Dragon Tales

I took the picture above last Thursday as a group of students and I walked to our meeting location to participate in the Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. The rainbow felt like a fitting recognition of the journey and accomplishments of Ruby Bridges in the desegregation of schools.

Last Thursday was a special day for many reasons. The 20+ students and staff who participated in our walk to honor Ruby Bridges had the opportunity to participate in a collective action that taught them about Ruby's past and her resiliency. We also had approximately 65 students in our Fall Festival of Shakespeare attend a field trip to the Winningstad Theater in preparation for their weekend performance there. Lastly, we took our 8th graders to see the Grant High School production of Big Love. Our students were spectacular audience members. It was also special to see a few former da Vinci alum on stage in central roles.

Please make sure to check in with your students this weekend to see what work they have coming up this next week. It is common for teachers to have assessments or larger assignments due before a long break. Please sit with them and ask them to log into Canvas to show you their grades and upcoming assignments.

As a reminder, we have an early release on Wednesday, November 20th. Students will be dismissed at 1:45pm and we will have no after school clubs or activities that day, as all staff will be in a professional development meeting starting at 2pm.

In-Person Options:

• There will be two in-person options for families this year. These conferences will be 5-7 minutes in length, which is a bit shorter than the virtual option, but will allow families to meet face-to-face with their student's teachers and will be held in your student's classrooms.
• The first session will be Thursday, November 21st from 5-8pm. The second session will be Monday, November 25th from 8:15am-8:10pm (with a 40-minute pause for lunch in the middle of the day).
• No sign up needed for the in-person conferences.

Virtual Option:

Virtual conferences will be Tuesday, Nov 26th from 8:20 am - 4:10 pm. You can find instructions and information about signing up by using this link for MyConference Time.

We have asked all teachers to have their students complete this Student Reflection for Family Conferences form. When you attend conferences, your student's teachers will have this form and it can be used as one point of data for your conversation.

While we are not sending this form home with students, I strongly encourage families to open/print this form off and have a conversation with your student prior to attending conferences to see what they say about their classes.

The PTSA (and our teachers) need your help in order to provide much needed sustenance for our teachers during their two long work days!

The first date help is needed is approaching next Thursday, and many food/beverage items requested can be brought into school ahead of time with your student. This small gesture goes a long way in letting our teachers know we appreciate them.

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/4090F45A5A82FAAFF2-52793615-feed

The show generates a lot of dirty costumes! We need help getting all the costumes washed and would be grateful for your help!

Bags of laundry can be picked up 11/19 from 6-6:30pm or on 11/20 during the school day in the main office. They NEED to be back by 4:15pm on 11/21 so students can put them away. Please sign up at this link

Our Winter Art Show opens Nov. 19th from 4:30-5:30 pm in the school gallery. Ceramics, Visual Art, and Textile students will be showing new work and Creative Writing Students will be doing live readings! If you can't make the opening, make sure to stop by the school gallery and see what all of our artistic classes have been up to.

Students who want to access their online learning platforms from home can do so by going to my.pps.net. This takes them to their PPS homepage that has all their school apps, including Canvas, StudentVue, gmail, and all content for ELA, Math and Social Studies classes.

The Annual Arts Fair is back, and students can sign up to vend now!

What do students need to know?

Students are expected to be at the event the entire day, including set up and check out. Students will track their sales and staff their tables. Students donate 30% of their sales. Money from this fundraiser covers the costs of the event, and supports the arts programming at da Vinci.

Sign up by sending an email to: davinciartsfairlove@gmail.com

(signups close November 23).

What do parents need to know?

This event is run entirely by volunteers and the PTSA needs a lot of hands to make the Arts Fair successful! Please consider signing up for a 2 hr shift during the event. Be on the lookout for a signup genius in the coming days.

The PTSA needs your support in spreading the word about our upcoming Art Fair. Here's information on how your can support this work and a message you can use:

Here’s how you can support:

• Share the message below with friends, family, and anyone who loves art *using template below.

• Use the attached images to include in your emails or share on social media.

• Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, RSVP to our event, and mark yourself as "attending."

Use this message to spread the word (copy and paste):

Hi community,

The annual da Vinci Arts Fair team is thrilled to invite you to our magical, treasure-filled event!

When: December 7, 2024, 10 AM - 4 PM
Where: 2508 NE Everett Street, Portland, OR

Art is at the heart of da Vinci Middle School, where students begin mastering their creative skills. This event showcases not only their talents but also those of incredible local Portland artists, offering a fine array of gifts and treasures.

Discover paintings, drawings, prints, woodwork, textiles, ceramics, and more! Enjoy refreshments, food carts, live music, and best of all—FREE ADMISSION!

Help us celebrate da Vinci Middle School's 16th Annual Arts Fair and support the arts at Portland’s only arts-focused middle school.

Please follow us on FB & Instagram.

Check out our event here and let people know you're coming!!

See you there!

We are excited to have a schoolwide canned food drive starting the week after Fall Break. Collections will be brought to 1st Period classes and then donated to the Oregon Food Bank. The 1st period class that collects the most items will win a donut party. We will also be announcing a schoolwide goal for items collected with a schoolwide reward for meeting that goal.

da Vinci's new student and family information night is scheduled for December 4th from 6-7:30pm. We have shared this flier with PPS elementary schools and have information on our website as well. We would appreciate our current families passing along this information to family and friends as well.

We encourage our 8th grade families to visit this website to learn about the different information nights high schools across PPS are holding in the coming month.

Our amazing Leo Leaders raised enough funds from their Halloween Candy Sale to meet their goal of raising enough money to support a school need. The need they landed on was to raise funds to purchase large fans to help cool the gym on hot days. I'm proud to say that they met that goal this year and two large fans will be delivered in the coming weeks.

Speech and Debate Club will be taking place every Tuesday after school in Rm 204 from 4:15-5:15 pm. Join da Vinci alums, Bennie and Quinley, who led the debate program here last year. Use this Google form to sign up. The fee to participate is $50. There is only space for 25 students, but a waitlist will be created and there will be an option to sign up again in February.