Dear da Vinci Families,

Once again, we are asking parents and guardians to fill out the Successful Schools Survey if you haven't yet done so. The link is below. There is also a student link if your child did not yet do this during the Wednesday morning community lesson time. Your input will help inform our work on school climate and safety.

Speaking of safety, this week we received a phone call from a neighboring business owner concerned about students running across 28th Ave. at Everett St. before and after school on a regular basis. She had witnessed a near-miss and was shaken. There are signs and a crosswalk but she said she routinely sees students running without making sure cars see them to slow or stop. Please have a conversation with your student regarding safety before and after school. If there are any community members willing to volunteer as crossing guards or monitoring students before and after school, your assistance would be welcome. Also, remember that students who are not in a supervised rehearsal or activity after school should be leaving campus promptly. We do not have staff available to monitor students before and after school.

This week we continue with the next phase of forecasting for classes next year for our current 6th and 7th graders. Please ask your student if they completed the Google Form and review their choices (sent to their PPS email) so they can enter these in StudentVue this week.

This will be a short week with no school on Friday for a professional development day for teachers and next Monday, February 20th is the President's Day Holiday. Try to stay healthy!

PPS is once again partnering with Panorama Education to gather feedback. The results will be used to help each school understand the needs of students, staff, and families, as well as support the development of our school climate and improvement plans.

We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses.

Save the dates! Tickets will be on SchoolPay this week.

Feb 15th, students will officially forecast via StudentVue. The window will be open from Feb 15 -Feb 22, 2023.

HERE is our guide and course description.

HERE is the link for the Google Form students were supposed to complete last week during the community lesson time. It must be completed using the PPS student account.

2/13- Dine out for da Vinci at Shalom Y'all

2/15- TAG Testing, PM

2/15- PTSA meeting 6 PM, see below to RSVP

2/17- No school for students, teacher PD day

2/20- No school, President's Day Holiday

3/ 9,10,11 and 16,17 & 18- Beauty and the Beast, Spring Musical

3/19 - 3/24- Outdoor School for 6th Graders

3/27 - 3/31- Spring Break

Packets were sent home with our 6th graders through their science class. Please review the information carefully, fill out and return them to the main office this coming week.

HERE is the packet if you did not get it and wish to print it out. We also have extra copies in the office.

TOMORROW is Dine for da Vinci!

Tomorrow, Monday, February 13th, is our next Dine for da Vinci event at Shalom Y’all. 10% of their sales ALL day will go to da Vinci and they are located at 117 SE Taylor Street. Order lunch or dinner while giving back to da Vinci!

Last week, the PTSA had the da Vinci Store open and it was a success! Many families and students were excited to purchase da Vinci swag and other fun items that were offered and we plan on offering this event again on March 1, April 5, and following months TBD!

There are some fun upcoming events that we need volunteers for, so please consider helping support our teachers and students by signing up to help. Remember that all of the PTSA funds raised go directly back to the school!

Wednesday is the next PTSA Meeting!

This Wednesday, February 15th from 6:00-7:15pm is 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, so please RSVP HERE and join us so we can 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 our next PTSA meeting on Wednesday, please email davinciptsa.president@gmail.com.

Community Movie Night at da Vinci - FREE!
Save the date for Friday, February 24th from 5:30-8:30pm for a da Vinci Community Movie Night! Grab a camping chair, blankets and pillows along with family and friends to enjoy the movie, Black Panther, that will be showing in the da Vinci Cafeteria. Concessions will be available to purchase!

Please understand that this event has a mandatory adult/student ratio. We need one adult in the party to be present for every 4 kids that they bring. This is a community event with adults and students to enjoy together; please know that this is not an event to drop kids off. An adult must stay to enjoy the movie!

Auction help needed!

Please volunteer to help with our biggest fundraiser, the da Vinci Arts Middle School Auction. This exciting event will be online from Friday, April 21st – Sunday, May 7th and supports our da Vinci students and staff!

We definitely need help from our da Vinci community! Ways to help:

· Do you have a vacation home that you are willing to donate?

· Are you interested in hosting a party or event to auction off?
- Do you have a business that you would provide a gift certificate or item to donate?

· Are you interested in reaching out to businesses for donations?

To DONATE an item directly to the da Vinci Arts Middle School Auction, click HERE!

Please click HERE if you are interested in helping with the Auction this year and we will be in touch. The Auction is typically the largest fundraiser for the PTSA and these funds raised go directly to our teachers and students. We also will need volunteers to help with soliciting donations, picking up donations, marketing/social media, organizing the items for distribution and other details to make our Auction a success. Thank you for considering being a part of this fun event!

HELP IMMEDIATELY needed for Lunch/Recess Volunteers!

The school needs volunteers during both lunch/recess times to supervise students. If you can sign up to assist our Admin in this task, it would be greatly appreciated. They are seeking help for the following times for the rest of the school year, listed below.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 11:15 – 12:45

Wednesday 11:30 – 1:00

These shifts will be covering locations to keep our students safe outside on the perimeter of the school or inside on the 1st floor hallway in front of Room 103. Whether you can commit to a weekly shift for the rest of the school year or can sign up a few times here and there, please know that it is appreciated and needed for our da Vinci community. Please click HERE to sign up for a Lunch/Recess shift.

Help needed to build the Beauty and the Beast Set!

Heidi Sprecher, our da Vinci Drama Tech Teacher, is seeking help for parent volunteers who are skilled at building to come help out with the big set-build Saturday, February 25th from 10am – 5pm at the school. She also would “double love” any parents who have tools that they have, to bring them to use to build the sets. Sign up HERE to help build the sets!

Donate Games for Quiet Corner during Recess

Our da Vinci Arts School Counselors would like to start offering a quiet space for students to connect during recess and are requesting gently used or new board games, coloring books, or other items that will allow socialization in a quiet setting. If you are interested in donating to this new space, please email davinciptsa.president@gmail.com or talk to Sheli Bryan in the Main Office.

Spring Plant Fundraiser – help volunteer!

We are having the da Vinci Spring Plant Fundraiser in May and we need volunteers to help on Plant Delivery Day on Tuesday, May 9th and then again after school on May 9th, 10th and 11th to help with Plant pick-ups. These plants and herbs from New Leaf Greenhouse are great quality and will arrive just in time for planting season so please sign up HERE if you are interested in helping with this fundraiser.

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.