tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22767462801983257542024-03-14T07:56:12.168-04:00Maternelle avec Mme AndreaAndreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-15134448726884761532021-10-02T12:14:00.000-04:002021-10-02T12:14:38.985-04:00Teaching Math With Small Group Instruction<p>Bonjour - and happy October!</p><p>Can you believe another September is already in the books?</p><p>In case you missed it, I <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2021/09/practicing-la-communication-orale-with.html" target="_blank">posted about small group communication orale</a> a couple weeks ago. In that post, I mentioned another subject I love doing with small groups - math!</p><p>I don't see all my students in small math groups every day (I still LOVE the math workshop model - more about that soon!), but I do try to see the students at least once a week in a small group to target some specific skills they need to work on (number sense especially, but also those few students who sometimes don't fully grasp another unit, like measurement).</p><p>In this blog post, I'll go over what my small group math routine looks like.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYLm64VvwamxvkzBXskhegzZ-OyKttPaUsb3SopG0o4qQztGxCob9Fw9gl8yWQ4kosh9z1FMO9t_cZ1Dm77ZpGNuyzpHDOLDCcIyzrDLOevp61dsyKY2vmkH9IcUKFPrKYtDWXllFIdws/s1024/B16+small+group+math.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYLm64VvwamxvkzBXskhegzZ-OyKttPaUsb3SopG0o4qQztGxCob9Fw9gl8yWQ4kosh9z1FMO9t_cZ1Dm77ZpGNuyzpHDOLDCcIyzrDLOevp61dsyKY2vmkH9IcUKFPrKYtDWXllFIdws/w615-h462/B16+small+group+math.jpeg" width="615" /></a></div></div><br /><p><br /></p><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">When do I do small group math?</h1><div>As I've shared with you, I still love the “workshop model” for math, where I do a warm up, whole group lesson, and then my students practice our target skill with some partner practice. I love how this allows EVERYONE to practice the concept we are working on, every day.</div><div><br /></div><div>But, I know that teaching with small groups really helps me differentiate, make sure I’m reaching all my students, and bridge any gaps that might be present, so I like to add that in as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>The “meat” of my math instruction (the bulk of my time) is still the workshop model (approx 30-45 minutes), but that still leaves me with 20-30 minutes/day where I can pull small groups. I usually do this at the end of the day, when my students’ whole group lesson stamina is lowest.</div><div><br /></div><div>I only see 1-2 groups per day, and depending on how long our main lesson was, I only need 20-40 minutes of time. Of course, you could do it at any time of day; this is just when I find it works best for me!</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">How exactly do I do it?</h1><div>Just like with communication orale, I start with an assessment that helps me form my groups based on the skills my students haven’t mastered yet. The assessments I use are included in my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Small-Group-Math-Mathematiques-en-petit-groupe-Nombres-1-a-10-4172078?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B16%20%7C%20Small%20Group%20Math" target="_blank">small group math units</a> (only one is available at the moment, but more are on the way!).</div><div><br /></div><div>At this time of day (the end of the day), I find it best to let the rest of my students do what they do best… play! </div><div><br /></div><div>I set out a variety of math manipulates, math puzzles, etc. for them. Sometimes I assign them to a table, but as long as it works for the group, I prefer to let them choose.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>The routine for my small group lessons is the same each day:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Warm up (fluency/number formation practice)</li><li>Mini lesson</li><li>Student practice (while I take notes)</li><li>Exit ticket (my students have a journal they glue these into)</li></ul></div><div><div>Simple and consistent!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's an example of the kind of hands-on practice for number sense my students might do at this time - the student spun a spinner, added that many pompoms to a 10 frame (working left to right), then wrote the number himself:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Small-Group-Math-Mathematiques-en-petit-groupe-Nombres-1-a-10-4172078?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B16%20%7C%20Small%20Group%20Math" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="638" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO5kU5YMVnwSGXtcUTeSwcyCXdQdq0TWEo8E7KEGDVowbsmsIBlJCtYYsmE-89sRMhl67vvYgpzX4QM9Y9A1vN4JjOryCUCXQhkd-vvqfK_mEeEWIB2maXViQlQMhXqSQROv0g2vWvCCk/w594-h435/Screen+Shot+2021-10-02+at+1.11.04+PM.png" width="594" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Why do I love it so much?</h1><div>First of all, time with my students in small groups is always fun - I love seeing them for more personalized instruction!</div><div><br /></div><div>The small groups also make report cards easy - I get a lot of valuable notes during this time for each and every student. They also help me help clarify for/reteach those few students who maybe didn't finish a math workshop unit successfully or with a solid grasp of the material. </div><div><br /></div><div>It’s easy to pull groups who are struggling more often, and groups who have a concept mastered less often, which helps me meet everyone’s needs. Small groups are an especially amazing way to differentiate for a combined class, like I was supposed to have this year… but they make differentiation easy if you have a single grade level class as well!</div><div><br /></div><div>I have pre-created my lessons over the years, so everything I need is at my fingertips. It's also easy to skip or redo lessons as necessary as they are all right in front of me.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Want to try it out?</h1><div>I have one unit of <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Small-Group-Math-Mathematiques-en-petit-groupe-Nombres-1-a-10-4172078?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B16%20%7C%20Small%20Group%20Math" target="_blank">20 lessons for numbers 1-10</a> currently available on TPT. I’m working on getting more ready to go, but that’s it for now.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can also sample a lesson from that pack for free by <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/SmallGroupMath" target="_blank">clicking HERE</a> and entering your name & email address. I’ll send you everything you need for your first small group lesson!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/SmallGroupMath" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQDeORUad7ulhO4RwSFAvgoFBlv-9NMR8c01cRlpUFWnj_NnjurZuwjChfN8eBfDiJtFY-XqrodsqVmzuWQQuiGzmKjaMdwMr8_j8g3M698tReT7p8rj0QCb86tmqb9ycQ-tYWNkIo-U/w572-h479/Q3+Blog+Post+Opt+Ins.png" width="572" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Inside of the free sample, I have included the pages from my small group unit that go over what’s included as part of the whole resource for the warm up, as well as talk about a pre-test/post-test and taking anecdotal notes. </div><div><br /></div><div>I included one warm-up option as part of the free sample (numeral formation practice) - everything else can be found inside the whole unit on TPT.</div><div><br /></div><div>Grab your free sample lesson <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/SmallGroupMath" target="_blank">HERE</a>!</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mlle Acobahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04851676179048314622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-11662253365086155722021-09-18T04:00:00.001-04:002021-09-18T04:00:00.190-04:00Practicing La Communication Orale With Your Small Groups<p>Fun fact - when I started teaching, small groups were still pretty new with my board and at my school. I used them for guided reading starting in my second year, but I didn't really realize or consider how they could be used for other things too. </p><div><div>Like math or... <i>la communication orale</i>!</div><div><br /></div><div>Over the past 10 years of teaching, I've fallen more and more in love with working in small groups for all sorts of subjects. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you love small groups too, this blog post has a few ideas for working on <i>la communication orale</i> (a big need for a lot of schools, I know!) in small groups and how to get started.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5qRLKcfz3szJTjpeqM4foramNpQcruN63xl1xf8xv1hA2yzhCyRrbOBdS3kGAwHuIToTXF4YHsbanrn8bB0fiOuw07gWz9_K_MiuQu89R5ytSXOu3XrHuzNzsuQnKCEMDn8wrmrT33XI/s1024/Blog+Images+Maybe.020.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5qRLKcfz3szJTjpeqM4foramNpQcruN63xl1xf8xv1hA2yzhCyRrbOBdS3kGAwHuIToTXF4YHsbanrn8bB0fiOuw07gWz9_K_MiuQu89R5ytSXOu3XrHuzNzsuQnKCEMDn8wrmrT33XI/w610-h458/Blog+Images+Maybe.020.jpeg" width="610" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Step one - Assess Your Students</h1><div>Before I even get started, I like to assess my students’ <i>communication orale </i>skills and make sure I am grouping them in a way that works. </div><div><br /></div><div>Usually, I group them based on the skill I am targeting (sentence structure or vocabulary, for example), so having data in all of those areas at my fingertips is really helpful.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>I don't like my groups too big - I usually try to keep them to 3-4 students per group. I generally group them based on their skill level, but not always. Sometimes, it can be beneficial to pair an orally strong student with a student who his less strong.</div><div><br /></div><div>My groups are also fluid; they can change at any time based on each student’s progress.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can grab a copy of the quick observational assessment I use at the end of this blog post, or by clicking the image below. I use the assessment throughout the day our first few weeks of school (and often before each report card) to help me make sure I’m meeting each student’s needs as best I can.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/commoraleassessment" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuHSRHRqAjMaspiHmbfnPHzAR374_uK0fBAoOD5dRLzLLUM8VopzFAFnQyopakU2mmkzkLrjAgJl17gXx08fAoYphnIL45BAE7MdqbSuzs9DWc_yFBArHWxo706OeZrfrWIHRKKoq7iM/w547-h547/Copy+of+Boom+Cards+Blog+POst+%25282%2529.png" width="547" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Step Two - Decide What to Work On</h1><div>Once you have your assessment data, you can look at it and determine areas of need. Often in maternelle, most of my students need to work on EVERYTHING! </div><div><br /></div><div>I like to make sure I am keeping a close eye on my outcomes for communication orale throughout this process as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>I find vocabulary the easiest to practice, and usually start with that at the beginning of the year. However, students who may already have a strong vocabulary might find more benefits from working on speaking in complete sentences, sentence structure, active listening skills, common « fautes », etc. in their groups.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once I've identified where students need work (I just highlight the assessment sheet), I put them into their groups and pick a target skill for each group. Sometimes, more than one group might be working on the same target skill; that's totally fine!</div><div><br /></div><div>I use the planning sheet included in the assessment download to jot down a couple (very brief haha) notes about how we will practice during our small group time (what activities we will do). I am not great at planning long, detailed lessons ahead of time, but these notes definitely help keep me on track and prevent me from wasting time with my groups!</div><div><br /></div><div>At my school, we are also blessed to have a « mentor » for communication orale who joins my classroom and works with my students in small groups. In that case, they would make their own plans - I would just group my students and let the mentor know which skills to target in their activities.</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Resources That Can Help:</h1><div><br /></div><div>A few of my favourite communication orale activities that I do in small groups have already been turned into TPT products (and a few more are in the pipeline, to be released... someday! haha).</div><div><br /></div><div>One small group game I love that is super easy to differentiate and gets everyone talking and their "niveau" is called "<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Jeu-de-communication-orale-BUNDLE-Oral-Communication-Game-5195745?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B14%20%7C%20Communication%20orale%20activities%20for%20Small%20Groups" target="_blank">Qu'est-ce que c'est?</a>". It's very simple, but students love it! </div><div><br /></div><div>Rhymes & chants are also great for getting all your students speaking in small groups. I have a few for practicing vocabulary on TPT as well:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Oral-Communication-Game-Ours-ours-Jeu-de-communication-orale-4800563?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B14%20%7C%20Communication%20orale%20activities%20for%20Small%20Groups" target="_blank">Ours, ours</a></li><li><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Oral-Communication-Game-Oiseau-oiseau-Jeu-de-communication-orale-5974951?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B14%20%7C%20Communication%20orale%20activities%20for%20Small%20Groups" target="_blank">Oiseau, oiseau</a></li><li><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Christmas-Oral-Communication-Game-Jeu-de-communication-orale-Noel-4800823?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B14%20%7C%20Communication%20orale%20activities%20for%20Small%20Groups" target="_blank">Les cadeaux</a></li></ul></div><div>Another very simple activity you can do any time is to take a levelled reader (level 3-4) that has a clear story (beginning/problem/solution/end), read it to your group, and have them retell the story orally (character, setting, beginning, problem, solution, end). It's sometimes surprising how much of a challenge this can be for our students!</div><div><br /></div><div>I also have a <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lire-et-redire-des-petites-histoires-French-Read-and-Retell-Simple-Stories-7206118?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B14%20-%20Assessing%20la%20communication%20orale" target="_blank">brand new TPT product specifically for retelling simple stories</a>. I am really proud of it and looking forward to using it this year. It includes five simple stories, plus story cards and "puppets" to help students with retelling.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can take a peek at that product right <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lire-et-redire-des-petites-histoires-French-Read-and-Retell-Simple-Stories-7206118?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B14%20-%20Assessing%20la%20communication%20orale" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lire-et-redire-des-petites-histoires-French-Read-and-Retell-Simple-Stories-7206118?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B14%20-%20Assessing%20la%20communication%20orale" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99y-qM3okyWaeH3SLqhID0B4ReoUhnyNacMCj5TBCusuFh1R4nolYBnrveVipZyqQZ0y2-fs0jtJhyphenhyphenRuofWiRtxKApARPKFs2WVTRxjfVoAWonmHAObGHHywwsaQZKyJZf8InN5lzq3I/w522-h522/NEW+covers+copy.059.jpeg" width="522" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Other fun games you can find on TPT include games that are in the style of “Guess Who” or “Headbands”, barrier games, etc. Anything that encourages everyone to talk!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Want a Copy of My Assessment/Planning Pages?</h1><div>You can grab a copy of my quick observational Communication orale assessment sheet and small group planning pages by entering your name & email <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/commoraleassessment" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE</a>. Hit the pink button, open the email, click the link inside, and a button will appear for you to download it.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Remember, this assessment is just one quick observational assessment to give you some data about the skills your students need to work on, help you form your small groups, and begin to guide your teaching. Don’t forget to continue assessing the rest of your <i>communication orale</i> outcomes as well!</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmeQ14WMBKgCkhuIbAQ77sVWZULLguwba4Cxk9IZr44nfwH7y4LOUPgZhRrqZc6v0-T2EcKfYTA6UlWgXAnKcXvxh3uo4DFuKfU84Dr6IDWCLZKnvfs-ldcxa18_Kvn4cFIAbl-FHPG0g/s940/Boom+Cards+Blog+POst+%25286%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="503" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmeQ14WMBKgCkhuIbAQ77sVWZULLguwba4Cxk9IZr44nfwH7y4LOUPgZhRrqZc6v0-T2EcKfYTA6UlWgXAnKcXvxh3uo4DFuKfU84Dr6IDWCLZKnvfs-ldcxa18_Kvn4cFIAbl-FHPG0g/w601-h503/Boom+Cards+Blog+POst+%25286%2529.png" width="601" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Happy assessing! :)<br /><div><br /></div>Mlle Acobahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04851676179048314622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-11105022440628982012021-09-07T06:08:00.001-04:002021-09-07T06:08:04.359-04:00How to encourage your students to speak French among friends<p>Last spring, I shared an idea for encouraging your students to speak French on the blog. It shared an idea for your students to do individually (you can check out the post <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2021/04/how-to-use-bingo-pokemon-to-encourage.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>). </p><p>In that post, I mentioned that I do a variety of things all throughout the year. I like to keep things interesting, and my students engaged and challenged.</p><p>I also like to switch between individual systems and group systems (where we work together).</p><p>This post is going to be about another thing that worked well for us last year (we wrapped it up right before March break). </p><p>This is something you can try if you're looking for a whole-class option, where everyone works together for a common goal or prize.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bDzpTzA0eID7NQuFDctf1wBsLN2nkgaD2KaS0Wb_dXHgvxwJDuQ57zxLuHAQGHlONmGBRNhldgC24Kx73mqzDBv-q8tirxeEhOEBlw3J_d0azq83SkMmrq90SRCJE6y3tNblLuQpLU4/s1024/B15+encouraging+French+among+friends.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="465" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bDzpTzA0eID7NQuFDctf1wBsLN2nkgaD2KaS0Wb_dXHgvxwJDuQ57zxLuHAQGHlONmGBRNhldgC24Kx73mqzDBv-q8tirxeEhOEBlw3J_d0azq83SkMmrq90SRCJE6y3tNblLuQpLU4/w621-h465/B15+encouraging+French+among+friends.jpeg" width="621" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;"> HOW DOES IT WORK?</h1><p> </p><p>For this method, you'll need 10 frames, a poster explaining what you're doing (optional), and paper chain links in whatever colours you like. </p><p>You'll also need a "prize" that your students are working towards -- I like to let them pick a theme day, and when they "win,” PJ day is usually the winner! ;)</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Decide where and when you want your students to focus on speaking French. This last time, I chose in the classroom and in the hallway. You might want to add outside, during special events or in the cafeteria -- whatever you like! </li><li>Outside of your classroom, be sure to hang up the little poster explaining what you're doing, so that other teachers can "catch" your students speaking French as well.</li><li>Display a few 10 frames on the wall. I usually put 10 up at a time. Students will be trying to fill the ten frames with stickers. Each time a student is overheard speaking French = one sticker. Every 10 stickers = a full 10 frame = a "link" added to the paper chain.</li><li>Establish criteria with your students -- how can they earn stickers for the grille de 10?</li><li>Explain the prize. What are your students working towards? I like free things (no treasure box in my room!) and things that my students are willing to work for. Theme days, computer lab time, a movie afternoon... the possibilities are endless!</li><li>I start my chain from the ceiling, and add a link each time a grille de 10 is filled. The chain gets longer and longer, and when it touches the floor, they win their <i>récompense</i>. You might choose to start your chain closer to the ground so they can earn their prize more quickly, especially if it's your first time. We really want them to "buy in" and for the goal to feel realistic! Each time you finish a chain, you can start the next one higher up.</li><li>Get started! In the beginning, you'll want to hand out stickers like candy, and then gradually pull back and make them work harder for their stickers. That's why we are trying to fill the 10 frame before adding links (if you gave a link for each French attempt, your chain would likely touch the ground in a day!).</li></ol><p></p><p><br /></p><p>The great thing about this system is everyone is working towards the same prize, but you can adjust when you give stickers based on your students' skills and your expectations for them individually. </p><p>For example, one student might get a sticker for speaking French to me, but for another, stronger, student, I might only give one if I overhear them speaking French with a classmate when I'm not part of the conversation.</p><p> </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">WANT TO GIVE IT A GO?</h1><p> </p><p>If you want to give this a try, good news! </p><p>I've added a link for you to sign up and download my poster and 10 frames for free, right <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/French10FramesandPoster" target="_blank">HERE</a>. Just add your name & email, click the pink button, and I'll email them to you right away. </p><p>I've made it as easy as possible for you to start this system as early as tomorrow! :)</p><p>It's basically just print, cut the 10 frames apart, and go -- I definitely don't feel the need to laminate or anything.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/French10FramesandPoster" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxBIKg-8hV9uKiTUZ9qSRtV3j7ty-5WJHId_IG6pAxyiFQcYa4cfpUViWcTtzL9OpriXJPVyiW9Oe21GZbXNqpJ4hC1Wh_Tec4tjQA6fHnNA4cm-lfNRiTgMakT86LuXghBx-WRmck47k/w571-h478/French+10+frames+Opt+In.png" width="571" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Again, click <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/French10FramesandPoster">HERE</a> for your copy!</p><p> And remember, if you're looking for an individual system with individual prizes, you can check out my blog post from a couple weeks ago about my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B15%20%7C%20Encouraging%20Your%20Students%20to%20Speak%20French%20Among%20Friends" target="_blank">French behaviour bingo</a> & fancy sticker method :)</p><p> </p><div><br /></div>Mlle Acobahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04851676179048314622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-58627103969226120302021-08-07T06:00:00.001-04:002021-08-07T06:00:00.204-04:00Using Boom Cards for Sight Words, Vocabulary, Listening Skills & More<p><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the last two years, my class has been flip flopping between in-class learning and distance learning. </span></p><p><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I found that with the distance learning, it was challenging for my students to hear French, as well as practice all the skills they had been practicing with pocket chart sentences while at home.</span></p><p><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was really worried about their success stalling. My school didn't do any live teaching the first year of distance teaching, so this was a major struggle for my students.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c2998877-7fff-ba9f-0fe1-53de11e6cc55"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was at this time that Lucy from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/For-French-Immersion" target="_blank">For French Immersion</a> convinced me to try Boom Cards, and I immediately knew I had to find a way to make my pocket chart sentences work on that platform!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This blog post is all about how you can use Boom Cards to help your students practice sight words, vocabulary, listening skills, and more - tout en français!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijHJkCU2VGzRE4PtU_w9SA73xQtb6ciGgS5J-uiRfi0VfmzBfNAFJAbwVXFB6uwNW-qnoi-O5YJ9cuRwXABTiYIH2TQm4mnACSlUw5VQUS0Dg_h3DpzWwNIGstAwSXrylxRuyxY5wxC0VA/s1024/B13+Literacy+Boom+Cards.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijHJkCU2VGzRE4PtU_w9SA73xQtb6ciGgS5J-uiRfi0VfmzBfNAFJAbwVXFB6uwNW-qnoi-O5YJ9cuRwXABTiYIH2TQm4mnACSlUw5VQUS0Dg_h3DpzWwNIGstAwSXrylxRuyxY5wxC0VA/w510-h383/B13+Literacy+Boom+Cards.jpeg" width="510" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><h1 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What are Boom Cards?</span></h1><div><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Boom Cards are basically digital task cards created by teachers for students. They are engaging, self-checking and interactive. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">When the students are given a question, once they submit their answer, they are instantly given feedback on their answers! These digital task cards often include audio (once more, tout en français!), and are fun and engaging for our primary students. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">To use them, you (the teacher) will need a Boom account, where you can house your library of decks. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">I am not allowed to have my students log in to the site, so I used the "fast play" option and just put a shortcut to the boom.cards website right on their tablets before I sent them home. They click the shortcut, enter the FastPin, and are good to go! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">This way, I’m the only one who needs an account - not my students. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">If you do have permission for your students to have their own accounts, you can create student accounts where you'll be able to see data and their results each time they play.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p></span></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What are some of my favourite decks for targeting the most skills?</span></h1><div><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">As I said in the introduction of this post, I was really looking for a way to help my students practice all the skills they had been learning from “<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank">Les phrases fantastiques</a>” pocket chart poems at school. </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">So, I created some <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-BUNDLE-5540883?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B13%20%7C%20Boom%20Cards%20for%20Literacy%20Skills" target="_blank">corresponding Boom decks</a>! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">These decks are based on my </span><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank">Phrases fantastiques</a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> pocket chart poems for in-person learning. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-BUNDLE-5540883?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B13%20%7C%20Boom%20Cards%20for%20Literacy%20Skills" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmQVPQ-DrS5gZoLUGal7NWNhKYgqZsT41ZSfRnbRkTkmMlJOd2sAdOSMpYXUQ_7nPQLmRTMWLqQ6ZyA3ErcDtMH_JQdzbTCaVWVHryfyQv_keTpkjP5DUWAxar8SHG5f9FhvY2G8ZwjPA/w494-h414/Boom+Cards+Blog+POst+%25281%2529.png" width="494" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">To play, students just click the audio button, listen to the sentence, and then drag & drop to build it, using the correct articles and vocabulary words. They will also work on directionality as they fill in the sentences from left to right, and add punctuation, giving them important practice with these skills.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">My favourite part about these decks is the listening portion - students will need to listen closely and really think about which words go where! This also helps reinforce 1:1 correspondence; each word they hear will correspond to a word that they add to the sentence.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">If you're curious which sight words and vocabulary words are practiced in each deck, see the end of this blog post for info on how you can get a list to help you better find the specific decks you need.</span></p></span></div><div><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another Helpful Bundle of Decks</span></h1><div><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">My students also use my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Les-mots-frequents-et-les-mots-usuels-FRENCH-High-FrequencySight-Words-1768118" target="_blank">Apprendre les mots fréquents </a>sight word program to learn and practice sight words, so I wanted a way for them to practice their word lists at home as well. I needed a way for my students to do our "étude de mots" centre at home; so, I made <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Les-mots-frequents-Practice-BUNDLE-5609761?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B13%20%7C%20Boom%20Cards%20for%20Literacy%20Skills" target="_blank">practice decks for each of the coloured lists in the program!</a></span></p><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Each deck has students practice reading, spelling, building, etc. each word from their list. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Les-mots-frequents-Practice-BUNDLE-5609761?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B13%20%7C%20Boom%20Cards%20for%20Literacy%20Skills" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigdsldPOYdBIvco6z3gmQX4zKHVl0Uu_9-RErwu8uv5KOzfrWDpcdw47earGI-1CSWYqwf_D1cm_U2RFl3vYWu-09zv5CQnxD-6L5O6oINZEIzHrbHJw8pKZCk_ICiRRm7roLSlgOg1ms/w470-h394/Boom+Cards+Blog+POst+%25282%2529.png" width="470" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">On Boom, you can assign just the list that each student is working on. No problem if they're on different lists! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are using FastPlay, just create a FastPin for each deck you need and share those specific pins with only the students on that list.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><h1 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Looking for the word lists?</span></h1><div style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">If you’re curious about exactly which words are practiced in each of <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-BUNDLE-5540883?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B13%20%7C%20Boom%20Cards%20for%20Literacy%20Skills">Les phrases fantastiques</a> decks, to help you decide which individual decks would best suit your needs, you can <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/PFBoomWordList" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a> to grab a go-to list! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Print it out, and you’ll always have it to refer to whenever you want students practicing listening to, identifying, and spelling specific words.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/PFBoomWordList" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKy69c_MMAEsW5x-M-Nm2GdChsax-PcOdT2S9xezwmwqFojMiJrlwPIWMjZOrdus1pBnzeMxcQxDvXzjVkfFKA7LYEdOMQ-oWY_FB1LugqChUkYya6jknhtLSuk5UIGbCM05zTIpOyag/w509-h426/Boom+Cards+Blog+POst+%25283%2529.png" width="509" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">You can also check out the bundles for each of the decks at the following links: <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-BUNDLE-5540883?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B13%20%7C%20Boom%20Cards%20for%20Literacy%20Skills">Phrases fantastiques</a> and <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Les-mots-frequents-Practice-BUNDLE-5609761?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B13%20%7C%20Boom%20Cards%20for%20Literacy%20Skills">Les mots fréquents</a>. From there, you can also see each of the individual decks and/or purchase the ones you need separately. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Of course, the bundle is always the best deal - you can grab 20% off the total value for each!</span></p></span></div></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdt2Te6Rt5A_io4_PeD4xh01fRlJHFqGvuHOQPJtLZ4bptswcXXjYbbQ7UBymB0pgPvtNzkiGGtF2FkqM7EFzPjEYgg7f5pIxb6ps6D_eHG1DO4h6g05dGl5ai2UYG1xZUNxkmYCH2SP4/s1500/Copy+of+Boom+Cards+Blog+POst.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="463" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdt2Te6Rt5A_io4_PeD4xh01fRlJHFqGvuHOQPJtLZ4bptswcXXjYbbQ7UBymB0pgPvtNzkiGGtF2FkqM7EFzPjEYgg7f5pIxb6ps6D_eHG1DO4h6g05dGl5ai2UYG1xZUNxkmYCH2SP4/w308-h463/Copy+of+Boom+Cards+Blog+POst.png" width="308" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></p><br /><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #444e53; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Mlle Acobahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04851676179048314622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-37892494360911105462021-07-24T07:00:00.001-04:002021-07-24T07:00:00.168-04:003 Ways to Practice Masculin/Féminin in the Primary Grades<p>One struggle I had when I first started teaching writing was how my students had a REALLY tough time with articles in their stories. </p><p>They would often write sentences like, "J'aime ma une maman." when I had word wall cards that included the article… but I didn’t think I could take the article off the word wall cards, because then how would they ever know the « genre » of the word? </p><p>This was also a really hard concept to teach to native English speakers who don't learn to talk with this whole masculin/féminin thing being a thing.</p><p>Over the years, I worked hard to find a way to expose my students to the fact that articles work differently en français, as well as helping them begin to be aware that they needed to pay attention to them.</p><p> Obviously, at this age they will never be perfect, but there ARE some things I’ve discovered over the years that you can do to help your students practice and become more aware of this. Here are some of my faves!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHETm1lz6r1fMS-wY2SoJE_1-ZIU-hDbpYuSe-iue3cVTUXylsJ7afU1Rjqrp7LZ8Je7F28Gj3gUmdCVKAfD-ldU7gWv0WbeizXZq8bUWN2aip2OWr28AQjYNUIg0laW6iKkZWWaep0k/s1024/Blog+Images+Maybe.018.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHETm1lz6r1fMS-wY2SoJE_1-ZIU-hDbpYuSe-iue3cVTUXylsJ7afU1Rjqrp7LZ8Je7F28Gj3gUmdCVKAfD-ldU7gWv0WbeizXZq8bUWN2aip2OWr28AQjYNUIg0laW6iKkZWWaep0k/w498-h374/Blog+Images+Maybe.018.jpeg" width="498" /></a></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Les Phrases Fantastiques</h1><p>I introduce the whole concept of articles, year after year, using one of my most popular resources - <i><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" target="_blank">Les Phrases fantastiques</a></i>. </p><p>If you’re not familiar with this resource, <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" target="_blank">Phrases fantastiques</a> are pocket chart predictable sentences, where students use sight words and vocabulary words to build a sentence that makes sense.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0b5J1T5Al8huFnP4C-Ra5081L9MLbE5BwDecCp1Rw0C3LJ90MekGkg6urrW2HOFoS3QhB85_8jNdmbiSSk-miK5ZJ0HkNy593nyCEhP7LQ8tpkTSJVzw2DSb_8pp1FziEDETuY4gWIs/w507-h425/Q3+Blog+Post+Opt+Ins.png" width="507" /></a></div><br /><p>When creating this product, I quickly realized I would need to provide students with a clue so that they would know if they needed to use le/la/une/un, etc. Otherwise, they would just be pulling articles without any thought at all about if they made sense. </p><p>I decided to add a symbol to each card <i>(to show if the word is masculin/féminin/starts with a vowel/is plural)</i>, and teach my students how to match them up to build sentences that make sense and are grammatically correct. </p><p>I used a boy/girl image instead of the letters m/f because there were already so many letters in each sentence, and letters are new to our students <i>(I realize now that it's not accurate or inclusive to say "a girl looks like this/a boy looks like this", and I am open to other suggestions for symbols if you have any ideas!)</i>.</p><p>Each day when we do our sentences, I guide my students to remember to check the symbol and choose an article that makes sense. </p><p>Are they perfect? No! </p><p>Are they starting to realize that this is a thing and you can't just pick the article you want out of thin air? Yes! </p><p>I have noticed big improvements since creating this resource.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1962" data-original-width="2048" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCTpKzZGtPCWWYGTsZZwcHLoXAxGHqOoTlDgYEFK_XyEa7FHnhuoo7Coh3ZOHapeBjnJMGxCWEYN-hYIQsgFzI2HH7E6K9RwHhtZpkpBbb2KWRgCDIe8iIReBSgnh3tFUHrkgVwB4PGfg/w437-h419/2016-11-15+08.41.05+2.jpg" width="437" /></a></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">A Classroom Référentiel</h1><p>Once my students are more familiar with/have seen some articles for each « genre », we co-create a poster to display in the classroom. </p><p>We brainstorm articles we can use - ones we have seen with our Phrases fantastiques, ones in our levelled readers, etc. We sort them in a T table with masculin/féminin/pluriel. </p><p><i>(You could also add "starts with a vowel" but I find those three enough for now! In older grades, that might be something you’ll want to include.)</i></p><p>This poster is displayed in my classroom and students can refer to it as needed. They use it especially when using our thematic vocabulary cards and/or word banks during writing, which I'll talk about next.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Other Resources I Love</h1><p>Two other resources I love to use to support this learning are my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Vocabulary-Cards-Year-Long-Bundle-cartes-de-vocabulaire-1731843?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" target="_blank">Vocabulary Cards</a> and my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Thematic-Word-Banks-Banques-de-mots-6243283?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" target="_blank">File Folder Word Banks</a>.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Vocabulary Cards:</h2><p><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Vocabulary-Cards-Year-Long-Bundle-cartes-de-vocabulaire-1731843?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" target="_blank">Available on TPT</a> for tons of themes, I place the cards on binder rings and display this on hooks for students to use whenever they want.</p><p>The symbols on these cards match the symbols in the Phrases fantastiques resource.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Vocabulary-Cards-Year-Long-Bundle-cartes-de-vocabulaire-1731843?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLe9VFvIuTF2U0134Cp2XswRfm1DZcRsNkIz-3zGFinuyi9EUp8uFuF8Gqcs7h6bg2ZOQv8yX52Kec31x9Q2BRC3Fl1K18sPMco4BnOL-4xzNbQoxkgkctnxxwzF_0eojzp5t-FJTt-w/w485-h406/Q3+Blog+Post+Opt+Ins+%25281%2529.png" width="485" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Banques de mots:</h2><p>Created using file folders, these <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Thematic-Word-Banks-Banques-de-mots-6243283?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" target="_blank">word banks</a> stay in a bin in my classroom for students to use during writing to help support their writing. I LOVE these - students can so easily find the word they need without flipping through a bunch of cards.</p><p>This product does have m/f as the symbols as I am testing transitioning out of the girl/boy images. There is also a référentiel on the back of each word bank showing correct articles for each type of word. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Thematic-Word-Banks-Banques-de-mots-6243283?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B12%20%7C%20Practicing%20masculin%2Ff%C3%A9minin" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzApLVBFjV-N5Lq8IP92nf4YRpDYUJnP9i-So2h-QdvG5yUfHMPrX2OXFfXD6YRpRwkbCDRoUk1e2pIfXtrIseGpsZWQ4M2uPjh0d_0nx3haRxumDiIWZUe9cig5T8LG_zEJnkovOcN2Q/w455-h381/Q3+Blog+Post+Opt+Ins+%25282%2529.png" width="455" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Want to Try it Out?</h1><p>You can try a FREE set of Phrases fantastiques for colours & animals by <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/PFsample" target="_blank">entering your name & email at THIS LINK</a>. </p><p>I'll send it straight to your inbox! </p><p>This set is a really good resource for this concept because the colours also need to accord, as well as the sight words.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/PFsample" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIBl4phisOWvrAZo6JfZ_OSWpjtgPMkY9x35km1O0vLhShS8nytKflmux3ehO67ztMfze4IGSOOPPQxjm3LDaM7ecitHTIbYvdOTVw99pmgV1KAEdxuaNx76NhO0mJe0Ufk-Q53KWxP0/w476-h399/Q3+Blog+Post+Opt+Ins+%25283%2529.png" width="476" /></a></div><br /><p><i>(Note that the sentence you will receive is not exactly the same as the one pictured - it's a sample part of the resource pictured, but an easier sentence 😊) </i></p><p>Do you have any other tips for practicing masculin/féminin?</p><p> Comment below and let me know!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-32881341008177557602021-07-10T07:30:00.001-04:002021-07-10T07:30:00.186-04:00The One Resource Every French Primary Teacher Needs to Make Literacy Centres EASY<p>When I started teaching, I started with nothing - as I’m sure many of you did as well. </p><p>Everything was hard, but I remember that it was <i>especially</i> hard to do centres & come up with new ideas to rotate in and out.</p><p>I had my students in groups of four my first year, so I needed at least four different activities for them to do each day.</p><p>I later moved on to a system where I had my students in groups of two (which is what I still use now), and years when I have 20 students, that means I need <b>TEN</b> different activities at a time.</p><p>That’s a lot! </p><p>Way back 10 years ago when I started teaching, TPT wasn’t a big thing for French teachers. I had to reinvent the wheel every time I wanted a new centre activity; there was almost nothing already out there. </p><p>Buying centres that did exist was also expensive, and I didn't always use them all/they weren't always appropriate for the time of year when my students needed to practice a certain skill. </p><p>If you know me, you already know I love solving problems, so it should come as no surprise that I added these problems to my “to solve” list.</p><p>This blog post is all about the resource that I created as a solution to the problems of... </p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Not having enough centres and </li><li>Ready-made centres being expensive to purchase <i>(especially if you don’t/can’t use them all)</i></li></ol><p></p><p>And what is that solution? <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Ultimate-Centres-BUNDLE-Year-Long-Simple-Literacy-Centres-6027584?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B11%20%7C%20Ultimate%20Centres%20Bundle" target="_blank">My Ultimate Simple Literacy Centres Bundle</a>... the one resource every French primary teacher needs to make literacy centres easy!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Ultimate-Centres-BUNDLE-Year-Long-Simple-Literacy-Centres-6027584?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B11%20%7C%20Ultimate%20Centres%20Bundle" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Are you a French primary teacher looking to get off the hamster wheel of literacy centre creation? Check out this blog post to see how you can snag 100 French literacy centres super inexpensively, and read all about how it’ll make your teaching life way better!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMhovjbuKwbUeQWcPt9cT55S_juWXca9qTTlVY34WwFSfKqY6nHMkKORs9kZxMWvX86RzPbg-pu1Xz8wYWPv7Vm3ltiCKstgx5j5TWIBiwkAfdZa6em3iVDwdRTIq1BjP8syRYB7UWhU/w512-h384/B11+Ultimate+Centres+Bundle.jpeg" width="512" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">What is it?</h1><p>The <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Ultimate-Centres-BUNDLE-Year-Long-Simple-Literacy-Centres-6027584?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B11%20%7C%20Ultimate%20Centres%20Bundle" target="_blank">Ultimate Simple Literacy Centres Bundle</a> is a bundle of ONE HUNDRED different literacy centres - technically 10/month of the school year (Sept-June), but you can use them however you like.</p><p>It is extremely affordable <i>(30 CENTS/centre)</i> and flexible - each month contains the same 10 “core” activities, so you can use whichever ones you want whenever you want.</p><p><b>Each month contains the following centre activities:</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Play doh mats <i>(alphabet/seasonal shapes)</i></li><li>Letter formation practice <i>(with dry erase markers)</i></li><li>Trouve et couvre (<i>a game with snap cubes)</i></li><li>Tourne et couvre <i>(a partner game with a spinner)</i></li><li>ABC order strips</li><li>Beginning sound matches</li><li>Upper/lowercase letter strips</li><li>Sight word builds <i>(these correspond to the coloured word lists in my Apprendre les mots fréquents resource)</i></li><li>Alphabet search</li><li>Syllable counting practice</li></ul><p></p><p>The centres can be printed and laminated for longevity and you can reuse them from year to year.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoDjib41ku56V_Iv-1dfp8-NiyXg5uCbzBzJuI-tu5GxJO6h_4CGTLIVlKWlzRwqk9sycsTzOW-ipjC4_rr0Rye72kSmiybKE0-R5O0xksoZPUCJCjXfZxYaC_6wL_91c0pon0XPzLKeQ/s1080/B3++FF+Design+Templates+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Are you a French primary teacher looking to get off the hamster wheel of literacy centre creation? Check out this blog post to see how you can snag 100 French literacy centres super inexpensively, and read all about how it’ll make your teaching life way better!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoDjib41ku56V_Iv-1dfp8-NiyXg5uCbzBzJuI-tu5GxJO6h_4CGTLIVlKWlzRwqk9sycsTzOW-ipjC4_rr0Rye72kSmiybKE0-R5O0xksoZPUCJCjXfZxYaC_6wL_91c0pon0XPzLKeQ/w502-h502/B3++FF+Design+Templates+%25281%2529.png" width="502" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How to prep so many centres</h1><p>One comment I get a lot is about how much prep it is to print & laminate 10 centres/month. Well, the great thing about this bundle is that you don’t have to prep anything you don’t want to use! </p><p>The bundle is so affordable that you can easily pick & choose which activities you want to use each month, and not feel guilty about not using them all.</p><p>Each month, just do an inventory of the centres you already have for that month (if any), and make a note of how many others you might need.</p><p>For example, if you need 10 centres because you have 20 students in groups of 2, but you already have <i>écriture</i> & <i>lecture à soi</i> ready to go, plus another one you already have from TPT, you would only need to choose/prep 7 others from the bundle.</p><p>To help you decide which ones to prep, determine which skills you've taught and your students are ready to practice.</p><p>Then, find the centres that targets those skills for that month and prep them.</p><p>When you’re done, store them safely until next year. Each year, you can prep more from the bundle to keep as options until they’re all ready to go!</p><p>I currently store mine in monthly bins in gallon-sized Zip lock baggies - I don't love this system so I am switching to file folder crates & zip lock baggies this year so they are upright and easy to flip through.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Ultimate-Centres-BUNDLE-Year-Long-Simple-Literacy-Centres-6027584?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B11%20%7C%20Ultimate%20Centres%20Bundle" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Are you a French primary teacher looking to get off the hamster wheel of literacy centre creation? Check out this blog post to see how you can snag 100 French literacy centres super inexpensively, and read all about how it’ll make your teaching life way better!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdKtnJD_nwPuFLqoJMnZGIdURV3dbdFN4SWiBtcF6di9S_0iZ7kJIkWrBblOFbhf69I96CqXWuoPf40oQZWjB17ReGq7xOjV0ArVtrSqz2VRvCxzPaQk2kKnRSS5WTtdlbXVGocAx93s/w491-h491/B3++FF+Design+Templates.png" width="491" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How has this bundle helped me?</h1><p>I love how this centre bundle gives me a huge library of centres but no pressure to use them all each month.</p><p>They only cost 30$ for 100 centres - each centre individually is worth just 30 cents, so if I skip a few of them each month (especially while my prepped "library" is growing), it's no big deal. Before, I felt really guilty if I bought something and didn’t use it!</p><p>Each month contains the same style of game - so even if my students aren't ready for sight words in Sept, I know that they will be by January and they won't have missed the chance to use that centre.</p><p>Plus, once I teach a game or activity to my students once, I don't have to reteach it each time - just a quick refresher is all my students need and they’re good to go!</p><p>My favourite thing is that no matter how many centres I do/don't have ready to go each month from previous teaching years, I always have enough to "fill the gaps" using this resource. It has saved me from scrambling so many times!</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Want to check it out?</h1><p>You can <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/UCBsample" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a> and enter your name & email address to try a free sample of “Tourne et couvre” from the September set. This is one of my favourite partner games! The full set has more game boards, but this will be enough to get you started.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/UCBsample" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Check out this FREE literacy centre sample from Maternelle avec Mme Andrea. Tourne et couvre is a game that French primary students LOVE for practicing a range of skills. This freebie will help your students practice letters a-d with a partner." border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMReZq44-dxsypchRxbHADPoKalJ9yhOhwI052DXoNMoSEPgem9WihDG13WWfQehFXGvhFevwJwhWBpBxoKhbmdVEvrpa9YUnHGjSZacu_2Gq8f2YwodQ9SGEoU0ce91JfqeHpy6hzYg/w506-h506/B3++FF+Design+Templates+%25282%2529.png" width="506" /></a></div><br /><p>The freebie is for practicing letters a-d, and comes in colour and black & white.</p><p>To see the full <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Ultimate-Centres-BUNDLE-Year-Long-Simple-Literacy-Centres-6027584?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B11%20%7C%20Ultimate%20Centres%20Bundle" target="_blank">Ultimate Centre Bundle</a> (and all 100 centres for just 30$) on TPT, <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Ultimate-Centres-BUNDLE-Year-Long-Simple-Literacy-Centres-6027584?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q3%20B11%20%7C%20Ultimate%20Centres%20Bundle" target="_blank">click HERE</a>. Each month is also available on its own, if you’re just looking for one set in particular - you can grab 10 centres for 10$ with that option.</p><p>Remember, to try a free game board for Tourne et couvre, just <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/UCBsample" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a> and enter your first name & email address and I’ll send it your way! :)</p><div><br /></div>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-62326306132280518342021-06-21T18:23:00.000-04:002021-06-21T18:23:43.858-04:00FAQ: More About My Apprendre les sons composés Resource<p>Welcome to my first ever FAQ blog post!</p><p>I'm going to try and add more of these to my blogging schedule, to help answer questions that I get often in greater detail than sometimes the TPT Q&A feature allows for.</p><p>Today's post will hopefully answer a question that I get a LOT via email & TPT!</p><p>This question pertains to my « <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-phonics-Apprendre-les-sons-composes-1786999?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">Apprendre les sons composés</a> » resource and one of the key differences between that product and the one that comes before it, « <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Les-mots-frequents-et-les-mots-usuels-FRENCH-High-FrequencySight-Words-1768118?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">Apprendre les mots fréquents</a> ».</p><p>In this blog post, I'll explain exactly what this key difference is, and why I carefully made the choice to create these resources in this way.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfm36tjnu39WozIPuhBWTxqwqUMHv4AOVXOdl63tyvudCFhcJESSjNg7hlSYjQqgss3EI58Aw_RlZBcDQcoZfS8ijQatuNT5RaE992B2hvYJtdl1J0J8ptKCfXDI0nadyfFX_YPxibKo/s1024/Blog+Images+Maybe.016.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfm36tjnu39WozIPuhBWTxqwqUMHv4AOVXOdl63tyvudCFhcJESSjNg7hlSYjQqgss3EI58Aw_RlZBcDQcoZfS8ijQatuNT5RaE992B2hvYJtdl1J0J8ptKCfXDI0nadyfFX_YPxibKo/w528-h396/Blog+Images+Maybe.016.jpeg" width="528" /></a></div><br /><p>You may already know this, but I have two resources that are kind of like mini "programs" that your students can move through to learn 90 common sight words and 9 common « son composés ». </p><p>These resources focus on 10 words/1 sound at a time, and as students move through each set of cards (in rainbow order), each list builds upon the last.</p><p>The « <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Les-mots-frequents-et-les-mots-usuels-FRENCH-High-FrequencySight-Words-1768118?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">Apprendre les mots fréquents</a> » resource contains :</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>sight word cards in isolation (9 sets of 10 words)</li><li>sight word cards in context (9 sets)</li><li>a game</li><li>word lists for the teacher</li><li>evaluation sheets</li><li>student certificates</li></ul><p></p><p>The « <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-phonics-Apprendre-les-sons-composes-1786999?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">Apprendre les sons composés</a> » resource contains :</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>son composé sentence cards (in context) - 9 different sets, each featuring one target sound</li><li>cards with each sound in isolation (9 total cards)</li><li>a game</li><li>fluency passages</li><li>word lists for the teacher</li><li>evaluation sheets</li><li>student certificates</li></ul><h1 style="text-align: left;">So, what's the big question?</h1><p>The question I get most often about the « <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-phonics-Apprendre-les-sons-composes-1786999?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">Apprendre les sons composés</a> » resource is:</p><p><i>Why does the son composé resource not include cards with words containing the target sound in isolation?</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-phonics-Apprendre-les-sons-composes-1786999?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdghLXNn37GqOQRJZwICRDlKrhwOAuNn_KvScvxQGtz-ChmbiHWKdrnFI-a-wol4Z7qAF_QpptPMxwuTBdnAHMYW69rXxzPWIU_0X52elaKuQrL6Z4JdOMTor6LHdcZ7RGADdEvq2gOOY/w478-h400/Desk+Sound+Strips+Opt+In+%25281%2529.png" width="478" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The mots fréquents version has sets of flashcards with just the sight word in isolation. For example, liste rouge contains a flashcard for the words regarde, voici, maman, papa, dit, le, voici, c'est, grand and petit.</p><p>There is another set of cards with just these words in sentences, to help students learn to read them in context.</p><p>But, for the sons composé resource, rouge is for the sound « on », and there are no flash cards for words like : mon, ton, bonbon, wagon, etc. in isolation.</p><p>And lots of teachers want to know why!</p><p>The reason why the son composé set doesn't include sets of flash cards with each word in isolation is because, unlike with sight words, <b>the words in isolation are NOT what we want our students to memorize</b>!</p><p>When it comes to les sons composés, what we actually want our students to do is remember that, when these 2+ letters are together in a word, they make a different sound.</p><p>We want them to know <i>what to do when they come across that sound</i> in a word, and be able to correctly decode it.</p><p>I<b>t's impossible for our students to memorize every single word in the French language that contain each target sound, so we want to be sure we are giving them the TOOLS they need to be able to read new words that contain these sounds</b>.</p><p>By not providing students with cards with these words in isolation, it encourages our students to decode the word using their new sound knowledge + think about what would make sense as they are reading, instead -- which is much more helpful long-term!</p><p>You know -- give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for life (or however that saying goes haha). We want to teach our students to read ALL words with the target sound, not just the 10 that we decide to put on flash cards.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">The next question is...</h1><p>So, if I don't include flash cards for words with each target sound, you might be wondering why I include a list of words for each sound. And the answer is...</p><p><b>For the teacher! </b></p><p>You can use these lists to evaluate how well your students can decode them, as spelling lists/for spelling activities, etc.</p><p>But remember, we want our students to be able to READ words containing each target sound -- not just memorize! This sets them up for more success down the road. So, I would never suggest sending the word lists home in their reading bags to "practice", or anything like that.</p><p>These go-to word lists were intended to help you save time, and were never meant to be used to encourage students to memorize rather than read.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">So, what are the sound flash cards for?</h1><p>While we don't want to encourage our students to try and memorize every word in the French language (learning to decode, aka READ, is so much more effective!), our students will need to memorize each <b>sound</b>. </p><p>That's why there are cards with the sounds in isolation. Once students get to the third sounds list (jaune), I add a copy of each sound they have already seen to a ring for them to practice at home. I add the new sound cards each time they move on to the next colour.</p><p>We definitely want out students to understand that, when they see « oi » in a word, they need to say "wa" with their mouths, etc. etc. The sound flash cards can help make that automatic.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Looking for more ways to support your students with their sons composés?</h1><p>This year, I've also made some desk strips with each of the 9 sounds that are featured in « <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-phonics-Apprendre-les-sons-composes-1786999?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">Apprendre les sons composés</a> » for my students. I just laminated them and stuck velcro to the back, added a piece of velcro to their desks, and they stick them to their desks (tape would work too!). They can more easily refer to them when they need to read or write each sound.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FrenchSoundsDeskStrips" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Want some FREE sound desk strips for your French primary students? Check out this blog post to grab your copy - gratuit!" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="541" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3lGangA_OIKQQ6hwNwLPe76yctjGEc2zz_-grJc251xFvWrlG-YZ8LlLSShStCWtkgNxtJHxaDSq6ZBdLLN0oE1tdtPUBTxnMtKp51O-YBh-8oXFP17y3G8JrZTRWBQLMKyE5ppfADU/w360-h541/B5++Apprendre+les+sons+compose%25CC%2581s.png" width="360" /></a></div><p><i>(Note: I stuck a little piece of masking tape to their desks first, and attached the velrco to that, to help me easily remove it at the end of the year. There is nothing I hate more than sticky desk residue!!)</i></p><p>If you want your own desk strips that match the 9 sounds studied in the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-phonics-Apprendre-les-sons-composes-1786999?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">Apprendre les sons composés resource</a>, you can sign up to my email list and get it emailed to you by clicking <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FrenchSoundsDeskStrips" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</p><p>Just <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FrenchSoundsDeskStrips" target="_blank">CLICK THE LIN</a><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FrenchSoundsDeskStrips" target="_blank">K</a>, add your name & email, and I'll send it straight to your inbox <i>(sometimes it can take up to 10 minutes to arrive -- be sure to check your spam if you don't see it!)</i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FrenchSoundsDeskStrips" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Want some FREE sound desk strips for your French primary students? Check out this blog post to grab your copy - gratuit!" border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwoDM45lYyZsTa5IZAPZ5cX6fpdqjVQpMRvjqX91QwdnWDs1HdVm_xBUlXALvKt1IUWId66t8yJLVY9X41lKS84ZMnrNaTaP1z-I8QgAqK9bpZYUGvoxv8My4wFpuDK-NQs-F1c9hwatk/w512-h429/Copy+of+Countdown+Posters+Opt+In.png" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Even if you don't use « Apprendre les sons composés », you are of course welcome to sign up and use the <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FrenchSoundsDeskStrips" target="_blank">freebie desk strip</a><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FrenchSoundsDeskStrips" target="_blank">s</a>!</span></div><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Need even more resources?</h1><p>If you're looking for more resources to help you teach les sons composés, be sure to check out my TPT store - I have lots in there. You can see what I have to offer in my Sons composés category, or by clicking right <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Maternelle-Avec-Mme-Andrea/Category/Les-sons-composes-282864?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B5%20%7C%20Apprendre%20les%20sons%20compos%C3%A9s%20no%20flash%20cards" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</p><div><br /></div>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-87742358332479504392021-05-29T07:38:00.002-04:002021-06-01T18:12:35.583-04:00How To Use Pop Its to Help Your French Primary Students Read & Write<p>Question -- if you’re on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mme.andrea/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, have you been seeing those Pop It fidget toys all over your feed, too?</p><p>I first saw them via @happy.little.hearts and decided to grab a 2-pack to try last month.</p><p>Well, I can tell you now that my students are OBSESSED with them, and I've seen so much conscience phonologique progress in such a short time that I’ve since ordered two more packs and now have 6!</p><p>(I do find them expensive, so will likely stop at 6. 6 ensures that I have 3 for when I'm working with a small group, and 3 that the rest of my students can access independently).</p><p>They are SO simple, but really effective.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3vJDPCg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Curious about the "pop it" craze in the classroom, but not sure exactly how to use them with your French primary students? Check out this blog post for some fun ideas to help you integrate them in your literacy block!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD05ADPRcQZBXcRDXn7-03sE9KiYA6chGbsBzcA0EzQ26A4hE6oVXei8XMSlozY_9oox1RFms9TjqLK2h_H2gx_PSsqJ93Fdb2BPT25OZmWAuxNh1DxOPEl2saF_FVOFbB2lmXaeOkIRs/w527-h395/Blog+Images+Maybe.014.jpeg" width="527" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">What is a Pop It?</h1><p>A Pop It is actually designed to be a fidget toy - it’s basically reusable bubble wrap made of silicone! Whoever is using the Pop It can push in the bubbles (it’s super satisfying!), then flip it over and pop them again, as many times as they want.</p><p>You can pop one by one, a few at a time, in patterns… whatever you like!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3vJDPCg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Curious about the "pop it" craze in the classroom, but not sure exactly how to use them with your French primary students? Check out this blog post for some fun ideas to help you integrate them in your literacy block!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZRyEO0-k00eUqHS4-IhHBF_wFZJUC37HUA0Uv1xfce5ui23lqJBSGIzBeyZwmDSR_QdQcGOoHuuIMNENSaGV1Yv6LRS-BJTPvG75rh9MCgKaLsOYtOr1Vx0DdiWihfMJTZ1hufyEGJJI/w398-h398/12.png" width="398" /></a></div><br /><p>Since each “bubble” can be popped individually, and you can pop them from left to right, this makes Pop Its an awesome tool for phonological awareness and writing, especially with your small groups!</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How I Use Pop Its During Lecture Guidée</h1><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I say a word.</li><li>Students segment the word, one sound per "bubble", and push down a bubble from left to right for each new sound.</li><li>Students write the word based on the sounds they heard. They can almost always hear EVERY sound by using these!</li><li>The words I ask them to write contain our target <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Sound-Strips-Lis-les-sons-composes-4466045?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B4%20%7C%20Pop%20Its" target="_blank">son composé</a> of the week. Last week, we did « in ». We usually write 5-6 and they always beg for more!</li><li>I sanitize them between groups (they are made of silicone). My students also sanitize their hands before we start.</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3vJDPCg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Curious about the "pop it" craze in the classroom, but not sure exactly how to use them with your French primary students? Check out this blog post for some fun ideas to help you integrate them in your literacy block!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSfA7Imxi538eIo346RBmJpdoN-4wdmGvD9sblu9BaS9xotmdRxJZymprUiIJYy4mcbn_u2dEiUNYoJh_mEXwkPKFsZb_lQUMODEFdRTo9qcyEGzt8XRZaJduuFmp6XSHI1cgcb6Epws/w425-h425/13.png" width="425" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How I Use Pop Its for Writing</h1><p>Small Group : </p><p>The pop its are available at my table. When a student needs to write a new word, I remind them to segment it using the pop it and write the sounds they hear. Simple!</p><p>Independent Writing: </p><p>During the writing centre, when students need to write a new word, they can sanitize & grab a pop it. They segment, write the sounds they hear, and circle the word.</p><p>Once independent writing time is over, I circulate and see how they did with the words they circled.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">A few things to keep in mind...</h1><p>🌟 Clear expectations! I do allow my students to play with these during their down time if they sanitize before and after. I find that this reduces “explore/play time” when they are meant to be using them to help them with their work</p><p>🌟 Practice with everyone before you give everyone access. It’s impossible to expect your students to use these correctly if they haven’t all had the chance to practice with your support :)</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">In Conclusion...</h1><p>I love the Pop Its because, even though I find them a bit pricey, I HAVE seen a big difference in my students’ skills and confidence, and they are able to use them as support during so many moments of our day.</p><p>Since I bought my Pop Its, if seen them become available at dollar stores for even less than I paid. So, you could likely find a pretty inexpensive version as well!</p><p>I love having a tool I can put right in their hands when they come to me and say “comment est-ce qu’on écrit….?”!</p><p>If you’re interested in getting your hands on some pop its, you can find TONS of shapes, colours, and choices on Amazon. I just searched “pop it fidget toy” and a bunch came up. <a href="https://amzn.to/3vJDPCg" target="_blank">I also have an affiliate link right HERE</a>.</p><p>🌟 Once your students get really good at segmenting sounds and putting them together, and they know their letter sounds, here is a great “next step” activity to try. It’s a game my students love to play during Lecture guidée : <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Blending-Practice-Guided-Reading-Game-THE-BUNDLE-2640040?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B4%20%7C%20Pop%20Its" target="_blank"><b>Lis et couvre</b></a>!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Blending-Practice-Guided-Reading-Game-THE-BUNDLE-2640040?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B4%20%7C%20Pop%20Its" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmC8PeP1YIxG37yujTg98afzcpIoOuhDVFmo4lcnkoLukrBZr5_AKbOUY2g2TfeKZywhQnaAfcX3uErXf0j-j1J8sdRKfAgAD86_Tjs9kN4-JkQGonzcruZmhvWLrx8UugSZ__-5dBL8I/w461-h346/EzyWatermark170326104617317.png" width="461" /></a></div><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">If you want a go-to list of words to use for segmenting, check this out!</h1><p>I've created a go-to list of words withOUT sons composés/lettres muettes that you can use with the pop its.</p><p>You can grab a copy of my go-to list by clicking on the image or the <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/popitslist" target="_blank">link</a> below! Just enter your name & email, and I’ll send you a copy straight to your inbox (be sure to check your spam if you don’t see it right away!)</p><p><i>Note: When we are using Pop Its to practice our son composé de la semaine, I usually just grab my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Sound-Strips-Lis-les-sons-composes-4466045?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B4%20%7C%20Pop%20Its" target="_blank">Sons composés strips</a> for the target sound and use those as go-to lists.</i></p><p>I love having this list right at my fingertips -- no more frantically trying to come up with a word on the spot, or using the same ones over and over!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/popitslist" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a go-to list of French words where all the letters "talk" to help with phonemic awareness practice? Check out this blog post and grab your copy!" border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="407" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAd1DphPjm3pbE1QQZ2Xo7yIisJvyYblojQOkdXGb55CoNQDmoYbrAD7dt6avXw9UykZ8kGYtTcwjtgcYbC_NPN5JSvzpsVTaVqnXB_ZdYQc2xqPnLqV2sFpeZfcWueYh8ewMXEovQ9Rk/w485-h407/Countdown+Posters+Opt+In+%25281%2529.png" width="485" /></a></div><br /><p><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/popitslist" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Again, to grab your copy of my go-to list, click HERE.</span></b></a></p><div><br /></div>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-53527151949636545582021-05-18T15:05:00.004-04:002021-05-18T15:05:51.659-04:005 Fun Ways to Count Down the End of the Year<p>Can you believe it -- it's already May!</p><p>That means the end of the school year is almost here -- it's home stretch time. And a great time to start a fun countdown routine!</p><p>I have actually found myself teaching virtually since April 30. That was NOT what we were hoping for, and has thrown a bit of a wrench in my end-of-year plans.</p><p><i>(My plan now can be basically summed up as: SURVIVE!)</i></p><p>I’d been brainstorming some ways to count down that might be fun for my students, but since I’m not totally sure how/when the year is even going to end, I don’t have anything set in stone yet.</p><p>But, I didn’t want my ideas to go to waste, so if you’re in luck and teaching in person, here are some fun countdown ideas you might be able to use!</p><p>Here are 5 fun things to try to count down the last 30 days of school <i>(and a link to some FREE cute countdown posters at the end of the post!)</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UMwxZXvhyikrJ-xgVGrXzJk4Fw2EVL-_h1CSOVou-rofyh_Oi-8f2M6hVA2dMksYZqLdbg_29KI61i-lomQTdGR0fwChImfU0E73u8pBY1yPCzvDwGSCIgyZcFH3uZQk-6bq4t5oreI/s1024/Blog+Images+Maybe.015.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Are you a French primary teacher wrapping up the end of the school year? Check out this blog post for five fun ways to help you count down, as well as a FREE set of French countdown posters!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UMwxZXvhyikrJ-xgVGrXzJk4Fw2EVL-_h1CSOVou-rofyh_Oi-8f2M6hVA2dMksYZqLdbg_29KI61i-lomQTdGR0fwChImfU0E73u8pBY1yPCzvDwGSCIgyZcFH3uZQk-6bq4t5oreI/w530-h398/Blog+Images+Maybe.015.jpeg" width="530" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1>Balloon popping</h1><p>Balloons are surefire way to any primary student's heart!</p><p>Why not write 30 different tasks on a slip of paper, roll them up, slide them each inside a balloon and then blow them up? </p><p>Attach the balloons to a bulletin board, and have a student choose one each day to pop. Then, do the activity inside! </p><p>Some ideas for your balloons: brain breaks, yoga, nature walk, extra recess time, learn a new game, bubbles, write your words of the week outside with chalk, etc</p><h1>Lettre/son du jour</h1><p>You can count down the last 30+ days with a letter or a sound a day! There are 26 letters (but 28 sounds) so you can do a letter each day and then 2 or 4 sons composés. </p><p>Or, double up on your letters so you can add more sounds, or just do a sound a day for the last 10+ days, or whatever you like!</p><p>If you're looking for a ready-made alphabet routine, be sure to check out my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Enseigner-lalphabet-en-35-jours-35-days-to-teachreview-the-alphabet-5874220?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B3%20%7C%20Summer%20Countdown" target="_blank">« Enseigner l'alphabet en 35 jours » product on TPT</a>.</p><p>I made it for the beginning of the year, but there's no reason you couldn't use it at the end instead!</p><p>It says 35 jours because there are 6-7 review days built in, but you could drop those and complete the resource in 28 days (one letter/day, except two days for Cc & Gg).</p><p>This resource includes lots of fun alphabet activities en français for your maternelle or première année students and would be a great pre-summer review!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Enseigner-lalphabet-en-35-jours-35-days-to-teachreview-the-alphabet-5874220?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B3%20%7C%20Summer%20Countdown" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Are you a French primary teacher wrapping up the end of the school year? Check out this blog post for five fun ways to help you count down (such as this alphabet countdown resource), as well as a FREE set of French countdown posters!" border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ZuLvSF7rN2HY9awLhAVFFaeaEp-Nkmh_RqQNjbDcu6vkIVSggyJ7Q1iemQ3FlOQoNg_p3MTlUG8qIBSN7jIwwgMRRZZW_B5d-ShLdtrOJeLP_ZZ-VHmBsu-WcWSRJBIXiumkbKvvQ00/w560-h469/Countdown+Posters+Opt+In+%25282%2529.png" width="560" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1>Chanson du jour</h1><p>To help expose your students to some awesome francophone music, you could make a list of 30 songs in French. During the last 30 days of school, you can listen to one song per day. </p><p>L'appréciation de la langue et la culture and exposure to different accents (plus great music) in French is so important for our young students!</p><p>You could even have them vote on their favourite song each week, or do a "bracket" to discover their number one favourite.</p><p>If you need some song ideas, be sure to check out my blog posts featuring my favourite French music: you can see <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2017/01/my-favourite-french-music-to-play-in.html" target="_blank">Part 1 HERE</a> and <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2018/08/more-of-my-favourite-mainstream-french.html" target="_blank">Part 2 is HERE</a>. </p><h1>Histoire du jour</h1><p>This activity would be so much fun for your read-aloud block!</p><p>To start, choose 30 of your favourite read-alouds - they could be books your students have already seen this year, or new ones.</p><p>Then, make a chain with 30 links. Write the title of a book on each link (I would write the titles before putting the chain together), and display the 30 books on your classroom shelf. Each day, you can remove a link and read the book that's on it. </p><p>It's easy to count the remaining links to see how many days of school are left!</p><p>You can also pick a different comprehension strategy to review each time you read a new story (making connections, inferring, predicting, etc.).</p><h1>End of Year Memory Book</h1><p>I LOVE doing an <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mes-souvenirs-de-lecole-FRENCH-End-of-Year-Memory-Book-3130134?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B3%20%7C%205%20Fun%20Ways%20to%20Count%20Down%20the%20End%20of%20the%20Year#show-price-update" target="_blank">End of Year Memory book</a> each year! I didn’t get to do one last year with my students due to COVID, but I looped my class this year so was hoping to do one this year with them instead. </p><p>It's not looking great for us to be able to do them in person, BUT last year I luckily converted mine to a <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-DIGITAL-End-of-Year-Memory-Book-for-Google-Classroom-5635814?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B3%20%7C%205%20Fun%20Ways%20to%20Count%20Down%20the%20End%20of%20the%20Year#show-price-update" target="_blank">digital version</a> as well.</p><p>I’ll assign them 1-2 slides to complete per day and at the end, they’ll have a whole “slide show” memory book by which to remember this crazy year!</p><p>I love the digital version because they’ll be able to add photos and everything - I got parental permission at the start of the year for photos and love snapping pics all year long to document our learning. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mes-souvenirs-de-lecole-FRENCH-End-of-Year-Memory-Book-3130134?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B3%20%7C%205%20Fun%20Ways%20to%20Count%20Down%20the%20End%20of%20the%20Year#show-price-update" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Are you a French primary teacher wrapping up the end of the school year? Check out this blog post for five fun ways to help you count down (such as this memory book resource), as well as a FREE set of French countdown posters!" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1697" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDEYLeN23roMXqVugxOOGq6BGTLMFZxxDWrFatXWq1z_AA2LkzCLpOi1LFz2jXP5SoPfmds12AOhxvkRNZKV5dBf5oO0LiwhJ3NuX_lXWRVQZhlL_uNubn6OyTJgOlqqMBkCJG-9kIqA0/w393-h475/20170518_091608.jpg" width="393" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Want some cute countdown posters?</h1><p>Pre-distance teaching, I had made some cutie summer watermelon-themed countdown posters for my classroom.</p><p>I planned on displaying them with our read-aloud chain, and I will if we ever end up back in person!</p><p>If you can make use of these posters this year, you can <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/summercountdown" target="_blank">grab your own copy right HERE</a>. Just click, add your name & email, hit the pink button, and I'll send you a copy right to your inbox.</p><p>Here's a peek at what they look like :</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/summercountdown" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Are you a French primary teacher wrapping up the end of the school year? Check out this blog post for five fun ways to help you count down, as well as a FREE set of French countdown posters!" border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="431" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRAJLNg4HlBFKN7cS6P-8Q-xJ3VlIB0Bz57GWq-Wntu0yjQCTvDtSEfOvoFobSPFIFtza5SdzDvB99NaWbU9p1dH9ftO4MIha2p61bikowJtsyeB4OS3GcfuTcK5pkleNztdVmLO9u9Ss/w514-h431/Countdown+Posters+Opt+In.png" width="514" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>And again, here are those links for the other resources I have that can help you count down till summer!</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Enseigner-lalphabet-en-35-jours-35-days-to-teachreview-the-alphabet-5874220?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B3%20%7C%20Summer%20Countdown" target="_blank">Enseigner l'alphabet en 35 jours</a></li><li><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mes-souvenirs-de-lecole-FRENCH-End-of-Year-Memory-Book-3130134?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B3%20%7C%205%20Fun%20Ways%20to%20Count%20Down%20the%20End%20of%20the%20Year#show-price-update" target="_blank">Mes souvenirs de l'école (PRINT VERSION)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-DIGITAL-End-of-Year-Memory-Book-for-Google-Classroom-5635814?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B3%20%7C%205%20Fun%20Ways%20to%20Count%20Down%20the%20End%20of%20the%20Year#show-price-update" target="_blank">Mes souvenirs de l'école (DIGITAL VERSION)</a></li></ul><p></p>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-24916142258466866362021-05-02T07:51:00.002-04:002021-05-02T07:54:59.112-04:00How to Use French Vowel Sound Blending Books to Help Your Students Read<p>Can you believe it -- it's already May!</p><p><br /></p><p>That means the end of the school year is almost here -- it's home stretch time</p><p> </p><p>Before the end of the year, I wanted to take a minute to share one of my FAVOURITE resources that came out of Covid times... <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" target="_blank">vowel sound blending books</a>!</p><p> </p><p>This hybrid digital + print resource can be used to help your students learn to blend with 5 vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u) via blending cards, sentence building cards, and a special story for each sound.</p><p> </p><p>In NS, we just switched back to virtual teaching this week, so I'm actually working on a version two of these for sons composés. At the end of the post, I'll share how you can get more info about how to access those books before anybody else!</p><p> </p><p>Here's a peek at my vowel sound blending books routine for in-person learning, plus some more info on why I made them in the first place.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMaLG1c-YT2VlDP1xZw0u7Efd1fuF0LS0uhJ1YzfCTMY_PiokM0-_b8jkOOPqcExExJsLUSIo9T3hUR9raFYiwx3IS86ksypGQ4E-64F2II8-mq87iLNpOy-9Y4U9xaSjM3NtwsgO35Lc/w589-h441/Blog+Images+Maybe.013.jpeg" width="589" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">MORE ABOUT WHY I MADE THIS RESOURCE</h1><p> </p><p>This resource was first started in spring of 2020, when we were suddenly tossed into distance teaching. In NS, I didn’t really do any live teaching -- I just did pre-recorded videos. </p><p><br /></p><p>I wanted a way to help my students practice decoding from a distance, but I had no way to actually get physical books to them. It was also May in maternelle -- such a clutch time for making progress!</p><p> </p><p>So, I made the book for Aa and tried it out with my class - I prerecorded a video of me reading the digital version as I went through the slides, and sent home the digital + print-at-home option so parents could choose one to have their child practice.</p><p> </p><p>I asked parents to send me a video of their child reading the book… and I only got two back. Those two kids did GREAT, but it made me think that it wasn’t really an assignment that “translated” well for at-home learning. I put it on the back burner and decided to try it out in person instead (having no idea when that would actually happen).</p><p> </p><p>Fast forward to this year, and I moved up with my students to grade one. At the start of the year, we were told sooo many rules, including that we couldn’t work with students in small groups, have our guided reading tables, etc. etc.</p><p> </p><p>While all that was being sorted out, I felt like I just couldn’t wait any longer to get into teaching my students to read. Grade one is a massively important year at the best of times, and my students had missed SO MUCH at the end of maternelle. </p><p> </p><p>Obviously, academics are on the back burner more-so this year than other years and we need to give ourselves grace, but my students were showing so much potential and I just had no idea when I would finally be able to get going. </p><p><br /></p><p>I decided to revisit my vowel sound blending books and see if I could tweak them a bit to start guided reading whole group in première année (reminder: I always <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Intro-to-Guided-Reading-Whole-Group-Introduction-a-la-lecture-guidee-2123656?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" target="_blank">start in whole-group in maternelle</a> and it works like a charm!)</p><p> </p><p>I made a digital warm up, blending cards, and story that I could project for everyone at once, as well as printable copies that students could read on their own and take home for extra practice for each vowel sound (Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu - not Yy because not enough words). </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0ds10YObQhw5D4R5wRBDOP_e_9tpM1qz9fQE-J8NI6N6_pS3-QxfCKtf-ERNopFbVlPUYets22D6K08wgmQS2jRTvZGMQci49DRm3C7kMQ4wQ2p5R2N4sGEtPLEjqJei_TatyJEZHDs/w452-h452/5.png" width="452" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I also built a 2-day routine for each book/sound that we followed. </p><p> </p><p>Here is some more info on the routine I chose to use:</p><p> </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">DAY ONE</h1><p>1. Introduce the vowel of the day and ask students to produce the sound it makes à l'oral</p><p> </p><p>2. Fluidité - warm students up by reviewing the letter SOUNDS (not names) and sight words on the fluidité slide (this is the first slide found in the resource).</p><p> </p><p>3. Blending warm up -- project the slides one at a time. As you point to the dot under each letter, students will produce the sound each letter makes and then blend them together. Ex. /v/.../a/… va! If my students rush and say the next sound when I’m still pointing to the first sound, I make them repeat. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih4rceIW5Mf1aDpVsXr7SPtnrc3C3HiMaGG8x6UZcvJZJMdqJUNFLNDPs5riPKybz_PI7MA9FQ8WfFHHsV6QNj542tg7NTOsedzD07NL_HHmBmwHqBfo3ZWZfB2z0UkaXzoifOulAv8lc/w387-h387/2.png" width="387" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It’s REALLY important that they get in the habit of LOOKING at the letters as they read. It’s also really important to get them to say the sounds all together and make an actual word once they are done blending.</p><p><br /></p><p> Practicing this as a group has really made a difference for my students - more students than ever before repeat the word as a whole after they sound a word out this year, so yay!</p><p> </p><p>4. Pass out individual blending cards (optional) - I cut mine ahead of time and handed out the black & white versions to each student. Everyone had a sandwich bag inside their reading bag that we added the cards to each time. </p><p><br /></p><p>Before adding the cards to their bag, I had students fill in the target sound with red marker/crayon. As they coloured, I circulated and listened to them read a couple of cards to me</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Booksblogspot.com/-OhRaTPDCALU/YI6M-46Pr_I/AAAAAAAA0YQ/70PmqfLRl7QsQt4rY7HrWghnRRM5IKxwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/Vowel%2BSounds%2Bblog%2Bpost%2Bimages.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9uc-fD5sn6Zc_Xky1wShfNXqYKXnmTFE8CmtGrCYGQFnDCjhCB7prmbF0b-zltBD1Jr28yQ7j3WCvjovruzcvyEU93RR4O-GbMxAAeO6WCj4qaJB9vtV1mS32XUJSwGyGZ7TQ3zo3ZM/w410-h410/Vowel+Sounds+blog+post+images.png" width="410" /></a></div><br /><p> </p><p>5. Once the cards are in their baggies, put the baggies aside and read the story together (projected). You can do this more than once, tricky pages more than once, whatever you like!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAOAST3YfTSyOT3tdTUm17sx0SSJHOw0nAM-K8N8_ayS3DazFVKfWGQAL1hpYNDRrClnnnzPMja14g3Otz4sovxJxlqWobEx-L4ctHky7l3qcuWQwdC2CY1xbN8crIQq-SuDJGgbClsQ/w395-h395/3.png" width="395" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p> </p><p>6. Pass out student copies and have them highlight the target letter/sound. Note: I wanted to focus on the target SOUND, so I did not have students highlight the letter if it was part of a « son composé ». </p><p><br /></p><p><i>Ex. in the Oo book, students didn’t highlight the o in « voici » or « son ». They knew not to because of the underlined font (if they forgot, no biggie). </i></p><p><br /></p><p>The point of highlighting is to help them remember what to do with their mouths when they see it!</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKE2Xr7gZ0WTliDgiAyy97DeCDmn2TCpIbUcG4D8T_wmFLkketKR8urGUR40FQHVVqDI5oSC0SyF-Pw4voZoEmBHgl5T67Cbwl-2v4_2NfESG7X8QEGEBBMVF8JsqqYmX9AoNmZ-R38gI/w448-h448/Vowel+Sounds+blog+post+images+%25281%2529.png" width="448" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>You can have students colour the book in if you want -- it’s not a big priority for me, but if some finished up quicker than others with highlighting the target sound, I had them colour a bit. Totally up to you!</p><p> </p><p>7. Take the blending cards + books home in their reading bags to practice <i>(*if your students struggled with reading the story successfully, wait to send it home on day 2 or even later if they need it).</i></p><p> </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">DAY TWO</h1><p> </p><p><i>Remember -- adjust/tweak anything as needed. Also, if you’re teaching virtually right now, you can totally follow this routine during your synchronous learning as closely as you can :)</i></p><p> </p><p>1. Review: reread the warm up page and blending slides as a group. Then, re-read the digital story together</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsPjdL18kAhSLhuYK3doflHH0TpFuOVO7AUQKEQccyuXvdezvbh15zCmoMfQkLpw_G2VtdjILX_rQZM2es4h5T7Kw6Psp_AYTS8LL19vk-V40zJzOlOhp4g12Dg0CsvysQN4cSRg4y4-g/w400-h400/4.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>2. Game: I alternated between a couple options. If you want, you could spend 3-4 days on each sound and then do all the activities for all the sounds instead of alternating.</p><p> </p><p><b>Game 1: Find it</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Students spread their blending cards face up on their desks. </li><li>The teacher says one of the words from the 12 student blending cards really slowly, stretching each sound. </li><li>Students « fusionnent » the sounds orally and then find the card on their desk that matches what the teacher said. </li><li>If you let them slap the card, they get really into it! ;)</li></ul><p></p><p> </p><p><b>Game 2: Write it</b> </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Students spread their blending cards face up on their desks. </li><li>They will also need a white board (the backs of our clip boards have white board contact paper stuck to them) and dry erase markers. </li><li>The teacher says a word, isolating each sound slowly. </li><li>You might also put a _ on the board for each letter and say “x letters, x sounds” (<i>ex. Mot = _ _ _; 3 letters, 2 sounds).</i></li><li>Students fill in the blanks on their own white board, and find the word among their cards in order to correctly identify the « lettre muètte » and/or check their guess. </li></ul><p></p><p> After a few words with the target letter, I like to toss in a few of the other words we have seen in other vowel books as review. You don’t have to have them use their cards to check; you can just correct as a class if you prefer. </p><p> </p><p><i>*When it comes to « les lettres muèttes », I just tell my students that we try to put these words in our brains and remember them, because there are no sounds to help us. If we make a mistake, it’s no problem - practice takes time!</i></p><p> </p><p><b>Game 3: Build a sentence</b> </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Note: I didn’t play this one in première année as it is a bit simple for us at this point, especially with the words having picture clues, but you can also print out a set of the sentence building cards for each student. </li><li>You would say a sentence out loud, have your students move their cards to build it and reread it, and then check. </li><li>I think this would be great for maternelle and also distance learning if your students have printer access! </li></ul><p></p><p> </p><p>Even with the addition of the game to the review, I found it took about the same amount of time as the day 1 routine. Reviewing the sounds/cards/stories is definitely faster than reading them the first time and doing the books. You can also play the games for as long or as short as you like. </p><p> </p><p>Following the game is a great time to transition into lecture à soi if that’s part of your routine; your students will be all warmed up. </p><p><br /></p><p>I would suggest having all the books they’ve seen so far accessible to them <i>(ex. In an individual bag or basket)</i>. I would ask students to start with the book that practices the target sound for that day, and then set a timer for 5-10 minutes (depending on their current stamina). </p><p><br /></p><p>Once they are done their first book, they can choose others to read from their book or basket until the timer goes.</p><p> </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">WHAT’S NEXT?</h1><p> </p><p>I am so happy and proud of these resources, and glad I created them! I know that I’ll continue using them each year.</p><p> </p><p>If you want to grab your own copies, you can see the bundle with <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" target="_blank">all five vowel sounds in my TPT store right HERE</a>.</p><p> </p><p>You can grab each vowel sound separately for 4$, or snag the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Whole-Group-Blending-Books-BUNDLE-Digital-and-Printable-6422144?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=B10%20%7C%20Vowel%20Sound%20Blending%20Books" target="_blank">bundle</a> at a reduced price.</p><p> </p><p>And, I am currently working on a “volume two”... for les sons composés!</p><p> </p><p><b>Volume two will be a bundle of 8 different books/sets of blending cards to help students master eight essential sons composés: on, ou, au/eau, ch, in, an/en, eu/oeu and oi.</b></p><p> </p><p>They won’t be added to TPT until this summer… but there IS a sneaky way to access them early!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/teachalongwaitlist" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-f41ai_UKsHP2gGyn6_ITMIAfxorquDC8Ucj-uwcCeH6f6jEJI2kSCvrJ13p9yv-sZgNf4IxHSj-JSWdHV7HMhuIZTXEi9jlCMjfS-LRpBpWzScQdyVK0ZYNyzacfjEEFQ8vdzynHvfc/w430-h430/Vowel+Sounds+blog+post+images+%25282%2529.png" width="430" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>Everyone in my membership, <i>Club du primaire</i>, is going to be receiving one book per week until the end of the school year, starting May 9. Then, once all eight have been released to members (around the end of June), I'll upload the bundle to TPT.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, membership isn’t open right now, but I AM going to open the doors on this Son composés TeachAlong to everybody on my email list, and give you the opportunity to join just this part of the membership for now, at a flat rate!</p><p> </p><p>If you want to know more about les sons composés blending books + have access to them before everyone else, be sure to <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/teachalongwaitlist" target="_blank">sign up HERE to get on the waitlist and grab early bird access at a discount</a>. Once you're on the waitlist, you'll get all the info about when/how to purchase and how exactly the TeachAlong works as soon as all the info is ready!</p><p><br /></p><p>Otherwise, you'll have to wait to get your hands on these over the summer when they’re posted to TPT.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/teachalongwaitlist" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">>>> Sign up for the waitlist HERE!!</span></a></h3><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoeKKIlUOAd3jl6mAzn8ZeuTpDcoeR2Mxg0Vz0fg8Hpe5cOXVCi6JKs3TiPgIRMF_yjM2FWSR2g03QEkjUEz5QFwHTDZbKyNV4awzgOFA7vBpcUqIda2yoF98GbFrB3SDzBY4ZBLvwAY/s1500/Vowel+Sound+Blending+Books+Blog+Post+Pins.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a simple way to help your French primary students practice blending and learn their vowel sounds? These print + digital vowel sound blending books will help your students learn to read in a BIG way! Check out this blog post for more info on how exactly they work, plus tips for creating a solid practice routine" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoeKKIlUOAd3jl6mAzn8ZeuTpDcoeR2Mxg0Vz0fg8Hpe5cOXVCi6JKs3TiPgIRMF_yjM2FWSR2g03QEkjUEz5QFwHTDZbKyNV4awzgOFA7vBpcUqIda2yoF98GbFrB3SDzBY4ZBLvwAY/w338-h508/Vowel+Sound+Blending+Books+Blog+Post+Pins.png" width="338" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-34209702632758127972021-04-24T06:00:00.002-04:002021-04-24T06:00:00.217-04:00How to use Bingo + Pokémon to Encourage Your Students to Speak More French<p>One huge struggle I hear over and over from my fellow French teachers is how it's impossible to get our students to speak French.</p><p> </p><p>Teachers have told me it's challenging (and overwhelming!) to convince their students that to learn French, they need to actually speak it... and, sometimes, to even sell them on the idea that it's worth the effort!</p><p> </p><p>They can already speak perfectly well in English or in another language… why bother?!</p><p> </p><p>I do a variety of things throughout the school year to convince my students to speak French <i>(you can read about my gumball machines <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2015/10/five-for-friday-oct-2.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>, for example)</i> and to give them opportunities to practice all the French they are learning <i>(you can read more about my favourite whole-class game <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2017/05/le-meilleur-jeu-de-communication-orale.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>)</i>. </p><p> </p><p>I like to switch it up to keep engagement high and to keep things interesting!</p><p> </p><p>In this post, I'll go how how exactly I use my French behaviour bingo + the promise of fancy Pokémon stickers to encourage my students to speak as much French as possible, all day long - to me and to their classmates!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgORtnZl7EZ2sfTzcnhUgzom3KzKgyLWhMiie5rUhBZRQv3-6AVW64AYgswkC6d6SVGoIAfOiVFwDnV0Cma-r5HsboFwfPpgnJTZLAnFt3H7RMPoBkJeQ9aWNXnB2Q2SdoqA1tDq0fPZME/s1024/Blog+Images+Maybe.012.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun way to encourage your French primary students to speak more French? This blog post explains how you can use behaviour bingo & fun stickers to get your students engaged and excited about practicing their second language!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgORtnZl7EZ2sfTzcnhUgzom3KzKgyLWhMiie5rUhBZRQv3-6AVW64AYgswkC6d6SVGoIAfOiVFwDnV0Cma-r5HsboFwfPpgnJTZLAnFt3H7RMPoBkJeQ9aWNXnB2Q2SdoqA1tDq0fPZME/w579-h434/Blog+Images+Maybe.012.jpeg" width="579" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Why is it important to get our students to speak in French as much as possible?</h1><p><br /></p><p>Since we are all teaching our students how to learn in and speak fluent French, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that it’s SO important to get our students speaking in French as much as we can.</p><p><br /></p><p>Learning a language is a lot like playing a sport, or learning to read, or how to play piano… or just about anything worth doing!</p><p><br /></p><p>If you want to improve, you need to <b>PRACTICE</b>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Will our students be perfect? Of course not!</p><p><br /></p><p>But we still want to encourage them as much as possible to try, try, try, and to praise their efforts. </p><p><br /></p><p>Think of when a baby learns to speak their first language -- we get SO excited and lose our minds over their first words. And the baby practices more and more, and gets better and better, until, one day, they are speaking full sentences.</p><p><br /></p><p>We don't stop them from speaking just because they might only use a couple of words or say some things incorrectly!</p><p><br /></p><p>And, it's important to keep in mind that our students can usually already speak at least one language very fluently. And it’s often not French… or, even if it is, they often live in a community where another language dominates, and that becomes their default.</p><p><br /></p><p>And, they are young. It's hard for them to understand the abstract idea that there is value in learning a second language when they already have one mastered.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, they might need a little extra encouragement to practice speaking in French. That's where French Behaviour Bingo can come in!</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How to Use French Behaviour Bingo to Encourage Your Students to Speak French</h1><h2 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">Step #1 - Print your Bingo boards </h2><p>I have a product on TPT of all the bingo boards I use -- <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B9%20%7C%20French%20Behaviour%20Bingo" target="_blank">you can see it HERE</a> -- but you can use any bingo boards you want. I do suggest using ones on plain paper that your students can stamp with bingo daubers & take home once complete.</p><p>I do like <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B9%20%7C%20French%20Behaviour%20Bingo" target="_blank">the ones I created</a>, because they already say “Je parle français” along the top, and there are TON of different themes. I print a new theme each time a student finishes a card.</p><p>My boards also come in black & white or colour. I usually print the first board in colour, but then go with black & white from there so that I can just print them at school whenever I need them.</p><p>To start, you'll need one board per student (it doesn't matter that they'll all have similar boards). My boards come printed two per page.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B9%20%7C%20French%20Behaviour%20Bingo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a fun way to encourage your French primary students to speak more French? This blog post explains how you can use behaviour bingo & fun stickers to get your students engaged and excited about practicing their second language!" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbk5cTxE0lBRyYGYpZPgbK-LfHNWahHqJnZ2Sdrmjft1zx7m2aIAXMs99GeJ1YMvCMJEJQJnA3Q3rkV_YBLfvYe5SvHsW-u-tAOzQaYFiBJ6zyHCwyztHMz8fqfXN0_2CCdiKXcQwkEg/w300-h451/1.png" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Step #2 - Calling Cards</h3><p>For the calling cards, you have two options. You can print a whole class set, or an individual set for each student. </p><p>I prefer to print one set for each student, because then I don't have to keep track of who has already drawn what. <i>*If we are playing a whole class version of bingo (I’ll talk more about that in another post!), I just print one set for the class.</i></p><p>I have my students cut their own calling cards apart and write their own names on their bingo boards. I don’t believe in me doing work that they can do themselves!</p><p>I pass out strips of tape and empty envelopes. They write their names on the envelopes, put the cut-apart calling cards inside, and then stick their board + their envelope to the wall. You might have them tape them to their desks or do something else that works for you.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B9%20%7C%20French%20Behaviour%20Bingo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a fun way to encourage your French primary students to speak more French? This blog post explains how you can use behaviour bingo & fun stickers to get your students engaged and excited about practicing their second language!" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPliKxnBYzRm6rrWpRvwbtz1QMiej449caFTqed8uP7oZJvhARyYD_fgcFGL3S-ksFym7KuKBa9fR4XYjKXdKm5Y6-hANpLXnRT7zdmMDGXUMsRNyzTRxNzQ2E01vlIu7Nh1EZAOc8Zqs/w316-h475/2.png" width="316" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Step #3 - Prizes!</h2><p>Next, you’ll want to show your students the prizes! </p><p>I personally don’t do a treasure box with toys; I find that they end up in the garbage and they’re expensive for what you get if you have to buy a box worth.</p><p>Vinyl stickers are my go-to - they’re awesome and you can get them for a variety of themes. Your students can stick them to their water bottles, lunchboxes, etc. and they stick really well.</p><p>I chose Pokémon to kick us off this year because all of my students are super into them. Since then, I’ve added some Among Us stickers <i>(be careful to go through them first -- some of them in the pack I bought aren’t appropriate for school)</i> as well as some cute animals.</p><p>Temporary tattoos are also great prizes if your students' parents are down with that.</p><p>I love fancy stickers & temporary tattoos because you can get 100+ for like 10$ -- way cheaper than even dollar store toys!</p><p>I display my stickers in a pocket chart -- my students can always see what they’re working towards and easily find the one they want. Plus, for this year, it’s very Covid-friendly!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B9%20%7C%20French%20Behaviour%20Bingo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a fun way to encourage your French primary students to speak more French? This blog post explains how you can use behaviour bingo & fun stickers to get your students engaged and excited about practicing their second language!" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQ9lL3C3mPB-g2J89K-zO3HdKJO2obEBoiZ-tf8IpoBPnI1ITC4kZeCo4_H3lSPt0wt2zrZWZNh7Ukja-qGFXIB-yLRGAwXSO1iSYDcZswQiuYi4W6PQZe-OXdclLhuoZdiM0SV053_I/w318-h478/3.png" width="318" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Step #4 - Establish Criteria</h2><p><br /></p><p>Next, you’ll want to let your students know what will earn them the chance to draw a card from their envelope and mark it off on their board. </p><p>Maybe it's using words/sentences of the week, maybe it's correctly using a target structure, maybe it's French among their peers, maybe to you... whatever works for you & your students! </p><p>I do target sentences (ex. j'ai fini not je suis fini) and French among peers. You'll also want to let them know what counts as Bingo -- a line, a full card, an X, etc?</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Step #5 - Play!</h2><p><br /></p><p>When you “catch” your students speaking French or meeting the pre-established criteria, they’ll go draw a card from their envelope and mark off the matching picture on their card.</p><p>I just keep Bingo daubers above the shelf their cards are on, but you can also use stickers, markers, anything you want. </p><p>I usually do two prizes per card, to reduce how many cards I’m handing out. My students can first earn a sticker for a straight line, and then they keep their card up and can earn a second one for completing it (full card).</p><p>Once your students mark it off, they can toss the calling card. </p><p>When they get a Bingo, they can pick a prize! Again, you can then choose to give them a new board or continue on until they get a full card and then another prize (that's what I do to minimize prep).</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Want to Give it a Go?</h2><p><br /></p><p>Here are some affiliate links to the stickers I purchased:</p><p><i>(Remember - affiliate link means that if you choose to purchase after clicking my link, I get a small kickback at no extra cost to you):</i></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://amzn.to/3a9H7pt" target="_blank">Pokémon stickers</a></li><li><a href="https://amzn.to/3dv524J" target="_blank">Among Us stickers</a> (remember -- go through them first and remove any that are innappropriate!!)</li><li><a href="https://amzn.to/3v18DNS" target="_blank">Cute animals stickers</a></li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">>>> <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B9%20%7C%20French%20Behaviour%20Bingo" target="_blank">Here is a link to the bingo boards I created and use on TPT.</a></span></b></p><p><i>*Note that you can use this game for any target behaviour -- I picked French because it's what my students most need to work on, but you could use it for anything (I would just suggest one thing at a time)!</i></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Remember, keep it fresh!</h1><p><br /></p><p>This is just one thing that I do throughout the year to encourage my students to speak more French.</p><p><br /></p><p>I know how valuable the practice is, so I am careful to try and keep their motivation and engagement high.</p><p><br /></p><p>For other ideas, you can check out <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2015/10/five-for-friday-oct-2.html" target="_blank">THIS (ancient) BLOG POST about gum ball machines</a> or <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2016/08/comment-utiliser-les-billets-de-fierte.html" target="_blank">THIS BLOG POST about reward tags</a>.</p><p><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Want to give Bingo a try?</h1><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FreeFrenchBingo" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">You can try out one of my black & white bingo boards for FREE by clicking <b>HERE</b> and signing up with your name & email.</span></a></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FreeFrenchBingo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="FREE Space-Themed French Behaviour Bingo for encouraging your French primary students to speak more French!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzmISVrIW9oTtBwDyut_Ee5nlED_lEHMl-jxKfqJgx128kHeD31mo1dczLBu7bOW7C2lDM4Yn0DZMYH8KELYa1lGNQVXAzu8fxSGfxXFfZ8FM1PtyD4dByXWkROLRSqeWoFgj7VGZPVM/w531-h398/TeachAlong+slides+pictures.004.jpeg" width="531" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I’ll send you a confirmation email (that’s just to prevent people from signing up with email addresses that aren’t actually theirs), and once you click the link inside, you’ll be able to download the black & white space-themed cards for free.</p><p><br /></p><p>Click <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/FreeFrenchBingo" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">HERE</span></a> to sign up & grab your copy!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Behaviour-Bingo-Je-parle-en-francais-Communication-orale-5001446?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=2021%20Q2%20%7C%20B9%20%7C%20French%20Behaviour%20Bingo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun way to encourage your French primary students to speak more French? This blog post explains how you can use behaviour bingo & fun stickers to get your students engaged and excited about practicing their second language!" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="580" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3r7fXRQXnjertFpI9CoH37qRuPAY5Cwf2CGMNfWsjSAREAVm48f7HarrMOUCW9N3dnGvPDGAkU4k91TsuASPVFRsLw2wFBlSarZIzg_paif2wkAa4hHfzpTlb067k0Ea-9GPlw3-cSlQ/w386-h580/3.png" width="386" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-43498647074007788252021-04-10T06:31:00.002-04:002021-04-10T06:31:00.214-04:00How I Managed to Actually Garden With My Students This Year (Successfully!)<p>During the height of the pandemic last year, when it was spring and we couldn't go anywhere or do anything except yard work, I decided I wanted to (try to) get into gardening.🌱</p><p>Despite coming from a long line of green thumbs AND my first-ever job being at my grandparents' greenhouses, I am not a naturally gifted gardener. I would, in fact, say I am a very gifted plant killer 😂</p><p>I had no idea where to begin or what to even really do.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/a/43431/pxwVeThR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Teacher or a parent looking for some help with gardening? This blog post explains what helped one NOT-green-thumbed parent/teacher turn her plants lessons into successes!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip3rp36Gx2Op5W0h274phyphenhyphenvMz9e8wQc2JGfmRgYkAfHtGbw6ny3hW9T3h3Cx9PihrREvXGsffMkZTvm4-djegzAz1rjSPMvS5HJQ6KVoE_ic560hWhnIW2Ylm2TB69rQYi6m07NBGDnPI/w564-h423/Blog+Images+Maybe.011.jpeg" width="564" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Leah and I started out by turning an old sink into a planter and popping in some lettuce from our local farm, but a next step? We had NO idea!</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">And, as it turns out, I'm not the only one who struggles with gardening!</h2><p>I was kind of surprised to find out, when asking friends for (virtual) help, a lot of us are not pro-gardeners haha.</p><p>A lot of our parents ARE... but it seems that we didn't really pick up all the skills through osmosis? Weird.</p><p>The instructions on the backs of seed packets are helpful for sure, as is Googling "easiest plants to grow", but there just wasn't really anything out there that I could find that would let Leah and I try some things out, stick to the basics, and have a clear, tried & true plan.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">I'm not really known for being a manifester...</h2><p>But I do believe that everything is figureoutable (Marie Forleo came up with that term -- definitely check her out if you haven't already!), and I <i>knew</i> that there HAD to be a way for me to exist in this world (Covid or not) with a reasonably-sized, living garden with a few varieties of fun plants.</p><p>While I was dreaming big, I was also hoping for a way to transfer some of that knowledge to my grade one students the following year (I knew by then that I'd be in grade one, and that plants are part of the living things outcomes I have to cover).</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">And, happily, one day as I was spending hours scrolling Facebook for no real reason, I found it!</h2><p>I found out about Kids Growing City and their Oasis Box program. I found out about it in a business Facebook group I happen to be part of, and I knew it was exactly the gardening-hand-holding I was looking for!</p><p>It’s a super cool subscription box created to help parents/teachers/people like me haha.</p><p>Basically, each month since signing up, we get a box in the mail with gardening tips, seeds, activities, and more. There are super-simple instructions, and most of the supplies you already have around the house, like berry containers and red solo cups (the only other thing we've had to buy separately is potting soil).</p><p>So far, Leah & I have successfully grown basil, marigolds, radishes, and lettuce, and I've taken a few of the boxes to school to do with my students.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/a/43431/pxwVeThR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Teacher or a parent looking for some help with gardening? This blog post explains what helped one NOT-green-thumbed parent/teacher turn her plants lessons into successes!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQShyZ8a04Vu7TGbiDnTtQlhyphenhyphenNBtuX4lla5FwSw8Tm_5ZL5JFGz4-vNYYWH0wcPUDiTCnnqM91jb8eNAAg0oME2vSsVM1lYa_9ZkiSLFm5LNcEblZD0oNM1DtiliBHBWpmBT3RyOwP9jc/w364-h364/1.png" width="364" /></a></div><br /><p>These little monthly boxes are perfect for home, school, or both! I'm actually going to be making seed bombs with my class this month, which I'm super pumped about. We are going to plant marigolds for Mother's Day with Leah's leftover seeds, too.</p><p>Here are some radishes we planted in the fall: </p><p>(Who knew that radishes do well in the chilly fall NS weather?!)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/a/43431/pxwVeThR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Teacher or a parent looking for some help with gardening? This blog post explains what helped one NOT-green-thumbed parent/teacher turn her plants lessons into successes!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtDmn_3FUvhqQhkaAHc44MVBM8B1vcNYkzS_hGY9Ro4qjSFZSLDcVQRXbL08j9zU3FKq0CRGjJjYDWQLpux3oTEdhtoeU17WvPOlz9ADaNXXJ6kfj7nor9hVTJSbMkh-ddntCuRIX6Ck/w367-h367/4.png" width="367" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>If you have outcomes about plant needs & living things as well, but have no idea how to plant anything more complicated than beans, this program might be just as helpful for you as it has been for me.</p><p>There's a TON of stuff inside each box, including seeds, instructions, colouring sheets, a collector sticker, and other fun surprises like games.</p><p>Here's a peek inside of one:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/a/43431/pxwVeThR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Teacher or a parent looking for some help with gardening? This blog post explains what helped one NOT-green-thumbed parent/teacher turn her plants lessons into successes!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHo0U0IWBJ72-itV8zjg25RIaqvmfsZ88KBs2PW1E36SZcNlW4pqbN1TbAa8Y9e0FSAVd4hNbVwwRyNUIOCD4H69bwo9SaoTis9SBILOHbQFQd-TjDttqqoP3PxUJZklF6DugSrsYm2g/w367-h367/Copy+of+2021+_+Q2+_+Email+Batch+Images.png" width="367" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The downside-with-an-upside, though, is that the program isn't open for registration all the time. </p><p>In fact, doors are going to be closing for this round pretty soon -- on April 15.</p><p>I am excited about it in some ways, because I know that by focusing on only having doors open a few times a year, the people behind Oasis Box will have more time to come up with great ideas for us members (I do the same for my membership, and I can confirm that it makes a huge difference!).</p><p>But for you, that means if you want to join and it's already past April 15, you'll have to hop on the waitlist until doors are open instead.</p><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Which is okay! They'll keep you informed on when you can sign up.</h2><div><div>If you want more information on whether or not Oasis Box would be a good fit for you, here's a link to more info/to join: <a href="https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/a/43431/pxwVeThR">https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/a/43431/pxwVeThR</a></div><div><br /></div><div>It is an affiliate link, which just means that if you purchase, I get a few dollars back for referring you (at no extra cost to you).</div><div><br /></div><div>I only share affiliate links for products I really love and believe in, and this box has seriously upped my gardening game.</div><div><br /></div><div>Again, it's a monthly subscription, so you learn something new/plant something new each month 😊 I haven't failed yet so, I feel like that's a really good sign for everyone 😂</div></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">And, if you're already a great gardener & are just looking for some worksheets and activities en français to help supplement your plants lessons...</h2><p>Don’t forget that I’ve got my « Tout au sujet des plantes » activity pack available on TPT.</p><p>It doesn’t come with seeds or much gardening help, but it will help your students learn things like plant needs, plant life cycles, etc. haha</p><p><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Les-plantes-FRENCH-Plants-Worksheets-and-Activities-1857175?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%20E1%20%7C%20Oasis%20Box%20for%20Teachers" target="_blank">Here’s a link to CLICK and check it out on TPT</a>. It's one of my best-sellers!</p><p>And, if you’re not totally sure about Oasis Box, they have a free herbs kit you can try before you commit to the subscription box. <a href="https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/a/43433/pxwVeThR" target="_blank">You can check that out HERE</a>.</p><p>FINALLY, I put together a little plants-themed colour-by-code worksheet for my students earlier this year. There wasn't really enough to it to post anywhere, but you can grab a copy of it if you want via this blog post.</p><p>Just <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/plantscolouring" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>, add your name & email to the form, and I'll send it your way.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/plantscolouring" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Check out this blog post to download a FREE colour-by-code French worksheet with a plants theme" border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgz98DTDkEAj4-tLYSkLAY7NcFTZhStUubRi5a9cpZV-JVauWTc-OB-atQ-0ssFYD0bYjR9CgJOAecemUSa5IKUCYOAV3wjpotC3-8TM9ObblXlelCkDley1PtUPbJB9wUdYOVtJPjDQ/w479-h401/Colorie+par+code+Opt+In.png" width="479" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7uCYaO-30jBtbgegWR765A_0NdEa9PwuU_igPF8luV_wBFmwSLPP_a2P5gdQOLZx26jrxkp7Dh8svzkcLEEZl3hQv7hWIUnMfv9BbUJHGjol4kvLGZ4n3Qsyzpgx1fs4KDHenVd6j6TM/s1500/1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Teacher or a parent looking for some help with gardening? This blog post explains what helped one NOT-green-thumbed parent/teacher turn her plants lessons into successes!" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="525" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7uCYaO-30jBtbgegWR765A_0NdEa9PwuU_igPF8luV_wBFmwSLPP_a2P5gdQOLZx26jrxkp7Dh8svzkcLEEZl3hQv7hWIUnMfv9BbUJHGjol4kvLGZ4n3Qsyzpgx1fs4KDHenVd6j6TM/w349-h525/1.png" width="349" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-56826749300082059982021-04-03T07:45:00.000-04:002021-04-03T07:45:35.052-04:0010 Spring-Themed Boom Card Decks for French Primary Teachers<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-de6f4f98-7fff-e6fa-76d2-acc4de03cdbe"></span></p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you're teaching online, or your students suddenly have devices in the classroom, you might have discovered Boom Learning.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://wow.boomlearning.com/author/maternelleavecmmeandrea?ref=1" target="_blank">(If not, you can check it out <span style="background-color: white;">HERE</span>)</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Boom Learning is a great website where teachers can create interactive "task cards" for students to complete.</span></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can create (or purchase) cards for any subject, any concept, basically anyTHING!</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Your students can play for free by using the "fastpin" feature, and if you want data about how they do, you can opt for a paid membership.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Lots of TPT authors also create Boom Learning cards, myself included.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Since spring is in the air, here's a list of 10 of the spring-y Boom Card decks I've created so far!</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglcVwMkdk-sKpjXbPNiKPqAIoBJ9f629lgndKgg8yDKW0JryZfsrKaTAsmHDDcBNWlGy8x2hDOS8gORochdtXsdWQ7dy4hrxdl_nqtviYv4IgPNRxY3_YO16n3Dbci0ad_tG9dzVgTDBc/s1024/Blog+Images+Maybe.010.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglcVwMkdk-sKpjXbPNiKPqAIoBJ9f629lgndKgg8yDKW0JryZfsrKaTAsmHDDcBNWlGy8x2hDOS8gORochdtXsdWQ7dy4hrxdl_nqtviYv4IgPNRxY3_YO16n3Dbci0ad_tG9dzVgTDBc/w603-h452/Blog+Images+Maybe.010.jpeg" width="603" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Spring-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-Printemps-5401562?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">1. Spring Predictable Sentences</a></span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-3a093564-7fff-ad83-eab1-87098500300d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you use my Pocket Chart Phrases fantastiques from TPT, this is similar to the spring set. Students will listen to and </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">then build each sentence by dragging & dropping the correct sight words and vocabulary card in the right order.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Spring-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-Printemps-5401562?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZSNlkM7a9DMlr4BkpFRHVF1SlqpKKihhiiJYoJJ_nTohQUKuelFWV1ARL12RXW5TjiddfN9Bxh2S2bQA462flkRP9STsjkZjfAHv4I3ro6UYjw8_uTka6mugB6A1wDJX9okt3DknNzM/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.003.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Beginning-Letter-Sorts-5587402?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards">2. Cookie Bug Beginning Letter Sorts</a></span></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For this deck, students will sort the four pictures on each card by their beginning letter. They will determine if each image begins with the target sound or not, and drag & drop to sort it into the correct column.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Beginning-Letter-Sorts-5587402?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqVqOXDukAVj1LaIGNVceC3yQZ6_eXekVp_TKTZs2lMwVaPCCr-Ay4JBoEJwGcjBIWF337O6h7-kXFSTlrNdO-bwzLfsB7qXLs7EuhIGV6uSEx7lxnIs9PdKJY-YVoQ1UJfV4MzNHHyg/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.027.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Boom-Cards-French-Alphabet-Sorts-Trier-les-lettres-de-lalphabet-5426080?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">3. Bee Alphabet Sorts</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Students will practice sorting upper- & lowercase letters with this deck. Each card has four letters to sort -- two each of uppercase and lowercase.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Boom-Cards-French-Alphabet-Sorts-Trier-les-lettres-de-lalphabet-5426080?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3S0XALd_Exhz-YnNLxWzkRKgmd_fue4wt-3lhiuZlHa_ZVY38mJZPBXGRko5cYFrUhp1Ohq_jDLAEhtsVajwYsevjenH4l7cyhIu4DJmol87aP-9rniDxk0ZHy4BoRU2O5gEZwoiCH-Q/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.008.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Upper-Lowercase-Alphabet-Sort-5429203?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">4. Ant Alphabet Sorts</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This deck is another one for sorting upper- & lowercase letters, but this time, students will match the correct letters and ignore « les intrus ». </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Upper-Lowercase-Alphabet-Sort-5429203?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='391' height='325' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy1i60-BTfeEv4zP8bvHrEwpbsZSJZom9r6R6oaL17Fic1oDR_I2JE9HtrNkz9L0tXMPs1NWoPEyv3AKfxBsA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Alphabet-Letter-Match-5840335?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">5. Bubble Alphabet Match</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For this deck, students will look at the target letter (uppercase) in the big bubble. They will then click on the matching lowercase letter in the smaller bubble.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Alphabet-Letter-Match-5840335?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUStG6ti7k5r_kx7e5NVODLC_p3rVdZlAVGxfFWBZMlXQoGRFzahnkBCkpLlFVN9Wg5kKkbVmSF06e6sAD6XKYgGcZKKhlYxyVo6IeAjAi3j2S0NdSkYGP-wNqaIxALH_uBj9WueXAQvk/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.043.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Les-syllabes-le-printemps-5504163?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">6. Spring Syllables Counting</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This deck is one of my favourites! It includes audio, and students will listen to each word, clap out how many syllables it has (*oral syllables) and click the correct number. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Les-syllabes-le-printemps-5504163?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9-Vuc41j7b2cgS1z1zAX4yRSioTSAvslX4dntVP0VFDOPAlpkwZ_ZgpKv5R7lO8R9tEPf2ofp9AaBi5jXRgpUwXnFNEIiLm1UBV-jq-jSubLQqkbk-34aqqn9Te7hjCixu88j8cTgVLA/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.019.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Un-de-plus-Adding-One-One-More-5835609?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">7. Nighttime Un de plus</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Students will love clicking on the number that is one more than the number represented in the 10 frames on each of these nighttime spring-themed cards.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Un-de-plus-Adding-One-One-More-5835609?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9FJoVUP-_ZYH5B69ooIoyH0whpO7eQeXUTXjM9JG8FM7vCcwYF347EbHdhbPeP8m7A3sBXR0XxZMgwVYzOdp9WfA9Y7muXNx7zbTvfrdYQAtSXG_KmH7HyXhW4SWhg4J2bOXTCHeeucE/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.041.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Animals-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-Animaux-6313300?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">8. Spring Animal Predictable Sentences</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another deck based on my Pocket Chart Phrases fantastiques from TPT, but this one features spring animals and colour words. Students will listen to and then build each sentence by dragging & dropping the correct sight words and vocabulary card in the right order.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-Animals-Predictable-Sentences-French-BOOM-Cards-Animaux-6313300?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsr-ycR_nI5oFtbU7zUlxypmSmKd9qr2xu6ZqVoQ2glp2VkQtbmXIDMPeoDXZ3rK22s4HllOfto5d1Vi8WGasS614wVmFP1jlitH-duBRzID2txBTsNYZhCbaFSCx_WYjF-e6Iz215ZU0/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.052.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Alphabet-Letter-Match-Strawberries-5847834?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" target="_blank">9. Strawberry letter match</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This deck is the opposite of the bubble one -- </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">students will look at the target letter (lowercase this time) on the strawberry box. They will then click on the matching uppercase letter on the correct strawberry.<br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Alphabet-Letter-Match-Strawberries-5847834?utm_source=maternelleavecmmeandrea.com&utm_campaign=Q2%20%7C%201B%20%7C%20Spring%20Boom%20Cards" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj63DwwpUFcfObhpiwEnK9oCmr3rINL2aOfN5VfqFkZzveKha6WXqLfR0TZYi8LQdk5CyGoslSs__Dq59TycnPmaOL8FQhNI6vBR2ScX1T-s0nD8FKDghsWDkBZiYNQlf-sj905RDj5PY8/w320-h320/3+-+Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.044.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/boomfreebie" target="_blank">10. Freebie -- Monkey Uncover the Picture</a></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This freebie is a fun way for your students to practice their alphabet anchor words. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Students will look at the target letter, and click on the picture in the grid that begins with the target letter. When they choose the correct picture, it will disappear. After they finish all 16 cards, they will have uncovered the secret picture!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/boomfreebie" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Teaching online? Do your students have new devices? Looking for a way to help your French students practice a variety of skills in a fun, engaging way? Try Boom cards! This blog post is a round up of 10 French spring-themed Boom Learning decks -- including a freebie!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaewtanPlFp7CZtHuHeksdFg7DC9sv1ZtUPj9Wl4JCSRLnB3pnJi44sLDTSSt3gJ3xvXleL9Mo5yOToaB6dvgiUcgHkrTzgRhN2vYovP0MSR93hlzLL0ExHeB0KSrm3Keuh1lmutBD6LI/w382-h382/Uncover+the+picture.png" width="382" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Boom cards are such a fun way to have your students practice key academic skills in a fun, engaging way.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And remember -- if you decide to get a paid membership, you can even use it to track data on how well your students do/determine where they need some more practice.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">Try Boom Out for FREE!</span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Remember, you can try Boom Learning out for free as well. Just <a href="https://wow.boomlearning.com/author/maternelleavecmmeandrea?ref=1" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>, sign up for a free membership, and use the Monkey Uncover the Picture freebie to get started.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To get your free deck, <a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/boomfreebie" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>, enter your name & email in the box, and I'll email you the link & instructions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbOs0tysnTE8jBmkgyIvmAzI6P8VwkzdjyfpQh-MvGu-KoU1SrXAUGnyLHJyeeTWOt1dxXIBf-KDFrGDztfPsNMfp5NmZRa8wMvzWcIqL9Oyeu_443greXv_nx8QEjWjugw73FmqS3uE/s1500/Digital%252C+interactive%252C+fun+%2526+en+franc%25CC%25A7ais%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbOs0tysnTE8jBmkgyIvmAzI6P8VwkzdjyfpQh-MvGu-KoU1SrXAUGnyLHJyeeTWOt1dxXIBf-KDFrGDztfPsNMfp5NmZRa8wMvzWcIqL9Oyeu_443greXv_nx8QEjWjugw73FmqS3uE/w343-h516/Digital%252C+interactive%252C+fun+%2526+en+franc%25CC%25A7ais%2521.jpg" width="343" /></a></div><br /></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Looking for more spring ideas for your French primary classroom?</span></span></h2><div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Check out these posts!</span></span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2018/05/mes-projets-dart-preferes-pour-le.html">Mes projets d'art préférés pour le printemps</a></span></span></li><li><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2018/04/un-bricolage-facile-pour-le-printemps.html">Un bricolage facile pour le printemps</a></span></span></li></ul></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></div>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-9178002791495686882020-10-15T08:00:00.004-04:002020-10-15T09:27:31.812-04:00What Writer's Workshop Is Versus What It Isn'tIf you read <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/10/the-best-way-to-structure-your-writing.html" target="_blank">this blog post</a> on this topic, then you know more about how Writer’s Workshop needs to be structured, how easy it is to use it as a framework for teaching writing with different genres and themes, and what the components of the writing process are.<br /><br />In this post, though, we’re going to address some common misconceptions about what Writer’s Workshop is and what it actually isn’t. <br /><br />A lot of teachers feel overwhelmed by the workshop model -- understandably! We all feel intimidated by things that we don’t know much about yet. <br /><br />Also, often, as teachers we forget sometimes what writing actually is in the primary grades (spoiler alert - real writing is not copying from the board or filling in predictable sentences!)<br /><br />With this blog post, I’m hoping to set the record straight on some misunderstandings to help more teachers feel empowered to facilitate it in their classrooms!<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaPGcTll6VfpiGXb_euzAzLs0YVEQxU8vr03llq1Zkcujox4GMyNsKrFtoTEbau3IH0vEtzvYsgMuOnu1c9y4pHYufxqg-QI6YqHZWe3APeMR7gCVinpD-zEOxpa3EA4efY91qvXLPDR0/s1024/What+Writers+Workshop+Is+Versus+What+It+Isnt+1.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a title graphic of a young boy drawing and writing with the text, "What Writer's Workshop Is and Is Not in the Primary Grades" on it." border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" data-pin-description="Many teachers feel overwhelmed and apprehensive about the workshop model because they've heard it's a lot of work to implement. We always feel anxious about things we haven't actually tried yet! In this blog post, you'll read several points explaining what Writer's Workshop IS versus what it ISN'T so that you can feel empowered to start facilitating it in your French primary classroom. From student choice to active participation and more, it's a must-read. Click through now to read the post!" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaPGcTll6VfpiGXb_euzAzLs0YVEQxU8vr03llq1Zkcujox4GMyNsKrFtoTEbau3IH0vEtzvYsgMuOnu1c9y4pHYufxqg-QI6YqHZWe3APeMR7gCVinpD-zEOxpa3EA4efY91qvXLPDR0/w640-h480/What+Writers+Workshop+Is+Versus+What+It+Isnt+1.jpeg" title="Many teachers feel overwhelmed and apprehensive about the workshop model because they've heard it's a lot of work to implement. We always feel anxious about things we haven't actually tried yet! In this blog post, you'll read several points explaining what Writer's Workshop IS versus what it ISN'T so that you can feel empowered to start facilitating it in your French primary classroom. From student choice to active participation and more, it's a must-read. Click through now to read the post!" width="640" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">WHAT WRITER’S WORKSHOP ISN’T</h3>Let’s start with what it isn’t first. Then we can end with the empowerment of knowing exactly what it is and with ideas for effectively implementing it!<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>It isn’t something you do when you have an empty block here and there. Writer’s Workshop is so much more than just writing because it incorporates several different literacy skills. It needs to be an integral part of your day!</li><li>It’s not just responding to a prompt. This is an important writing skill, of course, and something that our students will do over and over again in their school careers...but Writer’s Workshop is more.</li><li>It’s not simply filling in the blanks using predictable sentences. Those are valuable in their own way, but they should not be part of your Writer’s Workshop framework.</li><li>It’s not developmentally inappropriate. Some teachers might argue that the workshop model shouldn’t be implemented until the older grades, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! Your students will naturally write based on where they are developmentally -- that’s the wonderful thing!</li><li>It’s not handwriting class. As a fine motor skill, handwriting is super important in the primary grades and needs to be taught, for sure -- but it’s not what Writer’s Workshop is about.</li><li>It’s not about getting instant results. As adults we all know how stuck in the “instant gratification” mindset many of us have become. But we can’t have that expectation in our classrooms, ever, including for writing instruction.</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UAW-uGFjlIuKn-K70M_mTSvBDYvWIbtl3eysnpoRwp_8SmJIhwYc-MkMZoKhT0sBnrURGL7vs8n9pEfjBe8F4RQNHSFeV_chh2vFm3NpipLdvIZ4QvCrQ0_mcNBRUcyTCKuI1su455Q/s1500/What+Writers+Workshop+Is+Versus+What+It+Isnt+2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a photograph of a young child showing frustration with hands over the face and the text, "NOT how we want our students to feel during Writer's Workshop" on it." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UAW-uGFjlIuKn-K70M_mTSvBDYvWIbtl3eysnpoRwp_8SmJIhwYc-MkMZoKhT0sBnrURGL7vs8n9pEfjBe8F4RQNHSFeV_chh2vFm3NpipLdvIZ4QvCrQ0_mcNBRUcyTCKuI1su455Q/w426-h640/What+Writers+Workshop+Is+Versus+What+It+Isnt+2.png" title="Many teachers feel overwhelmed and apprehensive about the workshop model because they've heard it's a lot of work to implement. We always feel anxious about things we haven't actually tried yet! In this blog post, you'll read several points explaining what Writer's Workshop IS versus what it ISN'T so that you can feel empowered to start facilitating it in your French primary classroom. From student choice to active participation and more, it's a must-read. Click through now to read the post!" width="426" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">WHAT WRITER’S WORKSHOP IS</h3>Now that I’ve gone over what it isn’t, let’s look at the opposite side of the coin and talk about what it actually is!<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>It IS built into your regular routine. If you can swing it in your schedule, then I highly recommend doing it every day. But, if you don’t have your students 100% of the school day (if you’re doing a 50/50 model, for example), then see if you can make every other day work. Frequency and consistency are important!</li><li>It IS about student choice! We don’t want to tell our students what to write about, because many times that causes them to disengage from writing. When we give them choice -- like real writers and authors have -- over what they write about, it helps our students fall in love with writing!</li><li>It IS active. You will model proper writing skills and mechanics a ton, and your students will practice proper writing skills and mechanics a ton, and your students will learn to write by writing -- as they should!</li><li>It IS about expecting your students to be active participants. As I’m sure you know, we need to have high expectations for our students -- always, in every class. You’ll want to encourage your students to stretch themselves by trying new things, practicing, and growing their brains.</li><li>It IS understanding where students might be in the beginning. Our students will be on all different parts of the writing continuum all the time, but especially in the beginning. Even if your students are only making scribbles at the start, it’s still wonderful!</li><li>It IS a process! Remember that your students won’t master writing in a day, in a week, or in a month. You all need patience while they learn and practice over an extended period of time!</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6-2gHWE7j86bh_1_W3JNKChek1BxkdwJ6uoPALgxLEMn5DS1Bdxnf-Y0l5Gp3LiYarUkKhbPMwhXUqoiQpXqoo4LaE24ZYQKvgC1-dwTn74j-onOcx9caCTuIvlU9BkzEUD_NRzBrIs/s1500/What+Writers+Workshop+Is+Versus+What+It+Isnt+3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a photograph of a young boy drawing with the text, "This is more what we are going for" on it." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6-2gHWE7j86bh_1_W3JNKChek1BxkdwJ6uoPALgxLEMn5DS1Bdxnf-Y0l5Gp3LiYarUkKhbPMwhXUqoiQpXqoo4LaE24ZYQKvgC1-dwTn74j-onOcx9caCTuIvlU9BkzEUD_NRzBrIs/w426-h640/What+Writers+Workshop+Is+Versus+What+It+Isnt+3.png" title="Many teachers feel overwhelmed and apprehensive about the workshop model because they've heard it's a lot of work to implement. We always feel anxious about things we haven't actually tried yet! In this blog post, you'll read several points explaining what Writer's Workshop IS versus what it ISN'T so that you can feel empowered to start facilitating it in your French primary classroom. From student choice to active participation and more, it's a must-read. Click through now to read the post!" width="426" /></a></div><br />And there you have it! I hope these distinctions cleared up any misconceptions you might have had about Writer’s Workshop and help you to feel empowered to try it in your classroom. <br /><br />It will be so good for your students to have this structure to their writing instruction -- and it makes your job easier!<br /><br />Be sure to also check out my blog post all about <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#" target="_blank">adapting Writer’s Workshop for COVID</a>, including social distancing and virtual teaching. <div><br /><b>
Looking for more writing tips? Fill out your name and email in the box below, and I'll email you my FREE guide to writer's workshop for French primary teachers!<br /></b>
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</div>Leslie Hirgelthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681943653905991530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-72048106088478062492020-10-14T18:44:00.004-04:002020-10-15T09:27:40.129-04:00Running Writer's Workshop in COVID TimesThe COVID global pandemic has changed teaching for schools all around the world, and understandably so -- it’s an infectious illness that could spread like wildfire in schools, in particular, if precautions aren’t taken. That doesn’t mean that it’s not hindering how we’ve all become accustomed to teaching, and for something like Writer’s Workshop in particular, it’s a tough obstacle to overcome!<br /><br />Writer’s Workshop is an <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/10/the-best-way-to-structure-your-writing.html" target="_blank">essential framework for teaching writing</a> in my classroom, so I’m not willing to teach writing another way because I’ve learned how successful it is for my students and how much it helps them grow as writers. That just means that I need to get creative in how I adapt Writer’s Workshop in COVID times!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJZL6AAGnvk1xENbRqKX18JL4NA0gL7pTQPuw8rNM2NZzlw61C7K_h5h1b0hetWm1QbDjHe-2-tvvD3ek5kQp4818NSh0ZJfkDHgPlVlT2hggOrb-T8dBy6EYq2vB0PFzVF8m7q3SVjs/s1024/Blog+Images+Maybe.008.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a title graphic showing a primary teacher and students in a classroom wearing medical masks with the text, "Running Writer's Workshop During COVID Times (for French Primary Teachers)" on it." border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJZL6AAGnvk1xENbRqKX18JL4NA0gL7pTQPuw8rNM2NZzlw61C7K_h5h1b0hetWm1QbDjHe-2-tvvD3ek5kQp4818NSh0ZJfkDHgPlVlT2hggOrb-T8dBy6EYq2vB0PFzVF8m7q3SVjs/w640-h480/Blog+Images+Maybe.008.jpeg" title="Everything looks different in the 2020-2021 school year thanks to COVID, and teachers are working harder than ever to adapt to all kinds of new mandates and procedures in their classrooms. This blog post helps to ease that burden a little bit as it gives tips and suggestions for running Writer's Workshop during COVID times. Whether you're teaching your primary students face-to-face or virtually, there are teaching tips for adaptations. Click through to read through them and add to your toolbox!" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />For starters, one of my favourite ways to run Writer’s Workshop is by doing things at the tapis...but unfortunately, social distancing means that that’s not possible for the time being. In non-COVID times, teaching at the tapis is ideal, so keep it in mind for the future!<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">FACE-TO-FACE TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM</h3>Instead of using the tapis, you could take your Writer’s Workshop lessons outside! <br /><br />Before you do that, though, you’ll need to be sure to teach mini-lessons to your primary students about working outside specifically. It will be a new environment for them to learn something like writing, so there will be lots of distractions and lots of opportunities to get off-task. <br /><br />Set them up for success with a series of mini-lessons around routines and expectations for learning writing outdoors!<br /><br />When you’re teaching indoors, though, there are still ways around social distancing. How I’m approaching this personally is having my students stay at their seats, and I’m teaching from the whiteboard at the front of the room. <br /><br />I’m using my dry erase markers to draw, write, and colour in what I can as part of my mini-lesson and modelling for my students. I wish I could use a document camera instead, but I’m making it work!<br /><div><br /></div>In non-COVID times, I normally allow my students to write wherever they’d like in the room, but we need more structure for safe social distancing right now. Instead, my students have three choices for writing spots this year:<br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>At their desks</li><li>On the floor, using their chairs as tables</li><li>On the floor using clipboards</li></ol><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MF0Cuz_idSbgbxMEvSeVgtvMZphRkf6ujEL_tYnrIVV84JJFpEjTsyXmRIhhARLAwxm1JLqCNX8BfTQwhvseOBHPQlKwBi8QT-8OA2OvhblQfIG7Oc81oqQdLnfrPVTmiX75WxZaF2Q/s1500/Running+Writer%2527s+Workshop+in+COVID+Times+3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a photograph of a primary student's writing practice worksheet." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MF0Cuz_idSbgbxMEvSeVgtvMZphRkf6ujEL_tYnrIVV84JJFpEjTsyXmRIhhARLAwxm1JLqCNX8BfTQwhvseOBHPQlKwBi8QT-8OA2OvhblQfIG7Oc81oqQdLnfrPVTmiX75WxZaF2Q/w426-h640/Running+Writer%2527s+Workshop+in+COVID+Times+3.png" title="Everything looks different in the 2020-2021 school year thanks to COVID, and teachers are working harder than ever to adapt to all kinds of new mandates and procedures in their classrooms. This blog post helps to ease that burden a little bit as it gives tips and suggestions for running Writer's Workshop during COVID times. Whether you're teaching your primary students face-to-face or virtually, there are teaching tips for adaptations. Click through to read through them and add to your toolbox!" width="426" /></a></div><div><br /></div>When I do take my students outside for writing, we’ll use clipboards out there, as well. I’ve taught mini-lessons about all of these routines and modelled them extensively for my students!<br /><br />The sharing component of Writer’s Workshop is the trickiest during COVID times. <br /><br />Usually I like to have my students sit criss-cross applesauce beside their partner and share with each other, but of course, that’s not possible right now. Here are some alternative ideas that might work for you, depending on your school board’s rules for COVID:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Do the share component outdoors.</li><li>Have your students wear their masks and sanitize before sharing.</li><li>Do a gallery walk of sorts where students can leave their work on their desks and everyone walks around, checking each other’s work while maintaining social distancing. You can use a bell or other signal to let students know when to move on to the next desk.</li><li>Another gallery wall idea is to stick up page protectors on the walls around your classroom, one for each student. When they’re done with their writing, they can slide their papers into the page protectors, and again, students can walk around and check out each other’s work. You could have partners stand six feet away from each other so that they can still share their noticings and questions.</li><li>Have 2-4 students share in front of the class each day, and have students raise their hands to share noticings and questions.</li></ul><h3 style="text-align: left;">VIRTUAL TEACHING</h3>While this isn’t the most ideal, you can still teach writing through Writer’s Workshop in a virtual teaching format. <br /><br />You can film your mini-lessons ahead of time and then have your students (and their parents/guardians) watch them at home. Then, they can practice with the materials you provide (however your school board determined is best -- digitally or mailing packets home). You’ll just want to remind parents to not write for their kids! ;)<br /><br />The below photo is one that I took after recording a video writer’s workshop lesson for my students. I shared the video with them, but also the picture, in case they wanted a closer look.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3beetfxXWMYHNZpHogf5qU8YpzzCahsHQ8t7e4-hLJy90iyX7Als-DQlQr0f9zeGgn0kXXKlYH1sE_PderVK33tjKPbJ4p-1QhroVSL78BvRgFfibbmmOm3SIFIUE2a57arz97FbPa7k/s1500/Running+Writer%2527s+Workshop+in+COVID+Times+2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a photograph of a primary grades writing activity." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3beetfxXWMYHNZpHogf5qU8YpzzCahsHQ8t7e4-hLJy90iyX7Als-DQlQr0f9zeGgn0kXXKlYH1sE_PderVK33tjKPbJ4p-1QhroVSL78BvRgFfibbmmOm3SIFIUE2a57arz97FbPa7k/w426-h640/Running+Writer%2527s+Workshop+in+COVID+Times+2.png" title="Everything looks different in the 2020-2021 school year thanks to COVID, and teachers are working harder than ever to adapt to all kinds of new mandates and procedures in their classrooms. This blog post helps to ease that burden a little bit as it gives tips and suggestions for running Writer's Workshop during COVID times. Whether you're teaching your primary students face-to-face or virtually, there are teaching tips for adaptations. Click through to read through them and add to your toolbox!" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>This school year is definitely forcing us to think outside the box, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! And you never know -- you might find new ways of doing things that you actually love and will continue to implement for years to come. :)<div><br /></div><div>Did you catch my post about what Writer's Workshop is versus what it isn't? <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/10/what-writers-workshop-is-versus-what-it.html" target="_blank">Click HERE</a> to read that one, too.<br /><br />If you’re interested in a guide to helping you get started with Writer’s Workshop in your primary classroom, then you’ll want to sign up below to have a FREE guide sent straight to your inbox!<br />
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</div>Leslie Hirgelthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681943653905991530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-89861936916318181372020-10-07T12:35:00.005-04:002020-10-15T09:25:53.597-04:00The Best Way to Structure Your Writing BlockHow many times have you found yourself diving into teaching writing in the primary grades only to be greeted with lots of raised hands and not a lot of actual writing? <br /><br />Probably more times than you can count, if you’re anything like me! This post provides an overview of one aspect of a solution to that problem: Writer’s Workshop!<br /><br />Writer’s Workshop has been a game-changer and a lifesaver in my primary classroom. It’s a way to engage my students in self-directed learning with scaffolding and support in place, and it’s an easy way to keep a structured framework for teaching writing all year round while swapping in different genres and outcomes. <br /><br />It will be a huge help for you, from an instructional standpoint, and it will be a big support for your students, who will need routine to help them be successful.<br /><br />In particular, I want to talk about the components of both Writer’s Workshop and the writing process in this blog post.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrP0btBuQ9yH9qKBAQqIu0C7joxSrXxQhj5FnArPpLXyJNEdp2e2rv39jigMC8sc_aYlb2xByrKDukHtHvBXFf7h65FurDS8ki_Vi9_m-uas_ASlCXqkHjENch30fc4eeAfafFG8EVukI/s1024/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a title graphic of a young boy writing with the text, "The Best Way to Structure Your Writing Block (for French Primary Teachers)" on it." border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" data-pin-description="The workshop model can feel really overwhelming to implement in the primary grades classroom, but when you break it down into smaller steps and components, that overwhelm disappears. This blog post walks through the components of Writer's Workshop and what happens during each one, and then it gives an overview of the components of the writing process. Primary grades teachers and students will benefit from this structured approach to teaching writing! Click through to get all of the insights." height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrP0btBuQ9yH9qKBAQqIu0C7joxSrXxQhj5FnArPpLXyJNEdp2e2rv39jigMC8sc_aYlb2xByrKDukHtHvBXFf7h65FurDS8ki_Vi9_m-uas_ASlCXqkHjENch30fc4eeAfafFG8EVukI/w640-h480/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block.jpeg" title="The workshop model can feel really overwhelming to implement in the primary grades classroom, but when you break it down into smaller steps and components, that overwhelm disappears. This blog post walks through the components of Writer's Workshop and what happens during each one, and then it gives an overview of the components of the writing process. Primary grades teachers and students will benefit from this structured approach to teaching writing! Click through to get all of the insights." width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br />First, let’s focus on the structure of the lessons and the components of that structure. There are three components here, but one of them can really be split into Part A and Part B, which I’ll get into soon. For now, though, here are those three parts:<br /><br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>The mini-lesson</li><li>Practice Part A: the Plan</li><li>Practice Part B: the Practice</li><li>The share</li></ol><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE MINI-LESSON</h3><br />This is a very important aspect of Writer’s Workshop because this is when you’ll be introducing new routines and procedures and, more importantly, new writing skills for your students to learn. <br /><br />I only like to spend 5-10 minutes on the mini-lesson, so it’s short and accessible to our young students who don’t have very long attention spans. <br /><br />During this time, it is essential that you model, model, model and share your thinking as you write -- our students hugely benefit from us modelling what we’re asking them to do! <br /><br />My modelling always focuses on the specific thing I’m asking my students to try in their writing that day.<div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE PLAN</h3><br />You might have already guessed, but this is the pre-writing stage. <br /><br />Again, I only like to spend about five minutes (or less) on this in my classroom, but it’s really important to get students to think about what they want to write about ahead of time. This way, they don’t waste time doodling. They can actually come up with a plan for the story they’re writing! <br /><br />One thing I do to help my students is, together as a class, create an ideas brainstorming chart that students can reference when they’re struggling to come up with story ideas on their own.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE PRACTICE</h3><br />When you’re first getting started with Writer’s Workshop in your classroom, you’ll want to give your primary students no more than five minutes to write. <br /><br />Writing is challenging, and our students need to build their stamina for writing for longer periods of time. <br /><br />Eventually, we work our way up to 25 minutes of writing time -- but there’s no rush on this! Pay attention to the cues from your students and let them guide the increase in writing practice time.<br /><br />Here is an example of how different writing can look at the beginning of the year (5 minutes) versus closer to the end of the year (around 20 minutes), if you let your students build their muscles gradually!<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6yu7JdzEgv9jrYcYLTYwDljLFgb4epH8EEtWIJwnPYGZjqABvi84ntUKV8NNqGi-AM1-WFBcbeFGkSrXfB5QTCBrpa0xMuxi-ggMPZDeNaPOUhkoq6OsLIJ6sjE49M-2aWZQn75qRBw/s1500/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a photograph of a French primary student's writing practice." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6yu7JdzEgv9jrYcYLTYwDljLFgb4epH8EEtWIJwnPYGZjqABvi84ntUKV8NNqGi-AM1-WFBcbeFGkSrXfB5QTCBrpa0xMuxi-ggMPZDeNaPOUhkoq6OsLIJ6sjE49M-2aWZQn75qRBw/w426-h640/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+2.png" title="The workshop model can feel really overwhelming to implement in the primary grades classroom, but when you break it down into smaller steps and components, that overwhelm disappears. This blog post walks through the components of Writer's Workshop and what happens during each one, and then it gives an overview of the components of the writing process. Primary grades teachers and students will benefit from this structured approach to teaching writing! Click through to get all of the insights." width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE SHARE</h3><br />Of course, with <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/10/running-writers-workshop-in-covid-times.html" target="_blank">COVID and social distancing or virtual teaching</a>, there are constraints around the share process. Normally I would have my students share in partners, which isn’t possible with the current safety guidelines. <br /><br />Regardless, the point of writing stories is to share them, so we need to brainstorm safe ways for our students to share their stories with us and with their peers! I like to spend 5-10 minutes on share time.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV8erzDRVhyasITvJ9QFVPJXnkhFxW1pVgP1Z5zZrrjBhtcSMdlKOgnpM6TlGRfoGY-qV2-riDUW_J6TsbL-iR_tdYX9UYFrRUBWkNs3T0dlYUMmwd9ZGTlyGCa6uHyzuD2HhhXzVxuHc/s1500/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a photograph of a French primary student's writing practice." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV8erzDRVhyasITvJ9QFVPJXnkhFxW1pVgP1Z5zZrrjBhtcSMdlKOgnpM6TlGRfoGY-qV2-riDUW_J6TsbL-iR_tdYX9UYFrRUBWkNs3T0dlYUMmwd9ZGTlyGCa6uHyzuD2HhhXzVxuHc/w426-h640/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+3.png" title="The workshop model can feel really overwhelming to implement in the primary grades classroom, but when you break it down into smaller steps and components, that overwhelm disappears. This blog post walks through the components of Writer's Workshop and what happens during each one, and then it gives an overview of the components of the writing process. Primary grades teachers and students will benefit from this structured approach to teaching writing! Click through to get all of the insights." width="426" /></a></div><br /><br />Second, let’s turn our attention to the components of the writing process. I teach the writing process from Day 2 and onward (on Day 1, I like to teach students what writing is). There are four components here:<br /><br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Think of an idea</li><li>Draw a picture</li><li>Write the words</li><li>Revise and check</li></ol><br />For the first six weeks of Writer’s Workshop, I only focus on teaching the first three of those four components. Later, after students have the first three mastered, I add in the fourth one for revising and checking. <br /><br />All of these components need to be modelled for students, every day!<br /><br />One important thing I emphasize for my students is that writing is a process that’s never really “done.” My students aren’t allowed to be done with writing before the timer goes; I set the expectation that they must be working on some part of the writing process for “all of the minutes.”<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">THINK OF AN IDEA - PENSE À UNE IDÉE</h3><br />Super important: This is when <b>your students</b> will choose their topic. I strongly recommend never choosing topics for your students during Writer's Workshop -- ever. <div><br /></div><div>Of course, you’ll be choosing the genre sometimes and can definitely have them practice within the framework of certain genres, but the choice of topic should be reserved for students. (Note: Genres include personal narrative, songs, poems, how-to texts, etc.)<br /><br />To help students who don’t have an idea, I have my students help me co-create an ideas chart during the first week of Writer’s Workshop. Then, students can reference this chart when they’re stuck! <br /><br />It’s a fantastic way to provide more structure for kids who get overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities of what they could write about. <br /><br />I also don’t mind if my students “copy” my idea in what I modelled for them. For example, I might write about a corn maze in my mini-lesson, which might inspire some students to write about the same topic. But their experiences in corn mazes will be different from mine, so their stories will all look different!<br /><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">DRAW A PICTURE -- FAIS LE DESSIN</h3><br />In maternelle and even première année, most of our students’ stories will be told via picture. Many, many children’s book authors do this; we all know how common and well-loved wordless books are! There’s nothing wrong with this, and in fact, I encourage it! <br /><br />At this age, it’s developmentally appropriate for students to tell their stories orally and with illustrations, especially because at this point, most of our students can’t write all of the words to tell their whole story.<br /><br />Therefore, I definitely suggest taking some lessons and modelling for them how to do detailed illustrations to clarify their message. This is all part of practicing the process -- we’re teaching our students how to write wonderful, detailed stories by writing them over and over. <br /><br />(And please don’t worry if you “can’t draw” - just do your best! It’s wonderful for your students to see that you need practice, too!)<br /><br />Please don’t limit their drawing time or make them start with words! The picture will tell most of the story, and they’ll use the picture to help remind them of which words they want to write.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">WRITE THE WORDS -- ÉCRIS LES MOTS</h3><br />Even though I don’t make my students start with words, I do encourage them to add words and letters, which is all part of the process! <br /><br />Squiggles, strings of random letters, and symbols all count just like “real” words and letters because they prove that students understand that writing carries the message. <br /><br />No matter what your students’ attempts at writing look like, it’s precious data because it helps you determine where your students are on the writing continuum. Once you know where they are, then you’ll know what their next step is!<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigaxy5VJpGYFwgt3XTrAtIWQN_3ThEJwhzFNT8ngyyMvWplniNSA3IjrFlBra3V8yuQ4waBRUHr3j0Kou5XGaJUD16-l53Q4j1iP2__lwBXJBGH6KFzKIbq3CP4A_xQs5eLxupV1Nk6vE/s1500/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a photograph of a French primary student's writing practice." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigaxy5VJpGYFwgt3XTrAtIWQN_3ThEJwhzFNT8ngyyMvWplniNSA3IjrFlBra3V8yuQ4waBRUHr3j0Kou5XGaJUD16-l53Q4j1iP2__lwBXJBGH6KFzKIbq3CP4A_xQs5eLxupV1Nk6vE/w426-h640/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+4.png" title="The workshop model can feel really overwhelming to implement in the primary grades classroom, but when you break it down into smaller steps and components, that overwhelm disappears. This blog post walks through the components of Writer's Workshop and what happens during each one, and then it gives an overview of the components of the writing process. Primary grades teachers and students will benefit from this structured approach to teaching writing! Click through to get all of the insights." width="426" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">REVISE AND CHECK</h3><br />Even when our students are very young, there are many ways we can teach them to revise and check their work. <br /><br />Like I said earlier in this post, I don’t really focus on this in the first six weeks, but when I do get to it, I teach a whole lesson about it. Our kids need to learn and understand that writing can always be improved and that they don’t need to be perfect the first time through -- it’s a wonderful growth mindset lesson!<br /><br />Some suggestions of what you can get your students to focus on during Revise and Check:<br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Does your story have a clear picture, with colours that help clarify your message?</li><li>Does your story have words?</li><li>Does your story have a setting and at least one character?</li><li>Do your words match what’s going on in the picture?</li><li>And, later in the year, you can add questions about spaces, punctuation, proper use of upper/lowercase letters, writing left to write, etc.</li></ul><br />Here’s a picture of an example of how I present revision to my students: We co-create the success criteria based on what they’ve learned a story should contain. Then, they select a piece and work to make sure all criteria are included.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKrSCUx0gUPkw3sePPST-fB0rp6X85-x13bSbbPRMssfNvEwnXLkoVwVib5BjbO_HV4raEt_ZRIvFTKzPOizS4PCIuLuQWXKyTmBUtxrOPjPblB7g4boB6rPc9905S7pQCDYvCQdrctw/s1500/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is a picture of an anchor chart about revising and checking writing in the French primary grades." border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" data-pin-nopin="nopin" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrKrSCUx0gUPkw3sePPST-fB0rp6X85-x13bSbbPRMssfNvEwnXLkoVwVib5BjbO_HV4raEt_ZRIvFTKzPOizS4PCIuLuQWXKyTmBUtxrOPjPblB7g4boB6rPc9905S7pQCDYvCQdrctw/w426-h640/The+Best+Way+to+Structure+Your+Writing+Block+5.png" title="The workshop model can feel really overwhelming to implement in the primary grades classroom, but when you break it down into smaller steps and components, that overwhelm disappears. This blog post walks through the components of Writer's Workshop and what happens during each one, and then it gives an overview of the components of the writing process. Primary grades teachers and students will benefit from this structured approach to teaching writing! Click through to get all of the insights." width="426" /></a></div><br />That wraps up all of the components of Writer’s Workshop and of the writing process. I've also got a post you might found helpful that lays down the distinctions between <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/10/what-writers-workshop-is-versus-what-it.html" target="_blank">what Writer's Workshop is and what it isn't</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you’re interested in a guide to helping you get started with Writer’s Workshop in your primary classroom, then you’ll want to sign up below to have a FREE guide sent straight to your inbox! <div><br /><b>
Looking for more writing tips? Fill out your name and email in the box below, and I'll email you my FREE guide to Writer's Workshop for French primary teachers!<br /></b>
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<div class="kartra_optin_container4e732ced3463d06de0ca9a15b6153677"></div><script src="https://app.kartra.com/optin/Z4neIDJjNMrK"></script></div></div>Leslie Hirgelthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681943653905991530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-30745270908219545992020-05-30T16:59:00.000-04:002020-07-05T18:41:45.613-04:00A Simple Syllables Distance Lesson for French Primary TeachersCan you believe that Sunday is June - aka month four of distance teaching??<br />
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Who would have thought in March, when this all started, that we would still be here now.<br />
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I've kind of found my stride (more or less haha) with distance teaching, and I do find it simpler now than at first, but there is one area that I still find a struggle.<br />
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It's so hard to help my students progress with their reading via distance!<br />
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In NS, synchronous learning is not even close to mandatory, and I have not been asked to do any work with small groups or any live meetings.<br />
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<i>(I do prerecorded videos all the time, and invite my students to send them back to me!)</i><br />
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Overall, this has worked really well with my class, except, as I said above, with direct reading instruction. Distance differentiation is definitely a challenge!<br />
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I've been consoling myself by remembering that <i>this is maternelle</i> - some countries don't teach reading until age 7, and use the time before that to work really hard on conscience phonologique/pre-reading skills, and their students are more than fine!<br />
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So, that's what I've been really focusing, on now, too - simple activities that all families can do with what they have at home, to help their children develop and practice these key pre-reading skills.<br />
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Just like at school, I've been trying to run my lessons with three parts: a quick, 5 minute mini lesson, hands-on practice, and then an independent closing activity to consolidate what they've been learning.<br />
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In this blog post, I'll show you how that looks for syllables!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKz8KZ7dX3ZWoIeGvx55RcKE9r1fWofXCYtAz5-UJ6g0l3W09s5Ve8aC4YDwd5a47PGHRL1kma7droalNFXX0DP_9hCbdYfgt4dTsPoWV-sPEyHfrFjbtfqGbt8KQ4boraj3I12UCX0-4/s1600/Blog+Images+Maybe.001.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a simple, FUN distance lesson for your French primary students about syllables, that they'll be able to do no matter what supplies they have at home? Check out this blog post to see how to send your students on a syllables scavenger hunt!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKz8KZ7dX3ZWoIeGvx55RcKE9r1fWofXCYtAz5-UJ6g0l3W09s5Ve8aC4YDwd5a47PGHRL1kma7droalNFXX0DP_9hCbdYfgt4dTsPoWV-sPEyHfrFjbtfqGbt8KQ4boraj3I12UCX0-4/s640/Blog+Images+Maybe.001.jpeg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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As I said above, the lesson has three main "components":<br />
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1. THE MINI LESSON</h2>
As you know, I am not doing live video with my students, but I AM doing pre-recorded video.<br />
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So, to kick off my first syllables lessons, I did a quick review of what syllables ARE, with picture examples of food items.<br />
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I modelled 2 ways to count: clapping (while counting with fingers), and using cubes/manipulates to keep track of your count.<br />
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When I say "while counting with fingers", here is a picture of what I mean (ignore the condition of my nails, haha! #quarantinelife):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCbP3Fbr26uWx3ktjc-Ri8AVSqyJ0UFd46K1J6hewaqhV5zfalB-lvdhJ4ty3eW5zmBeGVlIbHWlSntC0xOX45RbFtyqer1hsa_Ck-E-bidMgqxodoQ3MjDXAE9MqmxqF_WIAmJfZLAk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-05-30+at+5.29.19+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="355" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCbP3Fbr26uWx3ktjc-Ri8AVSqyJ0UFd46K1J6hewaqhV5zfalB-lvdhJ4ty3eW5zmBeGVlIbHWlSntC0xOX45RbFtyqer1hsa_Ck-E-bidMgqxodoQ3MjDXAE9MqmxqF_WIAmJfZLAk/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-05-30+at+5.29.19+PM.png" width="285" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Since I post a Google Slide each day to keep us organized with 3 tasks/day, I linked to this video and asked my students to watch it as task 1.<br />
<br />
<h2>
2. THE PRACTICE</h2>
I made another video to explain their practice task, where I modelled the activity in my own home.<br />
<br />
The practice lesson was scavenger-hunt style... my students love that format, and they can all be successful because they find items within their own homes that fit the parameters <i>(if you missed my blog post last week, <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/05/how-to-make-math-distance-learning-fun.html" target="_blank">read about how I do that with math HERE</a>)</i>.<br />
<br />
I made simple labels for numbers 1-4 using sticky notes, and then found objects in my home, said their names in French while counting their syllables, and sorted them per number of syllables.<br />
<br />
I modelled syllabes à l'orale, but would accept either answer from my students (for example, I would accept either 1 or 2 syllables for pomme - pomme, or pom/me).<br />
<br />
Here is a collage with a few stills from my videos!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCMd4YEfGANyGapGwL-M_P02O4TJzeXnjoButQQK18KaOEU-ZvMpJ-jHpSGulIPP3fz9MfRbeTFoJo8jqFLRCgGRs5Kg0PKFWrTUt_tH4-BU6eiqDGzqi-FxLnfNG1sTnBtZmaWGdN6c/s1600/syllables+distance+lesson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a simple, FUN distance lesson for your French primary students about syllables, that they'll be able to do no matter what supplies they have at home? Check out this blog post to see how to send your students on a syllables scavenger hunt!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCMd4YEfGANyGapGwL-M_P02O4TJzeXnjoButQQK18KaOEU-ZvMpJ-jHpSGulIPP3fz9MfRbeTFoJo8jqFLRCgGRs5Kg0PKFWrTUt_tH4-BU6eiqDGzqi-FxLnfNG1sTnBtZmaWGdN6c/s640/syllables+distance+lesson.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1185779728"></span><span id="goog_1185779729"></span><br />
<br />
Then, it was my students' turn!<br />
<br />
I also typed up instructions for parents in a Google doc. I linked the video as task two on our Daily Slide, and made the Google doc an assignment in Google Classroom. Parents took a picture of what their child found and sorted, and submitted it as their devoir.<br />
<br />
They could find as many objects as they wanted, as long as they had at least one thing with 1, 2, and 3 syllables. 4 was a "challenge" option... but they all did it!<br />
<br />
<h2>
3. THE CLOSING ACTIVITY</h2>
As an independent, simple closing activity (task 3), I assigned my students a <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Les-syllabes-le-printemps-5504163" target="_blank">Boom Learning deck for counting syllables in spring words</a>.<br />
<br />
I asked them each to spend a few minutes practicing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Boom-Cards-Les-syllabes-le-printemps-5504163?aref=y1eiqdkr" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a simple, engaging way to help your French primary students practice syllables en français, digitally? Try these fun spring-themed Boom Cards!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpfJl52scnPRNXu9LMsTT5RaOFbRnbUZRGZLrrWGQ5mQdzKYLzWpZzSWSLzX-e56rVA9iaZynV9bSUo4spcGlHzp-WMjxt32J2EV68hrJ_nK0qizB53WeGz5yqrKlxiWWtXKB4StSapJs/s640/Bright+Pins.026.jpeg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I love Boom because of the data - my students each have their own login and password, so I can easily see how well they understood/were able to count the syllables in the spring words.<br />
<br />
I also added audio, so I knew that if they got one wrong, it wasn't just that they didn't know the word - it was more likely that they had trouble segmenting. I can use the data I get from Boom to help me with some of my report card comments.<br />
<br />
The cards also show hand claps, so if i student still doesn't recognize numbers 1-4 (although mine all do at this point!) they can count the hand claps.<br />
<br />
For any parents who prefer a tech-free option, I made a quick list of spring vocabulary and asked them to have their child clap out each word and count how many syllables there are.<br />
<br />
<h2>
IF YOU WANT THE BOOM CARDS...</h2>
I do have 10 themes for sale individually - all four seasons and major holidays, plus a school-themed set.<br />
<br />
If you want all the themes and love a deal, I also a made a bundle. I'll post a link to the bundles below (on Boom and on TPT), and from there if you prefer to buy themes separately, you'll be able to find the ones you want.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://wow.boomlearning.com/store/bundle/hR7EWCoSCPekYnQ7k" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">>>> On Boom Learning</span></b></a><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Compter-les-syllabes-French-Boom-Cards-the-BUNDLE-5514660" target="_blank">>>> On TpT</a></span></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Compter-les-syllabes-French-Boom-Cards-the-BUNDLE-5514660" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHL9G1X_NVrnRzXD67Wmf_L1R6okHEfO8r8zJVsRtdXGqoZzUHrrLWhnYVLWNjKZ-B072gUo2uFjjERNYghtbf7XE6y70cTqAZW6H6w3C0xtStjwqOk7lRTizZnTvSRrwFjvnLAt98bbo/s320/original-5514660-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<h2>
IN CONCLUSION</h2>
Even though I've been struggling knowing that my teaching is not how it would normally be, and my students aren't making as much progress as they usually would if we were in school, it does help me to know that I'm providing them with experiences and activities that will help them later on, when we are back together and proceeding with our regular reading instruction.<br />
<br />
Even if I can't do guided reading with theme every day like when we were in school, at least I am still able to help them practice their pre-reading skills, which is sure to be beneficial when we are back together.<br />
<br />
If conscience phonologique is good enough for other countries in maternelle, I'm going to make sure it's good enough for us! :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7dE9YwOr0h_LGfgU2i0BnZc2ep3w7dYrYNJUmM_o4NOIPy9l84rrY9dbSlSYzb7luXSWowU-k5zJM2Q2yhm7kGpaKQ74bayJXX6rqM0rYZKHN0_ZrGqCS4-dUDPtVjWupd2CI6YP9qQ/s1600/Bright+Pins.027.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a simple, FUN distance lesson for your French primary students about syllables, that they'll be able to do no matter what supplies they have at home? Check out this blog post to see how to send your students on a syllables scavenger hunt!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7dE9YwOr0h_LGfgU2i0BnZc2ep3w7dYrYNJUmM_o4NOIPy9l84rrY9dbSlSYzb7luXSWowU-k5zJM2Q2yhm7kGpaKQ74bayJXX6rqM0rYZKHN0_ZrGqCS4-dUDPtVjWupd2CI6YP9qQ/s640/Bright+Pins.027.jpeg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-44585984699637377832020-05-15T12:55:00.001-04:002020-07-05T18:42:42.337-04:00How to Make Math Distance Learning FUN in maternelleFlash back to almost 9 years ago, when I very first started teaching maternelle.<br />
<br />
First of all, two words for you...<br />
<br />
Pure. Chaos.<br />
<br />
Our days were PURE CHAOS.<br />
<br />
It was rough, guys!<br />
<br />
But for me, the roughest part of the day, where I felt like my teaching was the least effective of all, seemed to be <b>math</b>.<br />
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I was following a boxed curriculum, and I did not like it.<br />
<br />
It wasn't hands-on enough, and when it was, it was NIGHTMARE.<br />
<br />
The "hands-on" lessons didn't permit every student to participate, and generally wound the kids up so much that the lesson had to be abandoned anyway.<br />
<br />
Guys. I will NEVER forget the lesson for the number six where I had to invite six students up to the front to PRETEND TO BE PUPPIES.<br />
<br />
I had puppies in my class for the rest of the day. No children, only puppies. And let me tell you, <b>no one</b> who didn't already know what six meant learned it.<br />
<br />
My philosophy on teaching math has changed a lot since then, and now it's one of my favourite subjects to teach <i>(I love all things math & literacy!)</i>.<br />
<br />
Now, we do hands-on activities with every single student participating, every single day.<br />
<br />
I have some blog posts in the pipeline to touch more on that soon, but to put those lessons into practice, one does have to be actually physically in the classroom.<br />
<br />
So, I thought it might be more relevant today to talk about how I've adjusted my math teaching to make it still be hands-on, but better fit with distance learning.<br />
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Read on the find out what my students have been doing daily over the past few weeks, to review skills learned at school and learn new ones!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuhAATxVTf4F6UU1q0vEV6Lhns6K8nKwicOxlCLZnOZjz1NPXSfE26fYjwXSOl_lDNdsDRZ1Ue4jhVC7tU9AUboDpbKBwZENXnucue-caxSG8vJvkIWrCE0pbz5WK2Ht48LZ-EX1uqjU/s1600/Blog+Images+Maybe.002.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling with making math fun in maternelle during distance learning? Check out this blog post to learn how to implement fun, hands-on daily math challenges in your Google classroom!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuhAATxVTf4F6UU1q0vEV6Lhns6K8nKwicOxlCLZnOZjz1NPXSfE26fYjwXSOl_lDNdsDRZ1Ue4jhVC7tU9AUboDpbKBwZENXnucue-caxSG8vJvkIWrCE0pbz5WK2Ht48LZ-EX1uqjU/s640/Blog+Images+Maybe.002.jpeg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>In order for me to feel successful at teaching math, a few things need to happen.<br />
<ol>
<li>I teach my students something new</li>
<li>EVERYONE gets to collaborate & practice, with another human that they can learn from/solve problems with</li>
<li>Everyone does some sort of independent work/exit ticket so I can quickly see if the skill was acquired, or if they need more practice</li>
<li>We talk about/share what we learned!</li>
</ol>
In the classroom, I teach a new concept at the tapis, everyone goes and practices with a partner, then they do some kind of sheet/exit ticket independently, and then we share/discuss.<br />
<br />
Pretty simple!<br />
<br />
Now that my students are at home though, making my math lessons fit that framework was a bit of a challenge.<br />
<br />
How in the world could I get my students working hands-on <i>(without "official" math manipulates)</i>, and sharing/collaborating with their peers... from their own homes??<br />
<br />
Enter...<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Le défi quotidien de mathématiques!</span></b><br />
<br />
<h2>
WHAT IS IT?</h2>
<br />
Well, in a nutshell... daily math challenges!<br />
<br />
Each day, I send my students a math challenge that has to do with one of our maternelle outcomes.<br />
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I've sent challenges about shapes, sorting, counting, number sense, making 10, more/less, measurement, and more.<br />
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They read the bilingual prompt with their parents, complete it, and submit a picture into our collaborative document.<br />
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I check in throughout the day and see their amazing work!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQ8hzwS87aldgKGK65OyCZGXkN4kIOpx25aW2sSB3KnbHOvqyQabNnJtIOhoAPYaKOST_QYc6u9QNXj_5mLjhtpE3uxpqNpNwI7QSMGvL8FdgTa5pPAs5p4SHawV-AXG98MtMuKbw5cg/s1600/Blog+Post+Pins.023.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling with making math fun in maternelle during distance learning? Check out this blog post to learn how to implement fun, hands-on daily math challenges in your Google classroom!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQ8hzwS87aldgKGK65OyCZGXkN4kIOpx25aW2sSB3KnbHOvqyQabNnJtIOhoAPYaKOST_QYc6u9QNXj_5mLjhtpE3uxpqNpNwI7QSMGvL8FdgTa5pPAs5p4SHawV-AXG98MtMuKbw5cg/s640/Blog+Post+Pins.023.jpeg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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<h2>
HOW EXACTLY DOES IT WORK?</h2>
<br />
I use Google Classroom for distance learning, so each morning, I schedule a challenge to post at 8am.<br />
<br />
The challenges are Google Docs - there is a header at the top explaining the challenge, what they will need, and an optional extension activity, and underneath, there is a table with a spot for each student.<br />
<br />
Instructions are in both French and English, so parents can read in their desired language <i>(I teach at a francophone school and French instructions are mandatory)</i>.<br />
<br />
All the challenges use materials found in the home - nothing for parents to purchase or anything like that! The materials list is pretty broad - for example "find 5 red objects" or "find 3 large objects".<br />
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Students complete the challenge and optional extension, and parents take a picture of their work.<br />
<br />
When I post the challenge each day, I make sure that it is "editable" by students.<br />
<br />
That way, parents can type the name of their child on one side of the table, and add the picture of their work to the other side.<br />
<br />
My students and I can check in throughout the day to see everyone else's work.<br />
<br />
I LOVE how they can see that there is more than one way to answer the prompt! For example, in a prompt that says "make a group of 5 red objects. Then, make a group of yellow objects. The yellow group should contain MORE objects than the red group", one student might have 6 yellow objects, one might have 10, and one might have 20... and they are all correct!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKKXNKv5Xqa0aPaZujSRECQ4niXezI-T2QVH4f7x-cgDVVAPGhwI2ZcHzaNOP-v8lTGPN6UPoJDiXXckd2HSy4OyeuFUunAeOJSnXWgw_rYwL8jPUVfHUbLQLkpJiaHdc5Rg8BrA41UzY/s1600/Blog+Post+Pins.022.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling with making math fun in maternelle during distance learning? Check out this blog post to learn how to implement fun, hands-on daily math challenges in your Google classroom!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKKXNKv5Xqa0aPaZujSRECQ4niXezI-T2QVH4f7x-cgDVVAPGhwI2ZcHzaNOP-v8lTGPN6UPoJDiXXckd2HSy4OyeuFUunAeOJSnXWgw_rYwL8jPUVfHUbLQLkpJiaHdc5Rg8BrA41UzY/s400/Blog+Post+Pins.022.jpeg" title="" width="266" /></a></div>
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<br />
My students have really taken to posing in the pictures along with their work, and they love seeing either other when they check back throughout the day, too!<br />
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<h2>
WHY I LOVE THESE</h2>
<br />
Checking in on my students' challenges is one of my favourite parts of distance learning!<br />
<br />
Here's a few reasons why I love them:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Routine, routine, routine!</b> My students and their parents look forward to the routine of our daily math challenges, because they happen every day. You can read more about why routine is clutch in maternelle <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2019/09/the-importance-of-routine-in-maternelle.html" target="_blank">*in this blog post*</a>, but suffice it to say that kids LOVE knowing what to expect!</li>
<li><b>Everyone can participate</b> - No printer required, no video to eat up data, and the challenges can all be completed with materials my students already have lying around the house</li>
<li><b>Collaborative</b> - the challenges encourage parents to collaborate with their children, and the prompts help guide their "teaching". Students share their pictures and can check in throughout the day, and love seeing each other!</li>
<li><b>More than one "right" answer</b> - math is often seen as black or white, right or wrong. These challenges help show students (and their parents!) that there is, in fact, often more than one right way to answer a math problem!</li>
<li><b>Hands-on</b> - worksheets have a time and place, but I did NOT want my math lessons to be parents begging/bribing their children to fill out worksheets. I have many students for whom worksheets aren't a great fit, and many parents who believe that worksheets are how you learn <i>(through no fault of their own - that's how most of us DID learn when we were in school!)</i>. These prompts are hands-on, and kind of like a scavenger hunt - my little movers enjoy them and I love that they are manipulating real objects</li>
<li><b>Less stress</b> - since these are "challenges" and feel fun/a bit competitive, parents have given me feedback saying that their kids enjoy them and there are few-to-no arguments during math challenge time. YAHOO!</li>
<li><b>Simple, quick, and easy to extend</b> - for my students who just want to get their work done, these challenges are pretty quick to complete. For those who want more, I always provide extensions, and since they complete the challenges with objects found at home, it's easy for them to extend on their own and come up with more examples/problems.</li>
<li><b>Positive parent feedback</b> - I surveyed my parents for feedback and 100% of those who answered picked Défi quotidien de mathématiques as one type of activity they/their kids liked best. Winning!!</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h2>
WANT TO DO DAILY MATH CHALLENGES, TOO??</h2>
<br />
If you are interested in adding daily math challenges to your distance teaching routine, great news!<br />
<br />
I have two sets of prompts in my store, ready to go!<br />
<br />
All you have to do is open them and assign them to the desired day via Google Classroom (make sure that you change the setting to "students can edit")!<br />
<br />
Each set has 20 prompts, perfect for maternelle.<br />
<br />
There is also a bundle with both sets, if you need more than 20.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-French-Math-Challenges-for-Google-Classroom-the-BUNDLE-5564476" target="_blank">You can check them out HERE on TPT</a>,</b> or by clicking either of the photos below:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digital-FRENCH-Daily-Math-Challenge-for-Google-Classroom-Distance-Learning-5398388" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSE3AyTh4qaKyV7FxvOhJEW71rD645DGEDIs7jqb76qpsvC3lmYjnMxGuTPvPDRDg-BSViWfDxVX2VwfOW3mbyMLFo5cHqNJRaBQpWfcDCwnjlG4MVOeqFn8isdAP3UruU7XDMt3SbE4/s320/Boom%253AGoogle+Cover+Pages.007.jpeg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Daily-Math-Challenge-for-Google-Classroom-VERSION-2-Distance-Learning-5564428" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBFZAJovVRIka3eYiAvEPXvgFFXn_le2XaiCEakw9yiv8GM9AqI0aZ7xNJ7p1qJ-YiNJi7MkS0_vQ9SOVJ41QEY8vHeDcHa2mJGICYVnUZl8qjxdsPsMkXNPIeP-ajSobIQ3vKtE9YH4/s320/original-5564428-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Enjoy!!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQs4kHAAMSDVLaw5MTfKzdvT4Js-qZ4yFdvij9rbxPjrZUhdKrGGnhngGIyWMYrP_Ja3n1og3KrS9K6T4_mW_6QZURbUEs2QAL-4aHkMRgaZIsXc13nxVwJt-blo1lGCqgx5QtSaTsCHc/s1600/Blog+Post+Pins.024.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling with making math fun in maternelle during distance learning? Check out this blog post to learn how to implement fun, hands-on daily math challenges in your Google classroom!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQs4kHAAMSDVLaw5MTfKzdvT4Js-qZ4yFdvij9rbxPjrZUhdKrGGnhngGIyWMYrP_Ja3n1og3KrS9K6T4_mW_6QZURbUEs2QAL-4aHkMRgaZIsXc13nxVwJt-blo1lGCqgx5QtSaTsCHc/s640/Blog+Post+Pins.024.jpeg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-48192896076687161302020-05-10T10:45:00.000-04:002020-07-05T18:43:24.423-04:00A Distance Learning FREEBIE for French Primary Teachers<div data-en-clipboard="true" data-pm-slice="0 0 []">
Bonjour!</div>
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Long time, no post!</div>
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I can't lie, navigating distance teaching on top of everything else that comes with a pandemic hasn't been easy.</div>
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I've needed to create lots of new resources, film lots of lessons, and attend many virtual meetings over the past few weeks. Whenever my plate is full, I take something off of it, and this time, that was my blog!</div>
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But, I'm back and ready to share what I know about distance learning with you.</div>
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In fact, when I brainstormed my list of topics to cover, I came up with 12 to share over the next six weeks. So, I'm going to try to post two distance teaching tips per week - on Sundays and Wednesdays. </div>
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If you need help, be sure to check back here!</div>
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Today, I wanted to talk about something that's dear to my heart - options for students who maybe don't have access to reliable internet or devices.</div>
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In high school, this was me.</div>
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Now, I don't want to age myself too badly, but when I was in high school, times were changing. All schools had internet access, and most families were signing up excitedly.</div>
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But, not mine!</div>
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My mom was pretty anti-screen-time on the whole, and she was NOT willing to sign our family up for another monthly bill. She just didn't see internet as a necessity at the time.</div>
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But, my teachers didn't seem to get it, and would often assign homework that was a heck of a lot easier for those with internet access. Research projects, PowerPoint presentations (complete with relevant images), and assignments that were just made easier with access to Google.</div>
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Luckily, we had great neighbours, and I spent many evenings on their basement computer, doing homework with a side of MSN. </div>
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<i>(not being able to access MSN whenever I wanted in high school felt TORTUROUS - if I couldn't update my username with not-so-cryptic song lyrics, was I truly even living?!)</i></div>
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So, I have a bit of extra sympathy for students who don't have reliable (or any) internet, and/or access to devices.</div>
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In Nova Scotia, our government is actually being super helpful with that - they are sending out academic activities for each grade level every two weeks with the flyers, and the activities are honestly excellent!</div>
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But, in your area, if <i>you</i> are responsible for prepping and sending out take-home packets, or if you prefer printable options for your families to send via email, I wanted to give you a hand. </div>
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So, I made a freebie for you!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIqJTO4xUD1zeNvuCl9ZLEWm8KzXxswMAsTb3AZYOgFZnpV7Y54M3RyqJcSNRiX7E9Z_QQiCiZWbtxLbsnF8As2M1gALdlECvCjX-pwkaAbFMnF04MEjNN8GJbQozBgBi390zheEdGJ0/s1600/Blog+Images+Maybe.003.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for some simple, printable math and literacy activities to send home for distance learning, in French? These 10 activities are perfect for French primary teachers!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIqJTO4xUD1zeNvuCl9ZLEWm8KzXxswMAsTb3AZYOgFZnpV7Y54M3RyqJcSNRiX7E9Z_QQiCiZWbtxLbsnF8As2M1gALdlECvCjX-pwkaAbFMnF04MEjNN8GJbQozBgBi390zheEdGJ0/s640/Blog+Images+Maybe.003.jpeg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I’ve been spending the past few weeks creating digital resources (which you can find </span><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Maternelle-Avec-Mme-Andrea/Category/-BOOM-CARDS-429097" rev="en_rl_none" textcontent="HERE (Boom Cards)"><span style="color: #067c64;">HERE (Boom Cards)</span></a> and <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Maternelle-Avec-Mme-Andrea/Category/-RESOURCES-FOR-GOOGLE-CLASSROOM-429098" rev="en_rl_none" textcontent="HERE (Google Classroom)"><span style="color: #067c64;">HERE (Google Classroom)</span></a><span style="color: #067c64;">)</span>. But, I wanted to also help out your students who might not have much internet access, or devices at home.</div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I created this <span style="color: black;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/French-Distance-Learning-FREEBIE-At-Home-Work-Pack-Math-Literacy-5456620" target="_blank">freebie At-Home Work Pack</a></span> for you by putting together some worksheets from a variety of already-existing products in my TPT store.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">There are 5 literacy and 5 math sheets included in this pack, that touch on a variety of skills.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Hopefully, you’ll be able to use them with your students who don’t have devices - whether via snail mail, email, or posting in your (password-protected) digital “classroom” platform for families to print. I know that not all families will be able to print and use these, but hopefully, they can be a practice option for those who can!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/French-Distance-Learning-FREEBIE-At-Home-Work-Pack-Math-Literacy-5456620" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">>>> You can find the freebie RIGHT HERE on TpT.</span></b></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">HOW TO ASSIGN ONE PAGE AT A TIME</span></b></h2>
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<span style="color: #222222;">If you only want to send your families one worksheet at a time, rather than overwhelming them with a pack of 10, plus the cover page, credits page, etc. etc., here is how to do it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><i><b><u>Note: </u></b>I have a Mac, so these instructions are for Mac. I am so sorry if you have a PC and it looks different from what I see, but there should be lots of Youtube videos that you can use as a jumping off point to figure it out!🙂</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span data-markholder="true"></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Also, these instructions are also written inside of the freebie pack, along with photos, so if anything is unclear be sure to check there!</span></div>
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<ol>
<li>Open your resource using the SYSTEM VIEWER (usually, Adobe is the way to go, but not for this!) <i>**If you did this correctly, the resource will be opened in a new tab of your internet browser!</i></li>
</ol>
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<li>Figure out the page numbers of the page(s) you want to send. Remember them or write them down!</li>
<li>Pretend you are going to print the resource. But, in the Print menu, you are going to click “More Settings”. In the dropdown menu, choose “Print using system dialogue”. </li>
<li>Find a menu that says "PDF" near the bottom, with a drop-down menu. </li>
<li>Before you click that PDF button, you will want to select the page(s) you want to send to parents. You can choose a single page, or a range.</li>
<li>Now, go back to that PDF drop-down menu, and click it. You are looking for “Save as PDF”. When you find it, click it!</li>
<li>Title your new document something that you’ll remember, for example the date that you’ll be assigning it. Save it somewhere you can find it!</li>
<li>Find the document where you saved it, and open it. Inside should just be the page/range of pages that you specified. You can then email it, upload it to Google Classroom, etc.</li>
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IMPORTANT NOTE: </h2>
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<b>Normally, this kind of extracting/posting online is NOT PERMITTED as per most TPT sellers’ Terms of Use.</b> </div>
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You will need to check with other TPT sellers individually before using this method/posting their products online. </div>
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<b>You do NOT need to email me for specific permission</b> - my new (temporary) TOU are included on page 2 of the freebie. In a nutshell, you can email any pages of this documents directly to parents, and/or post it on a <b>password-protected site or platform requiring and username & password</b>. </div>
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Thanks so much!</div>
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IF YOU NEED MORE PAGES LIKE THESE...</h2>
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All of the pages in this freebie were taken from other products in my TpT store.</div>
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If you need more, there is a page inside of the freebie that looks like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOQt9dt1zrOGwYZ68DCFsEKTPigIwEqANirgpPzLe6UCtubLYYSBcfTdLN4XsTBzH3DQaysprm5wCszp2We9vsF7OTFmFmt08Db5I_-LbvqEkKJgu3b-WhqB9PT9COccoEL4hXr2_XLQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-05-10+at+11.35.34+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="709" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieOQt9dt1zrOGwYZ68DCFsEKTPigIwEqANirgpPzLe6UCtubLYYSBcfTdLN4XsTBzH3DQaysprm5wCszp2We9vsF7OTFmFmt08Db5I_-LbvqEkKJgu3b-WhqB9PT9COccoEL4hXr2_XLQ/s640/Screen+Shot+2020-05-10+at+11.35.34+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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with links to the full products.</div>
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My new TOU apply to anything in my store, until schools open back up again🙂</div>
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<h2>
IN CONCLUSION...</h2>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Not being in charge of our students’ learning environments is a huge challenge FOR SURE! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Some families prefer digital, some parents have no/poor internet access (like high school Andrea!), some families have no printers, and some families are barely treading water while they try to juggle wrangling toddlers, working from home, running a household, and maybe even fighting the virus.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">As hard as it is on us, I know that we all want to help our students as best we can.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Just like when we are in the classroom, helping as best we can looks different from student to student. We are used to differentiating, adapting, and providing options to help our students learn.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">For those of you who are lacking in resources to provide for your students and/or have no idea how to get started, I really do want to help any way I can. Hence the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/French-Distance-Learning-FREEBIE-At-Home-Work-Pack-Math-Literacy-5456620" target="_blank">Free At-Home Work Pack</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">I hope you and your students enjoy it!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpMW_vt0cMFu-HCC4XdyVWz4FC51GDkOermx59eJhHOJpn0hMjFuSY2TekSKC2PGAvV9J92UqSIftrtJijJ0uh7HhT4nOu8FnAI-gDkbpf5DlRy16AAO4T0ETGi3DqIHdq6Et08WwLX38/s1600/Freebie+Pins.072.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for some simple, printable math and literacy activities to send home for distance learning, in French? These 10 activities are perfect for French primary teachers!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpMW_vt0cMFu-HCC4XdyVWz4FC51GDkOermx59eJhHOJpn0hMjFuSY2TekSKC2PGAvV9J92UqSIftrtJijJ0uh7HhT4nOu8FnAI-gDkbpf5DlRy16AAO4T0ETGi3DqIHdq6Et08WwLX38/s640/Freebie+Pins.072.jpeg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span data-markholder="true"></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222;">Need more freebies? Make sure you're signed up for my free French resource library below!</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">
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Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-4815406610206633882020-03-08T11:07:00.000-04:002020-03-08T11:07:49.132-04:005 No-Prep Games for Practicing Listening Skills in MaternelleDo you remember attending birthday parties as a child?<br />
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I'm not sure if it's because I am from a small town that has grown a lot since I was young<i> (we didn't have a movie theatre, indoor pool or playground, etc. until pretty recently)</i>, but I find they have changed a lot.<br />
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When I was young, birthday parties were often held at my friends' homes <i>(or at McDonald's haha... I still miss that pizza!)</i>, and we would play party games like telephone, pin the tail on the donkey, etc.<br />
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Now, my students go swimming, see a movie, or hang out in bouncy castles.<br />
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Parties these days are definitely less work for parents, but one thing that I've discovered as a maternelle teacher is that a lot of those party games we used to play are GREAT for practicing pre-reading skills and conscience phonologique!<br />
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Since your students might not be playing these at parties anymore, why not make some adjustments and incorporate them into your teaching?<br />
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<b>Read on for 5 SIMPLE, no-prep, mostly-birthday-party-inspired games that you can play with your maternelle students to help them develop their ability to listen for and hear certain sounds. </b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4dXTTi1Z7LAXwURbrLaxjnpOeouzOOhwUTcra88zAfijhmrb8164xsV1JMY53MPrb5eimiviE1AI7kvtE5m20zp4YuclW1u_LajayGqzslEjckgdDx_HUqYMeyz8MNRlAECurjvzOiM/s1600/5+listening+games+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for simple, no-prep ways to help develop your French primary students' listening skills? These 5 quick, simple games are a great way to help your students hear sounds before working on more complex conscience phonologique skills!" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4dXTTi1Z7LAXwURbrLaxjnpOeouzOOhwUTcra88zAfijhmrb8164xsV1JMY53MPrb5eimiviE1AI7kvtE5m20zp4YuclW1u_LajayGqzslEjckgdDx_HUqYMeyz8MNRlAECurjvzOiM/s400/5+listening+games+3.png" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h2>
Listening Game #1: D’où vient le son?</h2>
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For this first game, you will need four students to be the "noisemakers."<br />
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You'll have each of the four students sit in one corner of the room. The rest of your students will sit in the middle of the room, with their eyes closed.<br />
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The students in the corners will keep their eyes open, and they'll watch for your signal.</div>
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When you point to a student in a corner, they will make noises. You could have them say a comptine, make an animal sound, make another pre-decided sound, say a sentence - whatever you like.<br />
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You could also give each "noisemaker" maracas or a tambourine and have them shake them on your signal.</div>
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When the noisemaker makes their noise, the students with their eyes closed point to the corner they hear the sound coming from.<br />
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After a noisemaker makes their sound, they will come to the middle with the rest of the class, and a student who correctly identified where the sound came from will go to their corner to be a new noisemaker.</div>
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The purpose of this game is to help students practice listening closely to be able to tell the direction from which a sound comes.</div>
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Listening Game #2: Entends-tu le son?</h2>
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This game is for practicing listening for certain phonemes in words.<br />
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If you use my "Trions les sons" resource with your students, then the general idea of this activity is similar, except that they can listen for the sound anywhere in the word.</div>
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I find that a stack of vocabulary cards or flashcards (any theme) is helpful during this game, as it gives my students something to look at.<br />
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Plus, if your students are just learning French, the images will help them associate the words you are saying to what the objects actually are.</div>
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To start, choose ONE target sound (phoneme). The easiest to hear are long consonants, such as m, s, l, r, v, j, etc. Be sure to have your students repeat/produce the target sound often - both before you get started, and throughout the game.<br />
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Go through the flashcards, one at a time, saying the name of each object s-l-o-w-l-y. Ask your students if they can hear the target sound within the word, with a yes or no response.<br />
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You can have them shout out yes or no, or use thumbs up/thumbs down.</div>
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I like to have a T table on my board and sort the cards like that, but you can also make piles of cards or sort them however you like.<br />
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Make sure this game doesn’t go too long! Two or three minutes at a time (10-15 words) is probably enough!</div>
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Listening Game #3: Le jeu de cellulaire</h2>
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This game is just like the "old-fashioned" telephone game that I'm sure you know!<br />
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Have your students sit in a circle. You will choose a sound to whisper in the ear of the student sitting next to you. This could be an animal sound, a letter sound, or another kind of sound.</div>
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One at a time, each student will whisper the sound into the ear of the student beside them, until the sound makes it all the way around the circle.<br />
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The final student says the sound out loud. I like to have my students give a "thumbs up" if the sound is the same as what they heard or a "thumbs down" if it’s different.<br />
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This is a quick way to tell where things went wrong, if they do!</div>
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After your students master this game with sounds, you can use words<i> (I like to use vocabulary words from whichever set of words we are learning at the time)</i> or even sentences.<br />
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This game really helps students learn to listen closely! Plus, it’s a sneaky way to add more vocabulary or sentence structure practice later in the year.</div>
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Listening Game #4: Qui fait le son?</h2>
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To play this game, you will need a space big enough for your students to make a circle standing up, with one student in the middle.<br />
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The student in the middle will be blindfolded. They are the "detective".<br />
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You will point to one student in the circle. That student will make a sound of their choice (they need to make the sound with their voice for this game).</div>
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The student who is blindfolded will both try to identify the student making the sound and from which direction it is coming.<br />
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Once the blindfolded student is successful, remove the blindfold, and that student will join the circle.<br />
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The student who made the sound can now be the detective.</div>
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Listening Game #5: Où est l’animal?</h2>
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This game helps students practice differentiating between quiet and loud sounds.<br />
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It’s kind of like the "hot/cold" game that we used to play as kids, where one person hides something and tells the other if they are "hot" or "cold." The hotter they are, the closer they are to the object…the colder they are, the farther away they are from it.</div>
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For this game, you will need at least one toy animal. The toy doesn’t need to make a sound, but the animal you choose should make an easy-to-produce sound - for example, a cow that says "moo."<br />
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You can switch out the animals to practice different vocabulary each time you play, if you want.</div>
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One or two students will be the "farmers." They will hide their eyes while another student hides the animal somewhere in the classroom.<br />
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You may need to send your farmers out into the hallway for a minute or blindfold them, if they have trouble not peeking. ;)<br />
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You will want to get all of your students walking around the classroom while the animal is being hidden, if your farmers stay in the room. This will help "camouflage" the sounds of the student hiding the animal.</div>
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Once the animal is hidden, the rest of your students go back to their desks or to the tapis, and your farmers will walk around the room together, looking for the animal.<br />
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The rest of the class will make the animal’s sound to help give clues.<br />
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The louder they make the sound, the closer the farmers are to the animal. The quieter they make the sound, the farther away the farmers are from it. The farmers will use those clues to help them find it.<br />
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Once the farmers find the animal, switch jobs and play again!<br />
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Let's be honest - times have changed!</h2>
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Our students are no longer doing the same activities, playing the same games, and singing the same songs as when we were kids.</div>
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And in lots of ways, that's great!</div>
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Birthday parties and gatherings have never been easier for parents <i>(which I appreciate - poor Leah is two and hasn't had a real birthday party yet haha, I'm waiting as long as I can!)</i>, and kids are getting lots of opportunities to be social and active together. </div>
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But, why not keep some of the birthday party games from when we were kids alive, and use them to help our students practice some key listening and pre-reading skills?</div>
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What are some phonemic awareness games that you play for practice in your maternelle classroom <i>(birthday party-inspired or not!)</i>?<br />
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Let me know in the comments below!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAv0xPwqT5ifVfKCOfnXIY0-TGBeYIVZ7GNXxHjt4l0M79g6JPTwzdhUW6jsAplsl1Dqz7GLPNF-wcKve8h8BfHfvrgrrgK63NjlnGaUD6SoBW0kG7pXxTL4kXfCI8eYNtUJ5c1JNgXs/s1600/5+games+for+listening+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for simple, no-prep ways to help develop your French primary students' listening skills? These 5 quick, simple games are a great way to help your students hear sounds before working on more complex conscience phonologique skills!" border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAv0xPwqT5ifVfKCOfnXIY0-TGBeYIVZ7GNXxHjt4l0M79g6JPTwzdhUW6jsAplsl1Dqz7GLPNF-wcKve8h8BfHfvrgrrgK63NjlnGaUD6SoBW0kG7pXxTL4kXfCI8eYNtUJ5c1JNgXs/s640/5+games+for+listening+1.png" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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<b>PS - Are you a member of my FREE French Resource Library?? It's FULL of freebies perfect for the French primary grades. Enter your info below, and I'll email you the password and access instructions!</b>
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Leslie Hirgelthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09681943653905991530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-6397103087459906182020-03-02T07:02:00.001-04:002020-10-07T11:08:51.469-04:00Enseigner les « Textes à structure répétée » avec les Phrases fantastiquesIf you've been following me for awhile, you might have read some of my previous blog posts about writing <i>(like <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2015/10/our-one-month-write-iversary.html" target="_blank">this one</a> or <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2016/03/all-about-my-word-wall.html" target="_blank">this one</a>)</i>.<br />
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You'll know that <b>I don't really believe in having our maternelle students write from prompts each day</b>, and I advocate modeling teaching them how to write REAL stories, from their brains and hearts, about what they WANT to write about.<br />
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Someday, I am going to turn how exactly I do that into a TPT product, with structured lessons for you, but that day is not today haha.<br />
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ANYWAY, all that to say that while I generally don't believe in writing from a prompt and telling my students that they have to write what I say, my school board does require me to teach <i>les textes à structure répétée </i>in maternelle.<br />
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And, since it is an expectation, I do teach it, and my students do write them on the regular (by on the regular, I mean we write 1-2 <i>textes à structure répétée </i>per month - the vast majority of what my students write is of their own choosing).<br />
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But, since I don't love it, I have to make it <i>reaaaaallllly</i> easy for me to teach, or else I am much less likely to do it haha.<br />
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So, read on to find out how I've made <i>les textes à structure répétée </i>super easy and relevant for my students by incorporating them with our <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/01/our-phrases-fantastiques-routine.html" target="_blank">Phrases fantastiques</a>!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinm5ErVFK_KLWyBHhOL5T-wn9EkxDNdxBlVZ_BXjVMNPT7COun-9kWLa0PPvPNeyRU9_t-Y1CPlA6EYLXnv2SCfx6JQJii1gu7Uv1WBEkw-wWsLDnobWnWBP-jcVIz6rTcJecktl4KogY/s1600/Blog+Images+Maybe.004.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinm5ErVFK_KLWyBHhOL5T-wn9EkxDNdxBlVZ_BXjVMNPT7COun-9kWLa0PPvPNeyRU9_t-Y1CPlA6EYLXnv2SCfx6JQJii1gu7Uv1WBEkw-wWsLDnobWnWBP-jcVIz6rTcJecktl4KogY/s640/Blog+Images+Maybe.004.jpeg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<u>Side note</u> - in case you're not sure what <i>textes à structure répétée</i> are, they are the books that our students read around niveaux 1-2, when the sentence structure on each page repeats over and over, but a vocabulary word changes at some point in the sentence. So like <i>« Regarde le papillon. Regarde le chien. Regarde le chat, etc. »</i><br />
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Step 1 - Practice the Basics</h2>
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Before we even starting talking about <i>les textes à structure répétée</i> or using what we were learning to co-create a book, I practiced <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank">Les phrases fantastiques</a> with my students over and over.</div>
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I have already written a blog post that goes over our Phrases fantastiques routine in great detail, <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2020/01/our-phrases-fantastiques-routine.html" target="_blank">which you can check out RIGHT HERE</a>.</div>
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We started them in December, with the Christmas theme, and only did our first book in February, with the Valentine's Day theme. </div>
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Consistency is the key to mastery, and I wanted to make sure that my students had ample opportunity to practice writing our sentences over and over as a group, focusing on left to right, spaces, punctuation, proper letter formation, etc., before asking them to give them a go on their own. </div>
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We practice our sentences 2-3x a week <i>(every other day, usually)</i>, and even after getting through our Christmas and Winter themes and moving on to Valentine's Day, there are still things that we forgot when doing our sentences independently, which you'll see in some of the pictures below.</div>
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So, be sure to practice, practice, practice your sentences as a group before you ask your students to try on their own.</div>
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Step 2 - Introduce les textes à structure répétée via a texte à structure répétée</h2>
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Before talking about making our own book, I also showed my students a few examples of <i>textes à structure répétée</i> via real books.</div>
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I am lucky to have a few "big books" for shared reading in my class, but I only have one per level of levels 1-5, so I only actually had one with repeating text. So, after reading that one, I read a couple of our Niveau 1 guided reading books, too.</div>
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I asked my students if they noticed anything interesting about the books. How was it so easy for them to jump in and read/recite along with me, even if the books had words in them that they had never seen written down before?</div>
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<b>Answer:</b> these books have patterns! The same basic sentence is repeated over and over, with only the last word changing! This type of book is called a <i>texte à structure répétée</i>. </div>
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I brought that observation full circle, and pointed out how, even though our pocket chart sentences aren't books, they are pretty similar - the same basic sentence, but one vocabulary word that changes each time. </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-La-ferme-FRENCH-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-2216215" target="_blank"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="1533" data-original-width="1600" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCTpKzZGtPCWWYGTsZZwcHLoXAxGHqOoTlDgYEFK_XyEa7FHnhuoo7Coh3ZOHapeBjnJMGxCWEYN-hYIQsgFzI2HH7E6K9RwHhtZpkpBbb2KWRgCDIe8iIReBSgnh3tFUHrkgVwB4PGfg/s320/2016-11-15+08.41.05+2.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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I asked my students if they thought that now that we know this, that maybe WE could use our pocket chart sentences to help us make a <i>texte à structure répétée </i>ourselves. </div>
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They thought that we should definitely be able to do that ;)</div>
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Step 3 - Paper choice</h2>
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The next step is to choose which kind of paper to use. You can use the included Phrases fantastiques paper, plain paper, lined paper, whatever you like!</div>
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For our first book, I decided to use blank paper. I wanted to see how my students would use the space when they had the entire space. </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-La-Saint-Valentin-FRENCH-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-2295052" target="_blank"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1361" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIPco7vDzAZBPd-jU7mNCIcuEDoHKflSLsfNb5xbOEZcfZYCFhy2r09SBHZzNOfRczIM-WAMakhwgAr5gNireF06w5vGSdpcWDcc3OaEq-0146B1b5EJCXOTBC3B4rXJ4XMXNiFj4hIYA/s400/IMG_6274.png" title="" width="340" /></a></div>
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As you might have noticed in the above picture, most of my students added their own lines anyway haha! </div>
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So, the next time, I used our regular writing paper - a rectangle on top for the picture, and lines below.</div>
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I guess they like what's familiar!</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-La-Saint-Valentin-FRENCH-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-2295052" target="_blank"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1208" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6DfV43_EviNWOEeo8wBlmIDueJOpZjdHiQjuFVTOP4K9nVB-7xuwzEeSzghhmHa_hRZ1fOIKuONGV5zsaa7JCGPBvEl_D2uEzxD6QwilwRHsRlFi0oY1EharbHyLB2YbbYN8J1SRgOk/s400/IMG_6268.png" title="" width="301" /></a></div>
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<h2>
Step 3 - Model, model, model!</h2>
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At this point, MANY of my students are able to write the sight words they need for their sentence without copying. We have worked hard on this, and I'm really proud of them!</div>
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However, they definitely cannot write the vocabulary words without looking <i>(and nor should they be expected to)</i>. </div>
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So, to keep us organized and accurate, I have each student choose one of the vocabulary words from our pocket chart. I model this first - I model choosing a word, bringing it to my "spot", and drawing it.</div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-La-Saint-Patrick-FRENCH-St-Patricks-Day-Sentences-2356967" target="_blank"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgujhCFQV4jiOsJkwn_9jOYtsMV8XBffNZvUUzWWvtlMVYSxSVkJNpJS4_bmoP3SjiPQW_tXAqjsRfUAs_cznvXW53Fg7XYAB5aluTgBNTiNG8FCyZ4gxsdThyIMDmGoGIqlB-Zl9za5s/s320/EzyWatermark170305024124324.png" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then, I model writing my sentence. Do I *just* copy that word?</div>
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Nope!</div>
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I have to write the whole sentence! </div>
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So, we talk about where we can look to find the first sight word we need <i>(in our brains, at the pocket chart, or on the word wall)</i>, and copy it over, left to right. I model an uppercase first letter, and the rest lowercase, and I am careful to point that out.</div>
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Then, just like when we are writing our sentences together during our regular routine, I model adding a space and continuing the sentence. </div>
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I also model checking if there is the symbol for masculin or féminin in the corner of the word and choosing the article to match.</div>
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Step 4 - Students Choose Their Word</h2>
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Most of my sets have enough words that all my students can choose their own word. </div>
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If not, I'll grab more words from the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Maternelle-Avec-Mme-Andrea/Category/Collection-Mur-de-mots-206960" target="_blank">Mur de mots cards</a> that match that theme and let my students choose from those, too.</div>
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They have the same masculin/féminin symbols, so they work just as well!</div>
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Most students have different words, but if someone wants to double up and do the same as someone else, I really don't mind.</div>
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Then, everyone finds a spot and gets to work.</div>
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<h2>
Step 5 - Students Write & Illustrate</h2>
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Each student illustrates their word and then writes their sentence.</div>
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I encourage my students to colour their picture, but if they run out of time then they don't have to. </div>
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I don't like for this activity to take more than one writing period, so if they don't finish, they don't finish! No biggie.</div>
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<i>(I do have them finish the words before cleaning up - it's just the colouring that they don't have to finish)</i></div>
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Many of my students can use what they know to write their sentence, but some need additional support. It's no problem - I provide them with the words and/or model sentence they need from the pocket chart or word wall.</div>
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My students always seem to end up needing different words at different times, and they are great at sharing, so it's never been a problem!</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-La-Saint-Patrick-FRENCH-St-Patricks-Day-Sentences-2356967" target="_blank"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="683" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizBnf7K-vk8g2WN4GOHKXwAizdNqdnGbLWdEeAOCO1AIddslclIfzrnucE5wTivD9DYW0bmLpZNxNAjgP1niStG937E2gw-eqpetstE23pSELIXLm9mXTBWA8JX-fkaESy6z82xEWIwAo/s400/mae.png" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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While my students are working, I circulate and help as needed. I also make the cover page.</div>
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This is totally something my students could do and likely will end up doing in the near future - I'll just ask someone who finishes early to do it for me.</div>
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I just use Astrobrights paper and Sharpie marker - nothing fancy!</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1415" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpaCvzJp20-k1FHtHvv6AqXgIWxU9FBe-bE7stgJFXjApXm4E9xCOhRUQt9ouk0EndlydnNpyrdHTIOk7-B5trAjaRkaAqa02RZE5UTnHzDclrw94uQkfWOHJX3MFsFYdVdiCwMYRFfA/s320/IMG_6287.png" title="" width="283" /></a></div>
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As my students finish up, I add their pages to the book.</div>
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<h2>
Step 6 - Read!</h2>
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Once everyone is done or time is up, we go back to the tapis and I read the book.</div>
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My students love seeing their work "published"!</div>
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By the end of the year, my hope is to have one for everyone to bring home and keep. </div>
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In the meantime, I add these books to our reading bins, where my students can read them anytime they want. </div>
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They actually choose to read them a lot!</div>
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I think they love them not only because they made them, but also because they can read them. We practice our pocket chart sentences so often that they know them inside, out and backward!</div>
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As you'll see in the picture below, my students who are ready to take this activity to the next level do so, by extending their sentences and adding more things. </div>
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They did this completely on their own - I didn't ask them to. They just asked me if they could add more words, and I said sure.</div>
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That's one reason I LOVE writing - it basically differentiates itself!</div>
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The following examples are all from the same book:</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-La-Saint-Valentin-FRENCH-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-2295052" target="_blank"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqVdvAJtYWbhCxfGN_t-SnJrBN4KX6HkkK7Z3hdIIp_Hfs2TlubeeLp-cuNknDVs4PWi52EO0zJx4FmdSVGRqgUYQZmACsook2SgyE65kiS2xyus4dhNNO_J0pnN0rH7vONb_pzJ4b5I/s640/Untitled+%25287%2529.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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Love them!</div>
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Obviously, I've been able to learn from these first attempts - we still need to work lots on punctuation!</div>
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So, this past week, we have been focusing BIG TIME on punctuation during reading, writing, our sentences, etc. </div>
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I'm hoping that when we do our second Saint Patrick's Day <i>texte à structure répétée</i> next week, with our new Saint Patrick's Day sentence, I will see more punctuation popping up.</div>
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<h2>
Why not give it a try?</h2>
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If you teach <i>textes à structure répétée </i>and/or use <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank">Les phrases fantastiques</a> in your classroom, why not give these books a try?</div>
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While I generally prefer to have my students to write about whatever they want, these texts are great for my students to be able to read & enjoy each others' work, work together to make a book, and free up their brains to focus on writing mechanics versus content and ideas.</div>
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All writing is great, and overall I believe in exposing our students to a variety of types of texts and showing them how to create as many as possible! </div>
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If you go this route, just make sure they are getting lots of creative writing time in, too ;)</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4AHu5mGeiokKTarYjChc-9gdjCF_gduTRf3ihmreTOTXQCv9x04OP1E3pJ7wdlbMJzrq95L0PqNGIa9pWJfi_psYny6TFYFpU9KfqWYu9O27Gk2cBP21ZSGC0G6B-Cz33VNaWxuKJYM/s1600/structure+re%25CC%2581pe%25CC%2581te%25CC%2581e+long.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Teach maternelle? Check out this blog post for ideas to make writing les textes à structure répétée super simple and easy!" border="0" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="1060" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4AHu5mGeiokKTarYjChc-9gdjCF_gduTRf3ihmreTOTXQCv9x04OP1E3pJ7wdlbMJzrq95L0PqNGIa9pWJfi_psYny6TFYFpU9KfqWYu9O27Gk2cBP21ZSGC0G6B-Cz33VNaWxuKJYM/s640/structure+re%25CC%2581pe%25CC%2581te%25CC%2581e+long.png" title="" width="434" /></a></div>
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Looking for more writing tips? Fill out your name & email in the box below, and I'll email you my FREE guide to writer's workshop for French primary teachers!<br />
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</style>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-35166101925653647582020-02-13T08:30:00.001-04:002020-10-07T11:09:57.293-04:00Simple 1:1 Correspondence Practice in MaternelleI've said it before, and I'll say it again - one of the BEST things about maternelle is teaching our students to read.<br />
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It's amazing to watch them go from saying "but I don't know HOW to read!" to understanding that there is more than one way to read a book, and they actually CAN read.<br />
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I don't know about you, but when we first start reading, my students often think that they will impress me if they memorize their book and speed their way through it... often while looking at me, or out the window... or even with their eyes closed!<br />
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It can take them a lot of convincing to persuade them that I am actually MORE impressed when they slow down, look at each word, and keep their eyes OPEN.<br />
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1:1 correspondence can be a tricky skill for our maternelle students to master.<br />
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Over the years, I've added some tricks to my teacher toolbelt and created some resources to help my students become more successful in understanding that when we read, each word we say should match up to a word that's written on the page.<br />
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Read on to find out what they are!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwnbiH1E8QUYqKZMA3TZ_7HHmaBhvjwNi23l3mlHZUGXX0wMTjyHS0pnP-RWA_pw2iCH5ByrK_pJoHDhUshglECois19do_VSZAkHqWVp8TH7t1f_lqQaM2b9JRQGlIYzBVBaNOhKfQ4/s1600/Blog+Images+Maybe.005.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwnbiH1E8QUYqKZMA3TZ_7HHmaBhvjwNi23l3mlHZUGXX0wMTjyHS0pnP-RWA_pw2iCH5ByrK_pJoHDhUshglECois19do_VSZAkHqWVp8TH7t1f_lqQaM2b9JRQGlIYzBVBaNOhKfQ4/s640/Blog+Images+Maybe.005.jpeg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>(Side note: 1:1 correspondence is SO important to explicitly teach and practice, especially in maternelle, when our students don’t have many reading behaviours yet. If you want to read more about why it's so important, and how it differs from fluidité, feel free to check out <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2018/01/la-correspondance-mot-mot-et-la-fluidite.html" target="_blank">THIS BLOG POST</a>.)</i><br />
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<h2>
What Is a Word?</h2>
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The first thing that we will need to get our students to focus on is keeping their eyes on the page that they are reading - ideally, on the words themselves!<br />
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Before we get them to start thinking about that, it's important to make sure that your students understand what a word IS.<br />
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Often, in maternelle, students will think that a syllable is a word. So, if they read the word « regarde », for example, they might think it is two words: « re » and « garde ». If they are using their finger to track, the might move their finger to the next word too quickly, and "run out" of words before they get to the end of the sentence.<br />
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To help them understand what a word is, you can have your students practice counting them.<br />
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First, practice orally, and start small!<br />
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Say short sentences, like <i>« Madame joue. »</i> and then build: <i>« Madame joue dehors »</i>, <i>« Madame joue avec une balle »</i> etc., and have your students count how many words you said.<br />
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You can start by giving each student a pile of jetons, and having them slide one jeton forward for each word in the sentence. Then, they can count the jetons at the end to know how many words you said.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcGq_RRQCKU0wWkzjoIkq8NlSwQDONYj0biPyrxizp54dCFTlHvHCa-Aq6_NVPTnBTAiiaBDJG09_puMTCG2ZjRafhQEJkgCICAITPJoKoD0SE_8ELQPBGP7GeZ12E_zRxnjhax1aynl0/s1600/IMG_0620.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1045" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcGq_RRQCKU0wWkzjoIkq8NlSwQDONYj0biPyrxizp54dCFTlHvHCa-Aq6_NVPTnBTAiiaBDJG09_puMTCG2ZjRafhQEJkgCICAITPJoKoD0SE_8ELQPBGP7GeZ12E_zRxnjhax1aynl0/s400/IMG_0620.png" title="" width="261" /></a></div>
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Ask them to then remove words from the sentence, and tell you which words are left, and/or have them add or swap out words to change their sentence.<br />
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For example, if you said <i>« Madame joue »</i> and each student slides two jetons forward, repeat the sentence, pointing to each of their jetons when you say each word, and then remove one (eg. « joue »).<br />
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Which word is left?<br />
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<i>« Madame »!</i><br />
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Or, what if you remove the word Madame and put the word « Jack » instead? Then what would the sentence be?<br />
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<i>« Jack joue. »!</i><br />
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Practice, practice, practice until all your students are able to do this successfully.<br />
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Also, during shared reading, show your students how words have spaces between them. Have them count the number of words on the page, and show them how to make sure you've said/read the correct amount of words.<br />
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And, always talk about words during your writing block as well! I love giving examples of how to read my story as if it was all one word, with no spaces, vs. when I remember to put spaces.<br />
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<h2>
Get Your Students to Touch the Words</h2>
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This next tip is very important for helping our students develop their 1:1 correspondence.</div>
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When our students start reading, we MUST get them to touch each word on the page as they go.</div>
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This reinforcement of a word you say = a word on the page is key. </div>
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Teachers in older grades may tell you not to do this, because they want fluid readers, and that's fine for their grade level... but if we don't get our maternelle students to master 1:1, they will NOT become strong readers.</div>
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They will be looking at the sky or out the window and rattling off whatever they feel like or whatever they've memorized. </div>
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That might be fluid... but it's not going to help them learn to read harder books. </div>
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So, when your students are starting to learn to read (generally levels 1-2, maybe 3), have them touch EVERY word on the page. If they get to the end of the line before they are finished saying all their words, or if they stop reading before they get to the end of the line, have them try again. </div>
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This practice and correcting will really help them down the road - it's a lot easier to build the habit of looking at every word right from the beginning. You can take their finger away once their 1:1 has developed - usually around level 3-4. </div>
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<h2>
Use Special Pointers</h2>
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One way to get your students more excited about touching every word is to use special pointers!</div>
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My students LOVE using fancy stir sticks from the dollar store, and their most favourite things to use are finger lights!</div>
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You can get these at the dollar store as well - there are five or six in a pack for a dollar or two - and your students will have tons of fun lighting up each word as they go.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1_T13jlGY3HE_ECd-c4ckyxxvZd2p5TrTTAN2XpdU4TJVWVx6lNYyeVFa01wld8RWq7avZq0lh1CMA8mHYvFD2avi7gnuiuqUBUBqc_40JYkLI_RzWdGuF76q2_QEYRUgau72W585fU/s1600/IMG_5674.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1559" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1_T13jlGY3HE_ECd-c4ckyxxvZd2p5TrTTAN2XpdU4TJVWVx6lNYyeVFa01wld8RWq7avZq0lh1CMA8mHYvFD2avi7gnuiuqUBUBqc_40JYkLI_RzWdGuF76q2_QEYRUgau72W585fU/s320/IMG_5674.png" title="" width="311" /></a></div>
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Another fun thing to use as pointers is witch fingers. You can buy them around Halloween at Michael's and sometimes the dollar store.<br />
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Glow sticks are another fun option!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HsaNO3vnIFsHNx-xkhK-YVS-ZUD32QCezc26ioZ5vq7WmhVIMgdE6zjpQO0ylZa2LJEiFwvsFFnUXzzeW8S9znV5PDMR3yvsNpTQ2zHvYidP0uCOvN9g2ejRTtbGmrwsZlCbJqat6yY/s1600/20180201_105334.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1207" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HsaNO3vnIFsHNx-xkhK-YVS-ZUD32QCezc26ioZ5vq7WmhVIMgdE6zjpQO0ylZa2LJEiFwvsFFnUXzzeW8S9znV5PDMR3yvsNpTQ2zHvYidP0uCOvN9g2ejRTtbGmrwsZlCbJqat6yY/s320/20180201_105334.png" title="" width="241" /></a></div>
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<h2>
Use Resources Specifically for Practicing 1:1 Correspondence</h2>
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Some resources that I find really helpful for my students who are still struggling with this are the ones that I created specifically for my students who find 1:1 correspondence challenging.<br />
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In each resource (I have a bunch of themes), there are 10 different sentences showcasing a variety of sight words and vocabulary words. Each sentence is included in four different formats - two each of "sentence strip" style and "worksheet style".<br />
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ALL of the sentences have special, thematic "dots" under each word, to encourage your students to remember to touch each one.<br />
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So in the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-le-printemps-FRENCH-Spring-11-correspondence-3744631" target="_blank">spring pack</a>, for example, they will touch the flower under each word. In the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-les-animaux-FRENCH-Animals-11-Correspondence-4306664" target="_blank">animal set</a>, they will touch the sheep.<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-les-animaux-FRENCH-Animals-11-Correspondence-4306664" target="_blank"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1421" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3jEHkXnDoBrlyEEx9Azzpm-H4FH0588syWAvlospYUG6QMIQu1FBXzqH-NFP9a9zTaW5yDlYq-54hiusCn4XPUmcfDFkvx_QSwfCrj12n8oviaGFgL6r4pW-F-wNe70oKwlo983-vjc/s640/20190724_105605+%25281%2529.png" title="" width="568" /></a></div>
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Each themed set includes 10 different sentences. By including 10 sentences, my hope is that there will be sentences for everyone.<br />
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The main goal of this resource is again, to practice 1:1. So, the first choice you’ll need to make is which sentences you’ll want to use. You do NOT have to use all 10 every time, or with every student!!! I included a variety in hopes that as many students as possible will have at least 1-2 sentences that they can be successful with.<br />
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Since the most important goal is really 1:1 correspondence, you will want to choose sentences for your groups/students that correspond to the sight words they already know.<br />
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You might be able to get away with adding 1-2 new ones, but the goal is really to have them focus on touching each word and being careful that a word they say corresponds to a word on the page. If your students have too much to focus on (eg too many new sight words/too many new vocabulary words), they may not remember to focus on the 1:1 as well.<br />
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Of course, you can set them up for success by scaffolding and making sure to explicitly teach them the sight words they will need to know before you give them a certain sentence strip, just as you would with a book.<br />
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<h2>
What's In the Resource?</h2>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-la-St-Valentin-FRENCH-Valentine-11-correspondence-3640108" target="_blank"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1209" data-original-width="1600" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwJJH1s2EZeKlRK3RHzh5xs0idQF7ByaIgI5Ig0Z84YXEKyVZ-tF3ngve3K6rTOYI87zP9vh9-5zSaKHH22ikcYeCh3iEBCY_i54mlZO6IqtukNDU5OZycFKoi-JpBNa7hbEIZDm2zSQ/s640/20190724_111056.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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In each resource, there are <b>sentence strips,</b> <b>"worksheet-style" sentences</b> and <b>flashcards</b>.<br />
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There are two different kinds of strips.<br />
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Each style has the same essential sentences. But, one style has the vocabulary word written at the end, PLUS a picture of it. The other style has just a picture of the vocabulary word, without the word written underneath.<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-le-printemps-FRENCH-Spring-11-correspondence-3744631" target="_blank"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1518" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkBLwj261DUtMVELjigLz6CTnGwK5yBJ-55qedWG197HxunESVG4e2epwNPnpxIE4M99POTwV9CCUhBOFNjJWDkNfHfu9XXzAqeAzZ0LpL5bxyZV8fywDO2CtTGKJfcbLFOKj_lfS5VE/s400/20190729_152747+%25282%2529.png" title="" width="378" /></a></div>
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I actually use both, depending on my students and if I am sending it home or just using it in class to practice.<br />
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If I am sending it home and I know that that particular student’s parents can speak French (or will take the time to look sometimes up), and/or if the student has an excellent vocabulary in French, I’ll often send the strips <i>without</i> the word written underneath.<br />
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That way, if a student uses a vocabulary word different than what is written down (eg. chaussette vs bas), it’s no problem - they are technically still correct!<br />
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I don’t want my students to be corrected at home if they say one vocabulary word that is technically right but is different than what they said.<br />
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What’s most important is the 1:1 for this activity - I don’t want them worrying about if the sounds they say are matching the sounds written down.<br />
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But, some families don’t have any French and some of my students still don’t have a whole lot of French at this point in the year. That’s fine, and I will work with where they are at!<br />
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For these students, I find the strips with the word written underneath are best. They help parents help their kiddos.<br />
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For each theme, starting around Christmas, I have a few sets of each of the strips printed and prepped and ready to go.<br />
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I just choose a few that work with the student I want to send them home with (I don’t send them all home to anyone, and I send different ones home depending on each students’ abilities), pop them on a binder ring, and add them to their reading bags after we practice them a few times together.<br />
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The big thing that we focus on while practicing is remembering to touch each dot under each word, and saying just ONE word when our finger is on it.<br />
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These strips also provide some extra sight word, 1:1, vocabulary, and directionality practice for those students who need it, and I love having them to add to my regular guided reading materials and activities.<br />
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I am always careful to remind parents to only work for a maximum of 10 mins a night, and to let their child choose what they want to work on from their reading bag during that time. So, some students might practice their strips every night, and some may never practice them - but, the option is there for them!<br />
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<h2>
Squeeze in Extra Practice Whenever You Can</h2>
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In each of the 1:1 correspondence packs, there is a second format for the sentences included - the “worksheets”.<br />
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I call these “worksheet-style”, but your students won’t be completing these like typical worksheets, with a pencil... but they are meant to be printed on a piece of regular copy paper, like a worksheet.<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-THE-BUNDLE-FRENCH-11-correspondence-sentences-3456856" target="_blank"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1040" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH899-Bb2k_SbIUaA5h-a42MOFBlukiN0jPlkiMpob-MCLj4h4by_0sClslKC7I4QekXOL-U_dnS28VjTxQdxDSNs8krE9wF3sHRXoArEunhiZ1OlaMov-S3VbiMpfbkwrke5aigjJtlg/s640/Untitled+%25282%2529.png" title="" width="432" /></a></div>
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These sheets are great, quick practice - they are all on one sheet, you can print them in black and white on regular paper, and students move through them pretty quickly as all sentences on a page have the same structure, and they don’t have to flip through like they do with the strips.<br />
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One thing you can do is print some of these out and slide them into page protectors as a quick warm-up activity for your small groups.<br />
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As I just mentioned, they are much quicker to go through, as your students aren’t spending time flipping through the sentences (which adds more time than you might think!), as they are with the strips on binder rings. They just start at the top of the page and read, still touching each dot. They can really get into a rhythm with these!<br />
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Since I don’t send the strips home with all students every theme <i>(mainly because I don’t want to prep that many, and lots of my students have 1:1 already mastered, so I want them to focus more on other skills)</i>, I often will use the worksheets as a warm-up every now and then with those groups.<br />
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But, my FAVOURITE way to use the worksheets is pretty clever, if I do say so myself ;)<br />
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What I like best is to <b>photocopy them back to back with another worksheet that we are doing</b>!<br />
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So, if we are doing a colour-by-letter activity for example, or a sight word activity sheet, I copy a 1:1 worksheet page onto the back of that sheet.<br />
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Before my students get started with the actual work, they start with the backside and read all of the sentences once. I love this!!<br />
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It only takes 1-2 minutes, but gives EVERY student some great practice, without adding any extra paper to our day.<br />
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Plus, my students who might struggle to remember the pattern or certain vocabulary words are hearing their peers read all around them, and learning from what they are hearing!<br />
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If you have any students who would be overwhelmed by all those sentences to read on one page, just grab a piece of scrap paper and cover all but the sentence they are reading. Then, slide it down when they are ready to continue.<br />
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You can also fold the sheet up when you are photocopying so that fewer sentences are copied. But so far, this has worked really well in my classes and my students get really excited about it!<br />
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<h2>
Use Flash Cards to Build Sentences</h2>
Another way to help your students understand what a word is is to build sentences together using flashcards.<br />
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Having one word per card provides a clear divide for students of where a word begins and ends.<br />
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I like to get my students to exaggerate the spaces in between each card a bit, too. We want them to start noticing spaces in between words when they are reading, and start adding them into their writing!<br />
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One-word flashcards can really help with students who think that one syllable = one word.<br />
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In all of my Correspondance mot à mot packs, I've included flashcards for every sight word and vocabulary word included in the set.<br />
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That way, your students will be able to easily build and of the sentences you are working on using the cards!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-le-printemps-FRENCH-Spring-11-correspondence-3744631" target="_blank"><img alt="Your maternelle students still looking at the sky when they read, and rushing through their French levelled readers? Teach them to slow down and develop their correspondance mot à mot with the tips from this blog post!" border="0" data-original-height="1211" data-original-width="1600" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnREeJ9OtEN2SNRstEGuLtLuVLdfbn96d9lKKisIK95i4lV3A2ByJ58i_ZvMuRLOMn-AyrzHJpMsW3NAqbnEA13K892YQBwKPoQ84MqPZBSoe71hJfNsDmzNX4GZd4klZ6ejRHexVOdQ/s400/20190729_152907+%25281%2529.png" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><b>NOTE</b>: If you're wondering where to find any of the resources pictured above, <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Correspondance-mot-a-mot-THE-BUNDLE-FRENCH-11-correspondence-sentences-3456856" target="_blank">CLICK HERE to see the bundle in my TPT store</a>. You can also purchase each theme individually!</i><br />
<h2>
In Conclusion...</h2>
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However you decide to teach and practice 1:1 correspondence with your maternelle students, the key is to really encourage them to touch each word and make the connection between what is coming out of their mouths and what is written on the page.</div>
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Our students might be really excited to show you that they don't even need to look at the book to "read" it, but at this point, that is not a reading behaviour we want to celebrate!</div>
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Take the time to teach and practice 1:1, and make sure your students ALL understand what a word is, and that the words on the page are there to tell them exactly what to read. </div>
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Make sure your students know that while it's an impressive party trick that they can "read" certain books with their eyes closed, you'll be even MORE impressed when they slow down, look at each word, and keep their eyes OPEN ;)</div>
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Happy reading!!</div>
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</style>Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-9362671498197800712020-01-19T09:55:00.000-04:002020-07-05T18:45:49.209-04:003 Quick & Easy Ways to Stretch Sounds in MaternelleIf you teach a primary grade, you know that in order to learn to read, our students NEED to learn how to decode, and blend letter sounds together to make words.<br />
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Reading is like an orchestra, with a bunch of factors working altogether, but it's pretty clear that if a student can't stretch out sounds and stick them together to form words, they aren't going to get very far.<br />
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Blending sounds is a skill that our students will need to be explicitly taught.<br />
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If we want them to be successful, we will also need to give them a LOT of opportunities to practice.<br />
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Even if your students can say each letter sound, it's putting them TOGETHER to make a word that can be tricky for them.<br />
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If a student sees the word « va » in their book, for example, and they say « vvvvvv, aaaaa », but then can't stick the sounds together and know that the word is « va », their decoding is not serving its purpose.<br />
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As with any skill, practice makes progress... so you'll want to make sure you're giving your students plenty of practice stretching sounds and then putting them back together to make words!<br />
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They will need to practice over and over so that it becomes natural for them to hear the sounds that they are saying, remember what they are and the order they said them in, and turn them into a word that makes sense.<br />
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With my students, I like to do lots of sound stretching practice orally, withOUT letters, to start.<br />
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This is really important!!<br />
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We (and parents!!) are often so excited to get students to start “sounding it out” that we forget to lay the foundation first. But the foundation is SO important!!!<br />
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In this blog post, I'll share three quick & easy ways to sneak in some important sound stretching practice!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaI0QyTQbMc0_epDUSJE7jkofZxrjQCgoeZG00s0HtnlGWjZ_6Y-H6rErKFzAXkwOLl3_fIdOEMKTzWys95FRgEAc4y9gvWxdYZiUDzC4eOeY6-bbFPAKl-o9gblxx4yBnLhtM96Ulvs/s1600/Blog+Images+Maybe.006.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for ways to help your French primary students practice stretching sounds? It's so important for them to practice à l'orale, without letters, FIRST. Here are three SIMPLE and QUICK ways that you can help your students practice blending and segmenting sounds, en français!" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaI0QyTQbMc0_epDUSJE7jkofZxrjQCgoeZG00s0HtnlGWjZ_6Y-H6rErKFzAXkwOLl3_fIdOEMKTzWys95FRgEAc4y9gvWxdYZiUDzC4eOeY6-bbFPAKl-o9gblxx4yBnLhtM96Ulvs/s640/Blog+Images+Maybe.006.jpeg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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1. Using slinkies</h2>
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Slinkies are super fun for maternelle students, and really up the engagement for sound stretching!</div>
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To use slinkies, you say a word that has 2+ sounds <i>(you'll want to start small and build up to words with more sounds)</i>. </div>
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Have your students repeat the word, s-l-o-w-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y, stretching out each sound as long as they can. </div>
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They will want to rush! I have been known to give a sticker to the student who says it the slowest, just to make my point that slower = better <i>(and I give them all a sticker for their hard word at the end, of course!)</i>. </div>
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Slinkies make this practice a little more fun and really give a visual to stretching out the word. </div>
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They also really help your students pay attention to the individual sounds in each word.</div>
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My students will often rush the first sound, and then slow down for the subsequent sounds. If this happens, I get them to start over and stretch out the first sound, too. We want them to hear ALL the sounds!</div>
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You can also use elastic bands, rubber tubing, or resistance bands if you don't have slinkies. My slinkies are inexpensive plastic ones that I found at Walmart in the party supplies section. </div>
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You can get the rubber tubing pictured below on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07R55K6QQ/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=maternelleave-20&creative=330641&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07R55K6QQ&linkId=d7403deb67bf9d51ce3147328bde466d" target="_blank"><i>(*here is an affiliate link*)</i></a>. It works great too, and easier storage for a class set if you want to practice as a group!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqm-FrmYykZoaMmzw-2mUf33NSKu_9kzqmZOdhZgziFh6GnPkjAOObRKYbX3RssqA1_Q_HJOC541i1-qD_hsvyCHMs25YMXObCw3Uz5daxKJAhM2OvV4NMtQEcQd48Rol4Pftmko4B29I/s1600/20180103_104007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1465" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqm-FrmYykZoaMmzw-2mUf33NSKu_9kzqmZOdhZgziFh6GnPkjAOObRKYbX3RssqA1_Q_HJOC541i1-qD_hsvyCHMs25YMXObCw3Uz5daxKJAhM2OvV4NMtQEcQd48Rol4Pftmko4B29I/s320/20180103_104007.png" width="292" /></a></div>
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Once the word has been stretched out, have your students snap the slinky back and say the word at normal speed. Example: « vvvvvvv-aaaaa-cccchhhheeee, « vache! ». </div>
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That part is REALLY important - you want to make sure that your students are practicing putting the word back together... that's what they will need to do when they are reading!</div>
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This activity is a great warm-up. It’s like stretching your muscles before you exercise! </div>
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Even if you teach older primary students, you can still do it. </div>
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To give them an extra challenge, you can have them think about the letters that make the sounds they are saying and move the slinky around to show what they know. </div>
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For example, if they were doing the word « balle », they would say « bbbbb <i>(hold the slinkie above their heads to show that b is a tall letter)</i>, aaaaa <i>(hold the slinkie at waist level)</i> lllllllll <i>(lift the slinkie back up above their head)</i>. </div>
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If they did a word with a sound represented by a letter with a « tail » (like g, j, y), they would hold the slinky down by their feet. You could have another movement that represents a « son composé ». </div>
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2. Using jetons and Elkonin boxes</h2>
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The second thing you can try is using jetons (bingo chips work great!) and Elkonin boxes.</div>
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For these, you will need to draw a square box for each sound in the word you are going to say. </div>
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You can draw them on a whiteboard, tape them on a whiteboard, print out a table in Powerpoint, or just draw it on a piece of paper. Keep it simple! </div>
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<i>(If you're not exactly sure what I mean, if you Google "El</i>k<i>onin boxes", you'll be able to see what they look like!)</i></div>
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I use the snake mats from my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Guided-Reading-La-lecture-guidee-en-maternelle-2222291" target="_blank">Lecture guidée en maternelle resource</a> as Elkonin boxes, but before I had just made some with washi tape on cardstock - a few for words with 2 sounds, 3 sounds, and 4 sounds that I could use over and over. </div>
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To keep us organized, I do words with the same number of phonemes on the same day. So, if we were doing words with 2 phonemes that day, I would just need to give each student a mat with two boxes. </div>
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To use the boxes, you will say a word with the correct number of phonemes, and your students will slide one jeton for each sound into each box. </div>
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So if you said the word « chat », your students would slide the first jeton into the first box (left to right) and say « ch », and then they would slide the second jeton up into the second box and say « a ». </div>
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Again, it’s so important to also make sure that they say the whole word, all the sounds together, once they are done: <i>chat</i>. This is to get them into the habit of blending sounds back together after they segment. We don’t want them to be reading like « chhhhhhaaaaaa » - we want them to self-correct and say « chat »!</div>
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Using magnetic bingo chips & wands</h2>
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Once your students are <i>à l'aise</i> with the Elkonin boxes, stretching their sounds out accurately, and sliding the jetons into the boxes with each sound, you can kick it up a notch to keep their engagement high!</div>
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My students love using “fancy” magnetic jetons and magnetic “wands” with the snake mats included in my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Guided-Reading-La-lecture-guidee-en-maternelle-2222291" target="_blank">Lecture guidée en maternelle </a>resource. </div>
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These are basically Elkonin boxes, but with a fun little twist! </div>
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We do these once my students have practice a lot with the regular boxes - otherwise, the wands and bingo chips can be very distracting and my students don’t actually end up practicing what they need to practice. </div>
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Remember - in maternelle, we need to start small and build gradually if we want to see success! </div>
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For this resource, I have also included 2- and 3-phoneme word cards for you to use. That way, you don’t have to remember a list of words with the target number of phonemes, or come up with them on the spot. </div>
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The cards also make the activity feel more like a game! </div>
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To play, I set my students up with their snake mats with the target number of boxes and one magnetic jeton underneath each box. </div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Guided-Reading-La-lecture-guidee-en-maternelle-2222291" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="1600" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XOXffGFTYlg6wuQ_k-W6kUFpogy2jVh5wwG-9_3bscwTl5EP7mOUofEnLPU3WlDM2IuETnsl7dI9eldpRxGjz1AFnOUtlyMm-wMIrNs0pXQaML-yXRmjEHxAC_6pIGyIspS0rkJtkH0/s320/20151113_151908.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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They know not to touch their jetons until it’s time. If they don’t listen, they lose their jetons and they have to pretend ;)</div>
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<i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07B9PK4ZX/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=maternelleave-20&creative=330641&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07B9PK4ZX&linkId=8497011b11432c4fb13e23970ae7f5d8" target="_blank">(Here is an affiliate link to the magnetic bingo chips and wands that I use!)</a></i></div>
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I get a student to draw a card, and then we say what the object is out loud a few times. </div>
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Then, I ask them to say it again, really s-l-o-w-l-y. And again! </div>
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Finally, I model for them sliding one jeton for each sound. </div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Guided-Reading-La-lecture-guidee-en-maternelle-2222291" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1600" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zksRjD9yxoCSPEK333ulRmB3kdKn6BgPUk3ZaV3IVxWyuml8r0fyUTN2pf057BuhNkCs7eSUFJkx08mx_ewNL08UHFqOJLr7kseC4NgTJCVHNViYLz6bWNinVUuhz_CFTRzrXCUDBq4/s320/20151113_151915.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then it’s their turn to try. </div>
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Some students will need a lot of tries! It’s important that you make sure they are doing the sounds correctly. </div>
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You can do hand-over-hand if they need help with their jetons matching the sounds their mouths are making. </div>
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For some students, it can take a LOT of practice before they are segmenting their sounds correctly. But, it is IMPORTANT practice. </div>
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Segmenting sounds incorrectly isn’t helpful. If it takes a student 5 tries to get it right, get them to try 5 times. </div>
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If a student is really struggling, you can take it down to one sound and one jeton and then build. It happens! </div>
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With practice, your students will get better and better, and hopefully, you eventually won’t have to model each time. But, as soon as someone segments incorrectly, model the correct way, and have them try again.</div>
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If you add the magnetic bingo chips and wand, it makes blending the sounds back together again a bit more fun, and helps reinforce directionality. </div>
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After your students have segmented and moved their jetons, get them to say the whole word, with the sounds back together again, while sweeping their wand left to right over their snake mat. </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRENCH-Guided-Reading-La-lecture-guidee-en-maternelle-2222291" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="1600" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-cIC7rfmJMw5GMDS3OFMYkCCYWtLzijrJA7w9gQ_ct8FpDVqnzXxry0B-wCBJJgZtToaq_NYJzMXE0Zc3kK4sOpSDeTkJqpJ4fitb5WLQ91yHaSiIeUvXnKsYRzWzaql2bJytBWKwDjI/s320/20151113_151922.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The magnetic bingo chips will hop up and stick to the wand - magic! Just like how we stick sounds together to make words.</div>
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Of course, the magnetic magic isn't necessary for great practice. But, it can keep your students excited and engaged when it comes to learning how to segment and blend sounds. They're pretty cool! :) </div>
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Here is an "in action" video. Just ignore the student trying to get my attention, haha!! Life in maternelle ;)</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wg9ZQ-MpUmo/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wg9ZQ-MpUmo?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
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Practice makes progress</h2>
Remember, practice makes progress!<br />
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If we want our students to become strong decoders who hear and understand the words that they are reading, we need to be sure to give them lots and lots of practice <i>à l'orale</i>, without letters, first.<br />
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Build that foundation!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTQPhWcI2zgF8Ue6vLMampznz7G8UKGNThomlbdYundNij9G-o1c_XxePGG7sF27s3-S_sQM6BSrRX-fTTa0zzp8pjNfnQlbzImh9Od98U7OmdefSBDBuJDTcY7KRmoDXDofUj3gEtn0U/s1600/Blog+Post+Pins.020.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for ways to help your French primary students practice stretching sounds? It's so important for them to practice à l'orale, without letters, FIRST. Here are three SIMPLE and QUICK ways that you can help your students practice blending and segmenting sounds, en français!" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTQPhWcI2zgF8Ue6vLMampznz7G8UKGNThomlbdYundNij9G-o1c_XxePGG7sF27s3-S_sQM6BSrRX-fTTa0zzp8pjNfnQlbzImh9Od98U7OmdefSBDBuJDTcY7KRmoDXDofUj3gEtn0U/s640/Blog+Post+Pins.020.jpeg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-74416607564745338912020-01-12T08:57:00.004-04:002020-10-07T11:13:13.802-04:00Our « phrases fantastiques » Routine<br />
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Has this ever happened to you?<br />
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I LOVE TpT (obviously), and I LOVE buying resources from there and supporting fellow teachers.<br />
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But, sometimes, I buy something, and I think I know what I'm doing with that resource, and then I stumble across a blog post or a social media post from the actual teacher-author and realize that I've been totally off base, and they are using it in a WAY better way.<br />
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Sometimes, when we create resources, we think that the best way to use them is super obvious.<br />
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But, of course, it's really only super obvious to the person who created it, haha!<br />
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Have you ever experienced that?<br />
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Since I started <i><a href="https://mmeandrea.kartra.com/page/maternelle" target="_blank">Club du primaire</a>,</i> my membership for French primary teachers, I've had this happen a few times.<br />
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I post a video training on one of my resources, and everyone goes "Oh my gosh, I NEVER thought of using it like that!"<br />
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OOPS!<br />
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One such resource is my <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> resource <i>(Not sure what I'm talking about? I posted about them last week - <a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2019/12/what-are-phrases-fantastiques-and-why.html" target="_blank">click here to read!</a>)</i><br />
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Since that resource is such a big seller, and it can help your students is SO MANY ways, I want to be sure that everyone is getting their money's worth and using it to its full potential!<br />
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So, today, I will be sharing with you my EXACT <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> routine, start to finish.<br />
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Let's dive in!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-IzthxSn3SQNwE1q1DppmqG2psPBoq2tG8ugkMGgWMfB75VbG2V_PJ9gzZC61U_coltb7qF1Xk0y8MnIVV_I0uh3sysyf07-C0A6MHeuvDDolrNunRQPA4ImEd_G82pKREoEEZyXGgE/s1600/phrases+fantastiques+routine+square.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Want to give pocket chart sentences a try in maternelle, to help your students master 1:1, directionality, sight words, French vocabulary, and more? Our « phrases fantastiques » Routine by Maternelle avec Mme Andrea will help you get your French pocket chart sentence routine up and running, and ensure your students are getting the most out of their phrases fantastiques time!" border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1050" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-IzthxSn3SQNwE1q1DppmqG2psPBoq2tG8ugkMGgWMfB75VbG2V_PJ9gzZC61U_coltb7qF1Xk0y8MnIVV_I0uh3sysyf07-C0A6MHeuvDDolrNunRQPA4ImEd_G82pKREoEEZyXGgE/s640/phrases+fantastiques+routine+square.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>(Side note: if you don't already own my Phrases fantastiques resource, but you want to, you can see all of the themes in <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank">one big bundle on TPT, right here</a>. You can click on any of the individual resources inside the bundle to purchase them separately, too!)</i><br />
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Here is a peek at our <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> routine:</div>
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First of all, choose a theme and a model sentence to work on</h2>
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Each <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> resource contains at least 5 model sentences, but I do NOT work on all the model sentences all at the same time.<br />
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That would be crazy overwhelming for my maternelles!<br />
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The first time we start a new theme, I choose ONE model sentence from the pack to work on. So, for example, yesterday we started with "Je mets mon ________", from the winter pack.<br />
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I just choose one at a time to help them be more successful. My students hadn't yet seen the words "je" or "mets" as a group before, so it would be a lot to also through "ma" and "mes" into the mix.<br />
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After a day or two with that first sentence, I will add the model sentences with "ma" and "mes" as well... but we will not also be working on the other sentences from the pack while we are focusing on this particular structure.<br />
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There are a few choices for model sentences in each set. Be sure to start with ones where your students can be successful right away, and save the "trickier" ones for later, once they are more familiar with the routine.<br />
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Once You've Got Your Model Sentence Picked Out...</h2>
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Set up your pocket chart!<br />
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To start, I put the model sentence at the top of the pocket chart.<br />
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Under, I leave a space for us to build our sentence.<br />
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Then, I place the sight words (in mixed-up order). Under those, I place all the vocabulary words that work.<br />
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So, for "Je mets mon _______", I ONLY put vocabulary words that are masculin and singular. The other cards won't fit into the sentence yet, and those are enough new words to practice for now!<br />
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My pocket chart is always on display <i>(my lovely husband built me <a href="https://thekindergartensmorgasboard.com/2015/08/kindergarten-smorgasboard-diy-3-sided.html" target="_blank">*this pocket chart stand*</a> for my birthday a couple years ago)</i>, so it's ready to go when my students get to the tapis.<br />
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As we learn more and more model sentences, I add them to the top as options, as shown in the picture below:<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Want to give pocket chart sentences a try in maternelle, to help your students master 1:1, directionality, sight words, French vocabulary, and more? Our « phrases fantastiques » Routine by Maternelle avec Mme Andrea will help you get your French pocket chart sentence routine up and running, and ensure your students are getting the most out of their phrases fantastiques time!" border="0" data-original-height="1519" data-original-width="1600" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQbSplbFYqQmU6lF7QJzon0onYowgzywM27EPU_ZEQ1jyTVIs9bEBdZKtXn4MCKGLhm_sF-EuAxRbkafLq-XZBrcsjqgS0r3MI58Yb6iRMsYuTilbDrAAnrO-4M5zDVMn55LfFzqf9A8/s640/20151118_080501.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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To Get Started With My Students...</h2>
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I read the model sentence for that day. I ask my students to say it back a few times. We also quickly review the thematic vocabulary words - it's really important that they can say as many as possible if I want them to be successful.<br />
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Then, I ask them what just the first word is in the target sentence. I ask a student to find it, and place it on the left side of the pocket chart, in the space that we have for building our sentence<br />
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Then, I ask them for the second word, we find it, etc. If they are restless, I will sometimes place the words myself. I will just point to each sight word, one at a time, until they tell me that yes, that’s the right one!</div>
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When it comes to adding a vocabulary word, I always choose a few myself to start. I might start with some easy ones, to build confidence in my kiddos, and help them have more brainpower to focus on their new sight words. I also add the punctuation at the end <i>(a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark)</i>.<br />
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I get a few students to come up and read the sentence, using a « bâton magique » to point to each word as they read them. Then, I will switch something up. Sometimes just the vocabulary word, sometimes the article as well. And, sometimes, I will switch out the punctuation, if I'm really trying to be tricky!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Want to give pocket chart sentences a try in maternelle, to help your students master 1:1, directionality, sight words, French vocabulary, and more? Our « phrases fantastiques » Routine by Maternelle avec Mme Andrea will help you get your French pocket chart sentence routine up and running, and ensure your students are getting the most out of their phrases fantastiques time!" border="0" data-original-height="1533" data-original-width="1600" height="611" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCTpKzZGtPCWWYGTsZZwcHLoXAxGHqOoTlDgYEFK_XyEa7FHnhuoo7Coh3ZOHapeBjnJMGxCWEYN-hYIQsgFzI2HH7E6K9RwHhtZpkpBbb2KWRgCDIe8iIReBSgnh3tFUHrkgVwB4PGfg/s640/2016-11-15+08.41.05+2.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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I always tell them that I *know* I can trick them this time, and they get really excited to prove me wrong!<br />
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What About the Tricky Vocabulary Words?</h2>
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For the trickier vocabulary words that my students aren't all familiar with yet, I might ask stronger students with a knack for vocabulary to come up and read those ones first, and then get any students who might struggle to repeat the same one.<br />
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I want everyone to be successful, and our students improve quickly when they feel confident. Even my students who know barely any French are usually able to repeat if I chose them to come up closer to the end.<br />
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Another trick I do if no one seems to know the word is to "accidentally" let the word slip. My students are always eagerly listening for me to slip up like that!<br />
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If I put I tricky word, I will say something like: <i>« Je sais que PERSONNE ne va savoir le mot cache-oreilles! »</i>... and then, of course, they all know it as they have just heard me say it! Everyone starts piping up <i>« je sais, c'est cache-oreilles! »</i>... and little do they know, but that extra repetition is helping cement that new word into their little brains ;)</div>
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After a few switches, I ask my chef du jour to come up and make the final switch. They put a new vocabulary card of their choice, and a punctuation mark.<br />
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We don’t get to every vocabulary card each day - that’s fine! The sentence that the chef du jour builds is the sentence that we will write together. They also get to ask a friend to come read their sentence.<br />
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Writing the Sentence</h2>
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We all write the sentence together at the tapis, too!<br />
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To facilitate this, everyone goes and gets a clipboard and a pencil. While they are doing that, I make it “snow” by basically dropping the recording sheets (included with each theme) onto their carpet squares. This is faster than having a student hand them out, and also we practice saying <i>« IL neige »</i> instead of saying <i>« ÇA neige »</i>, aka one of my biggest pet peeves, ha!</div>
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Students come back to the tapis with their supplies, clip their paper on, and write their names. That’s IT. Once they write their name, they do unicorn or narwhal with their pencil on their head. That’s how I know they are ready!</div>
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One word at a time, one letter at a time, we write the sentence. I ask my students where I start <i>(here? here?)</i>, and what the first letter of the first word is.<br />
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I remind them that it’s a<i> lettre majuscule</i>, and we always start at the top. We write each letter one by one, until that word is done. Then I ask them what comes next.<br />
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A space comes next!</div>
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I show them how to do a finger space. Then we continue. We write the whole sentence, left to right.<br />
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If I run out of room on my line, I ask them to tell me what to do. We all write differently, so we don’t all run out of room at the same time, but we do our best to remember where to go when we do run out.<br />
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At the end of the sentence, I ask them how we know that the sentence is finished - what do we need to put? A punctuation mark! We add it. </div>
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Finally, we draw a picture to match. I usually try to incorporate someone in the class, but also have it make sense for the sentence we are working on.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Want to give pocket chart sentences a try in maternelle, to help your students master 1:1, directionality, sight words, French vocabulary, and more? Our « phrases fantastiques » Routine by Maternelle avec Mme Andrea will help you get your French pocket chart sentence routine up and running, and ensure your students are getting the most out of their phrases fantastiques time!" border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1040" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibNCp-TDZwBiGQ5dWD3zG4okBbMhGaClcqYQFwzdcyL4nNHrAkFNxcKRSoSpJLpNMDW_60Ivu81frC9CpcongHi7P3GANUWXJkAZWvMOUPqaHOYUwiJV2lfAIQN3fErDlmhJQ8EpdjQ4s/s640/Untitled.png" title="" width="432" /></a></div>
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So if our sentence is <i>« J’aime le cadeau »</i>, I might draw me, with a present, and a lot of hearts to show that I like it.<br />
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If we were doing <i>« Le cadeau est grand »</i>, I might draw a tiny version of a student in my class and then a huge present beside them.<br />
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I explain how adding the student makes it really clear for my reader just how big the present is! Even if they don’t know how to read, they could probably guess what I’m trying to tell them!<br />
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Finishing Up</h2>
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When finished, the sheets go in a cahier. My students put their own sheets in their cahiers. We don’t usually colour our pictures at this time. After students start to finish up, I put on a Just Dance for the transition.<br />
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If students want to finish up their pictures during some of the dance time, that’s fine - they may also choose to quickly colour them then. They know that after the dance is over, we will be moving on to something else, so they are pretty quick. Papers must be put away by the time the song is over. </div>
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We do this activity first thing in the morning, after our first few minutes of <i>« communication orale »</i>. To extend our <i>« communication orale »</i> block a bit into this activity, I should mention that I do like to get them to do a turn and talk sometimes, where they will say a few versions of the sentences we build to a partner.<br />
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This is sprinkled in between getting a student to come up and read it with the bâton.<br />
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So, if I had Jayden come up and read a sentence and he read it correctly and clearly, I might say <i>« wow! Incroyable! Tout le monde, tourne et dis à ton partenaire ce que Jayden vient de lire! »</i> and they would turn and repeat what he had read.<br />
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Just a little extra practice to get EVERYONE saying the sentence structure + new vocabulary word correctly, and keep them engaged and listening actively!<br />
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What About the Mini-books?</h2>
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The <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> resources that I've created do all include two mini-books, that practice two of the target sentences from each pack even more.<br />
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But, in my class, we don’t do the mini-books together at this time - they aren’t part of my “whole group” routine at all, actually. But, if you're curious about how & when I use them, you can read all about it in <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2019/02/how-to-do-guided-reading-with-students.html" target="_blank">*this blog post*</a>!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Want to give pocket chart sentences a try in maternelle, to help your students master 1:1, directionality, sight words, French vocabulary, and more? Our « phrases fantastiques » Routine by Maternelle avec Mme Andrea will help you get your French pocket chart sentence routine up and running, and ensure your students are getting the most out of their phrases fantastiques time!" border="0" data-original-height="1056" data-original-width="1056" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6cI1bIoHr240vfcjb8Rx0bVPAp3iUq-emteg9Icfj6PzoY5dE_FwSvwaMPmtl6n7KWYY6oyP47yRnIZemaCVPfs-wOD7yTpe-Iyvc4-F2Zil2encqyfDnvbmuGF56XyKcacnuahyphenhyphenVXI/s640/PF+books.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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More Blog Posts About <i>Phrases fantastiques</i></h2>
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2019/12/what-are-phrases-fantastiques-and-why.html" target="_blank">What Are <i>Phrases fantastiques</i>, and Why Should You Give Them a Try?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2019/02/how-to-do-guided-reading-with-students.html" target="_blank">Tips for Guided Reading With Students Who Have Limited French</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2015/11/pocket-chart-love-predictable-sentences.html" target="_blank">Pocket Chart Sentences</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2016/11/comment-utiliser-votre-tableau.html" target="_blank">How to Use Your Pocket Chart as a Literacy Centre</a></li>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Want to give pocket chart sentences a try in maternelle, to help your students master 1:1, directionality, sight words, French vocabulary, and more? Our « phrases fantastiques » Routine by Maternelle avec Mme Andrea will help you get your French pocket chart sentence routine up and running, and ensure your students are getting the most out of their phrases fantastiques time!" border="0" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="1060" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Y8Wg5LmbdwPWBgAAt4_6eyGROC6HiKgvpz0hW5QV4OiBjsqAJc3ryvfIbcdqYqH-NvaUE8pv4p0NOQB7Epef33N4a0bIMTl9dBna2BwI7GOwt_0hnBGTOL_sCu_HBf3hNb1OHbr0Sbw/s640/phrases+routine+long+pin.png" title="" width="434" /></a></div>
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Looking for more writing tips? Fill out your name & email in the box below, and I'll email you my FREE guide to writer's workshop for French primary teachers!<br />
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Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626330193598355000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2276746280198325754.post-39285058914415514162019-12-28T21:07:00.002-04:002020-10-07T11:14:19.578-04:00What Are « Phrases Fantastiques » and Why Should You Try Them?One of the trickiest things to teach in maternelle can definitely be writing.<br />
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Many of our students can't even speak French yet, but we are expected to teach them the mechanics of writing... PLUS how to write stories that have great content <i>(for their age, of course!)</i>.<br />
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When I first started teaching writing, I tried to teach all of the above all at the same time - how to come up with a great idea and write about it, PLUS how to make sure you are writing as you should, with proper punctuation, upper/lowercase letters, spaces, sentence structure, etc.<br />
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It was a lot for my students!<br />
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While I do still cover many mechanics of writing during my writer's workshop-style lessons, I have found it beneficial to separate content from mechanics a bit, and take some extra time to teach + practice writing mechanics over and over in a more structured situation with my students, while providing them with a predictable framework for the content.<br />
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And, in combination with time every day to allow my students to write stories of their own choosing, it's made a HUGE difference in my students' writing!<br />
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How do I do this?<br />
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Via my <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> pocket chart sentences!<br />
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Not sure what I'm talking about? Read on for more info.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a way to help your French primary students to practice a TON of writing and literacy skills? Try using Phrases fantastiques in your pocket chart to help your students with sight words, 1:1, directionality, and MORE!" border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="1044" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJeWwmEgtETgeDcikxR0uBclNCyiqoU9W3OzedsbJ-SOxn374fos9iZeB0eTQMOtBslj45WMLgjanS2fWfBsqGvhvC3dfjqbl_8byBYOnKQv0zxUD5CXtV4GG5vKP4WGWd4HUKZBj6aD8/s640/PF+square.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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First of all, let me just say that I am SO EXCITED to finally be blogging more about my <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> resources!<br />
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These are one of my favourite resources I’ve ever made, and have made a big difference for my students.<br />
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My students aren’t usually really ready for this activity until around December each year. And, if your students still aren’t quite ready at this point in the year, it’s all good! You can get some info from this blog post now, and start implementing <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> when your students are ready.<br />
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What are Phrases fantastiques?</h2>
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<i>Les phrases fantastiques</i> are pocket chart sentences.<br />
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I have only ever used them in pocket charts, and that’s what I originally made them for, but as always, you can be creative and find other ways to use them if you don’t have a pocket chart.<br />
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<i>{Here is an <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01C6CM6P6/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=maternelleave-20&creative=330641&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01C6CM6P6&linkId=1b33821676ff49875b90fb3f9b8d617e" target="_blank">affiliate link to the pocket chart I use</a>. It’s more expensive than some others, but it has lasted me 5 years and counting, when my previous one only lasted two years. It’s robust! And <a href="https://thekindergartensmorgasboard.com/2015/08/kindergarten-smorgasboard-diy-3-sided.html" target="_blank">here is a link to the tutorial for the pocket chart stand</a> my husband made me for my birthday last year. It’s less robust, but does the trick!}</i><br />
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If you absolutely don’t want a pocket chart or have space for one, you could definitely pop magnets on the backs of the pieces and use them on your whiteboard or any kind of magnetic board.<br />
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With <i>Phrases fantastiques</i>, your students will be building sentences using a model.<br />
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<b>They are a great way for you to practice a TON of writing skills all at once, which I’ll go over a bit later in this blog post, but it’s not a replacement for having your students write creative stories from their hearts, about topics of their choosing :)</b><br />
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In each <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> set, you’ll find model sentences, all of the sight words needed to build the model sentences, vocabulary cards for finishing the model sentences, recording sheets, and two mini books for extended practice of the model sentences.<br />
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Here is an example from the <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-Hiver-FRENCH-Winter-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-2275707" target="_blank">winter set</a> of some of the things included:<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-Hiver-FRENCH-Winter-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-2275707" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a way to help your French primary students to practice a TON of writing and literacy skills? Try using Phrases fantastiques in your pocket chart to help your students with sight words, 1:1, directionality, and MORE!" border="0" data-original-height="1592" data-original-width="1092" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWPIwgwHCLqa-soqrxDhhW3lcErunbqR4OxxJX2TDVXYUik5inH-l1w9RhAZiYo00xZtOJxTGNmUUnhovRz2DsKk2YT1WoNTfW8tH5S6JAr0JL_60Tr51-JI3EVQnjkf3gkh_uTFk_nM/s640/Pocket+chart+sentences+template.png" title="" width="438" /></a></div>
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Each set has quite a few model sentences, to allow you to choose what your students need to work on.<br />
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I usually don’t do all of the included ones - my students would probably get pretty confused, especially at first! I just pick sentences that represent what we are able to do.<br />
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So, for example, for the Christmas set, we started with « J’aime le _____ ».<br />
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To start, I just put out the words that are <i>masculin</i> since it’s our first time - we had to learn all about that.<br />
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The second week, I added the « J’aime la ______. » and then « J’aime les _______. ».<br />
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That was it for our first go - I didn't touch the other model sentences. If you’re in an older grade or your students are more ready, though, feel free to work on a variety of model sentences.<br />
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I slide the model sentences we are working on into the top rows of the pocket chart. I leave space to build our sentence, and then put all the vocabulary cards and sight words together near the bottom of the chart.<br />
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If there are a lot of vocabulary words, I might put the sight words all at the top as well.<br />
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Here’s a couple pictures from previous years to illustrate what I mean <i>(the black pocket chart is the one I use now)</i>:<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a way to help your French primary students to practice a TON of writing and literacy skills? Try using Phrases fantastiques in your pocket chart to help your students with sight words, 1:1, directionality, and MORE!" border="0" data-original-height="1533" data-original-width="1600" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCTpKzZGtPCWWYGTsZZwcHLoXAxGHqOoTlDgYEFK_XyEa7FHnhuoo7Coh3ZOHapeBjnJMGxCWEYN-hYIQsgFzI2HH7E6K9RwHhtZpkpBbb2KWRgCDIe8iIReBSgnh3tFUHrkgVwB4PGfg/s400/2016-11-15+08.41.05+2.jpg" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a way to help your French primary students to practice a TON of writing and literacy skills? Try using Phrases fantastiques in your pocket chart to help your students with sight words, 1:1, directionality, and MORE!" border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="622" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqItcVOsXp376KfElUNz7rZyv4ewVN_8S6Y3Q2UB6C7g_7sVVBhEeu3bW-Jt7-k6uP2ayMPE6stawtF7kJYAcEPS2Wb_9Qi3IPI2WYM0ERCPkmM8a8bVGgB08SWNhthwDlTjl3qAWviIw/s400/pocketchart+sv2.png" title="" width="368" /></a></div>
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Each set also has a recording sheet. I’ll talk about how we complete that in next week's blog post about our routine, but here’s an example:<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a way to help your French primary students to practice a TON of writing and literacy skills? Try using Phrases fantastiques in your pocket chart to help your students with sight words, 1:1, directionality, and MORE!" border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1040" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcSUJAg0e7nHL2VRDU6ztx3x5DQTxaaD2UtHdo9dt4WdCXJi_HpCvd30KfoJBsPzm4R9f-XlyEyXz3USbxyFuKxcMQZqd_5Y9Pvpntj59k30qRWLqKZG9Y8GifIrc-JYpAmf4wNym83q0/s640/Untitled.png" title="" width="432" /></a></div>
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Finally, there are the mini-books. The mini-books each target a target sentence in the pack. There are two mini-books in each set, but more than two model sentences, so not all sentences will be in the books.<br />
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I don’t usually use these for all of my students, but I do use them as guided reading books for some of my students. I talked all about how I do that in <a href="https://www.maternelleavecmmeandrea.com/2019/02/how-to-do-guided-reading-with-students.html" target="_blank">*this blog post*</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a way to help your French primary students to practice a TON of writing and literacy skills? Try using Phrases fantastiques in your pocket chart to help your students with sight words, 1:1, directionality, and MORE!" border="0" data-original-height="1056" data-original-width="1056" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErOBWf76sHobN7t21cf_hXpZaKo3fCqFjEey8iuYdZVR9mc7TG3G5R17RzTPYp6mJYXu4YwUC_N1a1wbjj0bYpoOZVAfOgCbK4zPFuNyQZ1TXFwFO9IYYHDqm_bJT15OGC6I_awRnmbA/s640/PF+books.png" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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That about sums up all the parts that make up these resources. Next, I’ll talk more about all the different things you can teach and practice with your students using this resource<br />
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<h2>
What Will Your Students Learn?</h2>
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The biggest reason I LOVE <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> is that they teach our students SO. MANY. THINGS all at once!<br />
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Here’s a list of all the concepts and skills I could think of that our students are exposed to during a single <i>Phrase fantastiques</i> lesson:<br />
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<ul>
<li><b>Reading and writing a variety of sight words</b> - each week, we are learning new sight words and/or reviewing sight words that we learned in previous weeks. We are practicing both reading AND writing them in context</li>
<li><b>Starting a sentence with a capital letter </b>- I go over this explicitly with my students EVERY time. It starts to sink in for most of them eventually!</li>
<li><b>Putting spaces between words</b> - again, we talk about this EVERY single time!</li>
<li><b>According masculin/féminin</b> (SO HARD at this age!) - matching the little picture symbols in the corners of words like le/la/un/une/les with the symbols on the vocabulary cards has been the most effective way for me to teach this concept to my students so far. It’s soooo tricky for them, especially since we don’t really do this in English. Even if they don’t make the transfer yet to their own writing/speaking, at least they have been exposed to it, they know it’s a thing, and they begin to remember which articles go with which symbol!</li>
<li><b>A TON of new vocabulary words</b> - each month has as many vocabulary words as I could possibly think of! My students love learning them, and always amaze me. The easiest way to get them to learn them is to tell them I’m going to trick them haha - works every time!</li>
<li><b>Punctuation at the end of a sentence</b> - again, something we talk about every time. We choose between a period, an exclamation mark, or a question mark. There are also sometimes other punctuation marks as well, like dashes or hyphens. </li>
<li><b>Directionality</b> - reading & writing from left to right - each day when we build and when we read our sentences, we are reinforcing this skill</li>
<li><b>Proper letter formation</b> - we write our sentences TOGETHER, one letter at a time. We start at the top and go left to write, and talk about letters that are tall/short/have tails. We are writing these letters and words in context, one at a time, and my students know that if they focus and listen to my instructions, they will be able to write neater letters, more efficiently</li>
<li><b>Le retour à la ligne suivante</b> - where to go when they reach the end of a line and need to start writing on the next line - another big challenge at this age, but when you practice it just about every other day, it starts to sink in!</li>
<li><b>Drawing a picture that matches what they write about</b> - I have some students every year who really struggle with this - they don’t yet understand that the writing on the page has to make sense with the picture. This activity can help - I will ask things like <i>“so we wrote about Père Noël here. Am I going to draw a kitten in my picture?”</i>, and they begin to understand more and more about the link between what is written down and what we see/read</li>
<li><b>1:1 correspondence</b> - each word being on its own, with clear spaces in between, helps with this. We read with a « bâton magique », and I require my students who come up to read to try again if they end up finishing reading but still having words left, or vice versa</li>
<li><b>Correct sentence structure, en français</b>. I love using these sentences to practice things like saying « J’aime » instead of « je j’aime » or « je aime », « je suis allé », « j’ai » instead of « j’ai a », etc. It helps!! </li>
<li>And probably even more things that I’m forgetting, haha! </li>
</ul>
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At first, our <i>phrases fantastiques</i> routine takes us awhile - up to 30 minutes, sometimes. But, once we get more used to it, we can get it done in just 10-15 mins. That’s a LOT of skills to be practicing in under 15 mins!<br />
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I will go over our whole routine in greater detail in my very next blog post, but I will take a second right now to note that we do these at the tapis all together - I am teaching and modeling <b>explicitly</b> all of the skills I shared above.<br />
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I think that this causes my students to get the biggest bang for their buck - they are going to get the most benefit from doing this activity with me there to guide them and make sure I’m pointing all of these important skills that they are learning out to them.<br />
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This will help them make the transfer to other subjects and activities throughout the day.<br />
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Hopefully, I’ve convinced you to give these a go if you haven’t already! Next week, I will explain exactly what our routine looks like, start to finish!<br />
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If you're interested in using <i>Phrases fantastiques</i> in your classroom, you can check out the bundle with all the themes on TPT by clicking <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE</a>.<br />
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The themes are also all available for purchase individually, too - just click on any theme in the bundle for a closer look!<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phrases-fantastiques-THE-BUNDLE-French-Pocket-Chart-Sentences-Bundle-2311385" target="_blank"><img alt="Looking for a way to help your French primary students to practice a TON of writing and literacy skills? Try using Phrases fantastiques in your pocket chart to help your students with sight words, 1:1, directionality, and MORE!" border="0" data-original-height="1556" data-original-width="1056" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAPS2MxkirX1XOetZ-hjmOyZLZQ6U-cmLmVjDSc5Btc1jwBxoveXqQ2W4JO-zBICe2e7KMHVwwx7jx8C5xlEAA7nfl4Trj2b4YJBRmHH4oG7LoXQtj_uGK_uAeoUlneFuFWv2F7cWvOs/s640/PF+pinable.png" title="" width="434" /></a></div>
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