Quioccasin Middle School

Liberty City: A Shared Dream of Freedom

6th and 7th Grade

SOL/Standard  

French: 

9.NM Identify typical products and practices related to familiar, everyday life to help understand perspectives of native and other cultures.

Social Studies: 

USI.6 - Revolution of the New Nation from 1770s to the Early 1800s


Learning Experience

     Students have explored France's relationship with the United States to understand how this connection influenced American culture and history. Throughout our research, we've learned that Paris and Washington, DC have a lot in common due to French architectural planning. Students investigated the connection between the American and French Revolutions by exploring the timelines and people involved in both events. Moreover, we learned the shared ideals of freedom, equality, liberty and citizenship that were shared in the building of both nations as we know them today.

     As a result of our research, we built Liberty City using Legos to show Paris and DC mirroring each other across the same street. Liberty city demonstrates that despite our differences, the friendships you'd least expect can have a lasting impact on us and in society as a whole. Our city begins with the Battle of Saratoga, where French alliance led to America's independence from Britain. In the city, the battle is adjacent to our lasting symbol of freedom and liberty, gifted by France. 

     When we look at one city that shows the similarities from two different sides of the world, we are encouraged to consider what freedom means to us.  

Henrico Learner Profile (HLP) 6C Focus

What did the student(s) learn about this experience:

"I learned how to collaborate with others and learned the relationship between both France and the United States." -Trinity 

"I learned how similar Paris and Washington, DC are." -Bradley 

"I really love working with a lot of Legos and learning new stuff about other countries." -Mariana 

What did the teachers enjoy about this experience:

"When students suddenly realized why they were researching both the French and American revolutions, there were many “ah-ha!” moments, which is always the best part of teaching...It also made some of the less-engaged students take an interest in what they were researching because I was asking them to make a connection between their lives and history."  --Ashley Eubank, French Teacher


"During the creation of the [Bloxels] game, students used creative and critical thinking skills to retell the story of French involvement in the Battle of Saratoga, which took place during the American Revolutionary War. It was nice to see students take ownership of their work through various group roles such as captain, designer, architect, and storyteller." --Shayla Harris, Social Studies Teacher 

Additional Pictures, Media & Artifacts

Designing the Battle of Saratoga

Building the Statue of Liberty

Laying the blueprint for Washington, DC

Creating the parallel to Paris

Thank you to the innovators who helped make this experience possible: