Project-based summative assessments are among my most favorite ways to assess my students. As someone that never tested well, due to my AuDHD, projects have become my go-to and the students love it. Starting any Unit in September, especially for teachers/students that are new to the school, we don’t know what they are capable of doing. These selection of projects allow for a wide variety of abilities and interests.
Throughout the unit, we have been learning Avoir and Etre au present. Some students have never learned it before now, and some have simply forgotten. I like to make sure my assessments cover everything learned in the unit, including verbs, adjectives and prepositions. This way, I can see how they have improved throughout the year.
We have read my picture book “Dans Mon sac a dos” a dozen times already so even the newest of French learners have a great understanding of these specific words, what they mean, and how to use them in a sentence. We will be piggy-backing on this book to create books of our own, to showcase what we have learned in the short time we have been together.
Dans Mon Sac a Dos book
There are a variety of book-creation options that students can create based on abilities. I have divided my options into grade levels;
- Grade 1/2 – Read the word in the book and glue the picture from a bank of options OR Properly pronounce the vocabulary words when pointed out, and use them correctly in a sentence.
- Grade 3/4 – Picture and sentence starter in the book and write the word from memory. Spelling doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Grade 5/6 – Using the sentence starter “Dans mon sac a dos, il y’a…” and the student must both write the items name and draw a picture of it.
- Grade 7/8 – Using the sentence starter “Il y’a…” students will write both item names and draw a picture. They must also add adjectives and/or prepositions in relation to a second item in the classroom. For example “Il y’a des crayon sur mon pupitre.” or “Voici des livres verts dans le bibliothèque.”
Create an imaginative Classroom
Using the information provided during the Unit, students create their dream classroom environment. This can be anything from a tree-house to bunker, to a one-room school house, and everything in between.
Cutely termed by my ESL students in primary, students simply match pictures of items to their french word. To get their Speaking marks, they need to correctly say “C’est …”
End of unit test
For the higher grades, they have been reviewing this unit a few years in a row by now. They will have higher expectations. I prefer to assess all 4 strands, at least twice, during each unit. This gives me a huge amount of data to pull from when it comes to Report Cards, as well as timely feedback to inform my lesson planning.
In this unit test, I have created a page for Listening Comprehenion, where I will list and item per row and they must circle it. Next is verb reviews; My Grade 5/6 are allowed their verb conjugation sheets as this is their first year I formally teach verbs, while Grade 7/8 are required to know Au Present by heart. They must complete the sentence with the verb indicated – so they don’t even have to decide which verb to use, it’s given to them. This is only September after all, baby steps. Pronouns/Articles have been difficult the last few years, as students aren’t sure if “Michel et Adrient” are “ILS” or “Nous”. They can’t use the correct conjugation if they don’t know which article is being represented.
Side note – I call this “invisible pronoun”. When I ask the class to identify the correct conjugation for Avoir in “Michel et Adrien”. I first ask them to identify the invisible pronoun being represented. In this case, it’s “ILS” therefore they know they need to use the ILS version of Avoir. This becomes much easier once they have reached Grade 7/8 and can form sentences without much thought.
Writing – they are given a series of objects that they must use properly in a sentence. The words have been used throughout the assessment, if they were paying attention. Therefore, spelling absolutely counts. And finally, Picture talk. Students are given a picture of a classroom and they must write 4-5 sentences describing this picture using “Il y a” and “IL n’y a pas” statements. For differentiation, I have included two versions of the Pronoun and Writing portion.
School Dialogue
Create a short conversation between partners, asking and answering a handful of questions.
Have students come up with a dialogue between friends, asking them which is their favorite subject, and what new school supplies they purchased over the summer. I stress to my students that these conversations aren’t required to be factual; you didn’t actually buy a new backpack or you really do hate Math class. I am not going to verify if this information is correct, I do need the conversation to be logical. I don’t want to hear about buying a pet Tiger and sneaking him into the building… save that energy for another lesson.
Final thought
Leave a comment or suggestion on how you assess “à l’école” unit in your classroom.
Mme B's Classroom 
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