Archive for Author Russell Stoll

Week 21 Preview

Greetings Designers and Design Families!

This week, students began their new seminars classes for semester two, and there was truly something for everybody this semester: we dusted off our knitting needles for Knitting and Crochet, rolled out our mats for Yoga, got ready to pump some iron in Weightlifting, and studied our gambits in Wizard’s Chess. Seminars are a great way for students to try out new hobbies, learn a new life skill, get academic support, or unwind and move their bodies at the end of a long day of learning.

Another great way for students to mix, mingle, and learn about something new is to attend a student-led club! With the start of a new semester, its a great time to try joining a new club. Clubs meet all throughout the week during lunch and after school, and students can find a full list of clubs offered at DVD here: DVD Student Club List (2023-2024)You can also find this link in the “Resources” bar on the right side of the blog page.

See the Week 21 Bell Schedule here, as well as important upcoming events and key dates below:

Upcoming Events and Key Dates:

  • Wed, Jan. 31st: Parent Advisory Committee Meeting #1
    • 5pm-6pm in-person OR via Zoom
    • Agenda: 1) Welcome + Introductions, 2) Purpose of Committee, 3) DVD Spotlight: What’s New for 2023-2024, 4) LCAP Overview (Goals 1 – 5), 5) LCAP: Goal 1 Review
    • Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/8331212069
  • Fri, Feb. 2nd: Community Dialogue – Black History Month (hosted by DVD Black Student Union)
  • Wed, Feb. 7th : Coffee w/ Admin:
    • 8am or 5pm, in-person OR via Zoom
    • Agenda: 1) Semester 2 Updates, 2) Fall 2023 Survey Data Share-Out, 3) Q&A with Admin
    • Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/8331212069
  • Fri, Feb. 9th: NO SCHOOL – STAFF DEVELOPMENT
  • Fri, Feb. 9th 6pm-9pm: Spring Dance!
  • Mon, Feb. 12th: Blood Drive (DVC + American Red Cross)
    • On Monday, February 12th, the DVC National Honor Society is proud to pay it forward and strengthen our community by helping to save lives. We are partnering with the American Red Cross to hold a blood drive, and we need your help to make it a success.
    • We invite you to join us. If you can help, please visit the link below:

 

Week 20 Preview

Greetings Designers and Design Families,

We off and running for semester two! This week, students signed up for seminar classes and will begin attending seminar classes next week. See schedule below.

Absence / Tardy Notices: DV Design is now sending both absence/tardy calls and e-mails to parents/guardians whenever your student is not in class or arrives late to a class throughout the entire day.  Parent/Guardians should be receiving a call/e-mail at 11 am and again at 4 pm for morning and afternoon classes.

Please make sure that if your student will be absent for the day or is arriving late, that you notify the school by using our new online link here:

Please refer to page 5 of the student handbook for clarification on what is considered excused/unexcused absence.

If you receive a call/e-mail indicating your child was either absent or tardy and you know your child is present at school, please make sure to either call the school at (310) 725-5800 option 4 for Design or e-mail Ms. Vannessa Ramos @ vramos@davincischools.org to verify your student is present in class. Please reach out to Vannessa Ramos if you have any further questions or concerns regarding your student’s attendance.

See the Week 20 bell schedule here:

Upcoming Events and Key Dates:

  • Mon, Jan. 22 + Tues, Jan. 23: Semester 2 Seminars Begin
  • Wed, Jan. 31st: Parent Advisory Committee Meeting #1
    • 5pm-6pm in-person OR via Zoom
    • Agenda: 1) Welcome + Introductions, 2) Purpose of Committee, 3) DVD Spotlight: What’s New for 2023-2024, 4) LCAP Overview (Goals 1 – 5), 5) LCAP: Goal 1 Review
    • Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/8331212069
  • Fri, Feb. 2nd: Community Dialogue – African American History Month
  • Wed, Feb. 7th : Coffee w/ Admin
    • 8am or 5pm, in-person OR via Zoom
    • Agenda: 1) Semester 2 Updates, 2) Fall 2023 Survey Data Share-Out, 3) Q&A with Admin
    • Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/8331212069
  • Fri, Feb. 9th: NO SCHOOL – STAFF DEVELOPMENT
  • Fri, Feb. 9th 6pm-9pm: Spring Dance!

Seminar Offerings for Spring 2024 Semester

Seminar Offerings for Spring 2024: Please click the link below to see the Seminar classes being offered for the Spring 2024 semester!

Students will sign up for second semester seminars Wednesday, 1/17 – Friday, 1/19:

  • Wed, 1/17 during Advisory (8:40am-9:25am): 12th grade Seminar Sign-Ups
  • Thurs, 1/18 during Flex Block (8:40am-9:25am): 11th then 10th grade Seminar Sign-Ups
  • Fri, 1/19 during English 9 (P1 + P3): 9th grade Seminar Sign-Ups

IMPORTANT: Listings will be updated at the end of each day as classes fill up. Students should come prepared with three choices in mind in the event that their first choice class is full. Students should also be aware that some seminars require an application to be enrolled, and students may be pre-enrolled in some seminars that may not be listed here.

Second Semester Begins January 16th!

Greetings Designers and Design Families!

We are looking forward to seeing you all back on campus this week! Second semester at Da Vinci Design starts on Tuesday, January 16th. Today on Monday, January 15th, our campus is closed in observance of the legacy and birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As we begin a new semester, we encourage all of our families to remind students of the importance of being at school everyday. Research shows that the #1 indicator of success in school is attendance! The more students show up, the more successful they will be.

In the event that a parent/guardian knows their student will be absent for any reason, we encourage all parents/guardians to alert our front office team of a student’s absence via a new, easy-to-use form: Click Here for the Da Vinci Design Online Absence Reporting Form

The new online absence reporting form can also be found on the “Resources” sidebar on our blog – right under the box that says “Subscribe Now”.

Next week, we have a special schedule while we return from the holiday break. See our Week 19 Bell Schedule below:

Semester 2 Seminar Sign-Ups:
Check the blog on Tuesday, Jan. 16th for the full list of seminar offerings for this semester. We will be signing students up for second semester seminars Wednesday, 1/17 – Friday, 1/19:

  • Wed, 1/17 during Advisory (8:40am-9:25am): 12th & 11th grade Seminar Sign-Ups
  • Thurs, 1/18 during Flex Block (8:40am-9:25am): 10th grade Seminar Sign-Ups
  • Fri, 1/19 during English 9 (P1 + P3): 9th grade Seminar Sign-Ups

Welcome Back Designers! We are looking forward to a great semester together!

“Day One” Whiteboard art by Kerida – DVD Academic Coach

Happy Holidays from Da Vinci Design!

Seasons Greetings Designers and Design Families!

From our staff to your families, we wish all of you a happy holiday season. We hope you travel safely, eat well, and get lots of rest!

Semester two officially begins and classes resume on Tuesday, January 16th. See the calendar below!

Winter Break Front Office announcements: 

  • All DVD offices will be closed for the break starting Monday, Dec. 25th until Friday, Jan. 5th. If you need to reach us, please reach out via email and we are happy to assist.
    • For records requests (including work permits): reach out to Office Manager Maria Beltran at mbeltran@davincischools.org .
    • For attendance and student information: reach out to Admin. Support Manager Vannessa Ramos at vramos@davincischools.org .
    • For all other questions or concerns, reach out to Principal Russell Stoll at rstoll@davincischools.org .
  • Report cards will be mailed to arrive the week of Dec. 25th. If you have questions about final grades, please reach out to teachers directly via email. Grade appeals must be initiated via email within 30 days of the end of the semester. For more information about final grades, see the DVD Student and Family Handbook.
  • The Da Vinci Schools reception will be open during the break on select days. Please call us at 310-725-5800 between 8am-2pm to speak to someone on campus.

Wishing all of you a safe, restful and fun holiday break!

Week 18 Preview: Last Week of Semester One

Greetings Designers and Design Families,

Next week is the last week of the Fall semester! This means that we are only one week away from Winter Break! Next week, to get into the holiday spirit before break, we hope all of our staff and students will participate in a Holiday-themed spirit week! See the dress up days listed below!

Special 9th Grade Exhibition: Wednesday, December 20th 5:30pm-6:30pm

On Wednesday, December 20, 2023 from 5:30 – 6:30 our 9th grade students and teachers will be hosting a special Exhibition on-campus at 201 N. Douglas! Students will display and present their lamp projects, narratives, and artwork that they have been working hard on for their first semester POLs. The theme of this project is to develop and share a deeper understanding of the experience of people who are migrants and refugees. See the flyer below – and hope to see you there!

Week 18 Bell Schedule:

Report Cards Mailed Next Week and PowerSchool Access Locked: PowerSchool access is locked for end of semester report card preparation, and in order to prepare schedules for the Spring 2024 semester. If you have questions regarding Fall 2023 report cards or grades, reach out to your counselor via email. Once report cards are completed, if you have questions about a grade for a specific class or wish to contest a grade, please reach out directly via email to the teacher of that course.

Presentations of Learning (POLs) are here! POLs are performance based assessments which give students the opportunity to develop their speaking and presentation skills, and they give students space to reflect publicly on their learning. Because these are formal presentations, students are expected to wear formal attire. Any student in need of formal attire, please contact the front office and we will be happy to accommodate.

POL Treats for Teachers: Sign Up Here

While our students are preparing and presenting the learning they’ve achieved over the semester, our teachers are hard at work viewing and scoring those presentations. For teachers, this also means long, 8 hour days being a part of panels.

One way that we show appreciation for our teachers during these long days is keeping them fed and caffeinated. And we would love your help!

If you would like to donate snacks, treats, and coffee to our teachers, please use the sign-up to tell us what you will be dropping off.

Click here to sign up to bring a treat for teachers during POL week! Thanks!

Upcoming Events and Key Dates:

  • Thursday, Dec. 14th – Thursday, Dec. 21st: Presentations of Learning (POLs) – MINIMUM DAYS
  • Mon, Dec. 18th – Thurs, Dec. 21st: Holiday Spirit Week!
    • Mon: Wear a holiday hat / headband
    • Tues: Holiday colors and accessories
    • Wed: Wear your favorite plaid / flannel shirt
    • Thurs: Ugly holiday sweater!
  • Tues, Dec. 19th + Wed, Dec. 20th: POL Therapy Dogs On-Campus
  • Wed, Dec. 20th: 9th Grade POL Exhibition: “Illuminating Journeys” Lamps
  • Thursday, Dec. 21st: Last Day of Semester One
  • Friday, Dec. 22nd: Report Cards Mailed Home
  • Friday, Dec. 22nd – Monday, Jan. 15th: Winter Break (No School)
  • Tues, Jan. 16th: First Day of Semester Two

Week 17 Preview: POLs Next Week

Greetings Designers and Design Families,

This week at DVD, we wrapped up with lots of holiday cheer and fun at our annual Holiday Community Dialogue event in the gym! We played a ton of great games like antler ring toss, a holiday themed edition of “junkyard”, and we even had a gingerbread house building competition… until the Grinch stopped, by but even he couldn’t ruin the holiday spirit. We also called up our December All-Stars. We will continue our holiday fun during Week 18 when we invite students and staff to participate in a holiday spirit week. See below for photos of our Holiday CD games and our holiday spirit week!

Presentations of Learning (POLs) are next week! POLs are performance based assessments which give students the opportunity to develop their speaking and presentation skills, and they give students space to reflect publicly on their learning. Because these are formal presentations, students are expected to wear formal attire. Any student in need of formal attire, please contact the front office and we will be happy to accommodate.

POL Treats for Teachers: Sign Up Here

While our students are preparing and presenting the learning they’ve achieved over the semester, our teachers are hard at work viewing and scoring those presentations. For teachers, this also means long, 8 hour days being a part of panels.

One way that we show appreciation for our teachers during these long days is keeping them fed and caffeinated. And we would love your help!

If you would like to donate snacks, treats, and coffee to our teachers, please use the sign-up to tell us what you will be dropping off.

Click here to sign up to bring a treat for teachers during POL week! Thanks!

Here is the Bell Schedule for upcoming POL Weeks 17 & 18:

  • Early release of students at 1:45pm each day
  • *Special start on Friday, Friday Dec. 15th at 8:40am*

Special 9th Grade Exhibition: Wednesday, December 20th 5:30pm-6:30pm

On Wednesday, December 20, 2023 from 5:30 – 6:30 our 9th grade students and teachers will be hosting a special Exhibition on-campus at 201 N. Douglas! Students will display and present their lamp projects, narratives, and artwork that they have been working hard on for their first semester POLs. The theme of this project is to develop and share a deeper understanding of the experience of people who are migrants and refugees. See the flyer below – and hope to see you there!

Winter Music Student Showcase: Tuesday, Dec. 12th at 6:30pm *NOW AT THE WDV GYM*

Due to the excitement and enthusiasm from our theater show this past Tuesday (and the incredibly high turnout they generated!), we have a major last-minute change to the venue for our Music Winter Showcase. It will still be on Tue, 12/12 but will now take place in the WDV GYM at 201 N. Douglas St. Doors are at 6pm, and the show will start at 6:30pm. See you there!

Upcoming Events and Key Dates:

  • Thursday, Dec. 14th – Thursday, Dec. 21st: Presentations of Learning (POLs) – MINIMUM DAYS
  • Tues, Dec. 19th + Wed, Dec. 20th: POL Therapy Dogs On-Campus
  • Wed, Dec. 20th: 9th Grade POL Exhibition: Lamps
  • Thursday, Dec. 21st: Last Day of Semester One
  • Friday, Dec. 22nd: Report Cards Mailed Home
  • Friday, Dec. 22nd – Monday, Jan. 15th: Winter Break (No School)
  • Tues, Jan. 16th: First Day of Semester Two

Week 16 Campus Highlight: Holiday Community Dialogue

 

Parent Interviewers Needed for Mock Job Interviews!

Hello Da Vinci Design Parents and Guardians!

We are looking for parents/guardians and community members to participate in mock job interviews with 11th grade students from 12/14 – 12/21 on campus. Please click here to sign up and see the message below from our English 11 teacher, Mr. Oliver!

***

This year’s English 11 POL will be small group job interviews where students will respond to two personal inquiry questions they’ve been writing over the past few weeks. To make the interviews more realistic, I am recruiting two adults to join me in the interview process. Your presence is most important, but if you can also provide some feedback, that would be great! I will have some simple forms where you can leave a comment for the student. To clarify, you would attend an interview for a group of students that doesn’t include your child.

Each POL day consists of roughly three hour-and-a-half long segments, as seen on the sign-up below.

In the comment section on the sign-up form, please indicate who your child is so I can assign the groups accordingly.

We appreciate your help to make this as valuable as possible for our students!

Mr. James Oliver, English 11
joliver@davincischools.org

Week 16 Preview: Progress Reports and POLs Coming Soon!

Greetings Designers and Design Families!

It was great to be back on campus with students this week as we gear up for the end of the first semester. On Wednesday, our student Leadership team hosted a record-breaking blood drive with the UCLA Health Center. Thank you to all who donated!

Congratulations to all of our Seniors for getting their UC/CSU applications this week! We are expecting big things from the Class of 2024, and are so proud of them as they make their way through the college application process. AND – we could not do it without the amazing work of our counselors and our College and Career Readiness teacher. Thank you  Ms. Pam, Ms. Nicole, Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Palafox!

Progress reports are being mailed home today, December 1st. The purpose of this is to give families the opportunity to have a snapshot of student progress, and to be able to have a conversation at home with students about how to stay successful in school. This information will also be used by teachers and counselors in their plans to support all students. Please follow up with your child’s teachers directly with any questions about assignments or grades.

If you do not receive a progress report in the mail by Friday, 10/6, please reach out by calling Da Vinci Design at 310-725-5800, or send an email Office Manager Maria Beltran at mbeltran@davincischools.org to request a digital progress report for your child.

Here is the Bell Schedule for Week 16 at DVD:

Presentations of Learning (POLs) are coming in just two weeks! POLs are performance based assessments which give students the opportunity to develop their speaking and presentation skills, and they give students space to reflect publicly on their learning. Because these are formal presentations, students are expected to wear formal attire. Any student in need of formal attire, please contact the front office and we will be happy to accommodate.

Here is the Bell Schedule for upcoming POL Weeks 17 & 18:

Upcoming Events and Key Dates:

  • Friday, December 1st: Progress Reports Mailed Home
  • Wed, Dec. 6th + Thurs Dec. 7th: Last Day of Seminars
  • Friday, Dec. 8th: Holiday Community Dialogue!
  • Thursday, Dec. 14th – Thursday, Dec. 21st: Presentations of Learning (POLs) – MINIMUM DAYS
    • Early release of students at 1:45pm each day
    • *Special start on Friday, Friday Dec. 15th at 8:40am*
  • Thursday, Dec. 21st: Last Day of Semester One

Community Paint Day, Thanksgiving Holiday and Week 15 Preview

Hello Designers and Design Families!

What an exciting week! Exhibition, boat races, field trips, Alumni Day, CD, paint day – so much great stuff happening at Design this week. Truly feeling so grateful to be part of a learning community that does so much to bring the learning outside of the classroom.

Today, we held an all-day event at DVD: Community Paint Day! Community Paint Day at DVD is the culmination of a partnership with Arts Bridging the Gap and the DVD Diversity Council. The day was be centered around painting a 10’x10′  mural designed in collaboration with DVD’s Diversity Council students, and resident artists/muralists Noah and Georgia, who met over eight sessions do discuss themes of diversity and inclusion which would be the basis of the mural. The day started with a schoolwide community dialogue assembly in the gym hosted by the DVD Diversity Council. Then, students from all grade levels spent the rest of the day in the BlackBox theater space painting the mural under the guidance of our resident muralists. And, a representative from Hart House stopped by to provide gift cards to recognize students working on the mural. It was a great day full of celebration and community, and a great way to send our students off to the holiday break! See pictures below!

The first day of school after the break will be Monday, November 27th – here is the Week 15 bell schedule:

THANK YOU PARENTS AND FAMILIES!

We want extend a BIG THANK YOU to all of the DVD families who made contributions to our DVD staff gratitude baskets; thanks to all of you for donating time, treats, and messages of gratitude to our staff to help send them off on a much deserved break with a little something to let them know how appreciated they are. We love our DVD families! And, we wish all of you a restful, safe, and fun holiday break!

DV Schools Blood Drive on November 29th:
The UCLA Blood and Platelet Center will be coming onto our 201 N. Douglas campus on Wednesday, November 29th from 9am-2pm in the Black Box. Students will be called out of class to donate blood if they are registered and have proper consent forms. See the flyer below for more details, including a QR code where students can register.

Upcoming Events and Key Dates:

  • Nov. 20th – Nov. 24th: NO SCHOOL – Thanksgiving Holiday Break
  • Wednesday, November 29th: DV Schools + UCLA Health Blood Drive
  • Friday, December 1st: Progress Reports Mailed Home
  • Thursday, Dec. 14th – Thursday, Dec. 21st: Presentations of Learning (POLs) – MINIMUM DAYS
    • Early release of students at 1:45pm each day
    • *Special start on Friday, Friday Dec. 15th at 8:40am*
  • Thursday, Dec. 21st: Last Day of Semester One

Week 14 Highlight: Community Dialogue and Paint Day Hosted By Diversity Council

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