Dragon Tales

This is a rather longer newsletter so I'm going to keep this fairly short. We had a great week here at da Vinci. State testing went smoothly, class projects and assignments are in full swing and students are excited for two upcoming assemblies next week. Our Asian American Pacific Islander affinity group is putting on an assembly next Thursday honoring AAPI heritage and the Jefferson High School Dancers will be performing for our school on Friday (with some da Vinci alums).

Lastly, as I shared with staff this week, Spring is a busy time and I encourage everyone to make sure to adhere to self-care activities that work best for them. Typically this means getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated, making sure to eat lunch while at school, and balancing the temptation of staying outside with the longer daylight with consistent school and sleep routines.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out (sroosevelt@pps.net),

Sincerely,

Mr. Roosevelt

On April 23rd the da Vinci choir had the privilege of attending and performing at the PPS Middle School Choir Festival. In addition to performing, the students were able to watch performances by 11 choirs from 8 different PPS Middle Schools. Following their performance they had a choral clinic with Kent Wilson, choir director at Whitford Middle School in Beaverton. Our choir did awesome and we are very proud of all of the hard work that they put into preparing for this festival.

Please remind your student to charge their chromebook on Sunday night. Next week we begin the ELA performance task portion of OSAS. Testing, while never "fun", went smoothly this week in large part to students showing up prepared. Please remind your student to do their best and take their time.

Next week we will be rolling out attendance and behavior expectations for our end of the year activities such as the 8th Grade Oaks Park trip, Field Day, and 8th Grade Promotion. We will likely share this information with students on either Thursday or Friday of next week as we will be specifically monitoring these expectations from May 6th until the end of the year. In the meantime, please make sure you have downloaded ParentVue. We appreciate families communicating to their student the importance of making it to class on time and maintaining positive behavior.

Due to increased costs of production we are asking families to make a donation for a yearbook. Our students have worked incredibly hard on creating what will be an amazing remembrance of the 2023-2024 school year. I saw a draft and was very impressed.

We have traditionally used the district's publication department to print our yearbooks. Their costs are significantly cheaper than private vendors. However, we recently learned the district print shop is closing and may not have enough materials to print all the items requested before the end of the year.

We are asking families for a $20 donation to help us offset the costs of printing, regardless of the vendor we are able to use. This amount is in line with what a few other middle schools request. If families cannot afford one, we ask that they contact Jennifer Howard (jehoward@pps.net) and we will work out a way to ensure that all students get a yearbook.

Below is information that was shared by the district a few weeks ago. I’m continuing to include this information to ensure that all families feel alerted to the change in start times.

Bell Schedules:

“Beginning next school year, we added 15 instructional minutes for elementary and middle school students and provided all middle school students with a seven-period day. Accommodating these changes while supporting 410 minutes per week of teacher planning time and aligning our transportation systems requires us to adopt common start and stop times:

• At K-5 schools, students will now start at 8:00 AM and end at 2:30 PM

• At K-8 schools, all students will start at 8:45 AM.

• K-5 students will end at 3:15 PM.

• 6-8 students will end at 3:30 PM

• At middle schools, students will now start at 9:15 AM and end at 4:00 PM

• At high schools, students will now start at 8:26 AM and end at 3:30 PM

More particular variations of these schedules (e.g. early-dismissal or late-arrival) will be available in the coming weeks.”

Calendars:

“We have shared them in the District News and Events on March 8 and February 23, but wanted to make sure families knew these were available.”

This message was in the PTSA newsletter earlier in the week:

PTSA will be celebrating ALL STAFF May 6th-10th and also with meals on Tuesdays throughout the month. They would appreciate your help in celebrating our staff. There will be lots of ways to contribute, so please consider stepping in for what you can: preparing or donating food items, helping with your time to set up/clean up, donating money towards items that will be purchased, or even just taking a moment to write a note or email of appreciation. If we all take a small piece that we are able, our da Vinci Community will feel seen and recognized for all they do for our kids, daily.

PLEASE SIGN UP HERE or DONATE HERE (mention “Staff Appreciation” at check-out under “add note for the seller”)

Roosevelt will be hosting Future Rider Open House on Thursday, May 16th from 5:30-7:00 for our incoming 9th graders. This will be an amazing opportunity for our youth and families to meet RHS community partners. Click here for more information about transition to RHS from da Vinci.

This information was in the PTSA newsletter, but I wanted to promote it as well:

Our soon-to-be graduates will be going to Oaks Park to celebrate their last year at da Vinci. We need some volunteers on June 10th, 9:15-2:30 to help with snacks/lunch and supervision. Please scan the QR code on flyer or SIGN UP HERE.

HERE ARE ALL OUR AVAILABLE SIGNUPS IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE TO HELP. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

1) VIBE of Portland S.H.I.N.E. for Young Artists Summer Camps (Jun. 24-28, Jul. 1-3, Jul. 8-12, Aug. 12-16)

2) Portland Art Intensive at Buckman (Jun. 17 - Jul. 12)

3) VIBE of Portland East Winds Band Camp (July 22-26)
(Spanish) (Russian)

4) VIBE of Portland Music & Digital Art Classes for Kids

5) Cognizart 360 Arts Summer Camp (Jul. 8-12, 15-19, & 22-26)

As Earth Week is wrapping, I thought it fitting to inform families that May 8th is Bike & Walk to School Day. We will be passing out some swag to students who we see arrive by bike (skateboards, etc) or on foot.

This summer we are once again hosting our Summer Youth Camp at Cleveland. This is a time where young players are able to practice skills, get to know other future Warriors, and have fun learning from high school coaches and staff at CHS!

Details:

Current 6th-8th Grade Boys

June 17-20

3:00-5:30 pm