YCIS-SV Community Connection

Dear YCIS Community,

Happy Friday! As we move further into the school year, we are grateful for the energy and support that continue to surround our students and staff. We are excited to share a few highlights with you:

Leadership Visit – We are pleased to welcome Mr. Martin Scott, Regional Executive Principal from Hong Kong, who will be with us on campus for the next month. His time here will further strengthen the connections within our YCYW network.

Outdoor Classroom Experience – Next week, our 5th graders will head to Walden West for their outdoor classroom learning. This will be a wonderful opportunity for them to explore nature, build connections, and strengthen their independence.

Moon Festival Celebration – Next Saturday, September 27, we will gather on campus for our annual Moon Festival. our alumni families will also return “home” and celebrate with us.

Thank you, as always, for your partnership and commitment to YCIS. Together, we are building a year full of meaningful experiences for every child.

With gratitude,

Kevin & Vivian
Co-Principals, YCIS Silicon Valley

The Moon Festival is coming soon, and it always brings our YCIS family closer together. This joyful celebration is filled with laughter, smiles, and the beauty of tradition. Children will dress in traditional attire, make crafts, and even try their hands at making mooncakes—filling the campus with festive spirit.

Last year, our staff delighted everyone with a special performance of a Moon Festival song. This year, we would love to invite our whole community to join us—not only in singing the song but also in moving and performing together. Please find the link here, and when you listen to the song, imagine us all united under the same moon, celebrating as one YCIS family.

Let's make our hallway a gallery of fun memories! We've posted some photos from our recent class adventures and we'd love for you to get in on the fun. ECE Campus families, please take a moment to look through the pictures and let your creativity shine by adding your own funny, sweet, or imaginative captions. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

The children of TK Seahorse Class recently cooked up a storm, inspired by a childhood favorite, If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Just like the story, their imaginations ran wild as they transformed yummy dreams into a plate of reality! The room filled with the sweet scent of pancakes, perfectly golden and stacked high. Each one was topped with a colorful array of berries, a drizzle of syrup, and a fluffy dollop of whipped cream. It was a delicious reminder of how a good book can spark creativity and bring people together. We wonder what delicious story they'll cook up next?

On September 12, our school community k-4th grade came together for a school-wide assembly with NED’s Resiliency Ride. The high-energy presentation was both entertaining and meaningful, leaving students excited and inspired.

The presenter focused on three powerful messages:

• Never give up

• Encourage others

• Do your best

Through engaging stories, humor, and interactive moments, students not only had fun but also learned valuable lessons about resilience. They reflected on how to apply these messages in their daily learning and life experiences.

A touching highlight was seeing students turn to their classmates and teachers with gratitude, recognizing both the support of peers and the important role educators play in their journey. The assembly reminded everyone that encouragement is powerful—when we lift others up, we also grow stronger ourselves.

Our students left the assembly knowing that mistakes and challenges are part of learning, and that they have something valuable to contribute to the world. It was truly a meaningful event that brought our learning community together to celebrate perseverance, encouragement, and doing our best.

The Power of Speaking: Building a Strong Start in Chinese Learning

Our first graders have been diving into Chinese learning with energy and joy! In the Chinese classroom, the teacher leads students with enthusiasm and expression (聲情並茂) to spark curiosity and engagement.

One focus has been guiding students to “look at a picture and tell a story.” Through this practice, children learn not only vocabulary but also how to organize their thoughts with detail and logic. They are developing important speaking skills, gaining confidence in communication, and building a strong foundation for lifelong language learning.

When students can express what they see and think in real time, Chinese becomes a living language—something they can use meaningfully in daily life. This practical application keeps their interest alive and their abilities growing.

With the help of engaging story pictures, the 1st grade classroom is filled with laughter and excitement. Students eagerly share their own stories in Chinese, laying the groundwork for strong writing skills, sustained motivation, and a deep love for learning the language.

There was lots of cheer and excitement this week as we kicked off the 2025–2026 House Season on the K–8 campus! Our ASB and House Leaders prepared a super fun House Sorting Ceremony (complete with a sorting hat!) to welcome our newest members.

At YCIS, all students and staff belong to one of six houses—Phoenix, Tiger, Lion, Tortoise, Dragon, or Panda—reminding us that we are one family. Once our ECE campus completes their sorting, we’ll share the full House roster with our community.

If your child received a House shirt today, please keep it safe for future events. We’ll announce House Shirt Days throughout the year. Replacement shirts are available for $15 and can be purchased at the office.

Our 4th graders recently took on the challenge of exploring what it would mean to walk 10,000 steps—and along the way, they engaged in some powerful critical thinking and real-world math application.

Students began by making predictions: How long would it take? How far could they go? From there, they had to determine what tools, strategies, and data they would need in order to answer those questions. Using maps of neighborhoods and measured distances around campus, they built prototypes of potential walking routes.

As they tested their models, students considered how different factors—such as curved paths, walking around buildings, and changes in direction—affect distance. They collected data on the field and analyzed it using mean, median, mode, and range. This required them not only to measure accurately, but also to interpret and adjust their calculations. The project naturally wove together multiple math concepts—multiplication, factors, measurement, and data analysis—and challenged students to apply them in meaningful, connected ways.

This week, our fifth-grade students began their journey into the microscopic world. After learning about the parts of a microscope and important safety procedures, students engaged in hands-on exploration. They observed prepared specimens of plants and fungi, carefully gathering evidence from their observations and readings.

To deepen their scientific thinking, students applied the CER framework (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) in their writing, explaining how the structures they studied help plants and fungi survive and grow. This combination of exploration, observation, and structured writing supported both their scientific knowledge and critical thinking skills.

Nurturing a Love for Chinese in Kindergarten

At YALP, we always look for fun and creative ways to bring Chinese learning to life. Our kindergarten teacher, Liu Laoshi, helps students build a strong foundation and sparks their interest in Chinese through a variety of engaging activities.

A glimpse into our classroom:

Picture1: Jaya is mastering the correct pencil grip

Picture2: Andrew is learning stroke names, order, and character components.

Picture3: Yukee and her classmates use clay to create their family names

Picture4: Azul writes math results using Chinese numbers while solving math problems

Picture5: Ella and Youxi play ring toss games to reinforce Chinese characters.

These innovative teaching methods make the learning process joyful and help the children fall in love with Chinese in a fun and relaxed environment.

When: Friday, Oct 10 · 5 or 6 PM (one hour block)
Where: MadeBy Studio in Downtown Mountain View

Come create fun DIY projects together. Ages 6+ recommended (younger kids welcome with parent help)

📋 Sign Up Here by Oct 2. Once filled, we cannot accept more

✨ Special Deal: If we reach 40 projects, everyone gets 10% off.

55 families joined us last time, and hope to see even more of you this time - come socialize with other families! (No fundraiser this time).

• Friday, Oct 26 5-7PM

• Roger’s @ Ameswell Hotel

YCIS Silicon Valley has begun campus tour events this week. If you have friends or family members interested in touring our campuses (ECE: Preschool/TK and K–G8), please invite them to visit us. They are also welcome to attend our upcoming Open House events.

January 4, 2026 – Priority Application Deadline for Siblings of Currently Enrolled Students. We encourage you to submit your application early. At YCIS Silicon Valley, we believe bilingual education should be accessible to a wide variety of families. To support this, we offer a 20% sibling discount for each child after the first is enrolled.

👪 Common Groun Speaker Series Event (Sep. 25)

🥮 Mid Autumn Festival (Sep. 27)

🍁Fall Break - No School (Oct 1-3)

🎒ECE Mini Camp Available (Oct 1-3)

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NEXT WEEK:

Counted Out - Math is Power, a film screening and Q&A with director Vicki Abeles on National Math Story-Telling Day

Thur, Sept 25; 6pm-8:15pm

In-person at Mid-Peninsula High School, 1340 Willow Rd, Menlo Park

Free and Open to the Public

This provocative film is brought to you by a director of the award-winning documentary, Race to Nowhere, and examines how perceptions of math shape power, equity, and opportunity in today's data-driven world. With education under attack and misinformation on the rise, math is more than just numbers – it’s a language for reason, a foundation for truth, and a tool for democracy. Math literacy shapes everything from opportunity to civic life.

REGISTER here.