YCIS Traditions

Traditions and Celebrations:  Enriching the School Experience

At YCIS, we enjoy a host of events and traditions that bring us together to show off our spirit and talent, celebrate our learning and expand our horizons.

Throughout the school year, various activities and events held during the school day enrich students’ learning and help them build relationships across grades. Some of the activities students look forward to each year include:

 

Founder’s Day Walk-a-thon

YCIS schools around the world celebrate Founder’s Day each October to commemorate the founding of Yew Chung schools in 1932 by Madam Tsang Chor-hang. At YCIS Silicon Valley, students raise funds for a worthy cause with a walk-a-thon, honoring our long-standing tradition of sharing love and charity with others.

 

Imagination Day

Held on Halloween, Imagination Day encourages children to use their creativity to dress as a book character or other positive image. A pumpkin decorating contest, a costume parade and class parties inspire creativity.

 

Thanksgiving Feast

Bringing families together in gratitude is the theme of this holiday celebration. With a potluck feast in our courtyard, parents, K-8 students and staff enjoy a Thanksgiving lunch.

 

Chinese New Year

Another family-oriented cultural celebration, Chinese New Year affords the opportunity to learn about traditions, foods and customs to usher in the Lunar New Year. With arts and crafts, games, stories, music and more, students enjoy gaining a deeper appreciation of this important cultural event.

 

Read Across America

A celebration of reading on Dr. Seuss’s birthday extends for an entire week at YCIS Silicon Valley. Students enjoy dressing in silly socks, wacky hair, stripes and pajamas while they Drop Everything And Read daily. Elementary students often visit their schoolmates in preschool to read stories and share the magic of books.

 

Science Day

Parents who love science volunteer to lead interactive stations and experiments for students to experience the joy of scientific discovery. Recent workshops have explored periodic motion, wind tunnel experiments, cooking with the sun, surface tension and sublimation, agricultural science, composting, anatomy of the heart and lungs, internal combustion engines, engineering skyscrapers and coding to solve math problems.

 

Arts Day

Art-loving parents and local artists lead interactive stations to explore various art forms and media. From Chinese and Western opera and international dance, to graffiti and chalk art, from fashion design and string sculptures, to marbling and jewelry, there is sure to be an activity to delight.

 

Field Day

Students in K-8 enjoy competing and collaborating with each other through a rotation of fun field sports and games.

 

Character Assemblies

Monthly Character Assemblies celebrate a character trait with bilingual presentations, songs and recognition awards. Each class from Kindergarten to Grade 5 takes a turn to plan and present a bilingual skit, video or presentation demonstrating the character trait of the month.