Hugs All Around
Bonjour ! While Grandparents & Special Friends Day was certainly a huggably huge highlight this week, we have other News de Nous-worthy items to report as well, including important information about K-12 scholarship opportunities, enrollment & Camp FASTB news, Jazz Day preparations, sensory overload in our Pre-K class and so much more…
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Inaugural FASTB Grandparents & Special Friends Day A Success
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We were very happy to welcome our honored guests Monday to the first-ever FASTB Grandparents and Special Friends Day! Our visitors spent time with their students in class, looking at their work and engaging in classroom activities and lessons, and eventually ventured out to our picnic area at lunchtime to close out the day (photos below).
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All of our grandparents and special friends are important members of our FASTB family and we are very grateful for your attendance Monday and your continued support of our school – Merci beaucoup !!
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Florida Scholarships for K-12 – Apply Today
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For families with students entering grades K and up this fall, FASTB is in the final stages of the registration process with the State of Florida to be able to accept state scholarships. Once cleared, we will be able to accept the state’s McKay Scholarship and those administered by Step Up For Students – the Florida Tax Credit, Gardiner and Hope scholarships.
As we await final clearance, it is very important that you apply now if you want one of these scholarships – your application is reviewed and the scholarship is awarded before you choose a school. Here are the links to get started:
We will announce, via News de Nous, our website and social media, when FASTB is added to the list of participating schools. Merci !
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2019-20 School Year – Enroll Today!
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We are continuing to accept applications and enroll students for 2019-20, so if you are thinking about applying (or know someone who may be interested), please consider a visit and tour. If you are further along in the process and wish to contact us to finalize and secure a spot, please give us a call at (727) 800-2159.
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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We are finalizing our program for this summer, but it’s not too late to throw your name in – visit our Camp FASTB page on FASTB.org to get information and access to our 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
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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A big welcome to our newest volunteer, Orlane Dréano, who is from France and in the middle of a year-long stay in the United States. Orlane will be working with students and assisting teachers in our classrooms a few hours per week for the rest of the school year and this fall. Bienvenue, Orlane !!
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Jazzing Up Elementary Class
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In anticipation of FASTB Jazz Day (more on that below), our elementary class worked on their listening skills this week – as our teacher, Claire, played a piece of music, students identified the instrument, the rhythm and expressed how they felt about the music. Among the composers selected by Claire was French jazz pianist, Michel Petrucciani.
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Henri Matisse was the artist in focus this week as students worked on scissor skills (above) – re-creating his work called (you guessed it), “Jazz”. Students also worked on color and mixing techniques (below) à la manière d’un peintre (like a painter).
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While we all watched the shocking fire at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris Monday, television stations here and around the US sought out French schools to attempt to provide context for this tragedy. Locally, Elementary class teacher Claire Bergera (above) answered questions from Fox13 and in Maine, Willy LeBihan was interviewed by a Portland station (below).
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Five senses week in Pre-K this week from blind taste tests with grandparents and special friends looking on (above & below), where students distinguished sweet from salt and also named the food…
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… to the big smell test Wednesday (below), hidden scents of a variety of foods and spices, and even…
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The Pre-K crew also had a great time this week during our Music & Me session with Mr. Alex (below, the taller one), who broke out the scarves, incorporating some role play into the music and dance. Parachutes one week, scarves the next – Mr. Alex’s approval rating is at an all-time high.
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The official FASTB International Jazz Day Jam, co-sponsored by our friends at Music & Me, is coming up on April 30th at 1:30 right here at FASTB. International Jazz Day will see hundreds of events in 190 countries around the world that day – you’ll see FASTB among those in the U.S. here on the official site. We’re also on the map on the home page. Jazz Day is presented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. We will have a preview in next week’s News de Nous, but for now, mark the date – jazz is all about inclusiveness and bringing cultures together so we plan to involve everyone in the jam!
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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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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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Finally getting warmer up there, but for how long? To keep tabs on activities of our 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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