One of the roles of librarians is to encourage reading and to promote exchanges around literature. But this year, to allow for social distancing, all of our libraries serve a dual purpose as classrooms. This makes it exceptionally difficult to find a project that can be integrated into the school program, and interest students in literature, while working via Zoom. From a 100% online teaching perspective, the team had to think of projects that could be adapted during Zoom, working along the lines of the popular Incos Prix Littéraires in second, third and sixth grades, and reading “The Adventures of Hermes, God of Thieves: 100 Journeys Through Greek Mythology” in third grade.
Enter the CM1 project, made possible by the participation of the feuilleton des Incos! The Incorruptibles association works to cultivate a desire to read in the youngest children through different actions, including their Incos series that brings together authors and readers. The goal is to allow children to peek behind-the-scenes into the creation of a book, through ongoing correspondence with the author, and exclusive opportunities to read a novel in progress.
Between November and February 2021, fourth graders participated in the writing of a new novel by Emmanuel Trédez, a French children’s author. Many of the students were already big fans, especially given the popularity of his series at the library. For his latest novel, he decided to feature the adventures of three detective cats, Chamallow, Minestrone, and Natachatte. The students followed the cats through four adventures, each featuring a different mystery to solve and new characters to help. The students loved the story, and were constantly eager to find out what happened next at each session. They also (re)discovered French expressions through the many puns the author included.
Between the use of Zoom and Google Classroom as a platform for exchanges, the entire project was a unique opportunity for the students!
Exchanges with the author
Beyond the reading, the students had the chance to have deep discussions with the author. They were free to ask him any questions or to submit ideas for the novel, all while learning a lot about the behind-the-scenes work of authors and publishers.
Working with Mireille Miller in Art
The project continued in art classes where students learned about anthropomorphism to try to give human traits to their new cat friends. They also took on the role of illustrators by turning their favorite passage into images. Their creations have been consolidated into a single padlet for viewing, solidifying their status as professional illustrators!
“I loved the story and enjoyed drawing the cats in art and learning about anthropomorphism!” – 4th Grade Student
Zoom-ing with Emmanuel Trédez
On January 29, after much anticipation, our fourth graders were able to meet author Emmanuel Trédez. The students prepared for this long-awaited meeting by thinking about questions they wanted to ask the author. They had also worked on cat-themed word games, title ideas for the final novel, and word clouds to share their opinions about the main characters.
To conclude this project, the students conducted an investigation through an escape game specially prepared for the occasion, which can be played here.
And who better than the students to tell us what they thought of the project? When asked, 95% of CM1 students said they enjoyed participating, and 91% learned more about the author’s craft. As one student said, “When we were reading the chapters, I was really into reading and seeing pictures in my head because the author did a good job of describing what is going on.”
As for Emmanuel Trédez’s novel, it continues on its journey towards publication. We hope to find it very soon on the shelves of our library! Stay tuned…
About the Author :
Damien Renon joined the Lycée as a Primary Librarian in 2012. He hails from Angoulême and began his career in naval construction. A life-long interest in history and books drew him back to school at the University of Poitiers, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and then a master’s in contemporary French history from the University of Lille. He passed the French school librarian competitive exam in 2006. Since then, he has been a librarian in middle schools in Lille, Cognac and Angoulême. He is thrilled to be able to share the wonderful resources of the BCD with the Lycée’s youngest students.