Bonjour,

We are so grateful to have made it to early spring, maintaining our community's health at large, in no small part thanks to each and every one of you. Merci!

Parent-Teacher Conferences Sign-Up links can be found below if you have yet to reserve your spot for tomorrow! Dismissal is at 11:30am tomorrow morning, no need to pack a lunch! Conferences will be held over Zoom throughout the afternoon.

Enrollment for Summer Camp 2021 is open at this time. As you plan your summer vacations, be sure to keep L'Ecole in mind! Camp days have French activities in the morning, with crafts and games throughout the afternoon. The camp will take place outdoors as much as possible on our expansive playground, shady forest, and beneath the learning tent behind La Maison. For more info and to enroll for a week (or two or ten!), be sure to check out the newly updated website.

As always, please reach out to Emily in the office with any questions: office@frenchschool.me

Although it may feel like we are turning a corner when it comes to the pandemic, with many of our families who work in healthcare receiving their vaccines, we want to urge all members of our community to remain cautious and perform their due diligence to maintain the safety of our school at large. As we face the spring trimester, we would like all families to be reminded of our Community Pledge.

Although current state policy deems a few select states as being exempt, our school policy will now be that any family who travels to meet with or hosts anyone from outside their immediate household/pod will be required to perform a 5-day quarantine post-travel/exposure, followed by a negative PCR test to return to school. Given the degree of community spread of coronavirus in Maine, we can no longer travel outside the state as the determining factor.

If opting to travel, it is recommended you schedule travel-related testing as soon as possible to ensure a safe and timely return to school. If you have any questions regarding how your family plans match up with these protocols, please do not hesitate to ask us - preferably BEFORE you travel/gather.

These protocols were developed and revised by Dr. Gaetane Michaud, MD, Pulmonary Critical Care, USF Tampa, and parent at the French American School of Tampa Bay and by parents at l'Ecole Française du Maine: Dr. James Gallea, MD, Emergency Medicine Specialist, and Dr. Lisa Lucas, DO Primary Care Physician.

Progress Reports for the 2nd trimester were sent home earlier this week.

To allow for lunch at home and travel time, we have arranged for Zoom conferences to begin at 1:00 pm and extend through the afternoon into the early evening. Due to class sizes, we've made the slots 10 minutes with 5 minutes in between each session so that there may be an option to extend to up to 15 minutes as needed and allows a chance to deal with technical issues if they arise. (English class sessions will be 5 minutes, with an option for all to extend to 10).

To the left, you will find links to each classroom's sign-up page.

Conferences will take place over Zoom. Zoom IDs and passwords for each classroom were shared directly to parents via an email to each class.

Please use the password to log into your teacher's specific Zoom ID at the time of your conference. Your teacher/host will accept you from the waiting room at the start time you have selected.

Join the Cultural Services of the French Consulate in Boston throughout March for a series of local French professors' talks on their research related to the French language and Francophone cultures.

March 22nd at 6 pm

Join professor Hanétha Vété-Congolo of Bowdoin College to explore the diverse Francophone world, with its challenges and promises for the 21st century.

Be sure to review our new Curriculum Guide. The 26-page document presents the school curriculum taught and the various themes presented in each cycle and grade. EFDM develops globally literate, multicultural lifelong learners through a unique academic program that is rigorous and challenging, adhering to both traditional American and official French curricula. In all grades, there is an emphasis on critical-thinking skills and problem-solving.

Students, alumni, staff, and parents of students of the AEFE network have their say! Through their experiences and views, witnesses share the AEFE network's strengths, with 540 schools in 138 countries and more than 365,000 students. The French education system's assets, which contribute to France's influence abroad, are for them. Video has English subtitles.

With thanks to the Handler family, we were able to send a batch of thank-you cards to the ICU workers in Reignier, France. Healthcare workers are true superheroes and it was wonderful to be able to show them our gratitude and to see our classes' cards from Maine hanging in the hospital ward in France! Merci Handler family for your suggestion and help in making this project possible!

Thank you to all who contributed their thoughts to our recent survey regarding building a school calendar for 2021-2022. Listening to the majority vote, we have decided to begin early again next year, with the first day of school planned for August 23rd, 2021. Please use this link to review the entirety of the calendar.

Some forward-thinking parents have recently inquired about this summer's camp plans at L'Ecole. We are so excited to say that we are planning on hosting summer camp again this year!

Starting up on June 7th (one week after this year's last day of school) and going through until August 13th (with one week before next year's first day), families are welcome to enroll by the weeks of their choosing.

Please read more via the school's webpage for details and enrollment forms while you plan your 2021 summer.

From art to science, PS students have got it covered! Lately: painting with watercolors and learning about magnetism.

MS and GS students are always excited by new games to play and new work boxes consistently updated by their awesome teachers.

Victorien's class is never without projects with lots of detail to encourage careful work!

Elodie's CP class used math cubes to come up with all possible solutions to problems during their latest math lesson-- a great way to visualize all the different ways to find an answer!

CE2, CM1, and CM2 students received a package of return letters from their pen-pals in France last week! It was so fun to read these letters and think of ways to reply. We are so grateful for this thread of communication with friends in another country.

May 2006, L'Ecole Française du Maine's first Medieval Banquet with costumes, troubadours, dance and home made pottage with oats and barley.