Row 1: Simon Burgess (student), Lequyen Tran, Dr. Fatima Lawson, Patrick Garvey,
and Kathleen Reagan.
Row 2: Aleli Balagtas, Christi Schmitt (Chair),
Linus Beni, Edie McDonald, and Heidi Ricks.
Meeting the Challenge to Involve More Families
In L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion School (grades K-6), all core subjects are taught in French, with English language arts starting in grade 2. The school’s innovative curriculum has attracted students from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who consistently meet AYP targets on the state’s annual standardized tests. L’Etoile’s ATP designs innovative practices to increase family involvement.
In 2008, the fifth grade partnered with the Minnesota Center for Book Arts on a language arts project called Family Artifacts, with support from a district-sponsored arts grant and with the participation and support of families. Students wrote stories in French and in English about objects that have significance in their family. These included gifts, heirlooms, photographs, recipes, songs, maps, letters, and other artifacts. They illustrated their stories and bound them in book form. A local book artist consulted on the project and conducted a workshop on making books. The Minnesota Center for Book Arts hosted a ceremony for students, families, teachers, and others to celebrate the students’ creations. The ATP used the six types of involvement as the framework for evaluating their outreach and quality of the project.
Reach Results for Student Success in School
To extend the school’s social studies curriculum, L’Etoile’s first-grade teaching team elected to mentor a newly arrived family from Myanmar last fall. They created a series of lessons to teach students the difference between family “wants” and “needs,” identifying the needs of a family new to Minnesota. Students realized the family would need winter clothing, household supplies, and other goods. Students learned about the history of Myanmar (Burma) and the Karen culture, as well as a little about the immigration process. They held a clothing drive to collect winter coats, hats, and boots for their adopted family. They also collected food for their adopted family, especially the types of rice, fruit, and vegetables found in the family’s native diet.
Students made small art boxes for the family with symbols of the Burmese and Karen cultures. In return, the family made a book for students about their life in a refugee camp in Thailand. In April, a picnic brought the students, their families, and the Karen family together to celebrate. They presented the Karen family with letters and posters explaining what they had learned. The activity is a good example of a caring community connection that also boosts students’ learning.
See one of L’Etoile’s activities in the collection of Promising Partnership Practices 2008. Visit the school at www.frenchimmersion.spps.org .