Hello Families,

To continue celebrating AAPI Heritage month, we are linking an interactive story read aloud from one of our favorite stories, Eyes That Speak to the Stars by Johanna Ho, which you may have also seen at our Book Fair this week!

May is also Mental Health Awareness month! In addition to the wealth of information found at South Bay Connected (blurb below), we wanted to share with you this wonderful resource bank from our friends at Sesame Street!

We want to say a huge THANK YOU to Theresa, our parent volunteers, and the staff at the Del Aire Community Center for the work, dedication, and time spent hosting our Scholastic Book Fair! We are so grateful for the energy everyone poured into this event to celebrate the joy of reading! Funds raised will be used by teachers to continue expanding and diversifying their classroom libraries.

State testing is wrapping up! Students are completing their tests ahead of schedule--you can view our updated tentative schedule HERE. We appreciate everyone's hard work in making sure that testing runs as effectively and efficiently as possible, while maintaining a positive environment for students! If your child needs to make up tests past this week's schedule, our staff will reach out to you to coordinate make up testing dates.

We also want to let you know that our calendars have been board approved! We will share a more comprehensive calendar soon, but in the meantime, save the date for August 14th as our first day of the 23-24 school year! As has been in the past, that first week will be a homeschooling week with varies opportunities to re-connect on campus before classes resume the following week.

Finally, we'd like to ask that you take a few moments to let us know how we're doing! Please spend a few thoughtful minutes completing the Da Vinci Schools Spring Parent Survey. We look through each response and use this data to inform our decision making across sites and org-wide!

Take Good Care,

Kaitlin (she/her) and Sage (he/him)

Annual Rhythm Event: Talent Showcase!

The evening of Friday May 19 | Time: 5:00-7:00pm

Black Box Theater @ 201 N. Douglas

Student offerings may include Singing, Dancing, Comedy, Visual Art, Fine Arts & Crafts, & Musicians demonstrating the mastery of their chosen instruments!

Student Participants sign up HERE !!

Guests and Audience Members RSVP HERE!!

**Attention Core 5 Families**:

The stage is being prepped and we are eager to get the planning started with you and your talented students. We are looking for 5-6 committed parents to help our Activities Coordinator Jahmal Durham in executing a few specific tasks to ensure that the Talent Showcase will be successful for ALL of our K8 students.

Invitation to visual and digital artists, painters, and creators of fine arts:

We are planning to have a space inside of the event to exhibit and highlight these offerings from our students. Please plan to use the Student-participation Sign-up genius in the next weekly newsletter.

For questions, please email jdurham@davincischools.org for further details.

Garden Club on Tues/Thurs Mornings!

We will be meeting on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the blacktop garden area from 8:45 to 9:10 am.  Please use the appropriate sign-in sheets located in the front office. Thankfully, we're making a great amount of progress and we can see the GROWING excitement from our students who visit the garden space on a regular basis. The next phase of the project includes creating opportunities for our "Student Garden Ambassadors". This initiative could include creating a 'Homeschool' learning opportunity for a community service activity.  Parents who are interested in learning more about the project objectives or joining the Garden Club committee, we will be posting updates and other invitations to support the project in the weekly newsletter. *If you are continuing with us or are a new family wanting to expand your gardening experience, please click HERE to complete a short survey. For questions and comments email jdurham@davincischools.org

Variety Kids4Kids Concert4ACause

Saturday May 6 3-5pm

Variety Kids4Kids is a small group of kids (many from Da Vinci Connect!) ranging from ages 12 to 17 who started this charity in August 2020 to empower kids to help other kids in need. Variety Kids4Kids helps other kids with art supplies, school supplies, clothing, food, athletic supplies, books, and tutoring. 

The goal of this event is to raise funds to continue their important and life-changing mission. Based on compassion, kindness, and love, their goal is to better, even change the lives of children by inspiring kids to help other kids. 

Tickets on sale now  https://varietysocal.org/project/kids4kids-concert-4-a-cause

Great Music & Entertainment, Raffle, Fun for the Whole Family! Featuring Performance by American Idol Finalist Rocky Peter!

Raffle items include:

Universal Studio tickets

Warner Bros Studio VIP

Studio tour passes

A Disney Basket with

various themed movie merch

Mario Bros basket merch

Are You There God? It's Me,

Margaret basket merch

Kate Spade Purse

Adult wine basket

And more...

Through fundraisers like this concert, this charity has already supplied children with grab and go breakfasts, donated over 100 boxes of new clothes, school supplies, new shoes, Halloween costumes and donated money to small organizations that share their same mission of supporting other kids.

For more information about Variety Kids4Kids please visit our website at 

https://varietysocal.org/about/kids-4-kids/ or follow us on lnstagram 

@varietykids4kids. 

Parent Center at Da Vinci Connect!

•  Use this code (w3yytj2) to access all content all year!
• Check out the 2022-23 Supplemental Curriculum Grid by Grade Level, login details, Office Hours Sign Ups, and more! If you believe you need access to curriculum, please email Theresa with your specific request.
• Click this link – be sure to log in using your student’s DV Connect email address!

Office Hours for 1:1 Meetings with Theresa

• Sign up for a meeting to discuss your homeschool needs, hopes & dreams! E-mail Theresa to sign up for a time and date!

CURRICULUM SPOTLIGHT: LEXIA

TK-5^th Grade Students Have Access to Lexia Core5

Lexia Core5 Reading is an adaptive blended learning program that supports the development of literacy skills for students of all abilities, helping them make that critical shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

6^th-8^th Grade Students Have Access to Lexia Power Up

Lexia PowerUp Literacy is a computer-based program that adapts instruction to the specific needs of adolescent learners. The activities in PowerUp support and build on your English Language Arts curriculum, focusing on developing reading skills in three areas: word study, grammar, and comprehension.

As a one-time bonus we are now able to offer every student at DV Connect access to these Lexia Learning products. Watch your email inbox for instructions on how to access your teacher and student accounts. If you have trouble, reach out to Theresa at tleone@davincischools.org

Mr. Mason's Virtual Art Classes Are Back!

Every Wednesday 2-3pm on ZOOM!

https://zoom.us/j/4722291011

Live ZOOM Art Class with Mr. Mason. Every Wednesday 2-3pm.

Supply suggestions in the Google Classroom:

https://classroom.google.com/u/0/c/NTQ5ODk5MTQzNzZa

Remember new art project videos are uploaded twice a week.

You can find over 140 pre-recorded art videos to do anytime.

Classroom.google.com > + (join code: 3vs27ai

Daily Virtual Read Alouds are back!

M-F 3:00pm

Join Nancy each day at 3:00pm on zoom for a virtual read aloud! This invitation is for all ages, regardless of cohort or program! You can join her on zoom HERE

Mental Health Support for Families!

We recognize that Winter can bring a variety of different feelings to navigate. We want to make sure that our families are connected to the resources they need. Please visit South Bay Connected to access a variety of resources to support families of all ages.