Bonjour,

What a treat to have aerospace educator Brian Ewenson visit the upper-grade classes last week to share his experiences with NASA and studying space (in a presentation held entirely in French)! Space Day in Maine is always a treat and we are so grateful to the educators who continue to include EFDM in this annual celebration of learning.

In the works is an end-of-year Bike Trip for grades 1-5 (CP/CE1 and CE2/CM1/CM2 classes). Please let us know if you are available to chaperone on Friday, May 27th for a Bike Trip to Wolfe's Neck Center! We will need several parent volunteers to chaperone the trip. Bike Trip details are listed below!

Classrooms are practicing for an outdoor school performance to take place on Friday, June 3rd-- parents are all invited to attend this event at 2 pm. More details to follow when we arrive closer to the date!

Last but not least, we are so excited for this year's Spring Carnival! We look forward to this community event on Saturday, June 4. In order to have a successful event, we need your help! Please consider completing a task for the carnival preparations and implementation. Thanks for helping out!

To remember all of these fun times, be sure to place your preorder for a 2021-2022 yearbook! More details for yearbook orders can be found below.

Upcoming dates to keep in mind

2021-2022 School Calendar

We are encouraging EACH family to use this Sign-Up Link to take on a task in the preparation and implementation of this beloved event! Tasks listed vary and include shopping for supplies (full reimbursements available from the Parent Association account), setting up, breaking down, or working a fun game booth on the day of the carnival.

Did you know that you are automatically a member of the Parents Association as a parent of an enrolled student at EFDM? The Parents Association helps organize events and fosters relationships within our school community. In order to make this event the best you can be, we really need the most families possible helping out in one way or another. Merci!

With the end of the pooled testing program, we wanted to be sure to clarify COVID safety protocols that will remain for the last few weeks of school starting this week.

Universal masking will remain optional for all EXCEPT for any individuals returning from quarantine, isolation, or household exposure, in which case it will be required.

Unvaccinated students will, unfortunately, be subject to quarantine from school in the event of a close contact exposure after the end of the pooled testing program. If your student is unvaccinated and happens to become a close contact after 5/10, the protocol will be for them to quarantine from school for 5 days, test on day 5 before returning, and mask for 10 days around others.

For fully vaccinated / individuals who have had COVID in the last 90 days, the protocol will be to monitor for symptoms after being identified as a close contact. No quarantine from school will be required. Masking is recommended but remains optional. We will continue to use the school supply of backup antigen tests until the supply is exhausted and can assist families with testing after 5 days from close contact exposure as needed upon request.

For details, and clarifications for household cases and other specifics, please see the graphics included at the bottom of each newsletter, and let us know if you have any questions. Merci!

A wonderful keepsake to remember your student's year at EFDM, for another truly memorable year of schooling! This yearbook is stocked with photos of each student and their class, teachers, artworks, and memories from all seasons of the year. Place your pre-order today and yearbooks will be ready to distribute in early June!

In the works is a plan to host another Wolfe Neck Center Bike Trip for students grades 1+ on Friday, May 27th. Please let us know if you are available to chaperone this event to help make it happen for our students!

For the potential bike trip, all 1st grade and up student(s) will need to be dropped off between 9:00 and 9:30 am at Wolfe's Neck Center instead of at EFDM, so those with younger students at EFDM can drop off at the school first.

The drop off location: Recreation Field of West Bay

Pick-up for grades 1-5 will also take place at Recreation Field of West Bay between 2:30 pm and 3:00 pm, so those with younger siblings to pick up can get to EFDM between 3:00-3:30 pm.

The trip will require a packed lunch for your child as usual. Teachers and chaperones will be equipped with first aid kits, extra sanitizer, wipes, and other essentials to make this trip safe for all. Please let us know if your student's masking preference will change during this trip.

We hope to have enough parent chaperones to come along! Please email Emily office@frenchschool.me if your student will require a rental bike ASAP.

IB celebrates languages spoken both inside and outside school, and we are hosting a reading event to showcase all of the languages spoken in our community.

Those who would like to share a story, poem or excerpt in the native language(s) of their family are invited to join us Friday, May 20th at 2:30 pm. The goal is to bring languages from home to the greater school community. We are beyond excited to hear all of your stories and to work together to grow our library.

In order to build our International Library, we are also asking families to please donate a book in-home spoken language(s) so that everyone can be represented.

Please sign up here if you would like to participate and read at the event! Merci :)

The IB Organization aims to foster internationally minded students, aware of their impact on their community both locally and globally, and understanding their role in the creation of a better and more peaceful world.

In order to better execute this mission the IB Organization created a concept called the Learner Profile, a list of 10 attributes that are valued and upheld by all of the IB World Schools.

As we move forward as a PYP Candidate school, we are also working to incorporate the Learner Profile into our own school community.

Visitors flock to Maine from around the globe to enjoy our world-class seafood, and Maine oysters are no exception. Celebrate this tasty and environmentally critical bivalve with us in Freeport on June 24 – 26, 2022 when we launch the first-ever celebration of ALL Maine oysters featuring sea farmers representing fisheries from Ogunquit to Corea.

There are now more than 150 oyster farms dotting Maine’s 3,500-mile-long coastline. Oysters grow slowly in Maine’s cold waters, and that gives them more time to soak up the flavors in their home waters. Differences in the food they eat as well as the temperature and salinity of the water produce a wide variety of flavor characteristics from farm to farm. The Maine Oyster Festival will be the first oyster festival in Maine celebrating oysters and the people who farm them from up and down the entire Maine coast!

#ÉlectionsLégislatives || Vous résidez aux US et souhaitez voter par internet aux élections législatives?

Vous avez jusqu’au 10 mai pour mettre à jour vos coordonnées (adresse e-mail et numéro de portable) sur https://service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F33307 afin de recevoir les données nécessaires au vote!

France Maine Innovation Evening 

5:00 pm - Introductory remarks by dignitaries: President of the Maine Senate, Troy Jackson; Consul General of France in Boston, Arnaud Mentré 

5:15 pm - Panel discussion - Exploring the innovation economies of France and Maine: current practices and opportunities for strengthening ties 

• Moderator, Topaz Smith, Founder Residency Program Manager, Roux Institute • Whit Richardson, Founder, Maine Startups Insider 

• Ludivine Wolczik, Executive Director, French-American Chamber of Commerce of New England • Wade Meritt, President of Maine International Trade Center  

• Nicolas de Beco, President of the French Trade Advisors of New England