Thursday, September 10th, 2020
Dear Families of L'Ecole Française du Maine,
We hope you all enjoyed a safe and relaxing long weekend! As your students may have already shared, some of our monarch friends emerged Tuesday morning from their cocoons. Students got to enjoy the grand release into the skies upon their return to school after the weekend. The excitement continues as we all watch in real-time the rest of the cocoons on display release new butterflies!
As always, if you have any questions regarding any of the following included in this newsletter or would like to schedule a time to chat and check-in with your child's teacher, please email Emily at office@frenchschool.me.
Merci!
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In these days of no field trips, we are so grateful to have Sayles field, Bliss Wood, and lovely forest trails right around the corner! This week it was time for "Les Grands" to take their own nature hike. Students in Elodie and Simon's classes loved being able to bring their curiosity out into the wild and enjoy the perfect late summer weather. After a few weeks of insect study, their skills at noticing the finer things along the trail were certainly put to good use!
Insect observation has been a big activity this month, for all ages of students at l'école!
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Great News! Our GS-K student Rosalie, has been selected as a finalist for this week's "Artist of the Week" award for her age group. The finalist who receives the most online votes between now and Saturday, September 12 will be selected as Arstonia's "Artist of the Week."
To view the finalists and cast your vote, simply click on this link. Voting is limited to one vote per computer per day for each age group!
The "Artist of the Week" will be featured on the Artsonia homepage and will receive a commemorative plaque from Artsonia. In addition, Blick Art Materials has generously donated $100 gift certificates to the winning schools and $50 to the winning artists.
Parents of new to l'école students, be on the lookout for an email sent to you from our online art museum: Artsonia. Your student account needs parental permission to be activated. Our art teacher Dasha loves uploading images of all your students' beautiful artwork, and the school can even use funds from the website to purchase needed art supplies-- Thanks for checking it out!
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| Adult Education & DELF Programming |
Have you been wishing to learn French alongside your EFDM student? We are now accepting enrollment into our Adult Education programs for this year! For more information and to submit an enrollment application, please follow this link.
If you have a student who has graduated from EFDM and would like to continue their French exposure within our DELF program, please find more information and sign-ups here!
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| Classroom "Virtual" Tours |
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This is certainly the year of adapting to change! Since we cannot have large groups of adults entering the building, we plan to include photos of students within their classroom environments, indoors and out. Each upcoming newsletter will present a different classroom at work and play!
Marie and Tania's Classroom MS et GS, Pre-K and K
Welcome to the MS and GS classroom! Marie and Tania have done their best to maintain a classic Pre-K style room, with distanced centers and spaced tables for work, art, and play. Students within this class enjoy lots of outside time including obstacle courses, special walks, and of course recess. Learning tools and spaces are cleaned between use and masking and distancing always encouraged (age-appropriate mask breaks as recommended by the Maine DHHS are taken as needed).
Kindergarten students work on many projects to focus their fine motor skills.
Classic circle time each morning for all students.
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Kindergarten students work on their own projects while Pre-K completes separate work.
Lots of special adventures and outdoor activities, obstacle courses, and artwork done outside!
Set places for different centers and groups to work and create.
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Music classes may look a little different this year, but we are proud to say that we preparing now to host in-person music sessions, (safely distanced), for those interested in continuing or beginning their Suzuki music education!
Please reach out to Emily in the office with interest, or reach out to one of our teachers below! We'll work to get your student into the music lesson schedule during a weekday slot.
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| Bienvenue à "Conversation sous la tente" |
This fall we will be be replacing our "Café et Conversation" with "Conversations sous la Tente", each Wednesday morning from 8:30-9:00; and as long as the weather is cooperative! These meetings provide an extra opportunity for our school community to gather and share experiences. We hope you will mark your calendars and try to attend. As before, a theme each week but no real agenda and last minute drop-ins are welcome :-)
Wednesday morning from 8:30-9:00
September 16, 2020: Welcome Back & Grades 3-4-5 with Simon and Willy
September 23, 2019: PreK-K with Marie
September 30, 2019: K-1 with Victorien
October 7, 2019: Grades 1-2 with Elodie
October 14, 2019: Preschool with Dasha
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| Construction of a replica of Thoreau's cabin |
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L'Ecole Française du Maine will be building a replica of Henry David Thoreau's cabin in the yard of "La Maison." The small structure will remain for all of us a reminder of this unique time we are living. The pandemic has brought to our attention that Thoreau remains more relevant than ever, as we search for truth, resilience, self-reliance, a better appreciation of what we already have, and better respect of nature. Our students will observe nature closely, experience the four seasons, and participate in the construction of the famous 1845 cabin of Walden Pond, Concord, Massachusetts. This year-long project will involve all subject areas and all grades. Handy volunteers are welcome :-) more info to come.
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Reopening Plans and Covid-19 Protocols 08/03/2020 version
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Thank you for continuing to perform the daily check before coming to school! Together, we can continue to keep one another safe. As always, if you have an uncertainty regarding any of the questions on the checklist below, please call our office to discuss before coming to school: 207-865-3308
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Thank you for your patience as we slowly regain our school parking lot with Bustin's Island vacationers leaving for the season. If all student drop-offs and pick-ups could continue to either park in any available spot in our school lot, or in front of the post office or store, our friends across the street at First Step would certainly appreciate it! Please do not use the street parking directly in front of the church, as this is reserved for parents of the First Step daycare and South Freeport Church. Merci!
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| Changes to Calendar Events |
Having created our current school calendar with hopes of the best possible outcome in light of COVID-19, some special days and events may have been scheduled which will likely have to be adjusted or changed.
Please be sure to note the change of our much-loved Grandparents' Day event. Instead of October 5th, our plan is to hopefully host this event in late spring 2021. Updates will be shared as we near that season.
The half-day schedule for October 9th will remain as is!
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| Implementing Maine CDC Protocols Safely |
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Everyone gets their temperature taken at the start of the day- Even Emily!
Frequent hand-washing throughtout the day
Learning outside whenever possible
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