Cultural Day

FRANCE

Field Day

Picnic lunch at our 2nd annual 

Hough Street Field Day!

The Paper Bag Princess

During our literacy block, we have been studying the book The Paper Bag Princess. The Paper Bag Princess is a children's book written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko. It was first published on 1 May 1980 by Annick Press. The story reverses the princess and dragon stereotype.  Our first graders are working on several comprehension activities with this text. Today, we became Paper Bag Princes and Princesses! 

Feel free to discuss the text at home and ask your child the 5W questions about this text. Here is the plot-line to guide you:

Princess Elizabeth plans on marrying Prince Ronald, who is practically perfect. However, a dragon arrives who destroys her kingdom, kidnaps Ronald, and burns all her clothes so that she has no choice but to wear a paper bag. Elizabeth follows the dragon and Ronald, and seeking to rescue her fiancé, challenges the dragon to burn forests with fire and to fly around the world. The dragon completes the tasks but after flying around the world a second time becomes tired and falls asleep. Elizabeth rescues Ronald, who is ungrateful and tells her to return when she looks more like a princess.

Poisson d' Avril

In France, April Fools’ Day is known for “poisson d’avril” or April Fish.

 According to popular beliefs, the New Year used to start on the 1^st of April. 

However, King Charles IX wanted the year to start on the 1^st of January. 

 Legend has it that some people were not happy with this change and continued

 to celebrate the New Year on April 1^st.  The people who DID embrace the new

 calendar started to mock the reluctant ones and gave them false presents and

 played tricks on them. When the jokes started to become more common,

false fish were often used to trick the victim.  There lies the legendary origin of

 April Fish, stuck on the back of the fools.  Today, French children try to stick

a fish picture on their friends' back. When the joke is discovered,

they shout "poisson d'avril!"

Math Game Day

Our last Math Game Day.

Thanks to all of our AMAZING volunteers!  

We couldn't do it without all of you!

French Flag Research

We started our journey to France today! To celebrate our new adventure, we researched and did our first entry in our cultural portfolio about the French flag! We are using our district research process, Independent Investigation Method, to complete our research! Today, we learned the national flag of France is a tricolor flag featuring three vertical bands of blue, white, and red. Blue and red are the traditional colors of Paris. White is an ancient French color. Multiple flags are commonly displayed on public buildings!

 

 

 

 

Safety

Thanks to our AMAZING Hough parents who gave their time and creative talents to teach us about train, bike

and walking safety!