Our Fabulous Foray to France

Every year I do a long unit focused on a country.
We approach it as if we were taking a trip.
Students are exposed to the language, music & major attractions.

Some of the books we read to learn about France.
I also used videos from Discovery Ed. to supplement the learning.
They were an engaging way to learn about daily life and culture.

We read "Camille and the Sunflowers" to get students inspired.
Even though Van Gogh was Dutch, his paintings of life in France are iconic.
His use of color is also very appealing to this age group. 

Students selected wallpaper for their own unique vase.
Mrs. Seiz was a great resource as she was born in Lyon.
She shared many games and books.
One on castles was particularly interesting to the class.

The students' versions of Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

Team 5 learned about Matisse's art work.
They traced me as the model for their mural.

Mrs. Wheelihan, our art teacher, is a wonderful and willing collaborator!
Here is the final product from Team 5's Matisse project & their Eiffel tower paintings.

Another main focus on our learning about France was food, of course!

I read "How to Make Bread" in Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day?"

It was a perfect introduction to our learning about one of France's great contributions- bread. 

Parent Mrs. Staloff very generously came to help our class.
She showed us how to grind wheat into flour.
They were encouraged to use their five senses during the process.

Our class ground a very impressive amount of flour in 45 minutes!
Students compared grains of wheat and rye.

Miss C. on the right was very proud to share the flour making expertise.

Student sifted to separate the bran from the flour.
They liked how it smelled.

Using a recipe with picture clues adds a literacy element
to the math and science work involved in any cooking project.
Click here for a copy of my recipe.

Making butter is a great way to learn about states of matter.
The students observed first hand how the fats in the cream separated from the buttermilk.

The butter would never have been made if it wasn't for this young man.
He shook and shook until the butter was done.

Our bread and butter.  The whole class tried and loved it!

One student contemplates which is her favorite grape... green or red.

The class also tried brie and saucisson sec.
Almost every student tried a bite of something.
The saucisson was the favorite. 

Some other work to share:

Summer's Nana came to share about St. Patrick's Day with our class.
It is an important part of their family heritage.
We looked at where Ireland was in comparison to France and VT on a map.

The class loved the goodies she brought:
a cookie, coloring pages, a story, even a hand-made tee-shirt!
Thanks again, Nana!!

Team 3 students have now become masters at running our Circle Time. 

 A great block creation.