Submitted by Carrie Grabowski

Language: French Unit Cultural Theme or Academic Content Area: Social Studies, Language Arts, Technology Target Audience: Immersion Elementary Grade: 5 Proficiency Level: Intermediate Mid

Standards: Communication:    1.1, 1.2, 1.3 Cultures:    2.1 Connections:    3.1 Comparisons:    4.2 Communities:    5.1, 5.2

Unit Timeframe:

This unit will take 2-3 weeks to complete.

Unit Overview:

Students in the Saint Paul Public School District are studying the Mississippi River with their social studies teacher and will do on-line research in language arts class in order to compare and contrast the Mississippi to rivers in Francophone countries (the Loire, the Seine, the Garonne, le Rhin, the Rhône, the Saône, the St. Laurent, and a few rivers in Belgium). The students will work in groups to do guided research on-line since books are not readily available in French. To demonstrate what they have learned, students will do a slide show presentation or a TV travel show. While the content area is social studies, the students will develop their reading, writing, and speaking skills in French as well as their group work and technology skills . If your students do not study the Mississippi River, you can extend the unit by having students learn about the Mississippi or just have students study rivers in Francophone countries. If materials in French about the Mississippi are not available, perhaps the English Language Arts teacher would collaborate with you and have the students study the Mississippi River in her class.

Context:

The social studies teacher is studying the Mississippi River with the students, so the students should have the following background knowledge: basic geography terminology in French, some map reading skills, and some important facts about the Mississippi. They also have general knowledge about rivers, their historical importance to communities and the health of ecosystems around rivers. This unit is a way to integrate reading, writing, and speaking with what the social studies teacher covers. This project-oriented unit provides variety in the curriculum as it is not book centered and allows students to demonstrate what they have learned without taking a written test.

General Unit References and Resources:

The web will provide most of the resources as will "Wapiti" a French science magazine for students. Mensuel 192 March 2003 has a four-part article which covers forms of water, percentages of the different forms, how it purifies itself, dams, etc.

Links or files for unit content:     A new window will open for each lesson.

Lesson 1: Eau 
Lesson 2: Rechercher des fleuves et rivières aux pays francophones 
Unit Assessment