Greetings Connect TK-8 Families,

I want to begin by acknowledging that many of you have read the message from Michelle sharing personal news about her family. As someone who has loved Michelle and her family for over 10 years, I know this news is difficult to hear--there is nothing that can be said that makes news like this any easier to process or accept. Michelle has taken care of our community and all of our families diligently for as long as we've known her, and your outpouring of love and support is the just right first step in this new opportunity for us to take care of her. If you'd like to send the family a video message, you can do so in this community flipgrid. Feel free to get creative and be lighthearted--Michelle and her family love to laugh! Please also know that you do not need to be afraid to reach out to Michelle--if you are called to reach out to her individually, please feel free to do so. Many of you have also asked about additional ways we can support her family during this time. Michelle will let us know when that feels like a helpful next step! The strength and love of our community has never been more apparent than it is right now, and for that, I am incredibly grateful--I am confident that I can speak for Michelle when I say I know she feels the same.

I also want to celebrate each student and family for participating in Exhibition last week! This pandemic has forced us to challenge our routines and ideals, and has brought upon a slew of hardships amongst our community. It has lasted longer than anyone could have imagined, and we have several miles left to run in this marathon. Regardless, I have seen our community create beautiful spaces for our students to share their knowledge and celebrate their learning. I witnessed kindergartners and 14-year-olds alike shine in sharing what they've learned, and I saw adults in our community engage with each presenter as if they were family. Thank you for participating in this special event to honor our children. We can, and will continue to do, hard things.

As we head into a much deserved winter break, we hope that we can see you and celebrate our community one last time, at our upcoming Drive-by Event, and/or our FAN Movie Night! Details for both events are below.

With Gratitude,

Kaitlin

In an email from our CEO, Dr. Matthew Wunder, we will continue Remote Learning through Spring Break (4/5/21-4/9/21). Please see the e-mail sent on 12/10/20

Join us on Wednesday afternoon to drive thru the Connect parking lot (following our drop off and pick up route--entering the parking lot southbound and exiting southbound) to pick up your student's photo ID, see our staff members and maybe even experience a few fun winter/holiday surprises, as well! Many of you have also been asking how you might share a holiday or end of semester gift with your teacher/staff members. If you are planning to share a card or gift with your teacher, we can collect them at this event! We hope to see you before we say goodbye for Winter Break!

We made a mistake on our last newsletter--there is a NEW link to register! If you registered at the old link, we apologize! Everyone needs to register HERE . Help us stay organized by having this document ready to show on your dashboard/out your window.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!: FAN’s DV Connect Winter Sing-a-Long, Story Time and Movie Night!❄️ 🎶 📖 ⛄️🍿  

Please join us for a cozy night at home on Zoom celebrating together with some winter songs (Anyone Wanna Build a Snowman?), a special story read by our very own Principal Kaitlin, and a holiday movie/musical titled Jingle Jangle!❄️ We recognize that this is the last night of Hanukkah, and for any families who are celebrating, we would love to hear how you celebrate during our read-aloud!

This celebration will be on Friday, December 18th, and will start at 6 :00 pm in this Zoom Room:

Grab your popcorn, your PJs, your hot cocoa, and cozy up for this celebratory night meant for the whole family!❄❤☃️☕📖🎶🍿

*You will need to sign up for Netflix teleparty on your laptop/desktop computer before our Zoom call to access the Netflix Teleparties(Netflix website is NOT accessible on our DV Connect chrome books)**

1. Install Teleparty by clicking the "Install Teleparty" button HERE and follow installation instructions

2. Pin Teleparty to Chrome Toolbar

After installing Teleparty, you should see the "Tp" button next to your address bar. If you do not see the "TP" button, click on the puzzle icon located next to the address bar and pin the "Tp" button to your Chrome toolbar. Be sure to click on that TP puzzle piece in the top right corner in order to access the chat room for the Netflix teleparty!

*If you have any problems accessing the Netflix teleparties, the Zoom call will be open and you can go there for any support needed**

Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 13 @ 4:00pm HERE

If you missed our meeting on the 2nd, you can watch the recorded meeting HERE (Passcode: @6fBkWE?) and you can view the slide deck on our parent resource site >FAN.

We look forward to continuing to build out our FAN experience and connecting our community with you! Thank you to everyone who attended and shared valuable ideas at our meeting on the 2nd!

In the meantime, please share your hopes and dreams for FAN in this short SURVEY

We are excited to share our virtual Book Fair with Barefoot Books this winter and holiday season! Barefoot Books are incredible additions to any library! They often feature diverse content, gorgeous illustrations, and magical stories sure to engage readers of all ages! Please see THIS FLYER for more details on how to take advantage of our virtual book fair and support DV Connect at the same time!

The Book Fair is open NOW and runs through December 18th! Visit the Book Fair at THIS LINK (do not click link in the flyer)

We realize that the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with winter days and the holiday season may be impacting our families and community in a variety of ways. If you, your family, or someone you know is struggling, please reach out for support. You can also visit the Da Vinci Families Connected tab on our Parent Resource Site (click HERE) or go to www.dvconnectresources.org (pw is DVConnect2021)>Resources from Da Vinci Connect >Da Vinci Schools Families Connected.

This partnership between Da VInci Schools and Beach Cities Health District provides a multitude of resources and support for students and their families. Feel free to share with anyone in your community who may benefit from this support.

We've entered parent email addresses to our K-8 and High School blog so you should now receive blog emails periodically (we've sent out 2 to each group so far). They arrive in your inbox like an email from "Da Vinci Connect" and the subject line is "Da Vinci Connect Updates" (K-8) and "Da VInci Connect High School Updates" (HS).

If you aren't receiving them, check your spam/clutter/junkmail box and if there's nothing there, try subscribing directly on our blog site (you can check back here periodically as well). Connect HS Blog found HERE and Connect K-8 Blog found HERE.