鈥淓ducation is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.鈥� 鈥� Nelson Mandela
Give your child the distinct academic advantage, creative flexibility and compassionate
worldview that only a bilingual, multicultural education can provide.
Expand what鈥檚 possible at the 麻豆传媒AV of Silicon Valley, where children in Preschool (3 years old) through Grade 5 develop into vibrant, confident, open-minded students of the world
Grade 1st to 5th grade
麻豆传媒AV's seamless units of instruction are primarily based on the French National Curriculum's program and on the California Common Core Standards. Integration of these two systems allows FASSV students to learn essential content and skills through the languages, communities, and cultures of the world.
Acquiring fundamental skills
In first, second, and third grades, with ever-increasing autonomy, students develop their basic skills, including reading in both languages and cursive writing. Students spend 50% of their time in French, the goal being to provide students with enough vocabulary, structure, and competency in understanding and expression in French in order to tackle any academic subject. A logical, systematic approach and a pride in presentation of work are also viewed as prerequisites for clear thinking and future academic success.
In-depth study
In fourth and fifth grades, students explore language arts, math, science, history/social science, and the arts at a much deeper level. These are the years where bilingualism is honed. Essential concepts are introduced and reinforced in the fourth grade and mastered in the fifth grade. Mastering academic content in both languages broadens the students鈥� understanding of how other cultures view the world.
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. Academic vocabulary is expanded in elementary grades through the use of novel-based studies which require students to have advanced levels of comprehension and analysis. Identifying key details in stories, recognizing different genres, using context clues to decipher word meanings, and writing complete sentences with proper grammar and punctuation help students prepare for our middle school program.
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 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.
