momstown Milton moms enjoyed "La Nuit De Noel" at our Scholastic French Tales for Tots

Our momstown Milton moms and tots enjoyed listening to Madame Gergereau read  "La Nuit De Noel" by Barbara Reid at our Scholastic Sponsored French Tales for Tots Program this month.

We started off with a simple Santa craft where the little ones had to assemble Santa's face. As they reached for each part ( les yeux, le nez, la bouche, le visage, etc..)  the moms reinforced the item in French and had their child repeat the word back to them.

 Once the craft was completed we gathered around to listen to the story. The kids were very excited to talk about Père Noël and what happens in their homes La Nuit De Noel. Madame Gergereau engaged the children by asking lots of questions and then helped them pronounce key words en français.

Once the story was read we had a special visitor come to our program! Yes - the Big Guy himself - Mr Potato Head! The kids could hardly contain themselves and they were happy to assist in putting him all back together again. I would call out a part in French and then the child who had the item was allowed to come up and place it back on. The kids jumped up with delight as their item was called out and at one point we had a swarming of exited little people yelling out body parts! 

We had one happy little lady who won her very own copy of our featured book "La Nuit De Noel" by Barbara Reid thanx to Scholastic Canada!

Join us  at our momstown Milton early literacy programs weekly as we focus on key learning concepts in a fun and interactive way! At a cost of only $45 per year it's well worth the membership! Hope to see you soon.



Le Soleil: momstown Milton French Tales for Tots sponsored by Scholastic Canada

On a bright and sunny Wednesday morning, the momstown Milton families gathered together for a delightful Contes pour les bouts d'choux - French Tales for Tots at Indigo Milton sponsored by Scholastic Canada. 

The sun outside could not have been more symbolic of the feature book: "Quel temps fait-il? Le Soleil by Christopher Hernandez. 

momstown Milton mama Sam Kassam-Macfie explained that the group was going to create their very own sun to take home. Unleashing their crafty selves, the group got busy working on their very own vibrant soleil (sun). Little hands, with the help of their families, enthusiastically pasted colourful rays to make a radiant sun of jaune (yellow) and orange. 

Once the pieces of tissue paper and paper plates had been made into soleil masterpieces, it was time to gather round in a circle for story time by Madame Liz. Summertime adventures delighted the group as they thought about being at the plage (beach), eating a crème glacée (ice cream), and making funny silhouettes (shadows) thanks to the rayons du soleil (sun’s rays).

After the story reading, we talked about handy essentials to have during été (summer) such as a chapeau (hat), écran de soleil (sunblock), sandailles (sandals), mailhot de bain (swim suit) and lunettes de soleil (sunglasses).

And then we had the group go on an exciting search through the kids section of Indigo Milton looking for items that are great for the summer.  Les enfants (the children) found amazingly fun items: un jouet de cible de tortue (turtle game), un jouet des boules (bubble set), un jouet de sable (sand toy set), un jouet pour le petit jardinier (toy set for the little gardener), and une balle (a ball).  

We then sang some of our favourite tunes en français (Alouette, Petit poisson) and also sang a new one in honour of the sun: “Si tu aimes le soleil” (If You Love The Sun, which was sung to the tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It.” )

The event ended on a very exciting note as we drew the name for the winner of the book. A very excited little girl smiled brightly as she clutched her brand new “Quel temps failt-il? Le soleil” book courtesy of Scholastic Canada. 

As always, new members are welcome so register here to join us next time!  All  one year memberships purchased in 2013 will receive a Today's Parent magazine subscription for 12 months!

 

Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of two children. 
You can check out her site at: OrchidaWords.

Honouring Dad, "Mais papa...", French Tales for Tots sponsored by Scholastic Canada

Indigo Milton was filled with the happy sound of children and their families getting together for another fun-filled educational session of momstown Milton’s French Tales for Tots - Contes pour les bouts d'choux sponsored by Scholastic Canada.

Sam Kassam-Macfie, owner of momston Milton, created a colourful and eye-appealing craft display to whet the imaginations of the little ones as they envisioned what their very own monkey puppet would look like. In honour of the upcoming Father’s Day celebration, Scholastic Canada’s choice of the book: Mais, papa! was just parfait!
 

Glue, stickers, Bingo markers, crayons and more – els petits enfants amazed us with their creativity! Little sheets of construction paper were transformed into ready-to-play monkeys; perfect for an interactive storytelling.

 

But wait! There’s always more with momstown Milton. Sam very cleverly thought of creating extra special “Father’s Day” themed ties – the children pasted the Father’s Day poem provided by Sam and decorated their ties with immense and enthusiastic pride. You could only imagine how thrilled they will be to present the ties to their daddies on Father’s Day.

 

Craft time over, the children gathered together in a circle to listen to Madame Liz read the story. Throughout the reading of this delightful tale, the children cackled with laughter at the hilarity of the forgetful papa who during the little monkeys bedtime, forgot “les pyjamas” (pyjamas) and “les verres d’eau” (glasses of water) and of course, how could papa forget the “le monstre dans le placard” (monster in the closet)?

 

Following the story-time, the group sang some of their favourite songs loudly and clearly en français:

To the tune of “Where is Thumkin?” the momstownMilton families sang, “Ou est la famille?”

(Where is the family?) 

 

     To the tune of “All Around the Mulberry Bush”; we sang “Voici ma famille”

(Here’s the family)

 

Our sing-a-long complete, we drum-rolled enthusiastically as Sam chose the winner for the Scholastic Canada book. Triumphant cheers resounded as Hannah was declared the winner!

As we bid au revoir to our amis , we smiled happily thinking of the fun to come next month at our French Tales for Tots - Contes pour les bouts d'choux sponsored by Scholastic Canada.

We would love to have you join us for our momstown Milton events!

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Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of two children. 
You can check out her site at: OrchidaWords.

Les Dinosaures Apprenent les Couleurs was our Scholastic Canada Sponsored book at our French Tales for Tots Program

Spring has finally graced us with its glorious warmth. And our grateful eyes filled with its joyous colours as we take in the colours of the flowers and the brightness of the green grass. Colours were indeed on the mind of the momstown Milton group as little ones and their families gathered together at Indigo for another fun and educational French Tales for Tots session sponsored by Scholastic Canada.

After momstown Milton mama, Sam Kassam-Macfie, explained the easy-to-make dinosaur craft , the little hands went straight to work!  They had fun pasting the colourful scales on the dinosaurs body and repeating the names of the colours in French: "Jaune (yellow)! Rouge (red) as they assembled them.

Finished dinosaur crafts proudly in hand, it was time to sit down and read the Scholastic Canada featured book: Les dinosaures apprenent les couleurs by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. The children's imaginations soared to bright and colourful heights as they followed the adventures of ten dinosaurs as they described their lives in colour. Little eyes and ears were enraptured by the descriptions: une serviette violette sur le plancher (a purple towel on the floor) and pointed eagerly at the pictures and repeated phrases as Madame Liz read through the French passage of the book first and then translated into English.

Following the reading of the featured Les dinosaures apprenent les couleurs, Madame Liz went through another book called Les formes, les couleurs which reinforced the lessons of shapes and colours. The children were asked to show where the various shapes were (for example, square - carré)  and had a lot of fun doing it!  

After singing a few crowd favourites, the group played a fun and very interactive game reinforcing the colours they had just learned. Singing about a bakery stocked with delicious donuts, the children were asked to identify the number of donuts (for example, deux - two) on the ground and choose the donut colour (for example, brun - brown) as called out.

The children also got a hand in playing a colours matching game with their families as each child was given a sheet of paper and with the help of their families, had to match the name of the colour in French  as it was called out alongside with the colour block.

Before concluding, a draw was held for the Scholastic Canada featured book,  Les dinosaures apprenent les couleurs,  and the very joyeux winner was little Zachary!

Au revoir amis! See you next month.

We would love to have you join us for our momstown Milton events!

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Written by Liz Marques Kogan, a momstown Milton member and mother of two children. You can check out her blog at: www.orchidaforever.blogspot.ca 

momstown Milton French Tales for Tots Sponsored by Scholastic Canada: Un bébé Alligator

While the spring rain pitter pattered outside, les petits enfants of momstown Milton and their families met at Indigo for an exciting and interactive French Tales for Tots- Contes pour les bouts d'choux sponsored by Scholastic Canada.

To start the morning off on a crafty note, momstown Milton mamma Sam Kassam-Macfie, showed les enfants and their families how to put together the alligator puppet perfect for an interactive reading session with the featured book: Un bébé Alligator? by Robert Munsch. 

 

After les enfants got help with cutting out the shape for the alligator body, they zealously coloured in their alligator body to their heart's content, allowing their imaginations to take free reign. Once their alligator puppets were ready to be displayed and of course, to be played with, they sat down in a circle around Miss Liz for the story time. 

The children cackled with laughter and eyes widened in interest over the hilarious chain of  events following a human family's quest to find their baby after accidentally leaving the baby at the zoo and bringing home a bunch of zoo animals instead. Eager to be an active part in the storytelling, the children made animals sounds as Miss Liz read through the story.
 

Following the reading of Un bébé Alligator?, Miss Liz held up flash cards of pictures with animals and the children repeated the French name for the animal in loud clear voices. "Zèbre!" they cried out when the picture for the zebra came up. "Ourson" they said sweetly when a bear picture was shown and Miss Liz explained that they could see it as their own little teddy bear. 

To complement the featured book, we sang the popular "Alouette" song which was a wonderful way to reinforce body part names; pointing to mouth, ears, eyes, and more, the children were learning all the while having great fun! Our next song, "Petit poisson" (little fish), is always a crowd favourite at the momstown Milton French Tales for Tots and little arms love showing their swimming motions. 

The grand finale is always the draw for the book and the lucky winner Quinton happily held his Un bébé Alligator book tight with pride! 

We can't wait to meet again next month for another French Tales for Tots - Contes pour les bouts d'choux. We'd love to have you join us! 

Register here for your FREE Trial and 

come out and meet our incredible group!

Written by Liz Marques Kogan - a momstown Milton member and mother of 2.  Her blog is: OrchidaForever. 

French Tales for Tots: Bonne nuit, Canada, sponsored by Scholastic Canada

With signs of winter still clinging to the first day of spring, the momstown Milton group headed over to the Indigo - Milton for French Tales for Tots - Contes pour les bouts d'choux for a fun and interactive story-time of Bonne nuit, Canada by author Andrea Beck, sponsored by Scholastic Canada on March 20, 2013. 

Settling down at the bright and cheerful craft station, the little ones and their families listened as Sam Kassam-Macfie, momstown Milton's very own mama, explained the 'star (étoile) and moon (lune) mobile craft that they were about to do. Each child would get one hanger and string would be attached to the hooks of the hanger with the help of family. On one string a moon shape would be attached and on the other, a star shape would be attached. From there, the little ones allowed their imaginations to explore and create. They busied themselves with sparkly glitter glue, markers and space-themed stickers  to create their very own unique and space-tastic mobile. 
 

 
After completing their mobile, the group gathered together around Madame Liz as she read Bonne nuit, Canada. The little ones were delighted with the story of a child saying good night to Canada's 10 belles provinces et 3 territoires. They exclaimed "Bonne nuit Canada!" with zeal and their good night waves were filled with enthusiasm. As we went through the provinces and territories, the children would eagerly share about their own family members who lived in different parts of Canada. 

 
Following the story, Madame Liz led the children in an animated en français rendition of "O Canada!" The children then listened as Madame Liz read a second book entitled Vive le Canada. Avid sing-a-long fans, the group then sang "Quel temps fait-il" (sung to the tune of When The Saints Come Marching In); "Petit Poisson" (The Little Fish), and "Scintillement" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). 

Our entertaining time together came to a close far too quickly but before we said au revoir to our amis, we held a draw for the Bonne nuit, Canada book and a lucky little girl won. She was so excited by her name being called that she started clapping and doing a happy dance! 

We can't wait to meet again next month for another French Tales for Tots - Contes pour les bouts d'choux.

Interested in joining us? 

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Today's Parent magazine too! 

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come out and meet our incredible group!

Written by Liz Marques Kogan - a momstown Milton member and mother of 2.  Her blog is: OrchidaForever.