Yick Wo Alternative Elementary School

My Mommy put me on their waiting list and my number came up… I was in. Oh, I kicked and I screamed!!! «It’s such a tiny school! Where am I supposed to play?!! And what about my friends?» I transferred to Yick Wo in the third grade. There was only one third grade, one fourth grade, and one fifth grade class. Just tiny! Third grade was rough at first because I was WAAAAAYYY behind than the other students. My English, my math, all behind… so much so, I used to cry at night. Well, the school pulled me out of ESL (which is what my previous elementary school kept me in) and I asked my Mommy to tutor me in math so I can catch up with my classmates. That was rough at first too, but then the school started to get FUN!
What I remember most about this school was how many field trips and activities they had, including an annual camping trip for the third and fifth grade classes. Fourth grade didn’t go on the camping trip, but there were tons of other field trips. I recall school fairs, fundraisers, science fairs where the three upper classes (third, fourth, and fifth) rotated to each class for each project, and so much more! What I remember most about the teachers was how likeable they were. I genuinely liked my teachers and I got excited about the same things they were excited about. One teacher was obsessed with nature… so the entire class got into bird watching and «identify the leaf» type competitions. Another teacher had the class hold debates for local, state, and federal elections… and we mock voted.
I went in as a third grader in ESL and with really low math scores. By the time I graduated the fifth grade, I had more than doubled my English standardized test scores and my math scores were in the 99 percentile. I was only one of three fifth graders with that BIG «99» in math. A big deal since I came in behind everyone else. I can’t list any one thing that helped me get to that point, but I definitely gotta give much props to the school for getting me there. As an adult, I told parents about sending their kids here. Yick Wo did wonders for me!

I have some awesome awesome memories at this school. Im in college now but Ill never forget the memories I made here! Such a happy time. Mrs. Balestreri was the bestest bestest teacher EVER and so were Mr Ehrmann and Mr Kaufman. If i could rewind to any time in the past it would be elementary school for sure.