Surprise visit from Growstown

The students of CM1 and CM2 got a surprise this morning, prior to their visit to the Growstown School, a living History Center located in Brunswick.  Growstown Schoolhouse is a one room schoolhouse that was built in 1849.  It is now used a Living History Center.  

On Friday May 12, Kelly will take the 4th and 5th Graders to the school, where they will participate in an actual school day from 1850. They will be dressed like in these times.

Endangered species in Maine

On Wednesday, Karen Arno from the Maine Audubon Society visited our school and gave a wonderful presentation on endangered species in Maine, focusing on the cottontail rabbit and the plover. She brought along a few taxidermied animals to show the students what they look like.

Students were very eager to participate, ask and answer questions, share their own experiences. Bravo!! And merci to Karen for her visit!

Double treats today

It was double the joy today as we had a visit from Gaëlle and Frédérique who taught at our school for three years! So wonderful to see them and have them visit the classrooms for a little while! The students were very happy to see them and were happy to share activities with them.

They got to make "chaussons surprise" inspired by "chaussons aux pommes"; some were filled with banana and/or chocolate. The students made the dough and had a blast baking together with Gaëlle, Frédérique and their teachers.

They also visited the other classrooms and did activities with the students. Thank you so much for coming to visit today!

A la recherche des angles droits avec les CE1

We are back in action after a well-deserved week of vacation!

In math, the CE1 have been studying right angles, "angle droit". To better understand and recognize them, they went through the school searching for them! And they did find a lot of them!

How fun is math!

Journée Mirò pour les GS et CP

Wednesday was a very special day for their class: Mirò!
In the morning, the students prepared delicious marble muffins that they later decorated "à la manière de " Mirò. They used similar colors and the results were amazing!

Beautiful works of art!

In the afternoon, the students and their teachers went to the Portland Museum of Art for a guided tour with francophone docents. 

They observed abstract and realist works, painting of different sizes, sculptures, mobiles, photographs...

They discussed, tried to put words on their emotions when observing art, and even created stories...

It was fascinating. What a great afternoon! 

Medieval Banquet

We had a wonderful Medieval Banquet. Parents and students gathered at the Community Hall around 5pm and were greeted with beautifully decorated tables. We tried to be as authentic as possible, not using utensils, having wooden plates and no napkins (you would wipe your hands on the table cloth..)

There were wooden trays of bread and cheese with grapes followed by simple salad and carrots. There was then a delicious ember day tart, roasted vegetables, turkey legs and grilled chicken with spices. The students made 4 types of desserts: pain d'épices, darioles de crème, pasté de poires and petits pâtés aux fruits.

We were treated to Medieval music by our talented music and voice teacher and a few other musicians. When everyone was done with dinner, the dancing began! How fun was that!

Thank you all so much for coming and having fun! 

Dymkovo Toys

The 3rd Graders created Dymkovo toys in art class. Colorful Dymkovo figurines and toys represent the most famous and one of the oldest clay handicrafts of Russia, which still exists in the village of Dymkovo near Kirov. Traditionally, the Dymkovo toys were made by women for the annual holiday (Svistunya) or "Whistling", a Spring fair celebrating the Sun. They were shaped as birds, lambs, pigs, horses, horse riders, nannies, noble ladies, elegant gentlemen, female water-carriers etc... and were painted with colorful geometric patterns. There were purchased during the fair to make whistling noises and to be kept as a souvenir. The Dymkovo toy handicraft still has no serial production, which makes it different from other folk arts and crafts.

4th Grade Inventor Unit Kickoff

The 4th Graders have started the Famous Inventor Study in English class. Lots of excitement in the air!

Ode to Joy in music class

The CE1 have been playing the xylophone with our music instructor Joëlle. This is the result of their hard work, BEAUTIFUL! Bravo les enfants!

Mark your calendars : Carnival on May 6th

This is a lot of fun! Bring your friends and families! The more the merrier! :)

Bienvenue Douglas!

We are thrilled to welcome Douglas Neveu at l'Ecole Française du Maine. Douglas is finishing his Master's in French as a Foreign Language at the Université du Maine in France and as part of his requirements, he has to do a long training in a French school. He will be with us till the end of the year. He will observe and get familiar with the organization of our classes first and then will spend more time with a specific class and participate in the class's life.

Douglas loves sport, hiking, cinema and is very excited to be part of our school for the next few months.

Bienvenue Douglas!