Celebrate Diwali: The Festival of Light

The first time that I experienced a Diwali celebration I was surprised to see fireworks and lanterns in the streets of an urban city during the autumn season. It was exciting to learn about the tradition of lighting diya oil lamps and gathering with friends and family to celebrate this festival of light. Students will enjoy learning about this cultural festival too. There are many visual arts activities that you can do to honor Diwali, including creating colourful rangoli designs, mehndi patterns, as well as designs for diya lamps. There is a film about Diwali from the National Film Board of Canada in both English and French here: https://www.onf.ca/film/des_lumieres_pour_gita/ 

 Check out this Madame Giraffe resource about Diwali in both French and English.

La rentrée: Back to School!

 As a Core French teacher, one of my goals for the first few days of school is to begin the daunting task of learning over 200 students' names. I travel from class to class to teach a 45-60 minute lesson to five classes each day. Name tags can be a big help in the first few days of school. I would have students fold a piece of paper twice to form a triangle as a name tag. They can decorate their name tag on the front and on the back they can write 3-5 goals that they have for French class this term. Some goals might be to learn five new words each week, to write a journal entry every day, to attain a certain average grade in the class or to improve their reading level.

The first few days of school are crucial for setting up classroom routines and rules which are followed throughout the rest of the school year. I find it useful to write a poster of classroom rules with the class. They will offer suggestions for rules and I will help them write them in French on a poster board.

Check out these back to school resources! 

Keep in mind that classroom management is key to success. Here is a free video with classroom management strategies: 

Orange Shirt Day September 30th

A very useful resource for Orange Shirt Day in French is the Chaque Enfant Compte magazine produced by Histoire Canada. This resource is based on the seven teachings of love, truth, wisdom, humility, courage, respect, and honesty. There are suggested journalling topics as well, to help both you and your students along a journey of reconciliation. 

I recommend the story book "I Am Not a Number" by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer as well. This narrative tells the story of a young girl who attended residential school and whose father tried to hide her so that she did not have to return. It details the conditions of the residential schools and tells about how she missed her life back on the reserve. In French the story is called "Je ne suis pas un numéro". 

Check out my lesson plans in English and French for this important story. I've included a KWL chart (SVA in French), analysis questions and a teacher's guide.

                                  

Computer Sciences

 So many ways to teach introduction to computers. The course BTA30 is an excellent course that I had the privilege to teach until a preferred candidate took over the rest of the semester. I began to plan the units and then passed it on, so I will also pass over my resources to other teachers. 

Code.org is also a great website to use to access coding resources, lessons and projects. Check out their catalog: https://studio.code.org/catalog 

Earth Sciences and Environmental Sciences

 I have begun a new journey in my career: upgrading my high school teachable subject to science. I have found that reaching out to organizations such as Mining Matters has been helpful in making the science curriculum achievable in a community where I recently taught. 

Here are a few environmental science related resources if this is something that you are teaching in your classrooms. 

An Inconvenient Truth is a great film to use in the science classroom to begin discussions around environmental issues and climate change. 

Stand Up If Earth Day Edition: a game to play in French class to teach vocabulary relating to environmental sciences in French. 

Black History Month

 It's Black History Month! Check out these Black History Month resources featuring prominent black Canadians who have really made an impact. 

Andre DeGrasse: Gold medal olympic athlete

Anderson Abbott: Canada's first black doctor

Michaëlle Jean: Former Governor General of Canada

Diwali, Halloween and Day of the Dead: Festivals of Light in Autumn!

The season of autumn is upon us and Madame Giraffe has many resources to share for this special time of year. Check out the Diwali slideshows with art lessons, as this celebration is a wonderful way to get students reading about different cultures, or even their own culture if the students are of Asian Heritage. Halloween is just around the corner, and there are several Halloween themed activities, games and slideshows for you. Finally, Day of the Dead is celebrated after Halloween and is a lively cultural event in South America. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-All-Saints-Day-and-The-Day-of-the-Dead-Traditions-ENGLISH-VERSION-7279649 

Check out the slideshows for the autumn season of celebration: celebrate light over darkness this fall and autumn season. Enjoy a pumpkin spice latte and cosy up with a warm sweater as we all settle into our colder weather routines in North America at this time. Cheers!