Learn how to say "sand" in French

Learn how to say "sand" in French

Goal: Learn how to say "sand" in French

**Recommended club documents:

Étiquettes-mots géants-Les coquillages
Éduca-déco-Les vacances
Histoire et mémoire-Les vacances

**To use the documents mentioned above, you must have access to Club Educatout. Educatall Club members can join the French club at a low price.

Suggested activities:

Print the "Étiquettes-mots géants-Les coquillages" document for each child. Keep only the word "sable". Laminate the flashcards and hide them in a large container filled with sand. Set a large beige blanket on the floor in your circle time area and invite children to sit on it. If you wish, you could even add a few small plastic shovels, buckets, and molds used to create sand shapes on the blanket. Explain to your group that the blanket represents a sandbox. Invite them to talk about what they like to do when playing in a sandbox for a few minutes. Encourage them to describe the sandbox they have at home or the sandbox they play in when they visit their neighbourhood playground. After a while, tell them that in French, the word "sable" means "sand". Try to repeat this word a few times as a group.

You can click on the following link to hear the proper pronunciation of "sable":

https://www.bing.com/translator/?ref=TThis&text=it&from=en&to=fr.

Have children take turns scratching the sand in your manipulation bin with tiny colourful shovels. The goal is for each child to find a flashcard. When they find a flashcard, they must say "sable". Let them keep the flashcard they found for the following activity.

Pour a thin layer of fine sand in a cookie sheet for each child. Have them use their flashcard as a model to trace the word "sable" in the sand with their finger. Repeat the word as you "read" it with each child.

Print several copies of the "Éduca-déco-Les vacances" document. Ask children to cut out all the items that can be used to play in a sandbox or at the beach. Help younger children if necessary. Hang a large piece of sand paper on a wall in your daycare. Let children stick the items on the sand paper, saying "sable" every time they add a new one. In the end, you will have a pretty mural that will decorate your daycare and children will have had the opportunity to say and hear the new French word several times.

Print the "Histoire et mémoire-Les vacances" document. Laminate and cut out the cards. Set them in a colourful sand bucket. When it's time to go play outside, have each child pick a card. Children who pick a picture that involves sand or a sand toy can play in your sandbox, providing they say "sable". After a while, have children pick another card to give everyone the chance to play in the sandbox...and say the new word!

Collect several empty pill bottles. Fill them with a variety of elements: salt, flour, sugar, beads, rice, couscous, and sand. Make sure you have several bottles that contain sand. Write the word "sable" on a large bin or shallow container. Let children manipulate the tiny bottles. Have them set all the bottles that contain sand in the bin or container, saying "sable" every time.

Divide your group into two teams. Give each team a plastic bucket and shovel. Have members from each team stand on a line. Have the first child from each team stand next to your sandbox, shovel in hand. The last child from each team must stand next to his team's bucket. When you give the signal, the children who are next to the sandbox fill their team's shovel with sand and pass it down the line. The last teammate empties the shovel in his team's bucket and runs to the sandbox. The other children move closer to their team's bucket. The game continues this way until one team reaches a pre-determined level of sand in their bucket. To be declared winners, the children must cry out "sable".

Patricia-Ann Morrison