WELCOME: Year of the Tiger!

CAFAM's annual Chinese New Year fair was a grand success on Saturday, February 6.

Here are some scenes from the performance. These shots and hundreds more are on the school's CD, which will be available soon for purchase.

Preparing for the Dragon parade

The Crickets make their debut singing the "Ni Hao Song"

The Peonies wowed the crowd with the bathtub dance

The Willows enjoyed their time on the stage

The Snapdragons were adorable ducklings

Riverview's Nina Henrickson inspired dedication in her martial artists

The Persimmons bloomed as "Mo Li Hua"

The Plum class charmed with their friendship and loveliness

Artistic director Melissa Lin amazed with her leadership and dancing

The Bamboo class kicked high and punched hard

Fan Luo soared in both her dance and her dancers' affections

The Lotus Troupe unveiled its new expertise and awed the standing-room only crowd

The Friendship Bridge dancers brought the Joyful Celebration to its joyous peak

A peek at martial arts

This semester, we have been delighted to expand martial arts into the lower grades. It has been a huge success with the children. The Riverview Foundation sends us the extraordinarily gifted teacher, Nina Henrikson.

If you haven't had a chance to grab a peek for yourself, here are some moments captured this past Saturday.

And watch for an exciting performance at the Chinese New Year at the fair on Saturday, February 6.

Good news for the Snapdragons... This week, you'll get to sample martial arts too.

Update: If you'd like to keep kicking after the semester's over, here's a way to spend more time with Nina and do some good: Riverview will hold its second-annual Kids Who Care Kick-a-thon on December 5.

Chinese New Year Fair: February 6

The CAFAM board has done a quick-fix on the date of the 2010 fair. After discovering that the original date was the beginning of February school vacation, the board has re-scheduled the event for Saturday, February 6, at McAuley High School.

The school is proud that two of our parents are heading up the Fair Committee: Eileen Nunley and Patti Oldmixon.

School mom Jen DeCristoforo is heading up the Craft Committee, and dates have already been set for the super-fun Craft Prep day. Please save the date: January 16 (or January 23 in case of snow). If you can serve on the Craft Committee, please contact Jen at jdecristoforo (at sign) maine (dot) rr (dot) com.

Halloween at Chinese School!

What a treat that Halloween fell on a Saturday this year. Here are a few of the tricksters afoot in our hallways and classrooms:

From the Crickets class...

From the Willow class...

Representing the Snapdragons...

For the Peony class...

Over in the Friendship Bridge...

Here are some Plums...

Please come looking for the camera if there's anything going on in your class that needs to appear on the blog in the future! We'll aim to get everybody's smile here as the year goes on...

Many Voices: A Multicultural Book Fair

EXPLORE BOOKS that take children around the world! The fair features the latest books and classics depicting the cultures of China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as African American, Native American, Latino American, Jewish American, Muslim American and immigration books.

MEET THE AUTHOR... Grace Lin, award-winning author/illustrator of the newly-released Where the Mountain Meets the Moon(2009 Parents' Choice Gold Winner and the December pick for the Today Show's kids' book club) and many other children’s books, will meet the children and autograph books from 11:00 to 1:00. See more about Grace’s work at www.gracelin.com.

PLAY! Kids can play Minli’s Journey (a problemsolving game based on Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) and try their hand at Chinese calligraphy.

SHOP! The fair will also sell treats, traditional Chinese clothing, and other goodies. Cash and checks only—thank you!

THE FAIR IS FREE and open to the public.

EDUCATOR DISCOUNT: Educators receive a 10% discount on all books.

FMI: e-mail Kim Gustafson at bamboo (at) maine (dot) rr (dot) com

or visit

www.cafamchineseschool.org.

Saturday, November 14

10:00 – 1:00

Breakwater School GYM

856 Brighton Ave., Portland

Book Fair poster 2009!

Resounding applause for Susan Greenwood and her latest work of beauty...

By now, you should have received a copy in your inbox. PLEASE print it out and post in your favorite public places. Many thanks!

Ready to give? Book fair goodies needed!

It's time to rustle up goodies for the annual Book Fair. To meet city rules, we're reinventing the bake sale. This year -- along with the beloved dumplings! -- we'll be adding Chinese snack-packs to our offerings.

We're asking all our families to donate what they can. THIS SATURDAY, please bring individually packaged snacks from an Asian market (such as Portland's Hong Kong or Sun Oriental). If you don't have a market nearby, we also need clementines, bottles of water and juice boxes.

Please bring your family's favorite individually packaged Chinese treat or may we recommend one of the following items: