Mardi Gras

Tuesday 21st February is Mardi Gras (Shrove/‘Fat’ Tuesday)!

This is a power point resource all about Mardi Gras that includes accompanying activities that can be done afterwards. It is designed as a French lesson, but can easily be used as a whole school assembly, especially in a French-teaching primary school. There are some links to be made with RE and Lent, so it will work especially well in a CE/Catholic primary school teaching French.

It is suitable for KS2 or perhaps just lower Key Stage 3.

There are already many resources out there on the subject of Easter, but very few on Mardi Gras, which is increasing in popularity in the UK as ‘Fat Tuesday’.

The lesson commences with the children analysing 2 photos showing Mardi Gras (carnival) scenes. (A means of activating critical thinking skills) before introducing the lesson as one about Mardi Gras, how it is celebrated and some key vocabulary.

The ppt links to a You Tube clip of a parade in Montreal (providing opportunities to discuss French culture around the world).

It introduces some key vocabulary, (and can be used as an opportunity to revise colours, days of the week and dates, as they come up, naturally).

Possible activities include:

-2 word searches using the key vocabulary. One easier, one harder.

• Reading slide (depending on ability, could be read as a whole class looking for ‘the word that means…’
• Recorded audio of the reading slide - you could give the challenge of listening to hear a specific word or phrase.

(In the passage, as there are some near-cognate words that are not given in the vocabulary - children have to work out they mean based on how they look, sound or are spelled.)

As a creative task, children can design a Mardi Gras mask, and several templates are given. The ppt slides can be printed in A3 when there are 2 per page. To make a larger art/DT project.

This provides opportunities for wonderful displays!!!

I have seen examples of Mardi Gras displays on the internet, where, having created the masks, the children’s photographs are taken and printed A3 size and the masks stuck over the top of the child’s face on the board - looks amazing! In my school, I haven’t gone that far, but the children were occupied for a whole wet-play, making gold, green and purple paper chains, which I decorated around a notice board, using my ppt slides as information for the mid-section.

Sorry, there are no word search answers for the 2nd word search, but you could retain a child’s once they have solved - also, using the word ‘or’ in the word search has resulted in there being several possible answers - I didn’t change it - it’s probably something else of interest that will enable the word to stick in their minds.

Please note: Selling resources on TES has enabled me to donate £500 to date to our partner school in Sierra Leone. All author proceeds from this resource will be donated to our partner school, where it is used to buy medicines and period products