9+Sep+2011

Dear 2-4 Grade Parents,

An opportunity has arisen to take the students to see a very relevant performance that will prepare them for their Angel Island trip. Here is a description of the performance the children will see:

//Experience our Museum Theater History Alive! Programs//

//History comes alive in these theater programs. The audience interacts with a living personage who provides an eyewitness account of historical events. These characters will retell their life stories and engage audiences in a rich portrait of Chinese American experiences. Each program is in the traditional Chautauquan format, an actor gives a monologue of a character, takes questions from the audience and later steps out of character giving a background of which the program was created. A character based on oral histories and written accounts will retell life stories containing different themes of Chinese American history. These 40-60 minute programs are geared towards State Standards of local history, California State history and US History. Descriptions of programs below.//


 * //Uncle Toisan is a fictitious character who’s a composite of several Chinese immigrants from the Guangdong Province, Toisan district of China. He retells his life story as an immigrant coming to the United States during the Exclusion Era as a paper son. He traces his experiences from China, Angel Island Immigration Station, and WWII. Filled with historic facts and humor, his anecdotes will take you back to the early 20th c. through the present.//**

More information can be found here: []


 * The trip will take place on the morning of September 15, which is next week Thursday. We will leave the school at 8:40 (Please be sure to arrive on time at 8:30). We will take the Bart to the Embarcadero St Station and then take Bus 1 to Chinatown where the performance will take place at the Chinese Historical Society of America. The performance will go from 10:00-11:00. We will eat our pack lunches (bring your own lunch) at the Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground, and then return home using Bus 1-California and the Bart. We plan to be back at the school around 1pm. The pack list is as follows:**


 * 1. $1.50 in quarters for bus fare or a clipper card**
 * 2. $9 to purchase BART Red card (we will keep this card at the school to use for future field trips each card will have a $24 value and will only be used for your child). I will pre-purchase these cards before the trip, and collect the money on the day of the trip**
 * 3. A pack lunch**
 * 4. A small snack**
 * 5. Cap and/or sun screen**
 * 6. Shu Ren T-shirts (let me know if your child doesn’t have a Shuren T-shirt)**
 * 7. Comfortable shoes for walking**
 * 8. Long pants to prevent morning chills**
 * 9. A sweater or windbreaker to keep warm if necessary**
 * 10. An umbrella and rubber boots if the forecast is rain (we will go rain or shine)**


 * Optional:**


 * 10. A disposable or inexpensive camera/camera-phone**