Happy Halloween!

On Friday October 30 we celebrated Halloween here at L'École Française du Maine where we enjoyed an afternoon of costumes and fun for our annual costume parade through the village of South Freeport. The parade stopped at the Post Office where we were given candy and finished at the harbor where witches, wizards and jedi alike were greeted with hot chocolate, doughnuts and other toothsome treats. There were some very impressive costumes this year and it was so nice to see all the ghouls and ghosts come out to socialize on such a beautiful fall day.

Everyone including teachers dressed up for the Halloween celebrations

 Darth Vader and Princess Leia crossed the galaxy to make special guest appearances 

 The Hallway was full of creatures and beasts as we all prepared for the parade.

Even the smallest of us showed off our Halloween Spirit

We had so much fun wearing our costumes in the parade 

(and especially eating candy)

Happy Halloween and May the Force be With You

Consul General of France, Valéry Freland, Visits l' Ecole Française du Maine

The Consul General of France in Boston, Valéry Freland, visited l' Ecole Française du Maine on Tuesday, November 20th during his first trip to Maine. Willy and Beth LeBihan, Founders and Directors of the School, gave the Consul a tour of the facilities and described the history and mission of the School. Mr. Freland met every teacher and spoke in French with our students. His genuine interest for French education and the immersion approach was much appreciated by all.

 Consul General of France, Valéry Freland with Third Grade Teacher, Dalila Hadjeras, compare and contrast Dalila's teaching experience in Paris and now in Maine. 

    Valéry Freland with Kindergarteners

 Consul General of France: Valéry Freland; Willy LeBihan: Founder and Director of L'Ecole Française du Maine; Emmanuelle Marchand: Cultural Attachée and Magali Boutiot: Education and Linguistic Assistant at the French Consulate in Boston

  Consul General of France, Valéry Freland, with English Language Arts teacher Kelly Valdmanis

Near the school in the picturesque and charming South Freeport Harbor, Willy LeBihan and Valéry Freland reminisced about the fishing villages of the coast of Brittany, France where they both spent their childhoods.

Chewonki at school: Fur, Feathers and Feet Presentation

On Friday, we were very lucky to have Keith from the Chewonki Foundation at the school. He came to talk to us about the differences between animals with fur and animals with feathers .

With Keith, we talked about the different characteristics of mammals : they have fur, warm blood, give birth to live young, and feed milk to their young. We confirmed that we are mammals! We touched a piece of fur to discover the different types of fur that cover a mammal's body.

We learned through observation that by examining the animal's teeth we can tell what they eat (herbivore or carnivore). We observed and touched skulls of a raccoon, beaver and bear to compare. It was impressive!

We talked about birds too, in particular how they have different beaks and feet depending on what they eat and where they live. 

We then had to answer a series of questions, and with each correct answer, we added a piece of a costume until our classmates became a bear and a bird. This was a fun way to reinforce what we had learned!

We also got to view some live animals too. Keith brought a bat, which we fed mealworms, and a duck that is 18 years old and has been a valuable member of the Chewonki team for all of his many years! What a fantastic lesson!

In the afternoon after the visit, we drew in our notebooks about all we learned!