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)