L'Ecole Française du Maine

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Rallye Math Prep

Every Thursday, the 1st and 2nd graders meet and train together to prepare themselves for "Rallye Math". Each year, the children at L'Ecole Française du Maine take part to a math contest organized by the inspection d'Amérique du Nord. All the schools in the French Network participate in this contest.
We learn how to solve problems, listen, read, understand, and work as a team. We love it!!

Tous les jeudis, les CP et les CE1 se réunissent et se mélangent pour participer à l’entrainement au rallye math. L’école participe à se grand concours mathématiques organisé par l’inspection d’Amérique du Nord auquel participe d’autres écoles du réseau. On apprend à résoudre des problèmes mais pas seulement cela : il faut s’écouter, respecter l’avis des autres, lire, comprendre, calculer, raisonner en équipe. On adore!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Ciné Club- Ridicule de Patrice Leconte

Un film de Patrice LECONTE, comédie dramatique, 1996, 1h45 avec Charles BERLING, Judith GODRECHE, Jean ROCHEFORT, Fanny ARDANT……

Synopsis: This is a French costume drama from director Patrice Leconte that recalls both Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Restoration (1995). Gregoire Ponceludon de Malavoy (Charles Berling) is a baron of the 18th century French countryside, wealthy in property and high in social position but poor in cash. Local peasants -- dependent upon his largesse for their income -- are in poor health, the result of a festering marsh that, if drained, could solve the villagers' illnesses and create valuable farmland. Ponceludon travels to Versailles to plead his case before King Louis XVI. There, he is informed that he has no chance of success unless he can impress the court with his verbal prowess, for the king and his minions value banter, preferably of the ironic, cruel, and insulting variety, above all else. Under the tutelage of the Marquis de Bellegarde (Jean Rochefort), Ponceludon discovers that his sober, blunt honesty can be mistaken for a skewering wit. Though the baron falls for his mentor's science-minded daughter Mathilde (Judith Godreche), he's forced to woo the politically powerful Madame de Blayac (Fanny Ardant). Ridicule (1996) opened the 1996 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

REVIEWS

Reviewed by Lisa Schwarzbaum on Dec 06, 1996

It's all too easy to compare Ridicule to Dangerous Liaisons. The film, from French director Patrice Leconte (Monsieur Hire, The Hairdresser's Husband) and written by first-time screenwriter Remi Waterhouse, is set in 1783, six years before the French Revolution. As in Liaisons, it features snobs, high-class oui-men, and an unspoiled young woman (Judith Godrèche) who embodies all that is non-phony. And as in Liaisons, the plot hangs on the weight of words — in this case the ability of those who'd find favor with King Louis XVI and his court to parry wittily, viciously ridiculing adversaries while escaping even more wounding retort themselves.
There, though, the comparisons end. Because while the protagonists in Dangerous Liaisons play a cat-and-mouse game of exquisite artifice, the characters in this ambling promenade of a morality tale are, in their own ornate ways, more sincerely engaged in their petty pursuits; the status they seek is, in a way, a matter of life and death. And most sincere of all is Ponceludon de Malavoy (French stage actor Charles Berling), an earnest country engineer. Seeking the funds to drain the unhealthy swampy landscape of his village, he comes to Versailles, learns the ropes under the guidance of a benevolent marquis (longtime Leconte collaborator Jean Rochefort), falls for the glitz, and is adopted by the chattering classes as the New Hot Thing. But while he advances his position, and while the widowed countess of Blayac (Fanny Ardant, in sexy middle age and safely past Sabrina) throws herself at him, Ponceludon also falls in love with the marquis' unspoiled daughter (the fresh Godrèche). Eventually, he begins to question the value of ''seeking fruit from a rotten tree.''
There's not much ironic distancing going on here; take away the period-piece wigs and the rouge (not to mention the makeup for the women), and Ridicule is as classical as any hero's journey, or as modern as the saga of any independent filmmaker trying to make it in the court of Hollywood. Indeed, staged as an unexceptional Masterpiece Theatre-type costume drama, the film (it's France's official entry for this year's best foreign film Oscar) can just as easily be read as a jab at Hollywood — and at all big-media, gossip-column-oriented, eat-or-be-eaten societies. ''We're judged by the company we keep,'' one courtier instructs. Ridicule gently suggests that the culture of sound bites has deep roots.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Properties of Quadrilaterals - Classe de CM2

5th Grade Math students are currently studying quadrilaterals and learn how to distinguish different types of quadrilaterals (square, rectangle, parallelogram, kite, rhombus, trapezoid). In this class activity, they analyzed and arranged quadrilaterals in order to find properties.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Last swimming lesson for 2013 at the YMCA

We have made lots of progress during our weekly swim session at the YMCA during 2013.

We can wait to go back in 2014

Déco d'arbres par les CE2 et CM1

Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert

Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772. It was edited by Denis Diderot and co-edited by Jean le Rond d'Alambert.

This encyclopedia is the emblem of the Age of Enlightenment (17th century). There are 17 volumes of text, 11 volumes of plates, 25,000 pages and 60,000 entries. It is the philosopher and writer Denis Diderot who is behind this project.

He had the idea of putting knowledge to everyone, multiplying illustrations, at a time when the majority of French people were illiterate. Students of CM2/6ème have pretended to be encyclopedia illustrators.

The children were free to select a category to illustrate on a board. Equipment and symbols of American football teams being the most popular among the boys, dresses, jewelry, and ballet costumes for girls. Drawings were colored with inks using feathers.

Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert, une encyclopédie ou encore un dictionnaire universel des arts et des sciences. Cette encyclopédie est l'emblème du siècle des Lumières (17 siècle ). Il y a 17 volumes de texte, 11 volumes de planches, 25 000 pages et 60 000 entrées. C'est le philosophe et l'écrivain Denis Diderot qui est à l'origine de ce projet. Il a eu l'idée de mettre le savoir à la portée de tous, en multipliant les illustrations, à une époque où la majorité des Français ne savait pas lire. Les élèves de CM2/6ème ont joué au jeu des illustrateurs de l'encyclopédie. Les enfants étaient libres de choisir une catégorie à illustrer sur une planche. L'équipement et les emblèmes des équipes de football américain étant les plus populaires parmi les garçons, les robes, les bijoux et les costumes de ballet chez les filles. Les dessins ont été faits aux encres de couleur et aux plumes.

A tribute to Mandela.

The 5th and 6th graders did a variety of research about Nelson Mandela to pay tribute to his legacy. They learned about his involvement against the apartheid, his imprisonment at Robben Island, his freedom after 27 years spent in jail, his Nobel Peace Prize and his role in ending an apartheid.

They found information through French historical resources and video documentaries.

They made a presentation to the 3rd and 4th graders.

After the presentation, the two classes worked on famous quotes by Mandela. They explained them and illustrated them.

and discussed how he became the first black President of South Africa and his death at the age of 95.

They created a street art piece by placing the main information about Mandela on a big work piece just like the ones they discovered while researching his life.

Meet L'Ecole Française du Maine sponsored child in Haiti

His name is Belrive and he is in 1st yr. Pre-K at Terrier-Rouge Elementary school

Impératif présent et conjugaison avec les CM1

The CM1 learned a new tense, the impératif présent, a tense that is used to give orders and advice, therefore very often used by parents and teachers (and sometimes by children! ;)

After a few days spent discovering the secrets of this conjugaison marvel, they created a list of orders and advice usually given to them by
their teacher: