Programs
Our programs consist of four mixed-age classrooms. Two classrooms are for toddlers ages 18 months - 3 years (Le Tout Petit Programme). Two classrooms are for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students ages 3-6 years (La Maternelle).
View our Students' 5-year Journey
Please select a classroom gallery below:
No French language experience is required for either program.
Our Pedagogical Approach
Each child has different needs and grows at her/his own pace. It is essential to offer various activities in order to help each child develop their cognitive and social skills by stimulating their curiosity and imagination. A supportive, warm, and loving environment is essential to grow peacefully and harmoniously. We respect the tie children need to grow and evelop their skills with joy and confidence.
What importance do we give play in our programs?
Our young children have a need for free play! We are passionate proponents of plenty of free play. During free play, children choose, invent, and organize their play based on their preferences and their center of interests. They follow their ideas with freedom, without the constraints of a result or timing or even an expectation.
In our classrooms, we have creative play areas such as kitchens, doll homes, cities, and construction sites. The nature of the spaces and materials available inspire the children, but the children remain totally free to modify the space and reorganize it as they feel. Children build their own paths. It is always the child who chooses their activity and the way they want to play and explore, even if the teacher is making the initiative to bring language or a little “plus” in a very informal way.
Our Reggio Emilia inspired pedagogy fosters creativity.
Our pedagogy is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, particularly with our "loose parts." Loose parts are "petits riens," little things (or big ones!), often recycled, organized in collections ( for example: shells, rocks, sticks, feathers, fabrics..) . The objective is to engage the natural curiosity and creativity of the children. These loose parts are gathered in the nature or recycled from daily life and places in adequate containers and then available to the children to explore whenever they choose. By making these loose parts available in the child's daily environment, we give them the possibility to use their natural creativity and curiosity. In the richness of these collections, the child will develop his imagination.
Culture & Learning in the Kitchen
Gastronomy is at the heart of our French culture, and particularly accessible to very young children who are discovering the world through their senses. Our pedagogical project is articulated around a cooking workshop taught by one adult for a group o 6 students from the Toddler and Maternelle classrooms. In the kitchen, children develop the following competencies: fine motor skills, mathematics, language, reading, and cooperation.
Accreditations & Affiliations
The French Académie is accredited by the French Ministry of Education (AEFE) and licensed by the state of Minnesota. We are also affiliated with the Mission Laique Francaise (MLF) and the Association of French Schools in North America (AFSA).
Our programs use the Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIP's) to ensure that your child is right on track in their development, in addition to the French Ministry of Education Standards in Maternelle. Students' progress is tracked in the specialized French software "Je valide” and shared with parents through a detailed report twice a year.