Thursday, October 1st, 2020
Dear Families of L'Ecole Française du Maine,
First off, a thank you to all families for truly taking our Community Pledge to heart. We've had families erring on the side of caution as we enter sniffles-season. As everyone continues to do their part in maintaining a healthy school community by following the checklist and protocols, we continue to be very grateful to you all! As a reminder, please continue to be careful, practice social distancing, and wear a mask in the interest of well-being for our school community in your day-to-day life. Make a plan to receive your family's annual flu shots if you have not done so already. Please see below for an updated daily self-check list of questions from the Maine DHHS to be asked before coming to school each day.
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 - RESCHEDULED to Thurs. Oct. 8th- RETAKE Oct. 23rd |
PICTURE DAY has been RESCHEDULED to next week, Thursday, Oct. 8th!
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 afterward. 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 absent Thursday, Oct. 8th, we plan for picture re-take day to take place on Friday, October 23rd.
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Thank you for continuing to perform the daily check before coming to school.
As we move into the season of sniffles and coughs, please be aware of the updates to our daily self-check survey as provided by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Changes include updates to safe travel areas, as well as updates in the list of symptoms. Our protocol is to refer to your child's doctor if any symptoms are present, and follow their advice for moving on to arrange for COVID testing as needed or wait to return to school.
Communication with the school is paramount; if you have any uncertainties in regards to the checklist questions, or anything that cannot be answered negatively, you must call or email the school office as soon as possible.
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| Early Release Day October 9th, No school Oct. 12th |
As a reminder, Friday, October 9th is an Early Release Day.
Dismissal will be at 11:30, and will take place as usual at the playground gate.
No need to pack a lunch!
Take a long weekend, and remember there will be NO SCHOOL on Monday, Oct. 12th, in honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day.
We'll return to school Tuesday, Oct. 13th.
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| Biking and Hiking, a Great Day! |
Last Friday's special events were some for the books! What a beautiful day to share the beauty of Maine and get to practice outdoor activities and social distancing while having a bunch of fun.
Our bike trip at Wolfe's Neck Center was a huge success, thanks to the chaperones and parents who made it possible. The students got to explore parts of Wolfe's Neck that they may not always get to enjoy, and it was a pleasure to soak in the beautiful September weather.
Meanwhile, at school, our MS & GS classes got to hike through the woods nearby and get their healthy dose of exercise and the natural world right next door.
Thank you for your assistance in making this special day happen! We will keep families posted of more possible events and special days as the calendar continues. A special merci to Daymion and Meagan Mardel for some of these fantastic pictures!
A special thank you to our parent volunteers (Daymion, Meagan, Erik, and Cedric-above) during for the Bicycle Trip at Wolfe's Neck Center. |
| Garderie Invoice- ONLINE Payment Option! |
To limit paper transfer for monthly Garderie before/aftercare amounts, we've created the following online form to collect payment!
Please follow this link to submit your amount due. Parents will need to count the total hours from the invoices sent to complete the form and submit payment. Siblings are still billed separately, but you may pay for more than one invoice at a time with this online form. You can either pay by card or bank transfer.
Please let us know if you have any questions!
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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 masks. 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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| 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
October 7, 2019: Grades 1-2 with Elodie October 14, 2019: Preschool with Dasha
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Important Flu Shot Information during COVID-19
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It's easy to get access to a flu shot. Most pharmacies can give you the shot, or you can visit your healthcare provider. Find more information about the latest flu statistics on the Maine flu website.Keeping yourself and those around you safe from the flu includes what we're already doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
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Reopening Plans and Covid-19 Protocols 08/03/2020 version
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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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November 2013, Elodie Le Nezet embraces Luigi, also known as "Loulou", in Terrier-Rouge, Haiti on her third humanitarian trip to Haiti of Elodie, sponsored by L'Ecole Française du Maine. Le Nezet visited to assist teachers and students, offer educational supplies, and bring other support to ensure access to education which is not free for children in Haiti. Elodie taught at l'Ecole Française du Maine for ten years and is currently teaching French in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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