YCIS-SV Community Connection

Dear YCIS Community,

Our Imagination Parades were a wonderful reminder of how powerful creativity can be when children, teachers, and families come together to make learning joyful. From the colorful costumes and thoughtful storytelling to the laughter shared along the way, the spirit of imagination truly came alive!

Next week, we look forward to connecting with you during our Parent-Teacher Conferences. These meaningful conversations are an important opportunity to celebrate your child’s growth and set goals together for the months ahead.

We hope everyone had a fun, safe, and magical evening last night—and a restful weekend ahead. Thank you for continuing to make YCIS a place filled with imagination, kindness, and community spirit.

With appreciation,
Kevin Reimer & Vivian Qian
Co-Principals, YCIS Silicon Valley

The ECE Campus celebrated Imagination Day with a burst of creativity! The day encouraged the children to explore their inner worlds and express themselves. The highlight was a vibrant costume parade, where our young learners showcased outfits representing their favorite characters, dreams, or fantastical ideas. To capture the fun, a photo booth with whimsical props provided lasting memories of the day's joy. Throughout the morning, engaging festive activities, like storytelling, crafting, and more, kept the celebration going. It was a magical Imagination Day!

The crisp air is alive with the sound of fun and laughter as the children run outdoors to play! Our ECE Campus students are completely thrilled with the changing weather, diving headfirst into new outdoor adventures. This week, the sensory table transformed into a habitat for "creepy crawlers," where shaving cream, water, and plastic bugs met the joyful, squealing hands of our little explorers. Meanwhile, the outdoor art easel was a brilliant beacon of expression—a vibrant canvas absolutely covered in splatters of color as our artists used big brushes to bring their wild, abstract masterpieces to life!

Students will enjoy lunch and recess with their houses next Tuesday. Please ensure your child wears their house shirt (replacements available for $15 in the office). Please note: Lunches are not provided by the school. Students should bring their own lunch. Hot lunches will be distributed as usual.

What a fun morning of imagination and creativity! Our parade was bursting with incredible costumes — from K-pop demon hunters and spooky ghosts to creepy carrots, clever aliens, and even a pot full of money! A huge shout-out to our amazing art teacher, Yang Laoshi, for the incredible cardboard staff costumes. The Pumpkin Decorating Contest was equally amazing! Congratulations to all our winners and participants! The courtyard looked spectacular with pumpkins of every shape, color, and creative twist imaginable.Thank you to our community for bringing such joy and spirit to the morning.

Our second graders have been exploring what makes our community so special—its diversity! Through the PBL project students discovered that every person’s background, culture, and experience adds something unique. They interviewed parents and teachers to learn about different traditions and needs, then worked together to design a community where everyone feels included and valued. From parks for families to spaces for elders, their ideas reflected empathy, creativity, and respect. This project reminded our young learners that a strong community grows from understanding, caring, and celebrating the wonderful differences that bring us together.

On October 22nd, 7th and 8th graders went to the Community Service Agency, which is within walking distance of school and serves the local in-need population (part of the emergency assistance network). Students had the opportunity to sort through donated produce and learn about the ways the staff and volunteers provide aid to those in need. It's one thing to read about charity and service, and another to actually be part of it!

Our YALP teachers put tremendous effort into providing students with the most creative, engaging, and trending activities that incorporate all aspects of STEAM learning.

1. In alignment with our Halloween theme, our Kinder students used popsicle sticks to make spider webs and tested how many spooky eyes they could hold.

2. Teddy used pine cone shells and weeds from the field to create a fish.

3. Shenzhen and Harvey experimented with aerostatic buoyancy by using straws to blow a ping-pong ball and observe how air pressure keeps it afloat.

4. Luna designed her own blue-and-white porcelain （青花瓷） after learning about ancient Chinese artifacts.

5. Our upper-grade students extracted pigment from purple cabbage, then added nine different materials to observe the color reactions and record their findings.

6. The entire YALP community baked delicious scone monsters to enhance the festive Halloween atmosphere.

At YALP, we explore the wonders of the world together with our students to inspire curiosity, spark creativity, and develop innovative thinking skills through hands-on learning.

Please help to share this ECE Open House flyer with your community 🙂

We look forward to seeing you and please share this flyer with friends and family as well. Thank you!

November Event

Healing the Modern Brain: Protecting Mental Health and Mental Fitness

Dr. Drew Ramsey, moderated by Dr. Maya Adam, Stanford Pediatrics

Thur, Nov 6; 7pm-8:15pm, via Zoom

Weaving together the latest breakthroughs in scientific research with anecdotes from extensive clinical practice, Dr. Drew Ramsey, a nutritional psychiatrist, will discuss direct, actionable tools and strategies to enhance and reclaim your mental health, bolster your mental fitness, and thrive in a world that can sometimes feel overwhelming.

Dr. Drew Ramsey, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and founder of the Brain Food Clinic, focuses on evidence-based Integrative Psychiatry and Nutritional Psychiatry.

Dr. Maya Adam, is the Director of Health Media Innovation and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine.

Register here!

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🍁 ECE Early Release - Thursday 11/6 - @3pm

🍁 K-8 Early Release - Thursday 11/6 - @1pm

🍁 ECE & K-8 NO School - Fri 11/7 For Parent/Teacher Conferences

🍗 K-8 Thanksgiving Potluck - 11/21 @11:20am-12:20pm

🧡 Thanksgiving Break 11/24 - 11/28, No School / YCIS Office Closed