Greetings DVIA Families!
A Few Words From Our Principal
A few days ago I was visiting classrooms and stumbled upon an amazing moment that I hope to describe with adequate words. The core teacher was leading a math lesson in which students were exploring different ways to determine the perimeter of a shape she drew on over-sized graph paper. Students approached the board and used the document camera to share how they determined the perimeter. There were varying answers. There were varying justifications. And yet, despite the variety of ways students solved the problem and answers given, students patiently listened to each other's ideas, helped each other, re-explained their thinking behind the math, and supported each other. A second teacher who was there to provide additional math support began asking probing questions about how answers and methods of determining answers were different from each other. Throughout the entire process, which took a solid 15 minutes, not a single student was chastised or questioned in a negative way. No one expressed boredom or exasperation at the time dedicated to uncovering the answer. It was truly a beautiful collaborative learning moment...an experience so rare in public schools today.
I also lso want to share that YAY, Nicole (founding principal of DVIA) had her baby this week! David Tempel Assisi was born on Monday and mommy, daddy and baby are all doing well. I'll let you know when she plans to visit us...she promised she would so I'll hold her to that.
Lastly, congratulations to Core 3 students as they shared their "Hidden Links" project with classmates and families in a mini-Exhibition in Darlene and Melissa's classrooms. Your hard work showed!
Tyler's Two Cents!
As I write this, I am still recovering from a very long, but extremely enjoyable week at AstroCamp. Our time at camp included: flying down ziplines, crawling through mazes, receiving instruction from experts in astronomy and physics, eating delicious food, bonding with kids, and lots of fun. I am very appreciative to the families that contributed financially to make camp a reality for our kids and for our Core 4 and 5 parents entrusting us with them.
I really do love spending time with our DVIA students; they are funny, creative, smart, and I almost always walk away from my interactions with your kids just beaming with excitement thinking about their futures.
In other news, Jumpstart II was a huge success!
I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to facilitate the parent panel on curriculum. It was a privilege to not only listen to the great activities going on at home from several of our families, but also to help families demystify the seemingly overwhelming task of educating their children. If you are a family that feels like you still need some "demystifying" about educating your kids, stay connected and reach out as we are making a very concerted effort to offer workshops, meetings, and resources to support you.
That's it for now, happy October!!
Shout out:
We want to make a special shout out to Diana, the grandmother of one of our students, and an amazing DVIA supporter. Diana spends a part of each Friday cleaning our chicken coop! Yep, you read that right. For the love of our school and our feathered friends, Diana brings her own coop cleanin' gear and then scrapes and scrubs to the tune of our chicken ladies clucking in happiness. Thanks Diana for all of your help!
Here's what you need to know this week:
Picture Day is Coming Up!
Picture Day is next week on Oct. 10th & 11th. Pictures are for students and parent educator ID's. Details will come soon.
Student-Led Conferences - NO ON-SITE SCHOOL
SLCs will take place on Wednesday, October 16th and Thursday, October 17th. Your teachers will provide specific details about your family's participation. There is NO SCHOOL on Thursday the 17th so that teachers have time to meet with all families (next semester SLCs take place on a Tuesday and Wednesday). Both the 16th and 17th are considered homeschool days and Enrichment classes will still take place on both of those days.
