YCIS-SV Community Connection

Dear YCIS Community,

Happy New Year 2025!

We, Kevin and Vivian, are sending warm greetings from China, where we are attending the YCYW Senior Leadership Retreat at Yellow Mountain. Together with leaders from all YCYW schools, we are reflecting and exploring meaningful ways to grow as leaders. Our goal is to better guide our school toward success for our families, staff, and students.

If you attended our recent Spelling Bee contest, you were surely inspired by our student participants—not only for their impressive spelling skills but also for the courage and resilience they demonstrated throughout the competition. As we all work toward achieving our goals, challenges and even tears are inevitable. Yet, these moments of growth make us stronger and more prepared for the future. We are proud to witness our students’ achievements, both academically and emotionally, and continue to cheer them on.

We invite you to stay committed to our mission, re-enroll for the next school year, and share the wonderful opportunities YCIS-SV provides with others.

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, even more joy and celebrations await us. Let’s continue this exciting journey together in 2025!

Warm regards,

Kevin & Vivian

As we prepare for the 2025-2026 school year, we encourage you to take advantage of the Early Bird Deadline for re-enrollment by January 31, 2025. Completing the re-enrollment process by this date ensures that your $150 re-enrollment fee is waived. To secure your child's spot, please follow the steps outlined in your email: Step 1 - Submit the contract, Step 2 - Make the deposit, and Step 3 - Complete the billing setup. Don't miss this opportunity to continue providing your child with an exceptional Mandarin-English bilingual education. Re-enroll today using the QR code on the flyer!

Thank you for being part of the YCIS community!

YCIS Office of Admissions

The ECE campus enthusiastically kicked off 2025 with a focus on professional development and team building. Engaging in various activities to foster collaboration, the staff eagerly prepared for the return of children. A key emphasis was on creating rejuvenated and inspiring classroom spaces to provide the best possible learning environment.

The Galaxy Class visit to the Kindergarten A classroom was filled with joyful introductions and excitement. They played simple games with their older peers, sharing smiles and laughter. These early interactions help build connections with their peers, fostering a sense of belonging and easing their transition into the Kindergarten community in a few short months. We're look forward to Comet Class's visit to Kinder B soon!

With a warm of Laba Zhou (臘八粥), students are immersing themselves in the festive atmosphere of the Chinese New Year. In the classroom, cultural studies are now focused on the vibrant celebrations surrounding this special holiday. Through hands-on projects, students explore the cultural products, practices, and perspectives of Chinese New Year, delving into its rich traditions. They also examine the regional differences in how the holiday is celebrated, gaining a deeper appreciation of the diversity within Chinese culture.

On Friday, January 10th, YCIS held its annual all-school Spelling Bee, featuring representatives from each class competing in both the Lower and Upper Elementary divisions.

The Lower Elementary Bee showcased six talented spellers: Harvey Andonov, Oscar Li, Ethaniel Chen, Coral Ning, Noelle Huo, and Eden Hall. After an intense 19 rounds, Eden Hall emerged as the champion of the competition, which included participants from 1st and 2nd grades.

In the Upper Elementary Bee, seven outstanding spellers took the stage: Avery Hui, Vivian Li, Avalyn Peh, Sabrina Gao, Zoe Boxhoorn, Austin Fan, and Ryan Zhang. After an exhilarating 17 rounds, Vivian Li, a 3rd grader, claimed victory with the championship word chlorofluorocarbon! Vivian will now advance to a regional qualifying exam, with the opportunity to compete in the local area bee.

Congratulations to all our spellers for their incredible preparation, dedication, and resilience. You have represented YCIS with excellence, and we are proud of you all!

On Wednesday, January 15th, YCIS held its monthly House Lunch, a time for students to come together, share a meal, and engage in exciting activities that foster teamwork and community spirit.

One highlight of the event was a game called I Am a Tree. In this creative group activity, houses formed circles where one student started by declaring, “I am a tree,” followed by others adding imaginative elements to build a dynamic scene, such as “I am an apple hanging from the tree” or “I am a worm in the apple.” This game encouraged quick thinking, creativity, collaboration, and active listening as participants built on each other’s ideas and kept the flow going.

Afterward, houses worked together on a fun and spirited project to create the longest “house snake” in celebration of the upcoming Lunar New Year and the Year of the Snake. Teams showcased their artistic talents and house pride, decorating their snakes with vibrant colors and meaningful symbols. The activity emphasized teamwork, planning, and problem-solving as students collaborated to design and construct their snakes.

The House Lunch was a wonderful opportunity for students to strengthen bonds, practice creative and critical thinking skills, and celebrate the spirit of community. We can’t wait to see what next month’s House Lunch brings!

Our 2nd graders visited The Tech Museum to explore materials and structures in preparation for their unit, How Does the Purpose of a Structure Influence Its Design Features?

In the Make It Matter Lab, students experimented with the properties of matter using everyday chemicals and compounds. They also participated in Bridgetopia, working in teams to design and build transportable bridges, reinforcing how purpose influences design.

This hands-on experience encouraged curiosity, teamwork, and problem-solving, bringing science and engineering concepts to life.

The YCIS Chinese Speech and Read Aloud event will take place on Friday, January 24, at 10:10 AM in MPR. During this event, the former winners, KA and 1st grade students will present Poetry Recitation as an opening program. Parents are warmly invited to attend and support our students.

This year, we are thrilled to see so many students participating with such enthusiasm and talent, making the competition incredibly fierce. The Chinese judging team faced a tough challenge in selecting the top students for the final round. Congratulations to all the students who advanced to the finals! The first-place winner will proudly represent YCIS at the ANCCS Chinese Academic Contest on March 30th. Additionally, we will hold a school-wide contest for the other competition categories by the end of January.

The 6th and 7th grade students began the Structure and Function unit in their science class. They explored the fascinating world of cells, organelles, and their functions. To bring their learning to life, they observed the tiny details of cells on prepared slides under a microscope. The highlight of their experience was getting some hands-on experience to prepare their own microscope slides using cheek cells, allowing them to observe their own unique cells up close.

Chinese New Year is almost here, and YALP students are already celebrating! This month, they're learning about exciting customs and traditions.

• Kinder A explored the delicious Eight Treasure Congee, a traditional Lunar December dish, and created beautiful art using the eight grains. They also made fish decorations symbolizing abundance.
• Kinder B collaborated on a large, vibrant display creatively linking the Year of the Snake and 2025.
• First graders are making colorful snacks to celebrate the Year of the Snake.
• In the upper grades, Amy is designing Spring Festival scrolls to decorate her classroom windows.
  
  

A whole-YALP Chinese New Year event will bring our community together for a festive celebration! Stay tuned for more details.

Students will bring home raffle tickets today! (January 17th)

Please see below for rules and additional information. Students will also bring home a copy of this sheet today.Our hope is that each ECE student will sell at least 5 tickets (1 book = $20) and each K-8 student will sell at least 10 tickets (2 Books = $40). Thank you for all of your support!

Each day from 1/21-2/07: Students who turn in 5 or more tickets they will be entered into a drawing (separate from this raffle) at their campus. The student who wins the drawing that day will be able to pick a YCIS branded swag prize from the drawing bin in their campus office.

Any submission after the above mentioned times will be *considered for the following day.

Raffle sales results will be updated daily and put on display at both campuses. These results will display how many tickets have been sold and which classroom is in the lead.

To refer back to this information, you can also save this link to your bookmarks. It contains the information above, flyers and more:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1X84Gvpg2C2VVLaZZ2MUk6FX7yNEj20p4?usp=drive_link

Great news for YCIS students! Enjoy an exclusive discount of $20 with the code YCIS_Student at checkout.

Register Today: https://www.ycis-sv.com/en/academics/summer-camp

🎫 Friday, January 17th: CNY Raffle Competition Begins (information and tickets sent home)

🥁 Monday, January 20th: School Closed for MLK Jr. Day

💬 Friday, January 24th: Chinese Speech and Read Aloud Contest @ 10:00 am

🥁 Wednesday, January 29th: School Closed for Chinese New Year

👤 Wednesday, February 5th: Common Ground Speaker My Body To Love @ 7:00 pm

🐉 Saturday, February 8th: YCIS Chinese New Year Celebration

Visit ycissvpo.org and stay connected with our community!

👋 The latest PO Newsletter was sent home today, please check your child's backpacks 👋

Sign-up for a Camping Spot NOW! 😆

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UDDIkXdiJpniRYCyrH6LnCg5fYd0jxlQLJac-2SAzTg/edit