November 10, 2011

Week At-A-Glance

PAECE Meeting at Waller Campus
Friday, November 11

Photo Retake Day
Friday, November 11

Varsity Volleyball Finals
Friday, November 11

Final Cross Country Meet
Monday, November 14

PA Council Meeting
Tuesday, November 15

Parent Education Event - Hopes, Desires and Aspirations: Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art
Thursday, November 17

Middle School Art Sharing Event
Friday, November 18

Reminder: Turn in UNICEF Boxes from Halloween

This year's UNICEF donations are adding up. Our first and second grade classes are close in their donations, totaling over $160 in each and still counting towards a total of $450 from all grades.

Please turn in any remaining UNICEF boxes to your teachers so Librarian Warren Wright can collect them and send the donations in before Thanksgiving.

Thanks to everyone for the strong support of this activity this year.

Seventh Grade Brush Painting Pieces Featured at SF Conservatory of Music

Nine brush painting pieces from our seventh grade students will be featured on display at our neighbor, the SF Conservatory of Music, located at 50 Oak Street.

The pieces are displayed in honor of a visit from Vice President Yandi of the Shanghai Conservatory. The artwork will be on display only through next week and we encourage you to visit the SF Conservatory to take a look. If you’ve never been, the space is gorgeous and our students’ artwork is well complemented in the beautiful surroundings.

Varsity Volleyball Team Advances to Finals

The CAIS varsity volleyball team beat Katherine Delmar Burke School this week, advancing the team to the finals which takes place this Friday, November 11 at 5:00 p.m. at KDBS located at 7070 California Street in the Richmond District.

CAIS Discount at Local Thai Favorite, Another Monkey

Disclaimer: this is a completely biased review because not only is the chef-owner a CAIS pre-k parent, she is also offering our community a discount. However, our review of the food and experience is completely unbiased, we promise.

CAIS pre-k parent Aom is the chef-owner of Another Monkey located at 280 Valencia, conveniently close to both of our campuses.

When Aom took over the space, she installed a number of Thai furnishings to make it her own. Our favorite feature is the large tables made from antique drums in the lounge area. The feel is sleek, yet inviting.

The menu is a blend of modern and authentic Thai recipes and flavors and the menu features many dishes you can’t find anywhere else, like house-made Chiang Mai Style Thai sausage that blends pork, egg, tumeric and ginger. The pumpkin curry is over the top, with a blend of red curry, chicken and pumpkin, served in a uniquely artistic way. We also appreciated the authentic relishes that accompanied our dishes. There are a couple of fusion-y offerings that we usually shy away from, but we have to say, the Tom Yum Shrimp Nacho dish was a pleasant surprise.

Here’s the kicker, CAIS families will receive 10% off (every time you dine!) the entire bill. Just mention you’re a CAIS family before you receive your bill.

Even without the discount, we would happily endorse Another Monkey, but the discount definitely sweetens the deal.

Math Kangaroo is Coming to CAIS!

Math Kangaroo is an internationally acclaimed math competition with interesting problems designed to both engage and challenge students. This year, Math Kangaroo will be available for third through eighth grade students at CAIS. The program is a 75-minute long multiple choice test with 24 questions for third and fourth grades and 30 questions for fifth through eighth grades.

Each participant will receive a t-shirt and a certificate on the test day.

For more information about Math Kangaroo at CAIS and to register for CAIS’s private test center, please click here.

School-wide T-Shirt Project - Orders Yours Now

Our Parents Association has partnered with classroom teachers and has embarked on a fun and creative fundraiser this year that involves art and creativity and will result in a nice keepsake item. The self-portrait t-shirt project includes the partnerships of all grades and classes. Teachers will conduct the project in class. The result? A t-shirt that reflects both the creativity and artistry of our students.

Families can order the products through the CAIS online boutique here.

Please note, deadline for ordering is quickly approaching! Please order items no later than Friday, November 18. This deadline ensures that the products will be received prior to Winter Break.

For those who regularly come to the Oak Street campus, you can see a sample of the shirts on the first and third floors.

Flyer with more information can be found here.

Parent Education Event – Hopes, Desires and Aspirations: Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art

Next Thursday, November 17 we have the pleasure of hosting an Asian Art Museum-led parent education event titled Hopes, Desires and Aspirations: Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art.

The speaker, Linda Lei, is an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience in Mandarin and Chinese culture in the Bay Area. As former Director of Mandarin Programs of the Piedmont Unified School District, Linda was integral in establishing and developing Piedmont’s nationally recognized Mandarin curriculum.

Following her retirement, Linda discovered the docent program at the Asian Art Museum, which has furthered her lifelong interest in Asian art while providing opportunities to continue teaching and sharing her love of Chinese calligraphy, painting, dancing and storytelling. During her presentation, Linda will delve into the meanings of Chinese art - from dragons to bats.

Hopes, Desires and Aspirations: Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art takes place on Thursday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m. in MPR3 on the third floor of our Oak Street campus. Childcare is available during the event, RSVP to Nicole Wilson. The 45-minute presentation will be followed by a Q & A session.

Book Fair Starts After Thanksgiving in a New Venue

The Winter Scholastic and Chinese book fair will start on Monday, November 28 after the Thanksgiving holiday and will run through Friday, December 2. New this year, the book fair will be held in the third floor library of our Oak Street campus.

Visit the CAIS book fair homepage for details here.

This year there is an additional online site to purchase books that will be open for two weeks from November 21 through December 5. You can access the online site here.

This an easy way to purchase books while supporting our school library and classrooms. Teachers have wish lists for their classrooms that are funded by the book fair profits.

Orders from our online fair will arrive several days after the online fair end date. Our Librarian, Warren Wright will receive one shipment for all orders and each order will be individually bagged and labeled by teacher and student for easy distribution.

What is the Annual Fund?

The Annual Fund is . . .

…the foundation of the School’s fundraising efforts to offer direct and immediate revenue needed in that school year.

…the campaign that closes the gap between the School’s operating budget and the amount of revenue brought in with tuition dollars.

…the most effective and direct way to help the school financially. Annual Fund money goes directly into the operating budget.

…a way to give to all aspects of school life including faculty salaries, professional development, curriculum offerings, technology, athletics, performing arts and tuition assistance.

…an investment in your child’s education that provided CAIS limitless opportunities to educate students to the fullest possible range of intellectual, creative, language, cultural, athletic and personal endeavors.

…the collective contributions from parents, board, faculty and staff, grandparents, alumni, alumni parents, friends, foundations, corporate matching gifts and more.

…is an opportunity to make a fully tax-deductible contribution to educate your children to the fullest.

Annual Fund Update - Four Classes Almost at 100% Participation

Give Now | Pledge | Match | Transfer Stock

Congratulations parents, we have reached over 57% parent participation, but we still don’t have any classes with 100%. Are you one of the families that can help your child’s class reach 100%? Eighth grade red and gold, sixth grade red and third grade gold are all within three families of reaching 100%. Before any other opportunity, please consider giving to the Annual Fund First.

Click here to see this week's Annual Fund progress.

Thank you to all our new donors these past two weeks: Raghavan Seetharaman and Wendy Lai, Thomas Wu and Rachel Chin, Marcus and Jamie Shen, Natalia Fedoseeva and Yuri Shtivelman, Robert Edmonds and Vivian Lee, Jason Yang and Victoria So, Michael Webb and Dawn Dzedzy, Thomas and Kelly Miller, Paula Fleisher and Lucy Bernholz, Michael and Heather Madden, Susan Fong and Marta Cristina Causone, William and Maria Regina Clemens, Peter Belden and April Chou, Jennifer Ward, Aaron Silberman and Jill Bronfman, James Connell and Tien Bui, Richard and Fiona Kwee, Jimmy Terrell and Phil Horowitz, Steve Silver and Ria Lau.

Dig Into the CAIS Archives

Do you have a keen eye for good photos? Do your affinities lie in old records? Can you operate a scanner and photo editing software? If so, you might want to help out with an archive project for CAIS.

As part of CAIS’s 30th Anniversary, we are digging into old photos and documents to uncover hidden gems about our past that have been locked away for many years. We are looking for volunteers who can help us parse through all our storage boxes and categorize our photos so they can be digitally archived. Think of it as an archaeological dig of your child’s school!

We are looking for people who can:

• Identify the most beautiful photos for immediate use for our 30th anniversary year.
• Sort through our printed archives and file them for digitizing.
• Scan old documents using a photocopier.
• Use minimal functions on Photoshop (cropping and rotating).

For more information, please contact JP Lor. This is an ongoing, year-round project, and many people can be involved.

Family Fun Run Happening Next Weekend - Raise Money While You Run!

Looking for a great way to get your family out for some fun and fitness? Mark your calendars for a 5k and 1-mile family friendly run/walk event in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, November 20. People Events has graciously allowed CAIS to directly benefit from their Run and Walk for the Hungry event. Our school will receive 100% of the pledges designated to CAIS. More details to follow in the coming weeks.

Contact parent coordinator Shirley Tse with any questions or to get involved. To learn more about the event, please check the event page on the CAIS Community Wiki here.

If you haven’t checked out the CAIS Community Wiki, you’re missing out. This community run web page includes all of the great things that happen at CAIS, that aren’t classroom-based that you would find on the newly launched Veracross division pages. Soccer leagues, parent education events, photos, after school activities and more. If you did not receive your wiki invitation and wish to be part of the conversation, please go to CAIS Community Wiki here.

Family Fun Run Happening Next Weekend - Raise Money While You Run!

Looking for a great way to get your family out for some fun and fitness? Mark your calendars for a 5k and 1-mile family friendly run/walk event in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, November 20. People Events has graciously allowed CAIS to directly benefit from their Run and Walk for the Hungry event. Our school will receive 100% of the pledges designated to CAIS. More details to follow in the coming weeks.

Contact parent coordinator Shirley Tse with any questions or to get involved. To learn more about the event, please check the event page on the CAIS Community Wiki here.

If you haven’t checked out the CAIS Community Wiki, you’re missing out. This community run web page includes all of the great things that happen at CAIS, that aren’t classroom-based that you would find on the newly launched Veracross division pages. Soccer leagues, parent education events, photos, after school activities and more. If you did not receive your wiki invitation and wish to be part of the conversation, please go to CAIS Community Wiki here.

Holiday Faire Expected to be Fun for All

If you've been inside our school in the last couple of weeks, you surely saw Holiday Faire posters around every hall, stairwell and corridor. For those of you who rarely come inside the building, the annual Holiday Faire is happening Saturday, December 3. The event keeps getting bigger and better; bringing families with children of all ages tons of fun activities.


A great way to get involved with this year's Holiday Faire is to volunteer your time. If you don’t have extra time to donate, the PA welcomes your donations of money to help pay for great foods, drinks and activity rentals that make this annual event memorable for all. Because this is a major Parents Association fundraising event, every dollar donated enables us to have more money to spend on year-round community building events for all families.


For all things Holiday Faire, visit the CAIS Community Wiki and learn about all of the fun activities, sign-up for volunteer shifts and gingerbread house decorating sessions, or donate to this year's event.


Some of the features include:

• New! DJ and lounge! New this year, middle school students are invited to come relax in the MS lounge and listen to the music of our very own eighth grader DJ Mikey C.
• Fabulous Games Court - New! Air hockey, rock wall climbing, basketball, two bounce houses, and nerf gun battles (bring eye protection please)
• New! Jewelry making taught in Mandarin.
• New! Photo booth - fast, fun, 4 poses, print in color or black and white, duplicate prints.

Get Your Coffee & Questions Summaries

The PA has brought us a series of coffee & questions to help give everyone an opportunity to learn about some of our new faces and roles at CAIS a bit more in depth. If you missed any of the coffee & questions events and wish to see the meeting summary, please check on the CAIS Community Wiki. Summaries from the latest coffee & questions event can be found here.

Lower School Director, Peter Moore presented this morning and the summary notes from his coffee & questions event will be posted on both the community wiki and the newly launched lower school division page in Veracross.

If you haven’t checked out the CAIS Community Wiki, you’re missing out. This community run web page includes all of the great things that happen at CAIS, that aren’t classroom-based that you can find on the newly launched Veracross division pages. Soccer leagues, parent education events, photos, after school activities and more. If you did not receive your wiki invitation and wish to be part of the conversation, please go to CAIS Community Wiki here.

Varsity Volleyball Team Advances to Finals

The CAIS varsity volleyball team beat Katherine Delmar Burke School this week, advancing the team to the finals which takes place this Friday, November 11 at 5:00 p.m. at KDBS located at 7070 California Street in the Richmond District.