
glue
5 green pompoms
a stapler
scissors
googly eyes/eye stickers (optional)

First, fold your paper plate in half and cut down to a peapod shape.  Staple the sides of your plate together.

Next, let your little one loose with the glue and collage scraps to decorate the peapod green.

Finally pop your 5 little pompom peas inside - you can add little eyes if you wish like Little Imp did!

Happy singing and crafting! :o)

Preschool session 4 - counting, the hungry caterpillar and expressing preferences

This week I decided to introduce a story to my preschoolers, given that we are focusing on counting this half-term la chenille qui fait des trous (the very hungry caterpillar) seemed a good choice as it offers the opportunity to count the fruits that the caterpillar eats.  The fact that most, if not all, of the preschoolers would already be familiar with the story is also valuable as they can follow the story even if they don't understand every word of the text.

The story was very well received by the preschoolers, who joined in counting the fruits on each page and listened beautifully throughout.  It prompted a discussion, in English, of which fruits they like and dislike and so in a deviation from my planned session I decided to go with it and introduce "J'aime" (I like) and "Je n'aime pas" (I don't like).  I introduced the phrases with simple actions - thumbs up for J'aime and thumbs down for Je n'aime pas - and we had a quick practice altogether saying the phrases and showing the actions.  I then asked questions like "Qui aime les pommes?" (Who likes apples?) whilst holding up the book showing the fruit and the children responded altogther calling out their chosen phrase and showing the action.  Once we had done a few of these and they were getting confident at saying the phrases, I switched to asking individuals "Tu aimes les poires?" (Do you like pears?) etc and receiving individual responses.  Some children were reluctant to participate alone but most were enthusiastic in their responses.

To practice recalling the numbers 1-6 without counting up, I introduced a new game: "Où se cache le bébé pingouin?" (Where is the baby penguin hiding?).  I adapted this game from one I found on teacherspayteachers.  The original version includes more numbers and requires a pocket chart to play.  My simplified version involved printing out an A4 sheet of card on which were 6 numbered penguins and then printing out separately a baby penguin.  I then asked the children to "fermez les yeux" (close your eyes) whilst I stuck the baby penguin with blu tac behind one of the penguins.  I would then say "ouvrez les yeux" (open your eyes) and the children would put their hands up and take turns to guess where the baby penguin was by saying a number in French e.g. "cinq".  Once the penguin was found we would start the game over and I would hide him again.  The children really enjoyed this game and were all eager to participate.  Some were able to instantly recall the numbers in French and some counted up to reach the one they wanted to guess - I think with some more play they will soon all be instantly recalling these numbers.  And once we progress to more numbers it will be simple to adapt my word document to have different numbers on the penguins, and jumble the order up, etc.  Any parents of my preschoolers please drop me an email if you want me to forward you the word doc and you can print out a version to play at home. :o)

The rest of our session included singing 5 brioches aux raisins, voici mes doigts and deux petits oiseaux and practicing answering the questions "Comment t'appelles tu?", "Quel âge as-tu?" and “Ça va?”, which all the children are getting more confident in answering despite having had a week off last week. :o)

Have a good week practicing your French! :O) 

Alouette...

Friday's toddler session introduced the well-known French song Alouette to our little ones.  I'm sure you are all familiar with this cheerful sounding tune, which lends itself to actions and is therefore very attractive to toddlers and pre-schoolers - needless to say we didn't dwell too much on what exactly we were planning to do to these poor little birds!!  Why is it I wonder that so many nursery rhymes and songs are so sinister?

The lyrics to the first verse, for those that are unfamiliar, are:

Alouette, gentil alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai la tête,
Je te plumerai la tête.
Et la tête, et la tête,
Alouette, alouette,
ahhhhhhhh

The song can continue with as many verses as you like including: les yeux, le bec, le dos, etc.

For our craft this week, we made some fabulous rocking birds made from folded paper plates.

To make your own, you will need:
a paper plate,
collage materials,
googly eyes,
feathers
thin ribbon,
glue

Firstly, fold the paper plate in half.

Next, decorate both sides with your collage materials and add a few feathers, googly eyes and a beak.

Add a feather or two and some thin ribbon for a tail

Stand your bird on a flat surface, give it a gentle tap and it will rock :o)

As usual, here are our fantastic creations to inspire you:

 

No preschool or toddler sessions this week - so I will be back next week.

 

Happy singing and crafting in the meantime! :o)

 

Preschool session 3 - counting and how are you?

We again started with our "Bonjour" song and I was happy, but not surprised this week, that all of the children had remembered the song and sang along with enthusiasm and volume! :o) 

In the first session I had introduced the question "Comment t'appelles tu?" and was delighted that the children had again retained an understanding of the question and also could all form a response using "Je m'appelle".  Last week I had introduced "Quel âge as-tu?" and again all the children were able to respond, some with a simple "trois" or "quatre" and some with a full sentence! :o)

Our third preschool session continued with the theme of counting and we again sang the songs 5 brioches aux raisins and Voici mes doigts.  The children are really learning the songs well and I was amazed how much of them they all joined in with. 

Our hands on activity this week was the worksheet pictured above which I made using the currant bun template sheet from lomes and quines (see the currant bun toddler group post for a link) to which I simply added a number in digit form on each cherry and written out in French on the icing.  Whilst clearly the preschoolers are not yet reading in English, let alone French, I have always felt that exposure to the written words helped my eldest children learn to read and so feel it is important to include it on worksheets even for little ones. The activity involved "reading" the numbers on the currant buns and then counting aloud together in French as we drew the appropriate number of "raisins" onto each "brioche" on the sheet.  Some of the children also copied the number out on their buns as well.  It was great to see that in only 3 sessions, all the children can count up in French and some of them could even identify the numbers straight away in French as well as English.


Our new vocabulary this week was the question “Ça va?” and the responses “ça va bien”, “comme çi, comme ça” and “ça va mal”.  We practiced these orally and attached an action to each response.  So thumbs up with a smile, thumbs horizontal, and thumbs down with a sad face.  I gave the responses and the children showed me the correct action and I gave the action and the children gave me the correct response.  We asked our puppet Jacques how he was feeling and tried to guess from his actions.  We practised speaking "comme une souris" (like a mouse) and
“très bruyant” (very loudly).  It was lots of fun and the children picked the phrases up very quickly.  We also sang the song "Bonjour mes amis, comment ça va?" to the tune If you're happy and you know it.
     At home, it is easy to reinforce counting with the activities suggested last week.  The new vocabulary question and responses can also be practised simply by asking your preschooler "ça va?"  and playing the game we played in the session saying the phrase and asking for the action and vice versa.

I hope that you have another fun-filled week of counting!! :o)