Our Fun French Day

Last term we had plenty of opportunity to celebrate ‘all things French’, on our special French Day.  Children were invited to come in mufty, as children in France do not wear school uniform and school staff all dressed in red, white and blue – tricolore colours.

The day kicked off with children sampling croissants and pain au chocolats in their classrooms and then heading to a whole school assembly where some children performed a story in French.  We then decorated our classrooms by making bunting. Children were also able to sample some French cheeses later on. Here are some activities children in each year group took part in:

Reception

Reception children took part in parachute games using French language, made their own passports and constructed a boat to travel to France in.  They also had fun making crêpes from play dough, playing Pétanque (boules) and completing the Tour de France on trikes!

Year 1

Children in Year 1 took part in French singing, parachute games and were able to find out about French life by interviewing a visitor, who had lived in France.  They also enjoyed cooking crêpes and choosing their own toppings.

Year 2

In Year 2 children also took part in French singing and were able to interview and hear from a visitor who had lived in France.  They took part in playing Pétanque and learnt French numbers, using them to play a version of hopscotch called Escargot.

Year 3

In Year 3 children learnt about the Cannes Film festival, played basketball, took part in an Animal Detectives activity and watched Mr Bean’s Holiday.

Year 4

Pupils enjoyed finding out about Bastille Day, created an ICT version of Matisse’s Icarus, took part in French café drama and produced some lovely art work based on Rousseau’s Equatorial Jungle.

Year 5

Year 5 children planned a holiday to France and wrote a postcard home, designed their own Paris board game and got involved in designing and putting on their own fashion show.  Pupils also took part in a competition to design and build the best Eiffel Tower out of art straws.

Year 6

French Cricket was played by Year 6 children.  They also tried their hands at fancy French handwriting and created ‘Acimboldo’ fruit and vegetable faces, which they then wrote poetry about.  Year 6 children also took part in the Eiffel Tower art straw competition.

It was really good to welcome visitors into the school to share their French experiences.  It was also lovely to welcome back Linda Guise (formally a French teacher at the school) and to get to know Caroline Thorpe, who came from Ken Stimpson College to run an activity in Year 4.  Lunchtime staff were also very keen to get involved, with the school caterers offering a French lunch, complete with French decorations!  On the playground, lots of children took part in French skipping and Pétanque on the field was very popular.

We were so pleased that French day was a real success.  Children and staff entered into the spirit of the day and masses of children told us how much they had enjoyed themselves.  We hope it has really ignited their enthusiasm for learning a language and that French in our school will go from strength to strength.

Clare Currie MFL Coordinator

Here are some photos of things we got up to on French day: