dV Weekly Newsletter, Dragon Tales

Hello da Vinci Community,

Ohhh, Middle School ... Last week there were tears of joy and overwhelming emotions after the Masters Drama Ensemble Showcase (it was wonderful); Dance students were privileged and thrilled to attend the dress rehearsal of the Jefferson Dance Spring Concert (amazing!); Spirit Week brought so much creativity and laughter; and many students met the Earth Week Pencil Challenge. However, there was some frustrating and unwelcome behavior as well. Such behaviors often escalate in the spring and we are asking all families for cooperation and support in following policies and expectations.

1. Homemade baked goods, vapes, drugs, knives or weapons of any kind are not allowed at school.

2. Cell phones are to be turned off and placed in lockers all day. Students should not have earbuds, headphones or other personal electronics out during the school day.

3. Backpacks are to be stored in lockers all day and lockers should be locked at all times. Feel free to come into the building and help clean out your student's locker and make sure they have a good working lock. We have extras if your student needs one. All lockers without a lock are being zip-tied.

4. We are not immune to inappropriate social media usage at school in the bathrooms, during lunch and sometimes behind teachers' backs. This can cause harm. Please use this resource to help monitor and manage your child's cell phones: texts, social media, emails, any platform or apps. Guide them toward civility and kindness.

Starting Monday we will implement new structures in an effort to get students to class on time during the day and not out of class without permission. There will be more frequent hall sweeps and teachers may lock their doors when the bell rings (between 2nd and 7th periods). Students will need to wait to be let in and marked tardy. We will proceed with disciplinary action for students who are chronically tardy and not in class when they should be. Please review your student's attendance on ParentVue so you are aware of any such patterns.

On a brighter subject, our PTSA leadership group has been working so hard to build our community and support teachers and students. The Online Auction is now open and we invite you all to take a look and bid or make a one-time donation to support their budget. See below on other needs and ways to support. On Monday there is a Dine Out event. On Wednesday there is a general meeting, and on Thursday, we need some volunteers to represent da Vinci at the Clothing Closet. This is a very rewarding volulunteer job if you have time. Coming up soon is Teacher Appreciation Week and they are looking for some folks to help plan for showing some love for our hard-working Teachers. I hope you will find a way to get involved. It does take a village!

Thank you and have a good week!

The 2023-24 Calendar has been released. Check HERE to plan ahead for next year.

April 26th, "No One Eats Alone" extended lunch, volunteers welcome, special schedule

May 2nd- Choir Field Trip, Middle School Choir Festival at Jackson MS

May 3rd, White Bird, All school field trip- please return forms ASAP, special schedule

May 17th - Syttende Mai Parade (both beginning and advanced bands, after school

May 19 & 20- Spring Dance Concert , 7 PM on the 19th and 2 PM on the 20th

May 25th- Spring Music Concert, 7 PM

May 26th- Student Dance 3:45 - 5:15 PM (new date)

May 29th- Memorial Day. No school

June 7th- 8th Grade Trip

June 8th- 8th Grade Promotion at Grant High School, 6 PM

June 14th- NEW LAST DAY OF SCHOOL- An extra day was added to make up for the snow days.

Last Wednesday we held an information session for 8th graders.

In case your student is not handing over the permission forms, here's what you need to know:

Slideshow of topics covered

Permission forms and contract

Please review the contract and permission formss with your student, sign and return asap.

Wednesday we will have a special schedule and an extended lunch with activities planned by our student leaders. If you are available from 11:30 - 12:20, we'd love some extra adults on hand to supervise outside or in a few classrooms. If you have any questions, please email Sheli at sbryan@pps.net. Also note if you need to pick up your student during this time, please make plans early. It is hard to locate students during such activities and office staff may be busy helping out with lunch duty. If it is raining, we will postpone this event but the forecast looks good!

1. Students and Guardians, it's time to order your 2022-23 yearbooks! Please see the flyer. The suggested price for our yearbooks (to cover printing costs) is $15 (or a larger donation!). However, it is pay what you can and we will ensure every student will receive a yearbook. You can order via QR code on the flyer or via THIS LINK!

2. Students, please make sure we are using your preferred names in the yearbook by filling out THIS FORM. Thank you!

3. 8th Graders: please submit a baby photo and quote to be included in the yearbook by filling out THIS FORM (no need to re-submit if you have already). Baby photos and quotes are DUE by May 1st! Note, these will also be used in the Promotion slideshow and we really want every student featured.

If you have not yet seen this (take a look in those backpacks) you can print this form. We need the forms signed in order for your student to attend. We also have extras in the office. The trip is May 3rd.

We had to move the date for the Student Dance to May 26th and will be reaching out to the folks who have already signed up to see if they can still do so on the new date. The sign up site has been edited if you can help.

Our Annual Online Auction opened up last Friday, and we’re looking forward to a great fundraising event for our school. Head over to the AUCTION WEBSITE HERE and bid on great items. We also have items that have a buy now option, like some of our classes (fun Mother’s Day Jewelry Class, Burlesque Dance Class, and Beginning Crochet Class). There is a limited number of spots for each class, so get yours now before they’re gone! If bidding is not your thing, but you would still like to help da Vinci, you can make a CASH DONATION HERE.

Auction closes on May 7 at 8 pm!

Dine for da Vinci is tomorrow, Monday, April 24th between 3-10pm at Steeplejack at 2400 NE Broadway St. The PTSA will be receiving 10% of food and 15% of beer sales. Share with everyone you know to enjoy dinner in a great space while supporting both a local business and da Vinci! We hope to see you there!

Families, we need volunteers to help organize Teacher Appreciation Week (May 8-12). Please sign up as soon as possible. This group will be in charge of organizing things; we'll get another signup for donations and to request other help! Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F45A5A82FAAFF2-organizers

PTSA Meeting this Wednesday, April 26th!

Please join us this Wednesday, April 26th from 6:00-7:30 pm for our next da Vinci PTSA meeting both in person in the da Vinci Cafeteria and on Zoom. This year, dinner is provided for the in-person meeting, and we need RSVP’s to order food in advance.

We will be voting on a request to purchase iPads for Ms. Edin’s art class.

We’ll be going over all events happening through the end of the school year and will be welcoming any ideas for the next year. We want to hear from you, so don’t miss it!

Please encourage your students to join the meeting along with you. Meetings are so much more meaningful when our students are there to share their experiences and let us know what their needs are!. You can RSVP HERE to join so we can continue to build our community and support our teachers and students.

To connect to the PTSA meeting via Zoom, please click HERE.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for this week’s PTSA meeting, please email davinciptsa.president@gmail.com.

Each PPS school works shifts for the PPS Clothing Closet to provide items for families in our community. da Vinci Arts Middle School has a shift on April 27th at the Marshall Campus that we need 5-6 volunteers from 9:30am – 1:30pm to help students receive clothing and to help sort donations. You do not need to have a PPS clearance to volunteer for this as students will be with their parents/guardians. Please consider signing up for this volunteer opportunity.

April 21, 8am– May 7, 8pm – Annual Online Auction

April 24, 3-10pm – Dine for da Vinci at Steeplejack on Broadway

April 26, 6-7:30pm – PTSA General Meeting

April 27, 9:30-1:30 – PPS Clothing Closet @Marshall Campus

May 3, 3:15-4:00pm – da Vinci Store

May 7, 8pm – Online Auction ends

May 8 – 12: Teacher Appreciation Week

May 9, 10, 11, 3:00-4:00: Spring Plant Pickup

May 17, 6-7:30pm – PTSA General Meeting

May 19 or 20 – Spring Dance Concert flower sales (exact date and time TBD)

May 25 – Spring Music Concert flower sales (time TBD)

June 2 – Family Movie Night (time TBD)

Thank you to those who brought in your cans and bottles during the EarthWeek Give BottleDrop program! One particular family brought about 15 bags full of redeemables! We really appreciate everyone’s support during this drive. We will give you a total of what da Vinci made in a couple of weeks as numbers come in. Remember that you can continue to save your cans and bottles, place them in the blue bags we are supplying ( in the school office), and take them to your nearest BottleDrop Centers.

Grant Choir Preview Night: Monday, April 24th, 6:30 to 8:00 pm @Grant HS.

All Grant-bound 8th graders are invited and encouraged to attend the second annual Grant Choir Preview Night in the Grant Choir room (rm 281). Come check out all of the different spaces we have, warm up and sing with the Royal Blues, listen to a short performance, learn a piece of music with the high school choir, and enjoy FREE CUPCAKES during a short Q&A session with the students and the director, John Eisemann.

Even if you didn't forecast for choir, there's still plenty of time to enroll for next year. Check out the attached flyer for more information about why you should join the Grant Choir community as a freshman. Or for more information or questions, feel free to reach out to John Eisemann, program director, at jeisemann@pps.net. We can't wait to see you there and to welcome you into the choir!

Auditions for the Grant Gendrills Dance Team are May 15-17.

There are flyers and applications in the office.

Frankin invites folks to their PTSA Meeting

Hello Future Franklin Families! The Franklin High School PTSA would love to invite YOU to our final meeting of the year on Thursday, May 11th at 6:30pm at FHS. We will be welcoming all five of the candidates for the PPS School Board for a Q&A. This is about two weeks before the district-wide election, and we would love to include your questions so the whole community can get a clear view of each candidate. For planning purposes, please RSVP here to let us know if you can attend, and to submit a question or two ahead of time.

At that meeting we will also be voting in our 2023-2024 Board and if your student is heading to Franklin in the fall, we would love to add your name to the ballot. Being a part of the PTSA (on the board or as a member) is the best way to stay up-to-date with everything going on at the school. Our principal typically attends each meeting and is always eager to engage with parents. We have open board positions that do not require a lot of time (anywhere from 3-12 hours per month) and we would love to include your voice and your ideas in our work. If you would like to talk with a current board member about joining our team, please email presfhsptsa@gmail.com.

Please see the following instructions for setting up your own account to track assignments and monitor progress. If you have multiple children in PPS, you can set up one account and then add additional students with a separate code for each student.