In this issue
Preschool / Petite section		Pre-K / Moyenne section		K / Grande section		1st g / CP		2nd g / CE1
3rd g / CE2		4th g / CM1		5th / CM2		Alumni Spotlight		Whole School Events Earthquake Simulation 2009-10 Academic Calendar

Preschool / Petite section

Ortega Park

Along with PreK, our class went to Ortega Park for an End of the Year Celebration.  The children had a wonderful time on the playgrounds with the bounce house, ice cream sundaes, and with the organized games.  We would like to extend a special "thank you" to Stephanie who invited us to come along, and who put forth such great efforts to ensure that the students all had a wonderful time!!!

I would also like to take this time to thank Cristelle, our head room parent, who has done an incredible job at helping the teachers, organizing events, and
sparking enthusiam and involvement among others!  Not to mention, she attended every field trip!!!!  She has played such an important role in the students' year, and we really appreciate it.

For those who are not aware.... Sabine gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Alexi, on May 31.  She, Alexi, and her husband are doing just fine.  Congratulations to Sabine and her family!!!

It has been a wonderful year in Preschool!  The students have worked so hard learning their letters and sounds, and have grown up so much.  It has been an amazing transition, and I wish you all a happy and healthy summer, and much happiness next year!!!
Melanie Bell

Pre-K / Moyenne section

Plantations de haricots

Nous avons planté des haricots. D’abord, nous avons observé un haricot coupé en deux. Avec une loupe, nous y avons vu un germe, c’est-à-dire une minuscule plante avec une petite racine et une petite feuille. Puis nous avons laissé les graines de haricot tremper dans un papier mouillé. Le lendemain, nous les avons plantés dans de la terre. Ils ont presque tous poussé. Nous les avons mis dehors à la lumière et les avons arrosés (généreusement !!) régulièrement. C’est toujours un plaisir de voir pousser une plante. Nous les emmènerons à la maison.

Présentations de Livres

Around the world in 5 days
Preschool/Pre-k Heritage Celebration Week

From June 1st to June 5th, the Preschool/Pre-k class was introduced to 15 different countries and regions around the world.  Thanks to the extremely creative, talented (and patient!) Parents of our class, we voyaged around the world through photos, music and food!

Thanks to all our parents for being so generous with their time and presenting their different cultures to our students.  Here is a short summary of what we learned:

• Belgium – Jules’ mom explained to us the process of how chocolate is made – how the cacao bean goes through a series of transformation to become a wonderful “praline”.  We all ate a piece of this famous Belgian chocolate and we all agreed it was delicious!
• Bulgaria – Dayne’s mom let us smell fragrant rose oil and let us listen to a beautiful choir called “The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices.”  We also tasted a cheese pastry called Banitza which was delicious!
• Canada – Marc’s mom told us about the sport of Hockey and Marc showed us his hockey equipment.   Jeanne’s mom explained to us how maple syrup is made in Quebec.
• China – Leo B’s mom told us about China’s invention of the kite and showed us her beautiful hand-painted silk butterfly kite.  Jean-Pierre’s mom showed us how to make stars using “paper cuts” an activity involving cutting and folding paper that all school children in China enjoy.
• France – Brittany – Paul’s mom told us about crepes, a specialty in the region of Brittany.  We learned how they are made and best of all, we all had freshly made crepes and jam for a morning snack – yum!
• France – Paris – Audric’s mom told us all about the transportation methods in the region of Paris.  We learned about the Metro, RER, TGV and bus.
• France – Toulouse – We learned about the famous airplane maker Airbus which is located in Toulouse.  We learned how the airplane is made from many different parts which come from all over Europe.
• France – Le Nord – We learned that you should never go outside without your umbrella!  We also learned about a famous large beach called “Le Touquet” where the people like to do the sports of “motocross” and “char à voile”.
• Holland – Chloe’s dad taught us how to count to ten in Dutch!  We also learned about the tulips and windmills that can be found in the fields all around Holland.  We saw a pair of Chloe’s wooden clogs.  We tasted yummy Edam cheese sliced just like they do it in Holland!
• India – Nikhil’s Mom and grandma showed us the beautiful clothing worn in India and let us taste some yummy Indian desserts.  We all were given a small souvenir from the Divali festival – a pair of Lakshmi’s feet which if placed outside your front door will invite health, happiness and prosperity into your home. 
• Israel – Ilai’s dad taught us about the history about the festival of Chanukah and why they light one candle on the Menorah each night for eight nights.  We tasted sufania jelly donuts – a sweet treat!
• Italy – Alissia’s Dad showed us beautiful photographs he took himself of famous sights in Italy – the ocean off the Tuscan Coast, the grapes in the vineyards, the Trevi fountain in Rome, and the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.  Unfortunately he did not share his “secret” spaghetti sauce recipe with us!
• Pakistan – Zara’s mom showed us beautiful clothing worn in Pakistan by girls and boys, and painted Henna on Zara’s hands.  We also saw books written in Urdu.  
• Poland – We tasted homemade Polish cookies called Chrusciki made by Helena and her mom, they were crunchy and not too sweet – delicious!
• Romania – Tamara’s Mom showed us the kind of shoes they wear in Romania during the summer and winter months.  She also told that Easter is a very important holiday in Romania and they have a special way of painting their Easter Eggs  - they were gorgeous pieces of art!
• Taiwan – Alexandre’s mom told us about the world’s tallest building located in Taipei called “101” because it has 101 stories.  We also saw a butterfly orchid, a flower that is famous in Taiwan and exported around the world.
• Vietnam – Minh-Anh’s dad showed us a photo album of pictures of their relatives in Vietnam and Minh-Anh wore a typical Vietnamese girl’s outfit – it was bright yellow and had beautiful flowers embroidered on it!

It was such an enriching and rewarding week! We are very grateful to all our parents for their efforts and would like to extend all of our parents a huge thank you for all your help during this school year.

Pictures of Ortega Park

K / Grande section

Notre dernier théâtre d’images de notre année en Grande Section

C’est l’histoire de deux pirates. Kadog, le méchant et Arzel , le gentil. Arzel ne savait ni se battre ni compter les pièces d’or. Il avait très peur de son frère Kadog. Il s’est fait
chasser par Kadog. En navigant, il découvrit une île débordante de nourriture, d’or et de bijoux. Mais un drôle de hibou et de gros crocodiles gardaient le trésor de cette île…
Arzel partagea le trésor avec le hibou et eut la vie sauve. Quand son frère apprit l’existence de l’île au trésor, il tenta sa chance. Lui ne voulut pas partager les pièces d’or avec le hibou, gardien de l’île. Le hibou appela les crocodiles qui en firent leur repas.

DeAnza College’s Fujitsu Planetarium

On Wednesday May 13 the Kindergarten class went to DeAnza College’s Fujitsu Planetarium to view the “Secret of the Cardboard Rocket.”  This was a show displayed on their 360 degree full dome which took the students on a magical adventure exploring the planets of our solar system in a cardboard rocket with their tour guide “The Astronomy Book.” 
The students had a great time, and based on their responses when asked what their favorite part of the field trip was, they obviously got a great deal out of attending the show.

What was your favorite part of the show?

Estefano – “When we landed on Pluto.”
Neekan – “When we landed on that cloudy planet, Venus.”
Sebastien – “When we shaped the stars.”
Neil – “When they builded the spaceship and after they asked their mom if they could stay in the spaceship all night, and she said ‘sure you can, and have a happy trip.’”
Oscar – “When they went on Mars.”
Lindsay – “When Book was telling them about the planets.”
Lenaig – “I don’t remember the name, but it’s the biggest one.”
Manon – “When the spaceship landed on Earth.”
Adele – “When we were on the bus.”
Kayra – “When the book was talking.”
Brian – “When they’re landing on Venus.”
Sebastian – “When they went to see Mercury.  It takes 88 days to go around the sun.”
Maya – “When they were connecting the stars.”
Alex – “I like when they went on the dot of Jupiter and it was a big, huge storm.”
Maelis – “When it looks like we’re moving.”
Chiara – “When they were flying in the sky.”
Natasha – “When they built the spaceship and fire came out and they went to all the planets.”
Sophie – “When I looked at myself and my skin was pink and my tshirt was orange.”
Zaki – “ When they were landing on all of the planets.”
Hana – “When they land back on the Earth.”
Kyla – “When they went in the hurricane of Jupiter.”
Lea – “at the end when we saw pictures.”
Guillermo – “When they builded the rocket and after they blasted off and they visited all the planets and they were showing the stars.”

1st g / CP

Poterie

Cette année encore, la classe de CP a pu participer à 8 séances de poterie avec une vraie professionnelle : Shiva. En debut de semaine, avait lieu le vernissage tant attendu et les petits artistes ont ainsi eu la chance d’aller visiter le studio d’art de Shiva et de voir exposées toutes les oeuvres faites au cours de ces séances. Ils ont également pu apprécier la visite guidée de l’atelier avec les différents fours, les divers outils utilisés par l’artiste et une multitude de pots de peinture . Les papas et les mamans qui étaient également invités à venir admirer les créations étaient enchantés et tellement fiers des petits artistes! Ceux-ci ont pu repartir avec non seulement un panier rempli de leurs oeuvres meticuleusement emballées, mais aussi avec un vrai diplôme! Les techniques de céramique n’ont plus de secret pour nos petits CP!

Beauty and the Beast

In May, the first grade class went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Sunnyvale Community Center.  This story is about a beautiful young maiden named Belle whose father Maurice is imprisoned by the Beast (really an enchanted prince).  Belle offers herself instead and finds the prince inside the Beast.  The play was well done and the students and parents enjoyed it very much.  Georgia Ellis

2nd g / CE1

Charlotte’s Web

The second grade class just finished making Charlotte’s Web Dioramas.  Students read the book in the English Curriculum and then they make dioramas.   The students used shoe boxes and filled them with toy and paper animals, rocks, sticks, flowers and greenery to make authentic looking barnyard scenes.  The dioramas were excellent, and they were displayed in the hallway.  I hope everyone got a chance to see them.  Georgia Ellis

3rd g / CE2

The volcanoes project in 3rd grade

The students were looking forward to this project. In class, they learned about what is a volcano, why it erupts and about the different types of eruptions: some explosives like Mount Saint Helena in the US or Vesuvius in Italy and some with a slow lava flow like the Kilauea in Hawaii. We talked about being a vulcanologist and predicting eruptions. We talked about volcanoes in space: the Mount Olympus on Mars (3 times taller than the Everest and with a crater of 90 km in diameter!).
Then, for the students, the highlight of the project was to build their own volcano using any material they wanted (papier mâché, plaster, clay, mud…) This project is the only science project made at home. Depending on the time the students could allow to this assignment, the volcano was built around a small bottle of water (“magma chamber”): it could be a simple brown paper sheet folded around the bottle or a complicated volcano with more than one chimney!! This assignment is not graded.

The fun part was to have the volcanoes erupt in front of the class. We did the eruptions during the Astronomy week in front of the other classes from pre-school to 5th grade. It was a lot of excitment. We used baking soda and vinegar. The cherry on top is to use red food coloring to mimic the red lava. It was nice to see the diversity of volcanoes and the enthusiasm of the students.
Josie Bove-Salama, Science teacher

The Record Lattice Multiplication Calculation in Third Grade

From March 2009 to Wednesday, May 27 2009 we carried out a huge lattice multiplication problem.  What is lattice multiplication?  It’s a way of multiplying large numbers using a grid.
The calculation was
9,658,967,859,658,996,895,687 x 98,657,989,976,587,659,875,986,578,697

It equaled 9,529,343,522,471,683,113,722,153,900,204,666,053,002,007,519,739!!!

The student who initiated the project was Alexei who loves mathematics.  He was assisted by Kenji , Cameron , Mel .

Alexei 3rd Grade

4th g / CM1

C’est la fin de l’année, nous pensons à tout ce que nous avons appris et aimé faire en CM1.

Puis, on a voté pour choisir.

Voici ce que nous avons appris et qui nous semble important :

Rédigé par Eileen et Sédric
En math, nous avons appris comment faire des opérations bien compliquées : par exemple, des divisions à 2 chiffres après la virgule et des multiplications avec un nombre décimal et un nombre entier.
Nous avons fait beaucoup de calcul mental et de calcul rapide, et huit d’entre nous adorent ça !
On comprend les fractions maintenant : c’est diviser en parts égales, comme pour la Galette des Rois. Le dénominateur c’est la taille des parts….et c’est très important pour faire des additions de fractions.
En géométrie, on a calculé l’aire et le périmètre de toutes les cours de récréation de l’école. On a appris à construire des droites parallèles et des figures géométriques sur du papier sans ligne et sans quadrillage… pas facile, mais maintenant on sait le faire.

Rédigé par Natalia et Thomas
Le français, ça fait des progrès !
Cette année, on a appris des nouvelles choses pour les conjugaisons. Les groupes des verbes,
1er groupe, 2ème groupe et 3ème groupe, en fait ce n’est pas très important. Il faut apprendre les terminaisons surtout et se souvenir des radicaux.
On a appris à écrire des projets et à faire des résumés. On a beaucoup aimé faire ça.

Nous avons voté pour choisir les 10 activités que nous avons aimées le plus à l’école cette année.

Voici notre palmarès :

n° 1  Notre séjour de fin d’année à Coloma.

n° 2  Nos fêtes de classe (avec du pop-corn et les octogones sucrés mentholés :o) la Galette des Rois et le repas de Thanksgiving.

n° 3 Toutes nos sorties et surtout la sortie à Chabot.

n° 4  Nos projets en classe et nos projets avec les CM2 avec Martine et Penny.

n° 5  Les cours de musique avec Solange.

n° 6  Les cours de sciences et surtout les expériences avec Josie.

n° 7   L’EPS et surtout les relais et quand on fait un grand parcours d’obstacles à travers le parc en début d’année, et le yoga.

n° 8   Les cours d’informatique avec Marie-Claire et avec Carine.

n° 9   Faire des opérations compliquées.

n° 10  Tout le travail en géométrie.

Le mot de la maîtresse :
Je suis très fière des progrès de mes CM1. Une année bien remplie !
Bonnes vacances à vous tous et bonne année en CM2. 
Encore une fois, je tiens à dire que j’ai beaucoup apprécié travailler à FASSV.
Once again, I wish to say I have appreciated working at FASSV very much.
Marie-Claire Vacher

End of the Year Re-Cap:4th Grade Looks Back

The end of the school year is upon us, which is very hard to believe for FASSV’s “almost 5th graders.”  Since September, the year has simply flown by before our eyes.  One moment we are establishing classroom routines, launching into our work; then the next we are in Coloma; and now at the end of 4th grade.  Where did the time go? 

Since the last writing, the 4th graders have been busily finishing up the work for the year and preparing for Kermesse.  To celebrate the end of the school year and all of our accomplishments, we had an ice cream party with Anastasia and Marie-Claire at the park.
The students completed a final project for social studies focusing on California’s state historic parks and wrote poetry for creative writing. 

Now, onto our amazing journey to Coloma! From April 6-8, 2009, the class attended Coloma Outdoor Discovery School located in Coloma, California.  CODS is adjacent to James Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.  This is exactly the location where gold was first discovered in California.  The students, along with Anastasia, Marie-Claire, Mr. Roul, Mr Faury, and Ms. Brest, lived and breathed the gold rush for two and a half days!  We made cornbread over a fire (the 1849 way), hiked in the state park, attended a hoe-down, and heard an amazing Native American guest speaker give an encouraging talk filled with applicable life lessons.  Her name was Kimberly Starshine, and she spoke about the importance of respect for oneself, others, all living beings, the planet; and how important it is to look out for the “rattlesnakes” in life that can lead people down dangerous paths.  “Rattlesnakes” may seem great at first; however they will eventually bite you and cause great pain.  Coloma was wonderful! 

We would like to take this opportunity to say “Au revoir” to Marie-Claire, who is leaving us and returning to France.  We will miss you, and wish you the best of luck.  The 4th graders and Anastasia would like to thank you for all of your hard work in 4th grade and at our school!   

This has been an enjoyable and enriching year for us all.  The 4th graders would like to wish everyone an enjoyable summer!

5th / CM2

Mon meilleur souvenir de la FASSV est notre merveilleuse semaine passée au Québec.  

On a fait beaucoup de sport : basketball, football (soccer), hockey, escalade, ‘ultimate frisbee’…On a aussi visité Québec et Montréal. On a fait une ‘disco boum’ la veille de notre retour à San Francisco.-Amélia 
C’est quand on était dans l’avion en partant du Québec parce qu’on a bien joué et mangé dans l’avion.-Hind
C’est quand on a fait la disco boom au Québec et qu’une chauve -souris est rentrée dans la grande salle.-Siddartha
C’est quand on regardait les films avec Marie –Claire en CM1-Madelaine
C’est quand on était en sciences avec Josie et on parlait d’astéroïdes quand une lumière est tombée sur la tête de Théa -Kay
C’est quand le café de Louise a explosé dans le four à micro-ondes-Lev
C’est quand on est allé au Québec-Boyd
C’est quand on a fait beaucoup d’activités au Québec-Théa
C’est quand j’ai dansé avec Penny et aussi quand on a lancé les chapeaux à la graduation-Floriane
C’est quand on est parti au Québec-Thomas
C’est quand j’ai fait un labyrinthe de 21 pages en CE1-Peregrine
C’est quand on a jeté les chapeaux en l’air le jour de la graduation – Thomas 
le voyage au Québec et la graduation- Sébastien.                       

Quebec Favorites

During the week of May 14-21, 2009, the fifth grade class took their annual trip to Quebec, Canada.  The students enjoyed this trip a great deal.  From this trip, they had many fond memories.  Here are their favorite memories from our trip:

• I enjoyed shopping in Quebec City. (Thomas)
• I enjoyed rock climbing at the camp. (Kay)
• I enjoyed pillow fighting and the disco dance. (Floriane)
• I enjoyed visiting the museum of civilization and the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. (Amelia)
• I enjoyed visiting Montreal and all the activities at the camp. (Thea)
• I enjoyed going to the Biodome and the Disco dance at the camp. (Sebastien)
• I enjoyed the Biodome and the Insectarium. (Boyd)
• I enjoyed shopping in Montreal. (Hind)
• I enjoyed seeing the Rainforest display at the Biodome. (Lev)
• I enjoyed doing archery at the camp. (Peregrine)
• I enjoyed going up/down the 500 steps in Quebec City. (Madelaine)
• I enjoyed going to the Biodome. (Amine)
• I enjoyed seeing my grandparents at the Biodome. (Siddartha)

Alumni Spotlight

Name: Alice Varma
Year graduated from FASSV: 2001
Languages spoken: English, French

Schools attended since FASSV
Middle School(s) International School of the Peninsula
High School(s) Mountain View High School
University(s) King’s College London (University of London)

If in University, what is your major?  If not yet in University, what do you want to study later on?  Why is that field of interest to you?
I’m studying French with English, which I love because I get to study a variety of French texts and poetry as well as the chance to keep speaking the language. I also get to pick one English module each semester and the opportunity to spend my third year in a French-speaking country.

What career do you think you might like to pursue as an adult?
I don’t have an exact idea of what kind of career I want to pursue but I think I might enjoy writing for or working in public relations for a fashion magazine or a fashion house or perhaps go into fashion marketing.

What are your pastimes and interests (extra-curricular activities, sports, clubs, etc.)
In high school I was in choir for three years, which I loved. I was also part of the dance team, drama board and drama club and performed in numerous plays. At university I have less time for extra-curricular activities but I am a member of the French Society as well as the Film Society and Drama Society. .

What is your favorite memory from your years at FASSV?
The class trip we took to Canada in 5th grade was probably my absolute favorite memory of my time at FASSV. Getting to travel to another country with my classmates and participating in the activities at Camp Beauvallon, was a fantastic experience.

What is something you appreciate about France or the French culture?
(it could be anything such as a favorite city, food, musician, author, film-maker, movie, or lifestyle?)
There are many things I love about French culture and France. I think the south of France is beautiful and very scenic and would love to go back there more often. I also love Edith Piaf and her music, I think she is such an icon in French culture. I also really enjoy French films such as Amélie and Les Choristes

How has learning French impacted your life?
(has it enabled you to do better in school, in other languages, to travel, communicate with others abroad, led you down an unexpected path, etc.)
I think learning French has definitely impacted my life in a very positive way. It was certainly helpful when I was learning Spanish as the two languages are very similar. I think that knowing and understanding another culture is a wonderful thing, it really enables you to be more open-minded and accepting of different societies. Of course, it is also very helpful to be able to speak the language when I visit France as well.

Do you keep in touch with your former classmates from FASSV?  If so,with whom?
I occasionally speak to Parissa Shayesteh and used to be in quite good contact with Kim Beunder and Kari Mosleh. I still see Claire Heritier, Amelie Bricker, Brendan Ozawa-Burns and Casey Jones quite often despite the fact that they were in the year below me.

Whole School Events

2009 International Year of Astronomy at FASSV

In 1609, Galileo invented the first telescope. For its 400th anniversary, the United Nations have proclaimed 2009 International Year of Astronomy (IYA).
We decided to celebrate this major event by organizing an Astronomy Week from May 4th to May 8th. This choice seemed very appropriate as the science curriculum for all classes includes the theme « Le ciel et la Terre »  (Sky and Earth). The students were very excited about this new school project. We learned about our solar system and I was impressed by the knowledge some students had on this topic.
   
With the 1st and 2nd graders, we focused on what makes night and day, the number and the name of the planets in our solar system and the daily life of astronauts in space. They understood why astronauts need a space suit. They loved when I held some of them upside down to pretend that, with no gravity, there is no up or down!
In 3rd grade, the curriculum is about volcanoes. They learned about the different volcanoes on Earth and compared them with the ones on Mars (see the article on the 3rd grade’s volcanoes).
The 4th graders worked on the distances in the solar system and put together the display on the hall floor. They learned what an Astronomical Unit is (distance Earth-Sun) and worked with their math to put the solar system at scale. The students enjoyed seeing Uranus and Neptune so far from the sun!
With the 5th graders, we worked on space discovery and on satellization. They learned about Newton’s Three Laws of Motion, specially the 3rd one stating that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is this concept that we use to launch rockets. Working as teams, the 5th graders built their own rockets with paper and film canisters (hard to find these days!!) and we launched them outside. Some rockets went as high as 3 meters in the air!

During the Astronomy Week, each class from 1st to 5th constructed a balloon-powered racecar, also working as teams, using Newton’s Law of Action-Reaction. Students were provided with the opportunity to modify their racer to increase performance.
Also, all classes watched several different videos about space and astronauts with their teachers at convenient times during the week. Everybody was eager to learn more.
The 3rd, 4ht and 5th graders went on a fieldtrip to Chabot Space Center in Oakland and the rest of the school from preschool to 2nd grade went to the Fujitsu De Anza Planetarium. For many students, it was a first!! They had a great time.

As part of our 2009 IYA celebration we invited 4 guests from NASA Ames Moffett field (Mountain View). Three were able to come. We would like to thank them very much for taking on their busy time to come present their work to our young students.
Dr. Dale Cruickshank, a planetary astronomer and an expert in outer solar system bodies spoke to the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders about our solar system, the 8 planets and why Pluto is not listed anymore as a planet!! He discussed our quest to find outer planets, which could sustain life. Astronomers are looking for planets in the “habitable zone”, which means planets located at the right distance from a sun for water to be present as a liquid. He circulated meteorites around the class and the students were very excited to get to touch “space rocks”! Dr. Chris McKay, a planetary astronomer, is an expert in the atmosphere of Titan, a moon of Saturn, and participated to missions to Mars. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders learned that the conditions of life on Mars could be similar to conditions found in Antarctica. Scientists have been able to collect about 20 rocks from Mars so far. He also presented the Cassini spacecraft that has observed a geyser of jets of water on Enceladus (a moon of Saturn) since 4 years now. He also showed magnificent images of Mars (the Red planet!). The students reflected on his comment that they (their generation) might be able one day to travel to Mars.
Dr. Farid Salama, an astrophysicist and an expert in the interstellar medium, spoke to the K, 1st and 2nd graders about studying space from Earth (mountain telescopes), from air (with Sofia, the only airplane with a telescope) and from space with telescopes on satellites. He showed picture of astronauts practicing in huge swimming pools. The students were fascinated by his demonstration with liquid Nitrogen (- 196o C!) of how cold are some regions in space. They observed its effects on a banana, a plant, and a balloon full of air. The banana and the leaves became immediately solid and the air became liquid in the balloon. This made it really clear why astronauts need a space suit!

The whole school participated to this project, from pre-school to 5th grade. It reached his goal to enhance among students the eagerness to discover and to learn, the curiosity and the will of asking questions to understand the world around them.
Josie Bove-Salama, Science teacher.

History Comes Alive

Benjamin Franklin came to our school to tell us about his life and inventions. He was America’s first millionaire. He invented the unsteady chair (rocking chair) glass armonica (yes, there’s no h) also, bifocal glasses.  He proved that lightning was electricity, he wrote Poor Richard’s almanac, and he also had a pet mouse. Benjamin Franklin was also a printer; he even opened his own printing shop!
Benjamin Franklin did not come alone, he brought with him his traveling printing museum and we learned a lot about how upper and lower case letters got their name.
We all loved meeting Benjamin Franklin!
Students in Third Grade

Theater Workshops

In February the students in First, Third, Fourth and Fifth grades had the chance to take part in three Target Story Theater Workshops here at school.  Actor and workshop specialist Carla Pantoja of Berkeley Repertory Theater led the students as they created their own dramatization of a story using a technique known as Freeze Frame Theater. First graders worked on Anaansi the Spider, Third grade retold the story of The Hungry Coat, and the Fourth and Fifth graders dramatized the tale of The Pony Express. 
The workshop series was a big hit with the students and offered everyone – including the ESL students – the chance to participate in a drama activity conducted in English.
Story Theater Workshops were presented courtesy of Target, and special thanks go to the Ciampossin Family whose generous donation made the workshops possible.
Louise Varma
American Program Coordinator

Evacuation/Earthquake Simulation

On April 30th, 2009 FASSV staff members participated in a school-wide evacuation/earthquake simulation. The simulation was performed at the end of the school day, without the students.

The simulation consisted of the entire team evacuating from various locations within FASSV’s buildings and classrooms, under different scenarios: On-duty/off-duty staff, injured students/injured or absent staff, blocked exits, etc.

The staff evacuated with their “ambulatory students” and classroom emergency backpacks to the FASSV gathering area (located behind the playground near the baseball field) and went through the steps of student roll-call/status.

“The evacuated students” were then signed-in to the Student Care Team, and all other staff members reported to their designated emergency teams to play out the simulated scenarios:
Central Command Center dispatched the Search & Rescue Team, the 1st-Aid team set up and began “treating injuries”, Security Teams secured the area, the Communications Team reported to the Ham-radio on-site area, (5th grade classroom), and the Student Release Team prepared to “sign-out students to arriving authorized individuals.”

In the event of a school-wide evacuation, it will be of grand importance for the parents to comply with the following:
Maintain an up-to-date Emergency List on file at school with your emergency contact numbers and the list of individuals authorized to retrieve your child in case of any emergency.
When arriving on site, please await instructions from members of the Central Command Center or Security Teams. Members will identify themselves and provide instructions with bull-horns. They will escort parents in an orderly manner to the Student Release Team area where students will be released in batches of small groupings to authorized individuals. Please do not rush directly to the student area.
It will be critical for parents to remain calm and patient during the student release process enabling FASSV to be 100% accurate in accounting for all its students.

In addition to evacuation simulations, FASSV teachers perform regular earthquake drills in the classroom and other areas of the campus with their students. Furthermore, the Cupertino Union School District conducts monthly fire drills.

(Please feel free to see Mariel Hall with any questions concerning FASSV’s Emergency Plan.)

FASSV Administration

2009/2010 Academic Calendar UPDATE