“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
Give your child the distinct academic advantage, creative flexibility and compassionate
worldview that only a bilingual, multicultural education can provide.
Expand what’s possible at the French American School of Silicon Valley, where children in Preschool (3 years old) through Grade 5 develop into vibrant, confident, open-minded students of the world
In Kindergarten, as language is more developed, students understand and follow multiple step directions, they learn to express themselves in full, complex, coherent sentences. They are able to narrate, explain, question, offer solutions, and discuss their point of view. They use appropriate temporal markers (then, during, before, after, etc.) in stories, descriptions, or explanations, they use appropriate spatial markers (front, back, right, left, above, below, etc.) in stories, descriptions, or explanations. They recite several rhymes and poems from memory and with expression, they verbally participate in the production of a written text and understand that one does not write as one would speak. They recognize all the letters of the alphabet and the sound they make, they slowly start reading and writing. They know how to write their name without a model and their classmates’ names, they know how to read and write sight words and even other simple words. They count up to 100, quantify a set to at least ten, compose and decompose by actual and mental manipulation, and know how much to add or remove for amounts not exceeding ten. They recognize and name shapes and solids in both languages, they start graphing numbers and comparing them. They start solving one-step word problems. Students are able to create structures and build simple models based on drawings or assembly instructions. They start using tablets and computers and are able to find a path in a familiar environment from its representation (drawing or coding with Beebots for instance). In science, they recognize the main stages of development and the basic needs of an animal or plant through real life observation or images, they learn to locate and name the different parts of the human body. They perform visual compositions, alone or in small groups, by selecting and combining materials, reusing techniques and processes. They Identify and reproduce physically, or with instruments, simple rhythmic patterns. They cooperate and perform different complementary roles; develops strategies to aim for a common goal.
While our curriculum is highly structures, students at the French American School of Silicon Valley form great memories through regular outings, play, music, poetry, art, and their relationships with peers and teachers from other countries. Games and manipulations foster the acquisition of mathematical concepts. Throughout maternelle, the subjects taught remain largely integrated and the social emotional component continues to be developed.
In each grade, the school day features 3 recess times (morning, lunch time, and afternoon) during which the students can let their imagination roam free and keep developing the skills they learned during the daily motricity lessons.
By the end of the three years of pre-elementary/ maternelle school, our students know how to participate in a respectful school environment; they develop productive and cooperative working relationships with others; they know when to listen, when to help and when to ask for help; they learn how to exert control over their emotions and develop the confidence that comes from that; they develop a high level of autonomy in their daily routines; and learn how to participate actively in their own learning; they speak and start reading and writing in both French and English. They have become students and are ready to succeed in elementary school.
English and French Reading and Language Arts
The reading and language arts curriculum is centered on the acquisition of solid reading skills, the development and use of vocabulary, and writing. It includes work in the following areas: Phonics, Phonemic awareness, Reading Mechanics and Vocabulary. The curriculum is centered on phonics and phonemic awareness with the use of workbooks, manipulatives, and supporting materials such as interactive reading books, readers, and large scale texts. Every lesson enables the children to work on reading, writing, phonemic awareness and vocabulary development. Students work as a whole class, in small and large groups, and individually to develop their literacy skills. In addition, centers are used for small-group work. This approach complements whole-group work with individualized attention, and balances the large text of big books with phonics-based readers. The acquisition of literacy skills is seen in the wider context of reading and writing as a whole.
Mathematics
At FASSV, we believe it is necessary for children to have a vast and deep understanding of mathematical concepts. Critical thinking skills are a large part of our program centered around addressing this skill in both French and English. Students acquire knowledge surrounding numeration, operations, fractions, computation, data and probability, geometry, measurement and reference frames, as well as patterns, functions, and algebra. These skills are taught in both languages allowing for a student to manipulate how to arrive at an answer using various pathways of knowledge. The benefits of elasticity in the way an answer is derived has a long term effect on how our students are able to successfully approach, and solve, a math problem.
