On Tour With FASTB
Bonjour ! A couple of excursions headline this week’s News de Nous, including today’s field trip to an urban farm in downtown St. Pete. Also, FASTB dropped in on the big Francophonie Day celebration in Lakeland over the weekend.
Plus, class reports, Camp FASTB enrollment info, 2019-20 school enrollment info and April will be our most musical month yet! Let the scrolling begin…
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Our elementary class ventured off campus today, spending the afternoon at the 15th Street Agrihood, a beautiful half-acre vegetable farm in Downtown St. Pete, as guests of Urban Food Park Founder Emmanuel Roux (below). With Mr. Roux, who is French and also owns and operates Gateau O Chocolat, students, parents and FASTB staff toured the farm and discovered many tasty items along the way.
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The produce, fruit and herbs are grown organically, using regenerative agricultural principles. Tasting tours such as today’s, are designed to reconnect students with the cycles of nature and explain where our food comes from – and also illustrate the wide variety of textures, flavors and nutritional properties of fresh vegetables.
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Students not only had a chance to dig up some root vegetables but Mr. Roux also dug into the soil and explained the role of worms, like the dozen or so that he held in his hand (below). An added bonus for the FASTB crowd was that Mr. Roux conducted today’s tour en français !
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If you’re interested in looking around the 15th Street Agrihood, stop by on a Wednesday or Sunday and pick up some fresh organic vegetables – right in St. Petersburg at 310 15th St. North. Check out this link for more information. Merci Mr. Roux for a wonderful afternoon!
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Lakeland & La Francophonie Day: Celebrating All Things French
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This past Saturday, FASTB Founders, Elizabeth & Willy LeBihan, visited the Polk Museum in Lakeland to participate in La Francophonie Day 2019, part of a worldwide celebration of French language and culture.
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Dignitaries from five French-speaking countries attended the ceremonies, including the Consul General of France in Miami, Clément Leclerc (pictured above between Willy and Elizabeth), Consul General of France in Miami, Susan Harper, and two consuls from Haiti – Myrlande Lafont Pillet in Miami and Pierre Max Charles in Orlando (pictured below with Elizabeth).
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Also attending were Honorary Consul of Belgium in Miami, Manuel Molina, Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Orlando, Luc Berkhardt, Honorary Consul of France in Orlando, Brigitte Dagot Jensen, and Honorary Consul of France for the Florida west coast, Jean-Charles Faust.
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Throughout the day, attendees visited the Edgar Degas exhibition, “The Private Impressionist,” and enjoyed performances by Pearl of Nation Haitian Creole Dance and Poetry members (above), the Florida Southern College Woodwind Quintet and Voice/Opera performers, and from members of the Florida Dance Theatre.
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Pre-K Class – Shining Bright
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With the sun shining indoors and out, our preschool students were particularly bright this week. Artwork continues to carry a spring theme (above and below) and, though they tried, the artists struggled to hold back their smiles.
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Priscilla’s display mat of hands and feet, right and left, kept students on their toes (above), while outside, tending our “jardin des papillons” (below) with Pauline was an important chore that students carried out to perfection.
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In the end, we’re left pondering the age-old question – how many FASTB students can fit into a 4-wheel, covered playground vehicle?
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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. 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 This Friday
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We will have an early release at 11:45 this Friday to allow time in the afternoon for Parent-Teacher conferences, which align with the end of our second trimester. Times went out to everyone last week, but if you need to confirm your block, please give a call.
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Elementary Class – Ready for “Poisson d’avril”
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Well, we knew April 1 would come eventually – Monday, our staff braces for poisson d’avril (April Fish), the French tradition of children sticking paper fish on the backs of adults and running away. Our director’s back provides a fairly large target and our News de Nous prognosticators expect him to have an aquarium back there by the end of the day.
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Life is not all practical jokes in Claire’s class, however – above, they are learning their new spring poem “Qu’elle heure est-il ?” In “découverte du monde” (below), they studied the different states of water: solid, liquid and gas, and also discussed why we call earth la planète bleue (the blue planet).
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April is a big month for music here at FASTB, starting April 5th with our second Suzuki Music performance. Our group class will be building on their repertoire, refining previous pieces plus adding something new as well! We will get started at 12:30 and families and friends are welcome to join us.
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We wrap up April with a celebration of jazz at our first-ever FASTB International Jazz Day Jam, co-sponsored by our friends at Music & Me. Details to be worked out but the date is April 30 and we will get started at 1:30 right here at FASTB. Keep News de Nous close at all times for further info as the big day draws closer. Special thanks to Claire for the design of our official event poster above!
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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… even in April. 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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