Reply to Yu Ying

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Yu Ying"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are very low on waitlist for PK4 at Yu Ying, and none of the other schools will be an option. This surprises me, but I'm hopeful that things will work out at YY.

However, I do have some real concerns. Here are some questions, I'd appreciate any feedback!

1. Will coming in at PK4 (as opposed to PK3) be very difficult for DD? Do they mix the "new" kids in or is there a separate class? [b] They mix up the students.  In DC's PK-4 class, about half are new students.  DC was new and adapted very quickly.

2. How is instruction in science, music, art, etc? [/b] They do a lot of activities in the classroom involving art and science concepts relevant to the current unit of inquiry.  For example, they just finished exploring concepts of "self" within the community so they made life-size self-portraits by mixing paint, using different materials (traditional and non-traditional art materials), creating some type of slime/playdoh substance.  They sing a LOT of songs in Chinese to learn the language, but there doesn't seem to much of a formal music class at the PK level.  There is a music teacher and music room, though.

3. How much screen time are kids exposed to? I read reviews on greatschools that said kids are watching movies during lunch. Is this going on? What about during instructional classes? [b] The PK kids eat in their classroom and in my DC's class, there is no screen time during lunch.  I believe there is the occasional showing of Paw Patrol or Pegga Pig (in Mandarin) before or after nap but it doesn't sound like a daily occurrence.  The teachers might show Chinese songs and videos from the internet to teach the kids a particular song or dance, also.

4. Teacher experience - I've also read that some teachers lack experience. Are they trained in ECE and other subjects, or are they just native Chinese speakers? [/b] Both, but as I understand, the standards are a bit different for charter schools than DCPS.

5. Social development - this is one of my main concerns. I'm not sure how this works when kids don't understand teachers. Can someone explain how teachers can effectively develop kids' social/emotional skills? [b] The kids pick it up really fast.  The teachers use props and gesture to help the kids understand when needed.  They will also speak to the kids in English if necessary. I don't know all of the tools my DC's teacher uses, but somehow, the kids largely get along and are learning how to handle social conflict in the classroom (some kids better than others of course, as is the case at pretty much any school).

6. My SIL is from China and lives in US and is raising her son with Chinese, so DD would have exposure outside of school - I'm sure we can do at least weekly chats in Chinese. Would this be "enough" or would we also need to hire a tutor to achieve more fluency? [/b] Not sure there's any way to predict that because it depends on your child.  But it would be more than what other parents are doing, especially at the PK level.

Thanks in advance![/quote]

See answers above.  But these are also questions that should be directed to the school because ultimately, you have to feel comfortable with what THEY are representing to you about their school.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics