BSM’s French III classes wrote children’s books they shared at an in-house field trip. French teacher, Madame Frederique Toft, arranged this field trip, where sixteen preschool students from the French-American School of Minneapolis visited with BSM French III students on Monday, February 12 from 9:30 to 11:00 am. The reading gathering took place in the commons.

There were some other exciting events that took place during February 12th other than just reading. “During our meeting, we [heard] the little ones sing in French. Usually, the French-American School of Minneapolis bring a treat of brioche and whoever finds a little figurine inside his/her piece becomes a king or a queen” Toft said.

Eleanor Green, a sophomore French III student, was looking forward to the field trip weeks before. “We were in groups of two, we made up our own fiction books that we are planning to read to the children,” Green said.

The books were able to be about anything imaginative and creative; with the idea in mind that they would be read to children. “My partner was Kathryn Gefre and we wrote ours about a pink princess and dolphin,” Green said.

The activity of making up fiction stories to read to children has been an extensive and lengthy project throughout the French III Class. “It has taken us almost two months to write the fiction books in class and to finish everything,” Green said.

The hopes for this field trip were that the younger children got to see what a high school French class was like and learn something from the French III students. “We have been working hard for 2 months to create these books. It is so exciting to see the final result, books printed in color which [were] given to the preschool students” Toft said.

There was a lot more that came out of this field trip, and it was desired that the young kids would take away something and remember this cool experience. “When the reading takes place, I go around the room and snap smiles around the room. This project provides a real audience to my students and they love meeting the little girl or boy they wrote for. When you’re 3 or 4, it’s really tough not to be super cute” Toft said.