Activities
There are endless wonderful activities that can be done around this unit. To practice and self-assess vocabulary, students can make flash-cards for all vocabulary, with the French word on one side and an image (photo, drawing, collage, etc.) of the item on the other. For students who insist that they either can't draw, are not artistic, or will simply learn better with just the English word on the back, you may have them either cut different letters out to create the word, or artistically write the word, with mnemonic clues; the point is to get students actively creating the cards so that more thought goes into their use. Students can use short periods of specified class time, as well as transition time, to either quiz each other or quiz themselves. I am continually amazed at how much students enjoy doing this!
You may have students create their own fill-in-the-blank sky scenes, sky view charts, individual constellations, or magnitude charts for other students to complete; be sure to remind students to make an answer key and not to write the answer in the blanks themselves! Of course you may create your own, but a student is rewarded for a job well done when another student gets the opportunity to complete his/her sheet. If a student does not complete the initial creation assignment (usually a homework assignment in my class), I have that student create it in class, but he/she either has to complete two sheets instead of one, or else that student does not get the opportunity to share it with a classmate or to complete one from a classmate. If this student does an exceptional job in class, I will photocopy it so that the whole class can do it for the following evening's homework, which encourages the student to do the job right (if this were to happen again I would not send the sheet to any students, as then it would become a reward for not doing the assignment the first time.)
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