A fun day out visiting gardens!

 Things and drawings in our trip minibooks

 We are going to need strong glue here!

 Sticking down leaves and drawing lots of colourful flowers

 The allotment we visited in the morning

 A furious lion we saw in the tapestry at Trémolière castle

On Tuesday 29th May, the CP and CE1 classes went on their end-of-year school trip.

In the morning, we visited some rather lovely allotment gardens on the outskirts of Aurillac. The children took part in various fun activities : smelly bingo, collecting bits and bobs to put in their mini travel diaries, etc.

Then we went for a picnic in Salers, a pretty little town up in the mountains of the Cantal where the famous Salers cheese is made.

In the afternoon, we went to the terrific Trémolière castle. We searched for unicorns, elephants and other fabulous beasts hidden in the castle's mysterious tapestries. In the gorgeous Medieval orchard and gardens, we played a fruit and veg guessing game in English.

It was a fun day out!

Do you, at St Claire's, go on school trips?

Estelle helps the CP class to prepare their school trip!

Hello!

Last Thursday, I went to the "CP" class (6 year olds) and we learnt the juicy names of various fruit and vegetables in English: "strawberry, raspberry, apple, kiwi, pear... YUMMY!"

We did this activity because on Tuesday 29th May the CP and CE1 classes will be taking part in a guessing game (where they will have to know the names of fruit and vegetables in English). The game will take place during their school trip. They will be visiting some rather lovely allotment gardens near to Aurillac and also Trémolière castle and gardens.

I will be going along with them of course and, promise, I will take photos to put on Budding bloggers!

Bisous!

Il fait chaud parfois en Angleterre!

Cette photo montre notre jardin potager prêt pour le printemps, mais aujourd’hui il fait chaud comme en été!

A colourful flower by the kids in CP!

Estelle busy as a bee!

I've been busy!

I did not go to see the CM1 class before the holidays because there was a gas leak at my school!

In the end, I went to the CM1 class last Monday (12th) for the first time. 

We did the usual presentations and the children told me that they had been studying English since the beginning of the school year.

They had written poems on vegetables and fruit, they had spoken about the weather, the seasons, numbers, colours, etc. 

Next time, we will revise the months of the year and the weather by reciting poems.

I also went to the CP class for the second time; we learnt the months of the year by doing various activities. 

First, the children cut pieces of paper where the months were written and then they had to arrange them in the right order by doing a drawing (for example, a snail shell, a square, a circle, etc.).

Next time, we will make flowers with colored petals.

I also went to the CE1 class, as expected.

We split the class into two groups and I read the story "The very hungry caterpillar" to them.

It was great!

I enjoyed being with a small group of children because I got to know them better.

Speak to you soon!

Estelle

Estelle visits the CE2/CM1 class

On Thursday 2nd February, I went to the "CE2-CM1" class (8-9 year olds) for the first time. Just like in the other classes I visited, I introduced myself and the children told me the “English” names they chose to call themselves at the beginning of the school year.

The class is made up of children of two age groups, so the CM1 know more words in English than the CE2 because they are a year older. I found it was very different from the CP and CE1 classes because the children already know many things in English. For example, they can count up to 100 already! They showed me what else they knew: colours, months, numbers, etc.

Also, we spoke about gardens. They will create poems about gardens and I will translate them to put on the blog and as a means of teaching new words in English to the children.

After the holidays, I will go to the other CM1 class and I will post a new report... See you then!

Estelle

Estelle with the CE1

On Thursday 26th January, I went to the "CE1" class (7 year olds) for the first time. I introduced myself, and the children told me their names. They showed me what they had done since the beginning of the year for the "secret gardens" project:

They have produced little themed gardens ("the farm garden", "the winter garden", "the Christmas garden", etc.). They have written books where they have put photos of themselves and little texts explaining their work. 

Also, they transformed tree branches into Christmas decorations inspired by the work of the artist Madeleine Duval.

They have written poems too which I will translate for you soon...

At the end of class, the children sang a few songs in English to me and I thought that they pronounced the words very well!

Next time, we will split the class into two groups and I will read them a story: The very hungry caterpillar.

Next Thursday (the 2nd of February), I will go to the CE2-CM1 class (8-9 year olds) and I will post a new report.

See you!

Estelle

Le jardin de St Clare's à ses débuts...

Bonjour Saint-Eugène!

Nous sommes dans notre nouvelle école depuis sept ans. Voici la première photo de notre jardin scolaire, très nu, très triste! Mais nous avons travaillé durement et notre jardin prend lentement forme. Nous vous enverrons bientôt plus de photos pour vous montrer son évolution...

Pauline et la Classe 6

First photo from St Clare's!

Voici notre petit coin potager (photo prise l'été dernier). On aperçoit la statue de Sainte Clare à gauche.

This is our garden for vegetables (summer 2011) with the statue of St Clare in the corner.

Hello from Estelle!

Estelle is 15. She is part of the "Section Européenne" of Saint-Eugène Lycée (that's a Secondary School in France). Every Thursday she goes to visit the Primary School pupils of the Ecole Saint-Eugène (that's the Elementary School) to do various activities in English on the theme of gardens...

Here is Estelle's first report:

On Thursday 19th January, I went to the "CP" class (6 year olds) for the first time. I introduced myself, and the children told me their names. There are 18 children in the class and they already know some words in English. We revised colours and numbers (they know how to count up to 10). 

I found that the children were very nice and friendly. Also, we spoke about gardens. They planted little box gardens at the beginning of the school year, but, for the while, the box gardens are actually at their homes, so I couldn't take any photos...
Next time we will do an activity to learn colours by making flowers with petals of different colours, and I promise that you will have photos !
Next Thursday (the 26th), I will go to the CE1 class (7 year olds) and I will post a new report... See you soon ! 

Estelle