The French American Academy Newsletter November 22 Edition

Dear FAA Community, 

We are about to celebrate Thanksgiving, which gives us two opportunities: 

- Spread the word on the true Thanksgiving story as explained in Rose's blog .    

- Share a word of gratitude to our families, friends, colleagues, and teachers for helping us day in and day out.

As part of our social and emotional approach, I would like to share an interesting practice used in Responsive Classroom: the Gratitude Walk. 

"At the end of the day, the gratitude walk gives me the time and space to reflect on the intention set at the beginning of the day. How did I bring life to the intention I set at the beginning of the day? How were the guiding principles evident in my work? The answers come in the form of gratitude for the gifts of the day – the people, events, and small moments that brought joy, growth, and success, and which in turn informs my next day’s intentions." (Julie Kelly) 

I wish you a warm and joyful Thanksgiving weekend, and thank you for the close-knit and friendly community we've built over the last 15 years.

With gratitude,

Anne-Sophie Gueguen

Founder and Head of School

PRESCHOOL

Trip to a Local Fire Station  

On a perfect fall day in early November, our Pre-K4 students enjoyed an outing to visit our local firehouse, meet firefighters, and learn about fire safety. They got to practice using the firefighters’ tools and even took home goody bags with their own helmets and fire safety information. 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Mathador Competition 

Matador is a Math competition in which students must find a specific total using 5 mandatory numbers using only mental calculation. Grades from 2nd to 8th grade from all North American bilingual schools are welcome to participate in this competition. 

Students can use all 4 math operations in the competition. The goal is to get as many points as possible. Each math operation counts for a specific point. When all 4 math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) are used, unique points are awarded. Each student works individually on the solution, but the total class points will count toward the challenge.

Since the beginning of the year, students have been working on mental calculations. After the official training period (from 11/07 to 12/17), the competition will begin with a weekly challenge for 18 weeks. After each challenge, students share their knowledge and strategies, allowing them to improve their math skills.

Mathador, they love it !

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Yoga and Mindfulness: Breathe in, Breathe out

The hustle and bustle of the world we are living in can be overwhelming, and the children are not spared from this stress. With that in mind, we implemented a yoga/mindfulness class in the Middle School curriculum this year. 

Yoga's intrinsic ability to cease our mental chatter and help us live in the moment reduces stress and anxiety, showing profound benefits in every sphere of life. It helps to improve memory function, a direct benefit of which would be better academic performance. Yoga also helps improve children's attention span and focus. 

Yoga is not a magic wand, but it greatly improves our students' Social Emotional Learning skills.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Georgie Badiel School Visit

Water scarcity is a growing global problem that disproportionately affects women and girls, who are often tasked with fetching water. The Georgie Badiel Foundation’s mission is to dig wells in Burkina Faso and Liberia to provide potable, convenient water so that villagers can enjoy better sanitation, more time to care for children or attend school, healthier food from local gardens, and safe water for drinking and cooking. Read more about this remarkable woman and her foundation on our blog.

- By Rose Spicher, FAA Kindergarten Teacher

Northern Highlands High School students visited our school with Georgie Badiel and read to our students a book written by Badiel, "The Princess Water."

Students across all grades and campuses run laps to raise money to help Georgie Badiel Foundation with water scarcity. Donations are still accepted.

EXTRACURRICULAR

New Winter Enrichment Activities  

Thank you for your feedback following the survey conducted earlier this month about our enrichment program. We appreciate your involvement in our extracurricular program, and we are taking into account every suggestion.

Starting on January 3rd, we will add new activities to our Winter Enrichment Program. Our new French or English teachers will offer activities such as Soccer, Musical Initiation, Traditional French Dances, Gymnastics, and Theater. We are also exploring adding Lego Robotics, Martial Arts, and other language options for the winter or spring session.

A new enrichment brochure will be available in December at the launch of the Winter Registration. In the meantime, please feel free to join our Afterschool Blog, which shows pictures, news, and activities descriptions weekly. Our blog is the ONLY secure spot to learn about our FAA students’ after-school activities. Stay tuned for our upcoming fun enrichment activities starting in January 2023!

 PARENTING TIP

How To Tell Your Children The Truth About Thanksgiving 

As our awareness grows about the non-romanticized story of Thanksgiving and its lasting impact on Indigenous Americans, it can feel difficult to reconcile those truths with the spirit of gratitude for all we have. As parents and educators, we can create a more meaningful and reflective Thanksgiving for ourselves and our families. When we make an effort to tell the true story of Thanksgiving, give our children a more thorough understanding of Indigenous history and the living Native groups who still survive, and highlight acts of service and generosity, we reinforce the values of scholarship and understanding. We show our children that it’s possible to acknowledge painful truths about the past while taking steps to do better in the future. This blog post has plenty of ideas and resources to get you started. 

- By Rose Spicher, FAA Kindergarten Teacher

 ADMISSIONS

The French American Academy is happy to welcome back prospective families during school hours on its three campuses.

Parents will benefit from tours by seeing the school in action, listening to bilingual children interacting with teachers, and seeing projects going on.

In-school tours are available on: 

• Wednesdays at 9:30 am in Englewood
• Thursdays at 10:30 am in Hoboken
• Thursdays at 9:00 am in Jersey City