Da Vinci Science

Next week is our last week before Thanksgiving break! Students only have classes on Monday through Thursday. We will not be holding our regularly scheduled parent office hours on Monday, but our girls’ basketball and boys soccer teams have games after school throughout the week!

Next week, we are continuing our tradition of organizing Thanksgiving baskets to deliver to our school staff on Thursday, November 18th. The idea is that each staff member will receive one basket containing things they like and words of appreciation from students and parents/guardians. If you wish to contribute to the baskets of Thanksgiving, here are some ways you can do that!

1. Items: If you are interested and able to purchase something to show your appreciation, please consider using this list of the DVS staff’s favorite things for ideas. Students can drop off any items for staff baskets in Steve & Grace’s office.  We will begin collecting items for the Thanksgiving baskets on Monday, November 8^th! If you’d like to make a general contribution to be shared amongst the whole staff, you can send an e-gift card to dvsappreciation@gmail.com. Your gift will be used to purchase items for the baskets and your name will be included with the basket.
2. Words of Appreciation: There is nothing that means more to school staff than words of appreciation or encouragement! Please consider handwriting a note of thanks or typing one digitally here: DVS Staff Appreciation Notes We will be printing these digital messages and including all words of appreciation in the baskets. Handwritten notes for staff baskets can also be dropped off with Steve & Grace!

Finally, one of Da Vinci’s Signature Practices is Exhibition Night, an evening event for our community to come together to witness and celebrate how much our students have learned and grown in the project-based environment. Though we originally planned to hold an Exhibition Night this semester, we have decided to allow our teachers and students additional time to prepare for this important showcase. As a result, we will be rescheduling our Exhibition Night for second semester (January – June). We look forward to showcasing our students’ terrific projects in the new year, and we will let you know as soon as we decide on our new dates.

With gratitude for your ongoing encouragement and support,

Steve & Grace

 

 

On behalf of the entire DVS family, THANK YOU to all the Veterans in our community who are currently serving and who have served in our armed forces. We are grateful for your service and the sacrifice you and your loved ones have made for our country and for protecting the freedoms we enjoy. As we take today to honor you as we rest from our work, we remember you and appreciate you!

The November “Counseling Corner”, full of resources for college counseling and socioemotional wellness put together for you by the DVS counselors, is now here! You can access it by clicking on this link: DVS November Counseling Corner Newsletter

Today, we will be holding our weekly Zoom parent office hours from 4:30pm-5:30pm at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/SteveGraceOfficeHours – all are welcome to drop in and say hello and share ideas, feedback, and questions with us!

The calendar for the remainder of first semester is shown here – please note that we have moved our Exhibition Night to next spring and that the final date for students to turn in any late work for their classes is Friday, December 10th. Presentations of Learning, or “POLs”, will begin on Monday, December 13th. More information about POLs will be coming next week.

Finally, we are writing the draft of our self-study for our WASC accreditation this month, and we invite all of our stakeholders to take a look at the document here or in the “resources” section and provide us with your input and feedback.

We hope you have a terrific week!

 

 

 

Tomorrow (Friday) is a professional development day, so students will have a 3-day weekend! Next week, each day is an early-dismissal day because we are holding Student-Led Conferences (“SLCs”) after school. These conferences are an opportunity for you to listen to your student reflect on their academic progress so far this year and discuss the strategies they plan to use in order to be successful going forward.

Participation in Student-Led Conferences is expected for all students and parents/guardians, and information about SLCs can be found at the following links:

• Grade 9 SLC Signup Info & Student instruction slide deck
• Grade 10 SLC Signup Info
  & Student instruction slide deck
• Grade 11 SLC Signup Info
  & Student instruction slide deck
• Grade 12 SLC Signup Info
  & Student instruction slide deck

I hope you have a terrific 3-day weekend and we look forward to seeing the students back on Monday morning!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a big day at DVS – students in grades 9-11 are taking the PSAT and seniors are taking the SAT in the morning beginning at 8:15am! We encourage all students to eat a good dinner and go to bed early tonight, eat a good breakfast in the morning, and arrive at school no later than 8:00am in order to begin the test on time. Per the policy of The College Board, students arriving after the exam begins will not be allowed to take the test.

Friday is a professional development day, so students will have a 3-day weekend this weekend. Next week is Student-led Conference week at DVS, so please check with your child to see your SLC appointment time and make sure you can attend their SLC via Zoom at that day and time. Thank you!

It was another terrific week at DVS, including the completion of our college counseling webinars for each grade level! In case you missed them, the slide decks and video recordings for those webinars are listed under the “Resources” tab on the right. Next week we have a slightly modified schedule to accommodate for our SAT/PSAT School Day on Wednesday and our Professional Development Day on Friday.

In preparation for the PSAT/SSAT School Day on Wednesday, we encourage all students to eat a healthy dinner and go to bed early on Tuesday, eat a good breakfast on Wednesday morning, and arrive to campus no later than 8:00am.

Student-led conferences are coming up in week 10, so we encourage you to talk with your student about what SLC time slot your family is signed up for and continue to check their grades and attendance in Powerschool and talk with them about their academic progress and growth!

We are looking forward to another great week coming up, which will include college counseling webinars for 10th grade on Tuesday and 11th grade on Thursday and college guest speakers every day of the week during lunch! We encourage students of all grades to come during lunch to listen to these guest speakers and to be thinking about their own college options!

PSAT & SAT Testing for All Students: On Wednesday, October 13, DVS will be administering the PSAT and the SAT on campus for all students (grades 9, 10, 11, and 12). We are happy to be able to provide this opportunity for our students to be college-ready at no cost to our families. Students will be receiving a student preparation guide and will be preparing in their English and math classes for these exams in the days leading up to October 13th.

Student-Led Conferences will begin via Zoom in week 10, and more information about how to sign up for a time slot will be coming soon from the grade-level teams. Here is the calendar for the weeks between now and Thanksgiving break!

As a reminder, you can now view and purchase your child’s school photo! Simply go to this link and look in the folder of your child’s advisory teacher: https://staceelianna.smugmug.com/DaVinciSchools/DVS-Picture-Day-2021 Proceeds from the purchase of your child’s photo support DVS – thank you for supporting us by purchasing your child’s photo!

For students who need to take a makeup photo, appointments are being scheduled for this Thursday and Friday morning. To take a makeup photo, please fill out this form – students will be contacted by our staff with their specific makeup day and time.

Please contact Assistant Principal Grace Long at glong@davincischools.org if you have any questions. Thank you!

It’s been another terrific week at DVS, including the rollout of our honors program, our students doing a fantastic job in the critical incident drill, and the student club fair! We are looking forward to next week with our college counseling webinars on Tuesday evening for 12th grade and Thursday evening for 9th grade (10th and 11th grade will be the following week). Zoom links to the college counseling webinars will be published on Monday.

PSAT & SAT Testing for All Students: On Wednesday, October 13, DVS will be administering the PSAT and the SAT on campus for all students (grades 9, 10, 11, and 12). We are happy to be able to provide this opportunity for our students to be college-ready at no cost to our families. Students will learn more information about this upcoming test in their classes.

Makeup Picture Days: You can purchase your student’s school photo by visiting this link and checking in the folder of your student’s advisory teacher. Proceeds from the purchase of your student’s photo support DVS. For students who missed the photo day, makeup photos are scheduled for Thursday, 9/30 and Friday, 10/1.

Emergency Lockdown Drill: Our students did a fantastic job with the emergency lockdown drill we had on Thursday, 9/23. Though it saddens us to have to think about this kind of danger at a school, we are grateful to partner with the El Segundo Police Department to make this the safest environment it can be and to prepare students with important life skills. We continue to urge students who have concerns regarding safety to report these concerns immediately to any DVS staff member or to use the Incident Reporting Form, which is linked on our blog (dvs.davincischools.org) and allows for complete anonymity if desired. 

I hope you have a terrific weekend!

Thank you to all of you who attended the Mastery-Based Grading Webinar earlier this evening! For those who weren’t able to watch, or who had such a great time watching that you want to see it again, here’s the link! https://tinyurl.com/MBGatDVS

This link is also now listed to the right under “Resources”. As always, please feel free to contact me at swallis@davincischools.org if you have any questions!