Hello da Vinci Families,

I hope your weekend has been fun for you. This week is a short week (no school for students Friday), but it will be packed with fun for our students. Starting with Monday's special schedule, in order to accommodate our Spooky Talent Show. In addition to our Talent Show, we are showing da Vinci school pride with our Spirit Week. To kick off Spirit Week, students and staff will be wearing their Halloween costumes. Staff have coordinated our costumes; while students will wear the costume of their choice. Fun! Fun! Fun (if you haven't guessed it, I LOVE this time of year - the whole last quarter of the year is my favorite - and yes, my Christmas tree will be up by next Sunday)! At any rate, there's a reminder about costumes below.

Reminder about Costumes

Halloween costumes need to align to the PPS Dress Code; this means, no weapons or replica weapons, no masks, no drug culture type costumes, etc. In addition, it is important to make sure costumes are culturally sensitive and respectful (check out this PBS article on cultural appropriated costumes).

Grades

Teachers will be entering grades, come Friday. Please be sure to check your student's Canvas portal, so that there aren't any surprises. Should you have questions about your students progress, please connect directly with teachers. Although, teachers have likely stopped accepting late work (or will stop very shortly), it is not too late to sit down with your student and help them organize themselves and prepare for next quarter. Now is a good time to start helping your student with cleaning/organizing their binders and backpacks (but be sure not to throw away current assignments).

Have a spooktacular week!

Principal Davis

PS -

Don't forget da Vinci's Fall Festival of Shakespeare is coming up. Grab your tickets now - we anticipate a full house each night.

Happy Halloween! Costumes may not include weapons of any sort. Please, no masks covering the head and face; we need to be able to recognize students. Keep it Safe, Fair, and Friendly.

Please note that all students will be auditorium for the Spooky Talent Show for the last hour of the day. If you need to pick up your student early, please make arrangements with the front office before noon. We cannot easily locate students during an assembly.

10/31- Monday - Halloween Costumes (and the Spooky Talent Show at the end of the day with a one hour assembly schedule).

11/1- Tuesday - Pajama Day

11/2- Wednesday - Wear Pink (October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!)

11/3- Thursday - Throwback Thursday10/31 (and last day of Quarter 1)

11/4- Friday- No School- planning and grading day for teachers.

Our Fall Drama production opens November 9th! We are pleased to present two shows in collaboration with Portland Playhouse. Your students have been working so hard for weeks, every night after school. Come see the shows!

You can now purchase tickets on SchoolPay. Tickets are $10 each (or pay what you can).

Please purchase tickets for the show you plan to attend and keep your receipt for your ticket at the door. You can also pay cash at the door.

Here are the SchoolPay links for each show:

November 9th

November 10th

November 17th

November 18th

November 19th

Volunteers Needed! If you can help out for one or more of the shows, please sign up HERE. There are slots for backstage supervision and front of house for each show. If you volunteer for a show, you can get two tickets to see the show on a separate night.

Our da Vinci Foundation operates under the umbrella of The Fund for Portland Public Schools. Please consider a gift to a help us maintain our staffing next year. Fall is a great time to set up a recurring donation of any amount that will add up by next spring when these funds are critical.

Three ways to donate:

1) Donate directly through The Fund for Portland Public Schools. Use the QR Code or go HERE and select “da Vinci Arts MS";

2) Become a MONTHLY donor ($10, $20, $50 a month);

3 Make a one time donation by mail, write a check to The da Vinci Foundation and mail to:

The da Vinci Foundation (Attention: Shakyla Mosley), 2508 NE Everett St., Portland, OR 97232

• 10/31- Spooky Talent Show, special schedule
  
• 10/31 - 11/4- Spirit Week
• 11/ 9 & 10, 17 & 18- Fall Festival of Shakespeare shows at 6:30 PM
• 11/18- Fun for the Arts, Fundraiser/Dance Party
• 11/19- Fall Festival of Shakespear with da Vinci and BES students at da Vinci, 2:00 PM Matinee
• 11/21 & 22- Conferences, no classes for students, signup opens Sunday
• 11/23 - 25- Thanksgiving Holiday Vacation, no school

On November 18th, all students will be participating in our Young Audiences fundraiser. Our goal is $10,000, which about $23 per student. We know some can give more and some cannot give at this time, but all students will participate in this fun dance party with multiple options to dance, run laps or play games. The monies raised through Young Audiences are an important part of how we enrich our Arts Education program at da Vinci. This is how we cover guest artists including bringing in directors from Portland Playhouse, musical artists to perform at our recent Latin Heritage Assembly, guest choreographers, and more.

There are two ways you can help with this fundraiser:

1. Give directly on our team page HERE.

2. Help your student set up their own fundraising platfrom and reach out to friends and family beyond our da Vinci community to help us raise funds. HERE is the page to register and set up your own fundraising page that can be shared.

Conferences occur on November 21 - 22nd. This year da Vinci will have a hybrid conference schedule and offer both in person and virtual conferences. Monday conference offerings will be in person; while Tuesday's conference schedule will be mostly virtual. The signup will be shared at 10 AM on Sunday, November 6th. You will need to book your 10 minute appointments with teachers online using MyConferenceTime.

This is the last week that the PTSA is running two of the fundraisers so be sure and order so you don’t miss out on these opportunities!

Pie Sales deadline is November 2nd!: This is the last chance to order these delicious pies for a rainy upcoming day. Each 9 inch pie is $20 and is available in pumpkin, apple, cherry and marionberry and come frozen so they are ready for you anytime. Ordering is available HERE or in person at da Vinci this week on 11/1 and 11/2 from 3:00-4:00. Pie pick up will be on November 16th and 17th from 3:00-4:00.

Poinsettia Sales deadline is November 6th!: This is the last chance to order these gorgeous poinsettias! There are two sizes to choose from; (6” and 8”) and available in red, pink or white. Order now HERE or in person this week at da Vinci 11/1 and 11/2 from 3:00-4:00. Poinsettias can be picked up on November 29th and 30th from 3:00-4:00.

The da Vinci Arts Fair Student Logo Reveal!
Thank you to all of our da Vinci student Artists for your submissions to create a new logo for the Arts Fair this year. The da Vinci student body voted on the submissions last Friday through their PPS email and we want to congratulate Eva Armstrong in Grade 6 for being the winner of the da Vinci Arts Fair logo contest! Her logo will be used in the Arts Fair Marketing materials and the PTSA will be selling Swag featuring the logo at the Arts Fair on Saturday, December 3rd from 10am – 2pm.

The da Vinci Arts Fair student applications are OPEN until November 9th!
We need our da Vinci student artists for the Arts Fair! The student applications to be a vendor for the Arts Fair are available so sign up today!

How do students participate?

· Sign up with this link LINK by Nov 9th.

· Think about what you want to sell.

· Make some art or craft!

· Attend an info session at lunch in November. Dates TBD.

· Save the date; Dec 3rd to be at da Vinci from 9:30-2:45.

· Alumni who are still enrolled in high school can also participate (spread the word!).

Agreements-

· Students must stay for the entire time (9:30-2:45).

· Students will collect and track their own sales. 30% of their sales will go to the da Vinci PTSA and students earn 70% of their sales.

· Each student will be provided a 3 ft by 3 ft table space to display artwork. Please think about how to display your work. You can restock your tabletop throughout the event.

· Students will be paid within 30 days of the event

Student Vendor Questions- Please email Michelle Chachka at mchachka@pps.net.

For general Arts Fair questions, please email davinciartsfairlove@gmail.com. Please note student PPS emails do not send out of network, so emailing from a non PPS email is best.

The da Vinci Arts Fair needs VOLUNTEERS!

VOLUNTEERS are needed in many ways for the Arts Fair. Here is a list of ways that we need help. Please click HERE to sign up or click the button below.

- Student Liaison

- Logistics

- Publicity

- Set up (Friday and Saturday) and breakdown (Saturday)

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.