Mr. Stoll and Mr. Takeyama will be hosting our March “Coffee with Admin” parent info sessions tomorrow! We invite you to join us to hear about updates from the school, to ask us any questions you have, or to share your feedback and ideas about the school.
Wednesday, March 1st: Coffee w/ Admin Parent Info Session
Agenda: 1) School Updates, 2) Fentanyl & Youth Drug Abuse Resources, 3) Community Schools Grant Updates, 4) Q&A w/ Admin
This week, for our campus highlight, we are celebrating the incredible mural work done by our designers that is currently featured in the center atrium. A new semi-permanent installation in the atrium is a credit to our Ethnic Studies class. The murals were hand painted by our DVD Seniors and presented for their POLs last semester, and represent varied and diverse stories of cultural representation and finding joy in overcoming oppression. Our current installation in the glass display case was produced by our Black Student Union in commemoration of Black History Month. We are so proud of our DVD artists and achieving such beautiful, meaningful artwork.
See below for key upcoming dates and the Week 25 Bell Schedule:
Key Dates and Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, February 28th @4:30pm: School Site Council Meeting #4
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/96326418680
Agenda: 1) EL / Title 1 Updates, 2) School Stakeholder Survey Review pt. 2, 3) CCSPP Community Schools Grant Wish List
Wednesday, March 1st: Coffee w/ Admin Parent Info Session
We are wrapping up a fantastic and fun week at DVD! We handed out roses to each student on Valentine’s Day, we showed out with our Spirit Week dress up days, and we culminated it all with an amazing community dialogue assembly celebrating Black History Month. CD, hosted by our awesome Black Student Union and their advisors, had the whole school community sharing in the joy as we had games, dancing, awards, and even a Soul Train style fashion show, all backed by a live DJ. See below for photos!
Next week, we have a short schedule due to the President’s Day holiday. See the Week 24 schedule here:
Key Dates and Upcoming Events:
Monday, February 20th: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day Holiday
Wednesday, February 22nd @4:30pm: School Site Council Meeting #4
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/96326418680
Agenda: 1) EL / Title 1 Updates, 2) School Stakeholder Survey Review pt. 2, 3) CCSPP Community Schools Grant Wish List
Wednesday, March 1st: Coffee w/ Admin Parent Session
Agenda: Fentanyl & Youth Drug Abuse Resources
(Two Sessions: 8am & 5pm, via Zoom – all parents welcome!)
Week 27 (3/13 – 3/16): Student Led Conferences (minimum days)
Friday, March 17th: NO SCHOOL – Staff Development
Week 23 Highlights: Black History Month CD & Valentine’s Day Rose Welcome
The classroom highlight from this week might make you hungry! Today, our 9th graders got to go on a walking field trip to Del Aire park and celebrate the kick off for their Spring exhibition projects by visiting some food trucks. For this upcoming project, students will model their ideal food truck and even conceptualize what recipes they would put on the menu. They got to spend the day outside at the park, sampling some of the food, hearing directly from food truck owners, and brainstorming what their food truck might be like. See photos below!
Next week is Spirit Week! See below for the spirit week days, and the Week 23 Bell Schedule:
Key Dates and Upcoming Events:
Week 23 (2/13 – 2/17): !Spirit Week!
Mon, 2/13: Pajama Day
Tues, 2/14: Valentine’s Day Monochrome
Wed, 2/15: Despicable Me
Thurs, 2/16: Sports Day
Fri, 2/17: Black Out Friday
Friday, February 17th: Black History Month Community Dialogue
Monday, February 20th: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day Holiday
Week 27 (3/13 – 3/16): Student Led Conferences (minimum days)
Friday, March 17th: NO SCHOOL – Staff Development
Week 22 Highlight: 9th Grade Food Truck Field Trip
Dear Parents/Guardians and Students of the Class of 2023,
We’d like to inform you about an exciting opportunity for the senior class. Your student will be a part of the next class of Da Vinci graduates to experience Senior Projects. This student-driven project will give Da Vinci Designers the opportunity to explore a project topic of their choosing, and each student will design a project meant to address a need of the Da Vinci Schools or of our local community. Working in a group, students will collect research, take action through fieldwork and consult with experts or target groups off campus. Each group will be assigned an advisor to guide them through the project design process, and through a series of POLs. The project will culminate in an exhibition with students explaining their research and solutions that they have created in response to their topic.
To learn more about the Senior Project process, you can access the full letter shared with students here: Senior Project Family Letter
We know that you likely have several questions about the senior project experience. You are invited to attend an informational meeting via Zoom. Please use the link below to join us.
To attend the parent information webinar on Thursday, February 23rd at 6:30 pm, please use this link: https://zoom.us/j/97930487772
Happy February! We are kicking this month off with multiple celebrations.
First, we started this week celebrating Black History Month! Students from our BSU started a month long celebration by decorating the atrium staircase at DVD. They are also working on a collaborative mural that will be displayed on the first floor. And, they are hard at work preparing for our annual Black History Month community dialogue assembly. We look forward to recognizing the achievements of Black Americans this month in our classes and curriculum, too.
Next week, we are celebrating National School Counseling Week! Not only is this an opportunity for us to celebrate our amazing school counseling team, but it is also an opportunity to engage our students in a week of activities focused on promoting mental health, college readiness, and socioemotional learning. Take advantage of the spirit of recognizing the importance of school counseling this week, and consider sending a message of support or gratitude to our great team of counselors!
See the Week 22 Bell Schedule below, as well as a progress report update, important Senior updates, and upcoming events:
Academic Progress Report: Grades Updated Today via PowerSchool
Parent/Guardians: Friday, 2/3 is the first “Progress Report” grade update for semester 2. What that means is that during staff development today, teachers for all core classes have updated the “Final Grade” for students in both Canvas and PowerSchool. We encourage all parents/guardians to log in to PowerSchool to see your student’s current academic progress. If there are questions about your student’s progress, please encourage your student to connect with their teachers before/after classes, or you may always reach out directly to teachers with an email.
To log in to PowerSchool: See the link under the Resources section on the blog. And, if you have trouble accessing PowerSchool or Canvas, please reach out to the Front Office at DVD.
Senior Activities Updates:
Attention 12th Grade Students and Families: As we near the end of your final semester with us at Da Vinci Design, we look forward to celebrating you with so many great events! Dates for Graduation ceremony, Prom, and Disneyland Grad Nite can be found at the link below!
In the past week, the Senior teaching team has handed out both a Senior Activities overview, as well as a Senior Contract which reiterates important academic and behavior reminders for Seniors.
Seniors should have shared both the contract and the info sheet with you – see here for a digital copy of the activities sheet.
Do you have questions about any of these events? Please reach out to the contact person listed for each Senior activity or event on the Senior Activities info page.
Tomorrow, Wednesday February 1st, please join us for our monthly Coffee with Admin meeting! These monthly check-ins are to share important school updates and to hear from our DVD parent/guardian community. These meetings are held via Zoom so that you can attend from anywhere.
Two Sessions: 8am & 5pm, via Zoom – all parents welcome!
Agenda: 1) School Updates, 2) Survey Results/Information, 3) Community Schools Grant Ideas, 4) Parent Q&A
This week, we got back to our new normal for this semester as students started attending their new seminars for the Spring semester. Students this semester will engage in a whole range of fun, fitness and academic seminars: from puppet making and ceramics in the Fab Lab, to weightlifting in the CrossFit box, and even using fondant and icing to craft food sculptures in a student-led seminar called “Fakery”!
Speaking of great opportunities for students, we wanted to shout out the great internship and scholarship opportunities announced regularly by our Director of Real World Learning. Keep you eyes open for regular posts to the DVD blog here for our Real World Learning updates and announcements. On this week’s blog post, there is mention of so much great stuff, including a internship-scholarship opportunities through Warner Bros., summer programs at FIDM, and opportunities for students interested it STEM.
See below for the Week 21 bell schedule:
Key Dates and Upcoming Events:
Wednesday, February 1st: Coffee w/ Admin Parent Session (Two Sessions: 8am & 5pm, via Zoom – all parents welcome!)
Friday, February 3rd: NO SCHOOL – Staff Development Day
Monday, February 20th: NO SCHOOL – President’s Day Holiday
We hope you had a great week as we get back into the swing of Semester 2! Next week, things get back to normal as we start seminars back up again. Students had a chance to sign up for seminars this last week and are ready to go!
Now that second semester schedules are finalized, PowerSchool access is open again for students and families. For easy access, look for the “PowerSchool” link in the Resources section on the right hand side of the DVD Blog home page.
See the bell schedule for Week 20 here:
Key Dates and Upcoming Events:
Monday & Tuesday (1/23 & 1/24): Seminars begin!
Wednesday, February 1st: Coffee w/ Admin Parent Session (Two Sessions: 8am & 5pm, via Zoom – all parents welcome!)
Friday, February 3rd: NO SCHOOL – Staff Development Day
