On Wednesday, May 2, our entire school walked to the Asian Branch Library to see local clown Chiquy Boom perform her bilingual Spanish/English magic and variety show. Dressed from head to toe in a bright rainbow of colors, Chiquy Boom delighted the children with her effervescent energy and pitch-perfect silliness. Through call-and-response bits, catchy songs, and magic tricks mixed with a heavy dose of physical comedy, she taught the children the Spanish terms for colors, body parts, and the emotions we experience everyday. Ask your child about how Chiquy Boom needed the help and cooperation of all the children in the audience to make the colors magically appear in what had originally been a completely blank book!

At the end of the program, each child received a sticker and a free book as gifts from the Oakland Public Library. The children’s librarian also invited all interested children to participate in the library’s upcoming Summer Reading Program, which will run from June 16 to August 11. Free books and other prizes — including, for one lucky winner, a brand-new iPad — will be awarded.

Jessica Oei, School Counselor

Jessica has worked in both the San Francisco Unified School District and the Los Angeles School District, and she is now completing her Master’s degree in Counselor Education from San Jose State University. Jessica speaks both Mandarin and English, so she will be able to communicate effectively with all of our students on important emotional and social matters. If your child was previously attending friendship-group meetings then you can assume they will continue to do so unless you hear otherwise from the school. We expect to build on this program next year and offer a complete, year-round support system for our students.

Tracy Wang, Curriculum Consultant

Tracy works at UC Berkeley’s National Center for the K-16 Chinese Language Pedagogy, Institute of  East Asian Studies.  She has many years of experience as a STARTALK instructor and has also consulted for many Mandarin immersion programs across the country. Tracy’s project at Yu Ming will be to create a curriculum map for grades K through 8. In consultation with our teachers and with Principal Ross, Tracy will help us define what we expect our children to know when they graduate at the end of 8th grade—and then work backward to create goals, plans, and assessments for each grade level. Shen Laoshi has already begun planning next year’s 2nd grade curriculum, and now she will be able to draw upon Tracy’s deep knowledge to complete those plans. A big thank you to Hua Yang (parent of Dylan Kwong, in the Monkey class) for putting us in touch with Tracy.

Study after study shows that the single most important factor determining the quality of a child’s education is the quality of his or her teacher. In fact, a recent study from Harvard suggests that a good elementary teacher can boost college attendance rates, reduce teenage pregnancy rates, and increase future earning potential (http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/value_added.html).

We are incredibly lucky to have such wonderful teachers here at Yu Ming. May 8th is Teacher Appreciation Day, and I would like to share my own appreciation for our teachers…

Not only are our teachers inspirational in the classroom and totally committed to their students’ academic and social progress, they are also incredibly hard-working and reliable. Their devotion to their students and to our school makes my job as principal a real pleasure—so THANK YOU to each and every one of you: Ina, Maggie, Carol, Alice, Mia, and Wei.

As you know we are currently hiring new staff for next year. There are so many essential ingredients that make a great teacher—far too many to list here—so below is a shortlist of five qualities we seek in our new teachers:

1. Teachers who set high expectations for every single student.
2. Teachers who are life-long learners; who develop their content knowledge and instructional skills throughout their career.
3. Teachers who plan carefully; who are prepared and organized for every lesson.
4. Teachers who create lessons that are relevant and engaging for the students—no matter what the topic.
5. Teachers who form strong relationships with their students to show them that they care.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our other school staff. Lina, our new office manager, has done a great job stepping into Mina’s shoes (which were frankly big shoes to fill!); and Polly, our steadfast office assistant, has been critical in facilitating a smooth transition. Finally, thank you to Dannie, our janitor, for offering to help however and whenever he can—and always with a smile.

In a gallery filled with animal sculptures carved from stone, the children heard the story of the origin of the Chinese Zodiac, in which the emperor decrees that there will be a river race to determine which animal will lead the twelve-year calendar. According to legend, the rat and the cat, who are clever but unskilled at swimming, convince the naive but good-natured water ox to carry them on his back across the river. Just before reaching the finish line, the rat pushes the cat into the river and then leaps off the ox’s back to land on the opposite bank first. Thus, the rat wins the race and also the prized position at the head of the zodiac calendar.

In the jade gallery, the tour paused in front of a long paintbrush with an intricately carved jade handle. Here the guide told the story of a poor village boy who is given the gift of a magic paintbrush that can make whatever he paints come to life. When his fellow villagers need water for the fields, for example, the boy paints a river that magically irrigates the fields. When the evil emperor hears of the boy and his brush, however, he demands that the boy appear at his court to paint pictures that will bring the emperor incredible wealth and power. Because the magic brush can be used only for good—and because our young hero is clever—the boy manages to use his brush to rid the kingdom of the evil emperor so that a good ruler can rise up and care properly for his people.

The museum guide led the children through several more galleries and shared two more Chinese legends relating to objects in the rooms. The children sat through all four stories with incredibly rapt attention…

After the museum tour, the Tiger class spilled out for a sunny lunch across the street at the Civic Center Plaza. The return BART ride back to school was mellow as the children were lulled, perhaps, by musings of the clever rat, the good-natured ox, or the boy and his magic paintbrush.

- Contributed by Devra Nelson, parent of Raina in the Tiger class

Volunteers are the heart of our school … come be a part of it!

David Hochschild kicked off our Earth Week events. David, an avid beekeeper, shared his hobby with the students at Yu Ming. The students watched a slideshow of David beekeeping, closely observed a bee in a jar, and got the chance to taste some delicious honey! The students also played the role of worker bees, with Principal Laura as their queen bee, as they pretended to travel to the flowers to get nectar and bring it back to make honey.

Ranger Anthony teaches about animals in our nearby habitats

On Thursday, the students had a special visitor –Naturalist Anthony Fisher of the East Bay Regional Parks. “Ranger Anthony” gave 40-minute presentations to the kindergarten and first grade classes about the animals that live in the wonderful parks all around us. The kindergartners spoke about habitats and were treated to Anthony’s coyote impression; the first graders discussed what you could learn about an animal from its bones. Each grade also watched remarkable (and remarkably funny) videos taken by Anthony’s automatic night-vision cameras, which he plants deep in the woods to record wildlife. They saw opossums lumbering, wood rats fighting, grey foxes climbing trees, raccoons breaking into the garbage can at the Little Farm, and many other creatures. The children could hardly contain their excitement and questions; the Environmental Education Center at Tilden Park, where Anthony is based, is a great way to satisfy all that curiosity. The children also received a handout with pictures of some local animals along with their Chinese names.

Mari Rose from Asian Pacific Environment Network and Mary from EBALDC explain how solar panels can help create healthy communities.

On Friday, Simon Ross and Nick Pape of Recurrent Energy came in to teach the students about solar energy! Simon and Nick talked to students about the difference of clean versus dirty energy and focused their discussion on clean energy from the sun.

The students played interactive games, such as pretending they were the particles on the solar panels that become “excited” when the sun shines on them. They buzzed and wiggled with so much energy! The students even got to see solar energy in action as they observed a solar powered car, which traveled quickly with the sun shining on its solar powered motor but stopped once the car was covered with shade. These amazing presentations were supplemented with a field trip down the street to see the solar arrays on top of the Asian Resource Center!

Kindergarten girls watch their classmates walk the recycled fashion show runway

A big highlight of Earth Week was the cutting-edge fashion show that occurred on Friday morning in the gym. The students walked down the catwalk showing off their costumes made entirely of recycled or reused materials. From robots to french fries, the Yu Ming students really showcased their creativity with their costumes. Best of all, each costume could be fully recycled!

The events of Earth Week culminated with a clean up at Lincoln Park on Saturday. Yu Ming families joined together to clean up the park that our students play in every day! This clean up was followed by a potluck to celebrate Earth Day.

Parents and kids got into the clean up at Lincoln Square Park

Special Thanks

Special thanks to:

-Mari Rose Taruc at Asian Pacific Environmental Network

-Mary Lucero-Dorst and May at EBALDC

-Nick Pape and Simon Ross of Recurrent Energy

-David Hochschild (parent of Rosa in the Tiger class) for his presentation on bees

-Ranger Anthony from Tilden Park

-Eva Chiu (parent of Emily in the Tiger class) and Dennis Dornan (parent of Malia in the Dragon class) for organizing the Lincoln Park clean-up

-Lifang Chiang (parent of Jasper in the Dragon class) for helping organize the field trip to see the solar arrays

Want to see more?

You can also check out photos of our very cute kids in their Recycled Costumes  (Kinders) … and Naturalist Anthony Fisher of the East Bay Regional Parks giving his presentations to the kindergarten and first grade classes about the animals that live in the wonderful parks all around us.  Photos courtesy of David – Duncan’s and Anda’s dad!  Thank you again for doing such a good job on the photos!!

And visit our Facebook page to see even more pictures!

- Article contributed by Teacher Mia; photography courtesy of David Bilder

I am delighted to announce that Alan Frishman has been hired as interim principal during my maternity leave. Alan has a B.A. and Master’s degree from Yale University and is an extremely seasoned retired principal. Alan has also served as a leadership coach for New Leaders, a well-regarded national principal training organization (during which time he coached an Aspire Charter Schools principal who used to report to our own board chair Gloria Lee!).

Since “retiring” a few years ago, Alan has taken on a variety of short-term assignments, including helping to launch a virtual education program between China and the U.S., through which he has built a number of education connections in Shanghai, Beijing, and Wuhan. With all his administrative experience Alan is eminently prepared to help guide Yu Ming on our journey to fulfill the mission that is described in our charter. I was especially impressed by his attitude toward being a “steward” during my absence—his priority is the students—and I believe Alan will be a terrific longer-term advisor for us, as well.

Alan will officially start at the beginning of August and stay through the winter holiday break when I will return full-time. He will also be on-hand before August to ensure a smooth transition. In addition, Lee Na Chang—our music teacher extraordinaire, who already knows all of our students and who comes to us with a Montessori background as well as school administration experience of her own—will serve as a bridge administrator on a part-time basis in May and then a full-time basis in June.

In less than an hour, each class runs through a gamut of chanting, circle time, parading, improvisational full-body movement, and multiple instrument exploration – all while continuing the school’s language immersion through songs and instruction in Chinese.  Chang Laoshi’s quiet manner, reminiscent of her Montessori background, fully engages the children in her lessons.  They listen intently to her directions, and actively participate in circle-time dialogue.  In a recent circle time, children used the same song to explore rhythm, Chinese diction, and different sound-making tools.  To learn more about the Orff philosophy of music, link here:  http://www.classicsforkids.com/teachers/training/orff101.asp.

- Contributed by Eva Chiu, parent to Emily in the Tiger class

We will conduct two formal year-end assessments during this spring trimester to evaluate our students’ level of Mandarin. The primary intention of using a formal assessment is so that we can use the data to track how students are progressing from one year to the next and also in relation to one another as a cohort. We do not intend to rank the children or give parents specific scores, but you will receive some feedback in the comments section of the final report card.

The children have not been told much about these assessments: our approach has been “business as usual.” We do not expect you to prep your child in any way, and we do not want the children to identify the “test” days as being any different from regular schooldays.

1. Chinese Children’s Competency Certificate (CCCC)

The test has a reading and a listening component. Originally we had intended for all of our students — both kindergarten and 1st grade — to be given this test. However, after taking a closer look at the content, discussions amongst the teachers, as well as discussions with other schools that have experience implementing this test, we have decided to administer the first level, called “Sprouting,” to our 1st grade students only. A mock test will be conducted a few days before the actual test so that students can become familiar with the format. The real assessment will be administered on April 26^th and 27^th.

This is our first year conducting this assessment, and because it was chosen halfway through the year it has not yet been aligned with the curriculum. Therefore we will view this as a trial and will make a decision after conducting the test and receiving the results as to whether it is a suitable assessment tool for our students and our program in the future.

2. Early Language Listening and Oral Proficiency Assessment (ELLOPA)

Our teachers will conduct this assessment with their own class over a two-day period toward the end of May. The assessment is conducted with pairs of students and evaluates children’s listening and speaking ability. Unlike the CCCC, which is separate from our curriculum, the ELLOPA assessment has been designed using specific parameters provided by CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics) but based on content taught in our own curriculum. The assessments will be recorded and scored on a rubric. Children will be given a level based on the proficiency demonstrated. There are a total of nine levels (3 main levels and 3 sub-levels) beginning with “Junior Novice Low.” In the first year of an immersion program, we would expect most children to appear somewhere on the “Junior Novice” level from “low to high.” However, since this is the first time we will be using this assessment we cannot be sure how our students will perform and whether their scores will reflect their true ability.

As with the CCCC our main reason for using this assessment is to provide feedback to teachers and the school administration on how our students are acquiring the language.

March 2012 - Hongli Chen and Dan Thomas, parents of Angelina Thomas in the Monkey class. Dan worked closely with the facilities committee last year to negotiate an agreement with Shoong and help prepare the site for our opening, and this year he continues to devote his expertise to our search for a new home. Hongli has volunteered many hours of time, in addition to company resources, to help us translate documents–including this weekly newsletter.

February 2012 – Devra Nelson, for editing the weekly newsletter, playing a key role in screening and interviewing applicants for teaching positions AND volunteering in school every Wednesday and Friday to help with lunch, recess, and classroom duties.

January 2012 - Sarah Yang, for chasing down reporters and media to raise our school’s profile during the enrollment period.

December 2011 - Kelly Scribner, for her enormous contribution to our school’s successful enrollment season for next year.

November 2011 - Janet Belton, for being our Gala Guru (i.e., for pulling together such a fantastic fundraising event in just two months’ time!).

October 2011 – Hua Yang and Diana Fong, for translating all of this year’s math textbooks, as well as producing all the Mandarin MP3 files on our website.

September 2011 - Polly Yan, for being an incredible support to office manager Mina Chan.

August 2011 - Ben Peters, for heading up the effort to paint, hammer, and otherwise prepare our school facility for opening day.

July 2011 - Melissa Lee, for recruiting volunteers, setting schedules, and motivating & mobilizing our parent community.

Thank you to ALL of our parent volunteers — not only those highlighted above. Without your commitment and dedication we couldn’t have accomplished as much as we have over the past few months.