January 9th, 2024

Bonjour,

Bonne Année! Thank you to all for attending and supporting the students for their Winter Celebration Performance. We loved sharing the joy of music and the magic of the season with you all, and we hope it was the start of an enjoyable, relaxing, and magical holiday break!

We are looking for two host families for French student-teachers Clémence Bouteiller and Célina Ravier, who will be with us from February 26 to March 15, 2024. Please consider welcoming these wonderful student-teachers into your home for this short period, a wonderful cultural exchange unique to our school!

Our 2024 Sugarloaf Fridays are shaping up! Please let Emily know ASAP if you plan to attend one or all of the planned events. Reservations are already underway for the first trip of the season, this Friday, January 12th!

This year we welcome a new assistant and aftercare teacher, Jeanette, to the team. We are excited to share her bio below. Please introduce yourself when next you see her on the playground!

Shared below is the next semester of events calendar-- take a look and sync your calendars for the next Showcases, Sugarloaf events, and holidays.

For any questions or further information, please feel free to contact us at office@frenchschool.me. Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community.

Warm regards,

Emily and Willy

Upcoming dates to keep in mind

• Jan. 12th: Sugarloaf Friday (the first of the season!)
• Jan. 15th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No School
• Jan. 19th: Sugarloaf Friday
• Jan. 26th: Sugarloaf Friday
• Jan. 23rd: Grade 1 Showcase with Fabien at 8:45 am
• Jan. 24th: Grade 2 Showcase with Fabien
• Jan. 25th: Grades 3-4 Showcase with Anaelle at 8:45 am
• Feb. 2nd: Sugarloaf Friday

2023-2024 School Calendar*

* Please note, calendar linked above and on our school website have accurate April vacation dates of the 15th-19th

2nd Semester Events Calendar

It was a pleasure to gather together as a community to enjoy the festive songs and adorable displays of all ages at our Winter Performance. The students (as well as teachers!) worked so hard to learn and practice the various songs to make this celebration special, and so many family members and friends turned out to support their efforts. A special thanks to Peter Dugas for his fun music classes and excellent accompaniment and energy as always!

Snow is here! The playground is accepting donations of new sleds to build our collection this year! If you can pick up or have gently used sleds to donate to our luge course, we will happily take them off your hands. Feel free to bring sleds to the back playground gate near the school van. Hopefully, we will have a handful of new sleds before the next big storm! Merci!

We are so happy to welcome new assistant and aftercare teacher, Jeanette, this year! Jeanette was born in Portland, Maine and grew up nearby in Topsham. She has always loved languages and studied Latin for many years in elementary and middle school before switching to French in high school. She initially wanted to study French to be able to read French literature, but has since fallen in love with the language. She went on to get her bachelor's degree in Linguistics and French from USM. She is very excited to be at L'École Française du Maine to be able to work with children and continue to improve her French skills.

When she's not at school, Jeanette loves to design and crochet amigurumi (stuffed animals) and especially likes making dragons and horses. She also enjoys working with real horses, baking, cooking, reading, and working on art projects!

The Moyenne Section is hard at work recognizing all the diagonal lines in the alphabet, and their names! After tracing some choice letters in sand and special cards, they are beginning to use utensils to write. It's amazing to see their writing progress throughout the school year. Bravo!

This week in Grande Section, students made a very special poster: we took photos of mistakes that we sometimes make and wrote about how in our class, it's okay to make mistakes and that's how we learn. We put up our poster in the hallway so that all the children in the school would understand that we shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes. Well done!

Before the holiday break, students in CP/CE1 got a special visit from an EcoMaine employee who presented on our local recycling process and what happens to our trash after we throw it away. It was super interesting! Students were engaged and curious, and learned a lot about what to and not to recycle, and how everything gets sorted at the ecomaine facilities by robots and humans alike. Be sure to ask your student what they thought about this special presentation!

L'Ecole Française du Maine is an official partner of the Teacher Training Institute (INSPE: Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l'Education) at the University of Burgundy at Dijon, France.

This coming semester, we are delighted to welcome two French graduate students pursuing Master's Degrees in Elementary Education. Completing an Internship is an essential first step in the program of study leading to the Teaching Certification of Professeur des Ecoles by the French Ministry of Education (MENJS) ).

Willy LeBihan, Head of School, and Pascale Crispin, Professor at the University of Burgundy, will supervise these two internships.

We are looking for two host families, internships will be between February 23, 2024 and March 16, 2024.

Hosting a French Student Teacher offers a rich cultural exchange and language learning opportunity. Please meet our interns with their biographies below. Do not hesitate to contact Willy for more information about hosting a graduate student: wlebihan@frenchschool.me

Meet Clémence Bouteiller, a 23-year-old Student Teacher-in-training from Chalon sur Saône, France. She is passionate about teaching young children and has gained experience through various internships, including in schools and hospitals.

Clémence is also a keen athlete, enjoying sprinting, cross-country, swimming, climbing, and hiking. She's not much into team sports but likes watching basketball and soccer. Besides sports, she loves music, especially pop and R&B, and is learning to play the ukulele.

An adventurous spirit, Clémence loves exploring, traveling, and experiencing different cultures. She's also a nature lover, particularly enjoying beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Clémence is excited to use her energy and knowledge in the classroom to inspire and educate young minds.

Célina Ravier is a 21-year-old from Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Eastern France. Born in Besançon, she's studying Elementary Education in her first year of a Master’s program. Célina aims to become a primary school teacher, inspired by her love for children's curiosity and learning.

She's a talented dancer, enjoying hip-hop, dancehall, and Afro styles, and she also sings and plays the synthesizer and guitar. Célina participates in various sports like basketball, swimming, climbing, and canoeing. A lover of travel and languages, she's fluent in English, improved by travels in Ireland and the UK, and proficient in Spanish, enhanced by a 6-month stay in Valencia, Spain. Célina is a passionate, multi-talented individual with a global perspective.

Listen to students tell how they’ve become stronger, more caring, and courageous in the PYP. The learner profile encourages the development of these social and emotional skills, among others. The PYP ignites curiosity and encourages learners to ask questions. In this video, PYP teachers and students explain how inquiry and critical thinking skills are used in the classroom and beyond.