Joyeux Printemps !
Bonjour ! Spring is here and we’re back from vacation, so all is right in le monde de FASTB!
This week, News de Nous proves conclusively that it’s never too late to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Also: parent-teacher conferences and La Francophonie Day celebrations are on the horizon, spring fever hits both classrooms, enrollment for 2019-20 and Camp FASTB continues and the natural world turns in yet another impressive week.
Plus, Suzuki Strings finds a new home this week and NPR talks FASTB next week… details below!
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It’s Easy Being Green, Even on March 18th
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Vert was the word of the day Monday as we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day a day late, but with all of the appropriate enthusiasm. Our Pre-K class went on a treasure hunt that yielded gold to fill the pot at the end of our rainbow…
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(Caution: reaching into pirate ship cannons to find gold is not recommended without proper supervision)
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Claire’s elementary class also got into the act with Claire herself taking home first prize in the oversized hat competition…
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Students also enjoyed some tasty Irish soda bread (with French confiture, of course). They couldn’t finish it all, but no worries – it is for a situation such as this that schools have directors. Hope you all had a happy St. Patrick’s Day too!
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“Canard Mère… Still There!” And Other Nature Stories
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Our old friend, Mother Duck, was waiting for us after spring break, eggs still unhatched. Our teachers estimate March 26 for the duckling great escape but we are keeping an eye on them every day in case they try to sneak out early.
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We enjoyed another wonderful visit today from our volunteer, and butterfly expert, Wendy Risk (above), who spoke to the students about the life cycle of butterflies, shared a couple of monarchs with the class (below)…
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…and then helped us plant a “jardin des papillons” in our playground, with plants that she donated (below). Students will be able to further study the amazing transformation of caterpillar to butterfly right in our own backyard! Thank you, Wendy, for your time and contributions to our school!
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La Francophonie Day: This Saturday
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If you are out and about Saturday and wish to celebrate French language and culture, consider visiting Lakeland for La Francophonie Day – admission is free, there will lots of fun things to do and see, and the Consulate General of France in Miami, Clèment Leclerc (pictured below, middle), and other French dignitaries will be on hand as well – as will our own Founders Elizabeth & Willy LeBihan. Click here for all the details.
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FASTB Considered: NPR to Air Feature on School Monday
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We have received word from Kerry Sheridan (above, interviewing Beth & Willy LeBihan) that FASTB will be featured during NPR’s “All Things Considered” this coming Monday, March 25th, between 4pm and 6pm. Kerry spent a couple of hours with us on March 1st doing interviews and sitting in on our elementary class. The local NPR affiliate is WUSF, which can be found at 89.7 FM or on the WUSF website.
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Visit our Camp FASTB page on FASTB.org where you will find a camp online inquiry form. Please fill that out and submit so we can get an idea of enrollment. Even if you have already contacted us informally about your interest, we ask that you fill in the form so that we have consistent information for everyone – Merci!! Camp FASTB Details: Beginning June 10, we will offer up to 6 weeks of French Immersion camp broken down as follows:
- Full Day – 9am-3pm $300 per child, per week
- Half Day – 9am-Noon $200 per child, per week
- Extended care will be available at an additional cost. We are targeting the weeks beginning June 10, June 17, June 24, July 8, July 15 and July 22.
Campers must be at least 5 years old before 9/1/19
Ultimately, enrollment will dictate what we will be able to offer so please let us know as soon as you can.
We are also accepting applications for French speaking camp counselors so if you or someone you know is interested, please let us know – merci!
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2019-20 Enrollment: Online Application Form & Steps to Enroll
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We are in the middle of our enrollment period for 2019-20, so if you are thinking about applying (or know someone who may be interested), please consider a visit and tour – we have had a lot lately! Below is the sequence of events for our application process (please note that there is a new online application form):
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- Inquiry: Submit the Application Inquiry Form on our web site and we will contact you to set up a school visit to give you more information about FASTB and answer questions
- Apply: Click here for our new online Enrollment Application which offers the convenience of applying and paying the fee entirely online
- Interview: After receiving the completed application we set up a parent or guardian and child interview to assess readiness and ability to benefit from our program
- Acceptance & Enrollment: Upon acceptance, an Enrollment Contract must be signed and deposit paid to secure a spot for the upcoming year
Please visit FASTB.org and click on the Admission tab for more on the process, tuition, financial aid and more – we look forward to hearing from you!
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Parent-Teacher Conferences March 29
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On Friday, March 29, we will have an early release at 11:45 to allow time in the afternoon for Parent-Teacher conferences, which align with the end of our second trimester. We have spoken with most of you about time slots and once that is all confirmed, we will send a schedule to all of you.
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En Classe – A Whole New Season
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Spring brings lots of artistic possibilities to Priscilla’s Pre-K class, where students weren’t afraid of bypassing the paintbrush for the finger (above & below)…
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…and they were very careful in the creation of the leaves (below) for the “arbre de printemps” pictured at the top of this News de Nous!
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Meanwhile, Claire’s elementary class seamlessly transitioned this week from the study of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day (above) – which included geography, history, writing and even a game of “les chaises musicales” (below)…
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…to artistically ushering in the new season of spring (below).
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Bienvenue Suzuki Strings !
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Our Suzuki music instructor, Jennifer Diedrich, has relocated her private studio, Suzuki Strings, to the music room right here at FASTB! We welcome her and all of her talented students – great role models for our beginning Suzuki students.
Hard to believe our students are over half way through their second 6-week group session – our performance will be April 5th and we’ll have more information on that in next week’s News de Nous.
Jennifer also passed along information about this summer’s Florida Suzuki Institute and you can learn about that by clicking here.
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Cultural Exchange – Host a French Student
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Peggy Labat (center) with Constance (right), a French student who visited Florida in February, and Zsofia (left) whose family hosted Constance
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Recently, we enjoyed a visit from Peggy Labat, who has developed a new high school exchange program between her hometown of Le Havre, France and Tampa Bay, through which students spend a few weeks with a host family, completely immersed in a new language and culture!
Are you interested in hosting a French student for a few weeks? Do you, or someone you know, have a high school child that might want to visit France for a few weeks? If so, please take a look at this summary of Peggy’s program and feel free to reach out to her by email at peggy@englishnstuff.com. We also have a few pamphlets that describe the program here at the school if you’d like to stop by and pick one up. Merci !
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FASTB Calendars 2018-19 AND 2019-20
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We have released our academic calendar for 2019-20 and you will note that the timing is more in line with area schools (no construction project thissummer!). To access the new 2019-20 calendar, click on the image below left and you can download a pdf. For this year’s calendar, click the image below right. Please also check the Events tab on FASTB.org periodically for more specific information on certain events. Merci !
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Sometimes it’s hard to tell… To keep tabs on activities of our hearty friends up north, don’t forget to visit the Blog and Instagram of our school in Maine, L’Ecole Française du Maine – Year 18 is rolling along!!
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The French American School of Tampa Bay, (FASTB), founded in February 2017 by Elizabeth and Willy LeBihan, offers a unique immersion school experience to students from Early Childhood through grade 12.
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2100 62nd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33702
Telephone: (727) 800-2159
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