French Primary Inventions and Discoveries

There's been a flurry of activity in our French Primary class. We have welcomed four new children and everyone is getting well acquainted at the lunch table, during group work and in the yard. Here is some of what we have been doing:

Builidng A Windmill
Using a kit, the children made a windmill. One of the children read all the instructions out loud to the group. Two chidlren found a bottle from recycling that served as the base of the windmill. This endeavor offered a lesson in the basic principles of physical science and ecology.

Young Inventors
A group collaborated on a report on a book about Benjamin Franklin's inventions. As part of the project, the students decided to recreate inventing invisible ink. They tested the results by holding the paper up to the light. They had documented their steps, writing them out in beautiful cursive. This was a valuable lesson in being inventors as well as how to successfully collaborate with one another.

Learning about Kenya
As part of our Africa curriculum, we had a classroom presentation on Kenya. To accommodate some of our newer class members, who are still getting familiar with French, the French-speaking guide brought in plenty of visual aids, including photographs of animals who live in Kenya, scarves that women wear there, and beans that Kenyans might eat, along with other foods such as goat meat and fruits. One of our older students pointed out on the puzzle map all of Kenya's neighboring countries. This was done from memory. We also discussed the word "safari," and talked about the fact that it is a Swahili word meaning "long journey." And, of course we cooked from from Kenya. The coconut rice was especially popular.

Watch this blog for more news from French Primary and The Renaissance International School's other classrooms.