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Parent guide · Grade 3 French · Unit 3

Lesson 3.1 L’Arc-en-ciel

Written for the parent. The Read aloud parts are written to your child; read them as they are. Do this parts are for you. Answers for you are marked Listen for.

At a glance

Time
3 sessions of 20–30 minutes
Goal
Name ten colors in French.; Put the color word after the noun: un ballon rouge.; Ask and answer De quelle couleur est…?
You need
  • Paper divided into three boxes
  • Crayons or colored pencils
  • A sketchbook or plain paper, and crayons
  • A King James Bible
Print
Worksheet A · the lesson page (it also has a short video (2:31))

Steps

  1. Do this together: Name the colors of the rainbow in English. Red, orange, yellow… Today you sing them in French.

  2. Read aloud: The story. Claude Monet wanted to paint light itself. He rented a room across from the great Gothic cathedral of Rouen, in Normandy, and painted its stone front again and again: in the cool blue morning, in bright noon sun, in the orange glow of evening, in fog and in gray weather. He worked on many canvases at once, switching to a different one as the light changed. He painted more than thirty pictures of the same church! The stone stays the same, but in the sunlight it looks gold, cream and blue all at once.

    Read aloud: Colors. rouge (red), orange, jaune (yellow), vert (green), bleu (blue), violet (purple), rose (pink), marron (brown), noir (black), blanc (white), gris (gray). Some colors change for la words: vert becomes verte, blanc becomes blanche, noir becomes noire.

    Read aloud: Word order. In French, the color comes after the thing: un ballon rouge (a red ball), une pomme verte (a green apple), une maison blanche (a white house). Ask De quelle couleur est le ciel? and answer Il est bleu.

  3. Do this: Say each word clearly; your child says it back twice. Point to a picture or the real thing when you can.

    • rouge [ROOZH]: red
    • orange [oh-RAHNZH]: orange
    • jaune [ZHOHN]: yellow
    • vert [VEHR]: green
    • bleu [BLUH]: blue
    • violet [vee-oh-LEH]: purple
    • rose [ROHZ]: pink
    • marron [mah-ROHN]: brown
    • noir [NWAHR]: black
    • blanc [BLAHN]: white
    • gris [GREE]: gray
    • l’arc-en-ciel [lark-ahn-SYEL]: rainbow
  4. The tall stone front of a Gothic cathedral fills the whole canvas, its pointed arches, towers, round rose window and carved doorway painted in thick, crusty strokes of cream, gold, pale blue and lilac under a bright blue sky.
    Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (Sunlight), Claude Monet, 1894. Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

    Do this: Look at the picture together for a quiet minute before anyone talks.

    Read aloud: Monet painted the cathedral so close that we cannot see the whole building or the street, only the carved stone and the light on it. He laid on the paint thick and rough, like the stone itself. In sunlight, the shadows are not black or gray but blue and violet, and the stone glows gold.

    Point and find:

    • Find the big round window. What shape is it?
    • What colors do you see in the stone?
    • Find the pointed arches.
    • Is it sunny or cloudy? How can you tell?

    Ask:

    • “How does your house look different in the morning and evening?”
    • “Why do you think Monet painted the same church so many times?”

  5. Show: Say a yellow sun.

    Say this: “Sun is le soleil.”

    Say this: “The color comes after: jaune.”

    Answer: Un soleil jaune.

    Show: De quelle couleur est l’herbe?

    Say this: “Grass is green.”

    Say this: “Answer with Elle est…”

    Answer: Elle est verte.

  6. Do this: Ask out loud. Let your child try first; help only after a real try.

    Ask: Say red in French.

    Listen for: Rouge.

    Ask: Say yellow in French.

    Listen for: Jaune.

    Ask: Say black in French.

    Listen for: Noir.

    3 more on the lesson page.

  7. Read aloud: Draw the same object three times in different light, like Monet.

    Steps:

    1. Choose something you can see from a window: a tree, a fence, a house.
    2. Draw it in the morning, at noon and in the evening, in the three boxes.
    3. Use the colors you really see each time.
    4. Label each one: le matin, midi, le soir, and write the main colors in French.

    Tips for you:

    • Look for blue and purple in shadows.
    • Compare your three pictures.

    Done when your child can say:

    • I drew the same thing three times.
    • I labeled the colors in French.

  8. Do this: Your child picks one or more; you write the date.

    1. Draw a rainbow in your French notebook and label every color. Then write three things with colors after the noun: un ballon rouge, une pomme verte, une maison blanche.

  9. Read aloud: Rouen Cathedral is where the heart of King Richard the Lionheart was buried in the year 1199.

    • Putting the color first (un rouge ballon). In French, it goes after: un ballon rouge.
    • Saying the t in vert. It is silent: VEHR.

  11. A parent calls a color in French: vert! Run and touch something green and say what it is: une plante verte! Score a point for every correct sentence.

  12. Say this: “Tell me what you learned today.”

    Listen for: Name ten colors in French.; Put the color word after the noun: un ballon rouge.; Ask and answer De quelle couleur est…?

  13. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

    Revelation 4:3 (KJV)

    In the Louis Segond Bible (1910): <i lang="fr">le trône était environné d’un arc-en-ciel semblable à de l’émeraude</i> John saw a rainbow like an emerald all around the throne of God. The colors of the rainbow remind us of His glory and His promises.

Spread over the week

3 sessions of 20–30 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.

  1. Session 1. Warm-up, then read and teach the new idea and the new words. Picture study and show how.
  2. Session 2. Practice together, then start the project. Finish the project, then the sketchbook.
  3. Session 3. Narration, the game and the Scripture.