Monday, February 24, 2014

Arabesques islamiques

Les arabesques Islamiques cm2/6

Inspired by Islamic arabesques seen in the animation movie "Azur and Azmar" classes of CM2/6e discovered the simple geometry behind the elaborated and beautiful patterns. We learned how to draw seven or five overlapping circles using a compass. We experimented finding geometric shapes within the overlapping circles. We used different grids to sketch out arabesque patterns (diagonal grid, seven or five overlapping circles grids). We discussed the meaning of these repetitive patterns in Islamic world and why the depiction of living beings is strongly discouraged in Islam religion. We also talked about the technique of Zellige: terra cotta tilework covered with enamel in the form of chips set into plaster.



Les frises végétales.

Students experimented making prints with different vegetables and fruits (broccoli, lemon, apple, Brussels sprouts etc).
 The goal at first was to put just the right amount of paint on the fruit/veggie to leave a nice clean imprint.
 Then the objective was to create a vegetable frieze, repeating the same pattern 6 times using different colors and fruits/veggies.
Some students used carving tools on potatoes to make different designs.
Paint + Fruit/Veggies = Tres Fun!

Let's go swimming !

Accrosport

The French company "Tour de Cirque" will be here soon!  Farid and Marion plan to teach us how to juggle,  do magic tricks and some acro-sport or acrobatic gymnastic. This is an acrobatic sport practiced with a partner or with a group: we create different structures and build human pyramids!!
In order to be ready when they arrive on March, 10,11 and 12, we have already started to train.

Before starting building pyramids, we work on solid stand.
We are experimenting different stands thanks to the squares





It is very fun!

La compagnie Tour de cirque va bientôt arriver. Farid et Marion ont prévu de nous apprendre à faire de la jonglerie, des tours de magie et de l'acrosport, c'est-à-dire des figures réalisées à plusieurs.
Afin de profiter au mieux des 3 jours de formation avec eux les 10, 11 et 12 Mars nous nous préparons dès maintenant à l'acrosport.

Avant de pouvoir réaliser des figures, nous devons travailler à avoir des appuis solides au sol.
Nous expérimentons différents types d'appuis sur le quadrillage!
C'est vraiment très amusant.

Lundi prochain, nous allons travailler nos premières figures.



CE1: Découverte du Monde

The students worked in groups on 3 different themes linked to the discovery of animals.
The goal was to produce a poster to present to the whole class.
1- How do animals live in their natural environment?
2- What do animals eat?
3- How do animal grow?  Do they change physically?


 In addition to learning about the animals, we learned how to make a presentation and speak in front of an audience, a skill that we will use for our entire life!
We had to answer questions!!

We have learned a lot!

Stylo plume graduation





 
This is a very special moment when the 2nd graders receive their 1st stylo plume and effaceur. They were so excited and proud.
They could not wait to write their lesson and do their homework.
They love to write with them!













Ce lundi, les élèves de ce1 ont reçu leur stylo plume et leur effaceur avec joie et impatience.
Ils avaient hâte de l'utiliser pour écrire leur leçon de français et faire leurs exercices avec. Ils gagnent ainsi des points chaque jour cette semaine pour avoir leur permis stylo plume vendredi. Ils aiment trop écrire maintenant !

Défi sciences en CP

A Slice of Life

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Fourth grade students presented "A Slice of Life" reports today in English class.  After researching and taking notes on an inventor of their choice, students wrote a report about that inventor, and then made an oral presentation.  Using illustrated pizza slices as note cards, they shared what they had learned about their inventor.

Le snow art de Simon Beck


Simon Beck is a British artist who realizes incredible masterpieces on the French Slopes. Since 2004, he has been going to the Arc Resort in Savoie during the winter break. To create his masterpieces, he walks for hours with snowshoes. Each piece takes two days of walking and disappears as soon as the snow falls.
Our 5th and 6th graders went on the walk before break and did some great masterpieces on their own.













Simon Beck est un artiste vraiment original. Cet anglais réalise des oeuvres incroyables sur les pistes de ski en France. Depuis 2004, il se rend à la station des Arcs, en Savoie, pendant les vacances de Noël et se met à marcher à l'aide des raquettes pendant de longues heures dans la neige afin de produire des dessins.Chacune des ses oeuvres nécessite environ 2 jours de travail et part très rapidement à la moindre chute de neige.




A la manière d'Andy Warhol




Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Fractions can be Fun!

 This week, the 4th Graders were introduced to the concept of fractions. In order to visualize this new Math Chapter, we used different models - circles, rectangles, lines and legos. The students enjoyed representing simple fractions with the building toy and showed that they understand the new concept.



Discovering the art of M.C.Escher

M.C. Escher

Students of CM2 and 6e have recently discovered the art of M.C Escher. Maurits Cornelis Escher was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations. After a brief biography and a few videos that demonstrated the different printing techniques used by Escher students were asked to do three different projects in connection to his work.

1. Using the method of an envelope students had to design a tessellation. A tessellation is the tiling of a plane using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps.

 
2. Students created beautiful, artistic engravings by slowly revealing the creatures using an easy scratch board technique. They used a pre-drawn copper, silver or multicolored background, etching it.

3. Inspired by Escher's woodcuts, students had to engrave a piece of styro-foam to create black and white prints. We used woodcutting tools, a brayer (a roller), and printing ink to create these beautiful "xylographic" prints.