French Summer Camps 2015

Summer 2015 at Vashon French School

Myra, Marina-Rae, Amelia and Isabelle in "The Girls Who Cried Wolf"

French and Art Summer Camp Series 

Teacher Coco Banks will lead children in 4 different weeks of French and art. Each week will incorporate an animal theme with fun art projects in a rich French immersion setting. These camps are open to children ages 3 and up and meet 5 mornings per week 9 to 1:00, tuition is $150. Snack is provided, bring a sack lunch. Camps are held at Vashon French School located at Bethel Church.
For more information and to register, please contact Aristy Gill, 206.304.4903 vashonfrenchschool@gmail.com.

July 6th-10th _ Les Trois Ours (The Three Bears)
July 13th-17th_ La Petite Poule Rousse (The Little Red Hen)
July 20th-24th_ Les Dinosaures
July 27th-31st_ Le Loup (Fairytale Wolf)


French Theater Camp

French Theater Camp
This popular week at La Petite Etoile is back again. With the guidance of French teacher Aristy Gill, students create a play, learn songs, build a set, assemble costumes and put on a show all in French.
August 10-14
Monday to Friday, 10 to 3- for children ages 5 and up. Tuition $175, snack is included please pack a lunch.
Contact: Aristy Gill 206.304.4903
vashonfrenchschool@gmail.com

Snapdragon Art Show

Snapdragon Art Show

La Petite Etoile French School art is currently being featured at Snapdragon Restaurant. The show will remain for the month of June.

Proceeds from the sale of these beautiful pieces of art created by little artists from La Petite Etoile French School will benefit the school's art program. If you are interested in purchasing some art, please contact Aristy at lapetiteetoilevashon@yahoo.com (Les Feuilles are not for sale).

Silhouette #1
Delilah, Flora, Lily et Maarten

Silhouette #2
Josephine, Mabel et Jilly

Silhouette #4
Les Enfants de La Petite Etoile

Silhouette #3
Sutton, Kenney et Emmy

L'Arbre d'Amour
Les enfants de La Petite Etoile

Les Feuilles
Les Enfants de La Petite Etoile

Le Pommier #4
Les Enfants de La Petite Etoile
sold $25

Les Arbres Arc-en-Ciel
Les Enfants de La Petite Etoile

Les Sapins Enneigés
Les Enfants de La Petite Etoile

Le Pommier #2
Delilah, Sutton, Josephine et Emmy

Le Pommier #3
Maarten, Charlie, Lily, Kenney et Desi
sold $25

Le Pommier #1
Helena, Flora, Zelda et Jilly
sold $25

La Laine des Moutons

La Petite Etoile French School choir directed by Holly Boaz, singing La Laine des Moutons.

Summer at La Petite Etoile

                                         Building fairy houses at French Camp!

Mmmmm huckleberries!

Tent time for team TIGRE!

Flash of March Sun

Here some students from La Petite Etoile's school-aged program take advantage of a flash of March sunlight. These students meet twice monthly 9 to 3:30 for French immersion- singing, storytelling, acting, and reading and writing. We have just wrapped-up our unit on Paris that has had students yearning for a trip of their own to the City of Lights. Next up on our cultural exploration is Post Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin and his works.

Fisher Pond Field Trip

Les trésors de l'Etang

Un apres-midi a Fisher Pond!

Nous sommes partis pour une après midi à l'Etang,on s'est bien amusé!

Après une petite marche dans les bois,nous sommes arrivés au bord de l'Etang

Nous avons commencer a jouer,nous lancions des petites pierres pour faire des ronds dans l'eau! C'était amusant

Ensuite nous avons manger notre bon goûter(Carrotes et muffins)

Et pour finir Nous avons appris que" right and left" en français donne Droite et Gauche ce qui nous a permi d'entreprendre une petite chasse au trésor que nous avons reussi avec succès!

Fisher Pond Treasures
An afternoon at Fisher Pond!
We headed out for an afternoon at Fisher Pond and we had a great time!
After a little walk in the woods, we came to the edge of the pond. We played and threw small stones in the pond making circles in the water. It was fun- then we ate our tasty snack (carrots and muffins), finished-up with a treasure hunt using right and left (droite et gauche)!

Flashback to September 2010

Atticus sings the clean-up song- en francais!

March Madness at LPE

Assia with yummy chocolate cupcake - "Merci Mariette!"

Patrick finishes off his birthday pinata!

Delilah thinks Riley's candle looks like fun!

Caroline and her special request strawberry cake that Assia made her!

Cooper starts off our March mania of birthdays!

March Madness at LPE is all about BIRTHDAYS!!! We celebrated 5 birthdays this month. Cooper kicked-off our celebrations with his 6th birthday, then we had Caroline turning 5, Riley hitting the 3 year mark, Patrick with another big number 6, and lastly our dear teacher Assia! It has been fun, and boy did we eat a lot of cake!

Aristy's morning class- working and celebrating!

Last week we celebrated another big year 5! For Dylan's birthday we had some tasty crepes- YUM. Kids also worked hard washing dishes and cleaning-up. Here, Louis, Caroline, Havana and Ainsley have some wet fun while getting things done.

First Week Back Birthday Bash

We are back to school at La Petite Etoile and we kicked-off the first week with two birthdays! Sadie and Jamie Choo celebrated turning five by gobbling up crepes with bananas and brown sugar. As you can see, we didn't forget the candle. Joyeaux Anniversaire Sadie and Jamie!!!

Summer Camps at LPE

Yesterday we wrapped-up our third week of great summer camps. Each week a new teacher joined me and we offered three very different programs and served kids from ages 3 to 12. Diverse groups that blended together wonderfully. It is always a pleasure to see how children in a multi-age setting reach out to one another and have fun while doing it.

Our first week of camp was La Semaine des Animaux. Kate Russell joined me and a dozen plus kids for a week of animal fun. Each day a new animal came to school, including Pong the rabbit, Lydia the lizard, several chickens and Jacques and Pierre the miniature goats. Also, Jean-Luc, the goldfish stayed on for the whole week. A great big "MERCI" to the Krikawas and the Sweets for sharing their much loved critters with us. Find lots of photos of Animal Camp on our new facebook page- La Petite Etoile French School.

Our second week of camp was a Une Semaine de Theatre. Assia joined me and 12 kids ages 5 to 12 for a fun week of songs, dancing, set/prop building and acting. On the final day the kids performed La Petite Chenille Qui Avait Tres Faim (The Very Hungry Caterpillar). As usual, they did a marvelous job, had tons of fun, and they did it all in French! Throughout the performance, we served the audience a meal consisting of everything that the caterpillar ate on her journey to becoming a butterfly. Hopefully without the dreaded "mal au ventre" experienced by the our insect friend. Here is a clip of the little caterpillar waking-up on Wednesday to gobble-up three plums.


Above, Isabelle is dressed in French provencial top and skirt.

For LPE's third week of camp we had guest teacher Veronique Proietto join us for French Week. Each day a new theme- la Tour Eiffel et Paris, castles, Impressionist painting, and pirates and mermaids. Veronique's enthusiastic presentation captured the energy of everyone as we build castles out of cardboard, searched for treasure, and created out own impressionistic masterpieces.

Le Petit Chaperon Rouge et Ses Amis

La Petite Etoile's spring program combined the preschoolers with LPE's after school French students to present Le Petit Chaperon Rouge et Ses Amis (Little Red Riding Hood and her Friends).

Une Petite Danse

Flashback to September

Last fall we welcomed Kate to our LPE Family- and how lucky we are. A good game of chase is one of the reasons we love her so much!

Parent Must-Read (if you haven't yet)

A few months back, a mother of one of my students was telling me about this great book she was reading about parenting. She mentioned a few of the topics including; praise, lying, tattling, and race. I mentioned it to my "much more in tune to the world outside of Vashon Island" husband Brian, and he of course knew exactly what I was talking about, "Oh yeah, Nurture Shock, I read that praise article." The original article that author Po Bronson wrote, How Not to Talk to Your Kids; The Inverse Power of Praise, was published in New York Magazine in February of 2007 and had such an impact that Mr. Bronson went on to collaborate with Ashley Merryman and write an entire book filled with all kinds of findings relating to what parenting has become in today's America.

So, I got online and reserved a copy at the Vashon library, discovering sheepishly that hundreds of others were doing the same. And some months later, here I am having just completed the first chapter, which happens to be The Inverse Power of Praise.

In high school, I remember sitting in the stands at a basketball game with one of our visiting French students. She was struck by all of the praise being shouted out onto the court and in her lovely French accent asked, "Why are they yelling, "Good job!" when he didn't even make the basket? I don't think it was very good job." This was the first time I started thinking about praise and what it really means. Years later, when I was teaching high school, I had a strange experience with a student questioning why I hadn't praised her for remembering to bring her work to class, "Aren't ya gonna say I did a good job? ". She not only expected me to say "Good job" for something that was expected regularly of every student in the class, but she seemed to need it. In the moment, I congratulated her accomplishment, but the incident has remained with me for years, understanding that in some instances, society has created children (and adults) that require regular pats on the back for regular everyday deeds.

As a parent and a teacher, meaningful praise that focuses on effort and builds confidence is fundamental and fostering the enjoyment of learning rather than the reward of praise a daily goal. Nurture Shock's first chapter is a great read that reinforces these ideas and reminds us how to implement them - find it online at
http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/, or order the book Nurture Shock New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman at your favorite bookshop. Also, follow the Nurture Shock phenomenon at http://www.nurtureshock.com/

Blast Off!

Last week Mary's class wrapped-up their space unit with full-on astronaut costumes and a launch into space. Above, Sabine shows us her silvery space suit, decorated with glittery stars and moons. Below, Connor prepares for "3, 2, 1, décollage!"

Playing with Clay

Playing with clay or in this case homemade salt dough is one of our most popular table activities at La Petite Etoile. Kids squash, roll, press and pile their play clay into all kinds of shapes using their imaginations and creativity, while their brain is soaking in the cause and effect that results from the movements of their fingers. Their little hand muscles (and sometimes whole body muscles) get a workout, providing a fun way to strengthen small motor skills while finding satisfaction in the process. Our big kids like it too, in fact when its out on the tables we teachers find ourselves squeezing the soft stuff right along side the little ones.

For more on clay play check out this article by Marvin Bartel
Clay for Toddlers and Preschoolers How and Why?
http://www.bartelart.com/arted/Clay&Toddlers.html