Boo-tiful!

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

 

 

From the French Club pumpkins

 

Bon Anniversaire, Statue de la Liberté!

Today marks the 126th birthday of The Statue of Liberty. Today is also its reopening, having been closed for the past year for renovations. It will now be easier to move around inside the monument and will be more accessible to visitors with disabilities.

 

 As Calvert French students know, this world-famous monument symbolizing freedom and opportunity was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States. The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor on June 19th, 1885. It was intended to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence, some ten years earlier.

The Statue of Liberty is made of copper and stands more than 300 feet high. Often called Lady Liberty, she faces southeast, making her a welcoming symbol for arriving ships.

Calvert's Waterlily Pond

7th Age girls were busy in French class cutting, painting, and glueing. After learning about Monet and his waterlily pond, the girls recreated the magic.They combined different paints to create their own unique colors, just like Monet did. These beautiful waterlilies are on display in the hallway alongside the new playground - stop by and take a look.

 

 

Reviewing with Renoir

With the help of a famous Renoir painting, 9th Agers are reviewing clothing vocabulary and constructing new descriptive French sentences. Look below the painting to see some sample descriptions; clothing words are in yellow.

 

Luncheon of the Boating Party

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881

  

Onze personnes portent les chapeaux.
Deux femmes portent les chapeaux avec les fleurs.
Les femmes portent les robes longues.
Une femme porte une jupe longue et une chemise blanche et rouge.
Les hommes portent les chemises et le pantalon.
Il y a des hommes qui portent une cravate aussi.
Une femme porte les gants noirs.

This Renoir painting is currently housed in The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.


Ma Saison Favorite

For this month's French folder paper, 9th Agers wrote about their favorite season which included a combination of the months, colors, sports, holidays, and activities particular to each season. Students enhanced their writings with creative illustrations. This work is now on display in the hallway near the French classroom. Here are some samples; click on each one for a closer view: 

 

 

Renoir Recovered

As 9th Agers haved learned, our Artiste du Mois, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is in the news.  A woman in West Virginia recently paid seven dollars for a small painting she found at a flea-market. She soon discovered that her purchase was a genuine Renoir painting. This painting, called "Paysage Bords de Seine", was stolen in 1951 from our very own Baltimore Museum of Art! It had not been seen since. The painting will soon go to auction and is expected to sell for $100,000 or more! French is truly everywhere, n'est-ce pas?!
 

Boo-tiful Display

Happy Halloween, from the French Club pumpkins!

 



French Knitting

Ever heard of French knitting? French Club members have learned all about it. French knitting became popular in France just after World War I. A fashion company had too much yarn and didn't know what to do with it so they came up with the idea of giving away little wooden spools, in the shapes of people, to schools and churches throughout France. These little spools, known as tricotins, made knitting really fun. Soon everyone was buying the company's excess yarn. In French Club, students used homemade tricotins to knit - so fun, it's hard to stop!

             Tricotins from the early 1900's                   Homemade tricotins



 



Monet Impression

7th Agers are learning about French artist, Claude Monet. Considered to be the founder of Impressionism, Monet lived outside of Paris in a village called Giverny. He  lived there with his wife and their eight children in a pink house with green shutters. He had a beautiful garden with a Japanese bridge built over a waterlily pond. He spent the last ten years of his life painting his beautiful flowers, especially the waterlilies. Students watched a film about Monet's garden based on the popular children's book, Linnea in Monet's Garden.



Concentration

8th Agers have just begun to learn about the seasons, in French. This week, they are working hard on their October folder paper; remembering to write neatly in Calvert Script, to spell the French words correctly, and to do their best at illustrating. As you can see, it takes a lot of concentration. Keep up the good work, students!

 

 

 

Les Quatre Saisons

9th Agers presented one of this week's homework assignments to their classmates: pictures of the four seasons (drawn, printed from the Internet, or cut out of magazines) with oral descriptions, in French. For each season, students are able to name the months, describe the weather, sports played, typical colors found, and nature items. Students are currently working on this month's folder paper, Ma Saison Favorite, in which they describe and illustrate their favorite season. 

 

Quelle artiste!

Inventive!

Bon Travail!

Light Up My World

Students had fun creating glass lanterns in French Club. Each glass lantern is painted, stamped, glued, and decorated with a French expression that is often seen and heard in English. A small battery-operated candle placed inside lights it up. These beautiful projects were recently on display in the Lower School lobby.

 

                       Long Live French                                Enjoy Your Meal                       

 

 

             

                                                             Very Stylish

 

With Excellence                                 Best of the Best  

 

                                                       There You Have It

 

One of a Kind                                       Magnificient
 

Cultivated, Intelligent Person

 

I Love You

  

Say Fromage!

8th Agers expanded their palates this week in French class by participating in a French cheese tasting. Students were encouraged to try three French cheeses - brie, camembert, and chèvre. They learned where each cheese is made in France and from what kind of animal's milk it is made. Students then rated each cheese with J'aime beaucoup (I like a lot), J'aime (I like), J'aime un peu (I like a little), and Je n'aime pas (I don't like). Here are some of their opinions:

 

 

 

 

 

Numbers Game



7th Agers spent the early part of this week playing a French number game called LOTO (Bingo) to enhance their listening and comprehension skills for the numbers 0 to 10. Each table of three students formed a team. The competition was fierce but in the end everyone was a winner for having worked together in such a fun way to learn their French numbers.



It's More Than a Language

Learning French opens up a whole new world of awareness for Calvert students. Not only do they learn how to listen, speak, sing, and write in French, they also learn about the ways in which French is all around them.

Here are some of the bulletin boards in the French classroom that focus on French in our world:

Artist of the Month

Each month a different French artist is highlighted.

French is Everywhere

cooking, sports, politics, architecture, art, science,

history, literature, fashion, American city names,

music, dance, English vocabulary, products, philosophy

French in the World

As you can see, French is spoken in many countries around the world.

French and English are the only languages spoken on five continents.

 



 

 

This display just outside the French Classroom is a work-in-progress. Created by 9th Age students with their French finds from home ... found in magazines, newspapers, and catalogues; on food labels and packaging; in photographs; on maps, ... We will soon need a new wall!!



What's in a Number?

9th Agers are learning numbers 0 to 100 in French. Why learn so many? Numbers play an important part in any language and it is most beneficial to know numbers automatically. It would be awfully hard to conduct daily business, travel, and communication needs without basic number vocabulary. So students are practicing each day to not only memorize number words but to also be able to recall them randomly. Ask your 9th Ager to count for you in French!