Whilst everyone else was chilling on a café-terrasse, eyeing up the mountain views or sampling Savoyarde pastries, I, after the obligatory ice-cream au parfum caramel-salé, hurriedly scouted out a bookshop as I knew this would be my one chance in a walk-packed week to get in some supplies for the new year. Here’s what I ended up with.
J’apprends avec Emilie
A lift-the-flap book about the seasons showing us what Emilie does in the garden and what is happening in the tree. It features flowers, fruits and animals.
Groloulou à la Ferme
The farmyard is disturbed very early in the morning with animals making their distinctive calls. The text features all manner of farm animals, the animal sounds as verbs and onomatopoeias as well as some simple rhymes which could be used in phonic work.
Qui se cache (au jardin)?
This one is my favourite. Large, clear, colourful illustrations of objects with a shy creature hiding behind or underneath. It would be good to use in KS1 with a minibeast unit as the question is repeated on each page followed by a simple answer. The question and answers could so easily be adapted into a song to the tune of Frère Jacques and would be great for performance. In lower KS2, it could be used for dictionary work – find more creatures/objects and then write your our own sentences or make a book. Although it is intended for use with small children it could be used with older ones, depending on the class, to illustrate and reinforce agreement of adjectives (petit/e) with children re-writing and extending the story to also include colour adjectives.
