Thursday, September 24th, 2020
Dear Families of L'Ecole Française du Maine,
With the change of the season comes some special events that are just too fun and memorable not to try our hardest to creatively continue in this challenging year! In light of all the changes, here at L'Ecole, we are hopeful and carefully considering ways to still share some of our favorite traditions of fall. Find details below to see the extra precautions we will be asking everyone to take this year for our Wolfe's Neck bike trips, Halloween Parade, and School Picture Day!
We also want to take this opportunity to remind everyone in our school community of the need to remain vigilant even when outside of school. There have recently been cases of COVID-19 reported in Falmouth, Yarmouth, and Freeport schools so please continue to be careful, practice social distancing, and wear a mask in the interest of well-being for all!
As always, if you have any questions regarding any of the following included in this newsletter, please email Emily at office@frenchschool.me.
Merci!
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| School Picture Day - Thurs. October 1st |
This year, our school picture day will take place on Thursday, October 1st. Our photographer, Danielle Peterson, will be taking portraits of all siblings and individual students. Danielle will be masked and taking pictures from a safe distance, one family/student at a time. The children will come to the separated photo area on the playground masked, take their mask off for the photo, and put it directly on afterwards. If you would rather your child keep their mask on at all times, please let us know so we can plan accordingly!
Danielle's photographs will be available for review and purchase shortly after picture day.
For those who do not usually come to school on Thursdays and anyone who happens to be absent on the 1st, we plan for picture re-take day to take place on Friday, October 23rd.
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| "Seesaw" classroom communication app |
In case you missed it in last week's announcement, we are excited to introduce another method of connection to assignments and activities within the classrooms this year! The Seesaw App will allow teachers to upload images frequently from classwork, projects, and assignments that appear on student's profiles within Seesaw (you'll only have access to the posts created by your student's teacher for that student). Parents will have access to snapshots from their students' day to spark conversations at home and with teachers.
Below please find links provided by your student's teacher. Choose your child from the class list and create your account. After this, teachers will approve and verify your account, and sharing will begin!
If you have more than one child using Seesaw, follow the link from one teacher to create an account, then use the other link from the separate teacher to click the 'Sign in' tab at the top of the screen. You will not need to create a new account.
After you sign up, download the free Seesaw Family app and sign in anytime.
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| Bike Trip for grades 1-5 is a go! |
We will be hosting our first 2020 bike trip to Wolfe's Neck Center tomorrow, Friday, September 25th, for those in grades 1st-5th!
This means that your 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 2:00 pm and 2:30 pm, so those with younger siblings to pick-up can get to EFDM between 3:00-3:30 pm.
Please pack extra masks and a lunch for your child as usual. Teachers and chaperones will be equipped with first aid kits, extra sanitizer, wipes, and other essentials to making this trip safe for all. Children attending the trip will be masked as appropriate and keep their distance from other Wolfe's Neck guests throughout the expansive bayside area and farm. Lunch will be a packed picnic lunch from home to eat with their class.
If you've already let us know your child will need a bike rental, EFDM will supply the bikes and transportation of bikes to and from Wolfe's Neck. If not, your student will enjoy the shoreline and farm exploration with the non-bike-riders and other classmates.
Thank you for your assistance in making this special day happen!
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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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Halloween (Socially distanced) Parade
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Halloween, like most events in 2020, will be celebrated differently in this unprecedented year. In light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, L'Ecole Française du Maine will take extra safety precautions in continuing this wonderful tradition.
As in years past, we will plan to have all students participate in a walking parade around South Freeport village, fully in costume! This event will take place from 2 PM to 3 PM on Friday, October 30th, as listed on the academic calendar. We ask that ALL student Halloween costumes include their face mask. Students should NOT wear any additional costume mask on top of their protective mask. Any parents who would like to join us for our walk through South Freeport Village will be required to wear a mask as well. Teachers, with the help of parents, will be separating their class groups with extra distance between bodies.
Parents of younger children will be asked to park down at the Freeport Wharf and walk up to meet our group on the playground at school. Together, we will parade from the playground, down Park St. and down the hill toward Brewer's Marina.
A small celebratory treat will be waiting for all, after which parents can either take their child home from the wharf parking lot or walk back up the hill to school with the group for dismissal as usual. Map of the Parade
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| L' Ecole des Loisirs Bookclub! |
It's that time of the school year! Read more below to join in our bookclub with the French publishing company, l'ecole des loisirs. Our school has a chance to build our French library with each student subscription, so please utilize the group form within the available catalogs or submit your payment online at regroupmax.com.
Catalogs of the books (varying by age group and grade) will be available for parents to flip through at drop-off and pick-up times this week and next. Let us know if you have any questions!
Please find a link to a pdf of the Parent Letter above available for reading in French and English, where you can click on the series for each level and review the select books included in the year's subscription!
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Music classes may look a little different this year; Still 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 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 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 |
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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| 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, we plan 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 throughout the day
Learning outside whenever possible
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| Window to the past ... just for fun |
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September 6, 2005: Emilie Drouard, Kindergarten, and first-grade teacher at L'Ecole Française du Maine, reviews the names of animals on the farm during the first day of classes in South Freeport. Fluent in French, Spanish, and English, Emily now teaches at the Lycée Français Bel Air in Barcelona, Spain.
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