Hello Innovator Families,
First of all, Exhibition Night was such a great success, and it’s all because of the fantastic work you’ve done in your homeschooling and how well your child was able to confidently share their learning with all of the guests. The room was packed, which made it difficult to get around to all of the great displays, but it was great to see the students so engaged in showing off their learning. Well done, Innovators! With only 3 ½ weeks left in this school year, there’s lots going on as we wrap it all up. Please read through these updates and announcements! Workshop update – Ethel has enjoyed her time with the Innovators at Tuesday workshops! They continue to explore Marine Biology topics in the mornings and spent the afternoon in the Maker Space making Maya houses. There are 2 more weeks of Innovator workshops – Tuesday May 15th and Tuesday May 22nd. Poetry Jam – Janette has sent you an email regarding the upcoming Poetry Jam, so I just want to encourage you to attend. Pleaes RSVP to let us know you’ll be there: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44ada729a13-poetry1 Two Field Trips – We’ve got 2 all-collaborative Field Trips coming up. On Monday, May 21st, 12:30 – 2, Janette is leading a learning experience at LACMA to look at City and Cosmos: The Art of Teotihuacan. Trip logistics will be sent to those who sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44ada729a13-lacma2 On Friday, May 25th, 12 – 1:30, all collaborative are invited to join us at IMAX Hubble 3D at the Science Center. Student tickets will be provided by us, and adults and non-collaborative siblings can get tickets for only $5. Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44ada729a13-imax POL’s – With Exhibition behind us, we can now focus on the upcoming Presentations of Learning. We have held workshops for parents and for students to learn about POL expectations, but if you were unable to attend and you are new to DVIA POL’s, please sign up for one of our office hours. Attached is a document with the POL outline for all collaborative students. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any further support in preparing your child for their POL. If you need to be reminded of your scheduled POL time, the sign up is here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-pols1 End of WJ 5 – Work Journal 5 ends on Friday, May 25th and is due to the front office with your log and 10 work samples no later than Thursday, May 31st at 4:15. WJ 6 – Work Journal 6 will run from May 29th – June 5th, and is due to the front office no later than Tuesday, June 5th at 4:15. For work journal 6, instead of turning in 10 work samples, you will only turn in 1 math sample and a reflection (written by the student) on their POL experience. Students should write at their level about what went well at their POL, what they learned from the process, and if there’s anything they’d like to do differently to improve next time. The work journal log, math sample, and POL reflection written by the student must be turned in by June 5th. Jennifer Johnson DVIA Voyagers Teacher Grades 6 – 8 Collaborative Program
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Hello Innovators Families,
Thank you for making State Testing a priority these past two weeks. Your commitment to make that happen allows me to move on with our regular schedule next week with very few make- up tests and I appreciate that! Here are a few updates and reminders for upcoming events. Workshops are back for 4 more weeks! Innovators will have workshops from 9:15 – 2:40 on Tuesdays, May 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd. Janette sent you an email last week about testing out a resource called Amplify Fractions. She’d love to have some Innovators families try it out for free and let her know what you think. For more info., see her email sent to you last Tuesday. Next week, 5th grade and 7th grade students will be taking the Physical Fitness Test with Kaitlin. Students will need to be here from 2:00 – 3:00 for 2 days next week - either Monday or Tuesday AND either Thursday or Friday. This is for 5th grade and 7th grade only. If you haven’t signed up, or if you only signed up for 1 day, you can sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4da8a723a75-physical1 Tuesday, May 1st Grunion Run - This is NOT a DVIA sponsored field trip, but I wanted to pass on this info. in case you’d like to go. There is a Grunion Run program at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro on Tuesday May 1st. The doors open at 8 PM, Program begins at 9 PM, and the expected grunion run time is 10:40 PM. You need to buy tickets online ($5 adults, $1 children) and can do so at this website: http://www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org/education/programs-individual-family/meet-the-grunion.asp PEC Conference – DVIA is providing a great 2 days of workshops for you, the home educator. This will take place on Monday and Tuesday May 7th and 8th. You can invite friends and family to attend as well! A conference flyer is attached! Exhibition for the Collaborative will be on Weds., May 9th from 5:00-6:30. Students will display their homeschool projects. Please fill out this Exhibition questionnaire by May 2nd. This will give us time to plan the layout of the space and create the schedule. oLocation: DVIA Forum oExhibition Refresher info oAll students attend from 5:00-6:30. oWe will assign students to a 30-minute presentation time, based on topics and space needs. oSet-up is available 1-4pm and 4:45-5:00 §We recommend setting up during the afternoon, to allow students time to be acclimated to the space and to have time to troubleshoot any display issues. §If your child’s set-up is elaborate, setting up during the afternoon can prevent last-minute problems and disappointments. oWe will have a casual potluck at the end of Exhibition, for everyone who would like to participate. More details and a SignUpGenius coming soon. Presentations of Learning (POLs) – Attached is a POL outline for you to begin talking with your child and helping them plan their POL. Here’s some important info about POL’s. oWhen are they? §Tuesday, May 29 – Friday, June 1 §Sign-ups will be sent out soon. oWhat are they? §POLs are a Da Vinci Schools core practice. All students in grades K-12 are expected to participate. It is an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning over the course of the year and to grow and utilize their public speaking skills. §Online resources from previous years provide background info. §Each POL session is one-hour long. During that hour, 3-4 students will each have 15 minutes to deliver their presentation and respond to questions from the panel (typically family, teachers and the other presenters). When not presenting, students are on the panel for other students. Generally, the families of the other presenters participate as an audience (not asking questions) but this is flexible, depending on student comfort level. oHow do I learn more? §We are offering a POL workshop for parents (with Jennifer and Janette) on Friday, May 4th, 12:20-1:00. We encourage new Collaborative families to attend. You will learn about POL expectations and get tips on supporting your child in preparing. Students may play outside during lunch play time (until 12:50) and then engage in a quiet activity in the classroom. Please bring an activity for them or prepare them to read a book from the library. ·Please RSVP so that we know how many people to expect. oWhat support is available for students? §We are offering workshops for students in each group. We will briefly give a POL overview (including expectations) and then focus on presentation strategies and skills. ·Adventurers (K-2): Monday, May 7th 11:15-12:00 with Janette oRSVP ·Innovators (3-5): Tuesday, May 8th 2:45-3:30 with Janette oRSVP ·Voyagers (6-8): Thursday, May 10th 2:30-3:15 with Jennifer oRSVP oNeed more support? §We are available during office hours to support planning of content and development of presentation skills. Feel free to sign up for help. Finally, I want to remind you that Innovators have a class website with lots of great resources for you. This weekly email is archived on the blog section so you can easily go back to previous updates if you missed any information. The website also has the Work Journals, Learning Goals, and a variety of resources. New math resources have just been added! The website is here: http://dviainnovators.weebly.com/ You can also find a wealth of information and homeschooling support at our school website: www.davincik8.org In addition, Janette’s website (http://dviaadventurers.weebly.com/ ) has a robust writing resource on a page called Innovators (3-5) Resources. This great resource is password protected, so you’ll need to email Janette for the password. Janette’s website also has documents explaining more about Exhibition and POL’s on her Resources Tab. Check it out! Thanks so much for all you do to partner with us in your child’s education! Jennifer Johnson We hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather! Thank you so much for spending some extra time on campus last week to complete state testing! We are half way through our state testing period. Some students have already finished all of the tests, while others haven’t yet begun and will go at it full force this week. If you need to make changes to your testing dates/times, the sign up is here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state
Tuesday, April 24th is Homeschool Day at the Natural History Museum. In case you are interested in attending, here’s info from their website (we are not able to attend this time): Tuesday, April 24, 2018 - LA's Wild Side Nature is all around you! This Homeschool Day, learn about the remarkable and often overlooked urban wildlife right here in L.A.'s backyard. Try your hand at identifying the animals we call neighbors and take home some tips for capturing images of wildlife on camera. Get outside with us and explore our Nature Gardens to encounter L.A.'s wild side. IMPORTANT DATES A few people have shared that some dates have fallen off their radar, so we want to remind you of a couple of things and invite you to some helpful meetings.
Hello Innovators, I hope you have all enjoyed this beautiful spring weather we’ve been having! Homeschooling gives us all such a great opportunity to get outside and learn from some amazing experiences away from a desk and computer. Here’s an update on this week’s workshops and upcoming events to keep on your radar. Also, I’ve attached some photos from Ethel that she took during workshops so check them out and see if you can find your kid! He / She may be unrecognizable!
From Ethel: Welcome back from Spring Break! This week students dove into the question, “How do plankton affect the air we breathe?” Students calculated how many of the breaths they take each day come from the phytoplankton, Prochlorococcus. Students used data collection and calculations to understand how the health of the ocean affects their lives. Students also created posters to increase public awareness about the problem with their own ocean health outreach slogan; for example, Save the Phytoplankton—Breathe More Air! In the Maker Space, students finished their Maya inspired masks. We had a parade of masks around campus to showcase their creations! The next 2 weeks we will be focused on State Testing so there will not be regular workshops on April 17th or April 24th. If you need to change your State Testing times, the sign up is here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state Please help your child come to state testing with a good night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast, and an “I can do this!” attitude! Testing sessions begin at 10:30 AM and at 1:00 PM…please drop your child off 10-15 minutes before their scheduled testing time so everyone is ready to go when the testing session begins. If your child is taking both the AM testing session and the PM testing session, please pack them a lunch. Students can stay on campus for lunch and body break from 12:05 – 12:50. If you would like to sign up for Janette’s or Jennifer’s office hours, you can do so here: Jennifer’s Office Hours: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-office Janette’s Office Hours: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44ada729a13-april3 Have a great weekend! Jennifer Johnson DVIA Voyagers Teacher Grades 6 – 8 Collaborative Program Welcome back from Spring Break! We hope that everyone is well rested and ready to finish up the year.
As you may have heard, Ethel was not here for workshops last time but our awesome DVIA sub and parent of a DVIA alum, Cathie was available to step in for the day. Just a couple of quick reminders: This Friday, April 13th, is the hiking field trip to Milliard Falls. There should have good weather this time around and Jennifer is looking forward to exploring nature with the students. The plan is to meet from 10 AM – 1 PM. Specific information will be sent out to those who sign up. Sign up for the hike is here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-hike If you are attending the LACMA Evening for Educators tonight, let Janette know. She will be there. No workshops April 17th and April 24th due to state testing. If you need to switch your dates/times for state testing, the sign up is here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state. Thank you in advance for arranging your schedules to take part in testing. Jennifer’s Office Hours: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-office Janette’s Office Hours: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44ada729a13-april3 I hope you have had a great week homeschooling! Only 1 week left and then you can enjoy a week off for Spring Break! Here’s an update from Ethel as well as some upcoming events:
From Ethel: Marine Bio: This week, students put the finishing touches on their imaginary marine ecosystems. I’ve been so impressed with their creativity and knowledge of various marine organisms. We welcomed Nancy, the Education and Outreach Coordinator from Heal the Bay who gave a great presentation about storm water and pollution prevention. A number of students were feeling inspired to participate in a beach cleanup, or help in some other way! Mesoamerica: The students are really enjoying their time in the Maker Space and creating masks inspired by the Maya. They’re coming up with creative ways to add 3D elements and visual interest to their masks. Also, they’ve become experts at using and properly handling hot glue guns and cardboard cutters. Reminders: WORK JOURNAL #4 DUE – Your current work journal which ends today must be turned into the front office no later than Tuesday, 3/27 at 4:15 PM. It is very important for our school funding that you turn in your work journal on time so that attendance credit can be given. WJ #5 is attached to this email. It runs from March 26 – May 25th, and after that you’ll only have a short 6-day work journal. SLC’s next week – If you haven’t yet signed up, here are the links:
Please have your student come to SLC’s prepared with work to show us the great learning they are doing at home. See the attached SLC guidelines document. Spring Break – No school April 2 – 6 State testing – April 16 – 27 – Don’t forget to sign up for 4 sessions if your student is in 3rd or 4th grade and 5 sessions if your student is in 5th grade. Sign up here - http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state Reminder – there will be no Workshops 4/17 and 4/24 due to state testing LACMA Evening for Educators: City and Cosmos: Arts of Teotihuacan – Tues., Apr. 10 at 5pm. These adult evenings are great events focused on building educators’ skill sets and content knowledge. The $15 ticket includes a catered dinner (served outdoors, so wear layers). http://www.lacma.org/evenings-for-educators Butacas – a maker workshop Sara Ochoa (mom of Seth and Samara) will be leading a series of workshops in which students will design and build their own butaca (easy chair). She is generously sharing this family tradition (she remembers doing this with her grandfather as a child) with us. It connects nicely with the Found in Translation exhibit currently at LACMA through April 1st.
Hike - The hike originally planned for today will be rescheduled due to yesterday’s rain. Watch for a new sign up for that hike to come to your inbox soon! Class Website - We have added some resources to the Innovators website. To access the website, go to www.davincik8.org, click on Instructional Support, click on Teacher’s DP Links, and click on the photo of Katie Steele. On the website, you will find the work journals, Math Resources, and Language Arts Resources. Also, in the blog section of the website, we post the weekly email updates so you can always look there for an archive of past updates. Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you soon at your student’s SLC! It was great to see some of you at the DVIA Adult Mixer on Monday night. Many thanks to those of you who were part of the FAN group who put it all together!
Here is the Tuesday update from Ethel: Marine Bio: Students continued to work on their imaginary eco systems. Using quality indicators as a guide, students began to illustrate their eco system as well as prepare an informational handout to be used during a class presentation. Next week, a speaker from Heal the Bay will be giving us a presentation about storm water and pollution prevention. Mesoamerica: This week we began the workshop session with a slide show about Maya masks. We learned that there were three different types of masks: event masks, battle masks, and death masks. We explored their purposes and significance within the Mayan culture. Each student selected the type of mask they would like to create using cardboard, paint, and found objects. It was fun to see their creative juices flow! Workshop Opportunity Butacas – a maker workshop Sara Ochoa (mom of Seth and Samara) will be leading a series of workshops in which students will design and build their own butaca (easy chair). She is generously sharing this family tradition (she remembers doing this with her grandfather as a child) with us. It connects nicely with the Found in Translation exhibit currently at LACMA through April 1st.
Stay informed! Connect with the DVIA Facebook Group! The DVIA Yahoo group will be closed in June. See this note from Heidi B.: At the request of Kaitlin, Michelle, and the DVIA team, we are streamlining the way in which our community communicates online, specifically through social media and community forums. As of June 8th, we will be dismantling and shutting down the DVIA Yahoo Group and will solely operate out of a new, private DVIA Facebook group (Request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1873793045986045/). We realize that you may have found traction and value in using this specific forum. The DVIA team’s goal is to make community communication easier to access for new and veteran families, and to create an online community where we are all truly connected and learning from each other. If you’d like to transfer any resources/files to the new Facebook group, be sure to do so before we shut down this site on June 8th. Once you join the new group, please review the guidelines! This will help us all be on the same page about expectations and will give tips on how to post with tags specific to groups/cores/purposes that will be easily searchable within the group. Please reach out to Kaitlin with any questions. Thanks! Upcoming Events State Testing Info. Session – http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state1 More info. on the sign up, but this is Monday, March 19th from 9 – 10:30. There will be a discussion for parents as well as one for students, so bring your student with you to this workshop. Hike – http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-hike More info. on the sign-up. This is Friday, March 23rd 10 – 1. If it rains, we will postpone to another date. SLC’s – Please sign up for an appointment. See the attached guidelines for a refresher about how to prepare and what is expected.
Spring Break – No School / No Homeschool April 2 - 6 State Testing – http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state Most of you have signed up, but if you haven’t, please sign up for 4 sessions if you are in 6th or 7th grade, and for 5 sessions if you are in 8th grade. While our school does not emphasize state testing and we realize it is just one measure of student progress, it is required that our students participate in state testing as part of our public school funding. Future Events to keep on your radar: LACMA Evening for Educators: City and Cosmos: Arts of Teotihuacan – Tues., Apr. 10 at 5pm. These adult evenings are great events focused on building educators’ skill sets and content knowledge. The $15 ticket includes a catered dinner (served outdoors, so wear layers). http://www.lacma.org/evenings-for-educators Tuesday, May 1st Grunion Run – 9 PM – 11:30 PM at Cabrillo Beach. Collaborative Student Exhibition – May 9th - 5 – 6:30 – Start thinking about a project your student would like to focus on and display for our Spring Exhibition. Hubble IMAX Field Trip – May 16th POL’s (Presentations of Learning) – May 29 – June 1 Happy Friday! Here’s an update on our Innovators workshops and upcoming events. As always, please feel free to email, call, or sign up for our office hours if you have any questions, concerns, or need support in your homeschooling. For Jennifer’s Office Hours, click here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-office; For Janette’s Office Hours, click here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44ada729a13-march3
Workshop Update from Ethel: Marine Bio: Students got to explore the different ecological relationships between certain marine mammals this week by watching footage from NatGeo’s Critter Cam program. We learned what mutualism, symbiosis, parasitism, and commensalism mean as well as explored examples of these relationships. Using their knowleged of trophic levels, food webs, and ecological relationships, students began to create imaginary eco systems. They had voice and choice to decide if they wanted to work together, or on their own. Mesoamerica: We continued to explore and learn about Aztec and Maya religion, specifically religious rituals, gods and goddesses and their ties to agriculture. Next, we delved into the Maya and Aztec written languages. Students began writing their names using actual Maya glyphs. Next week, I’m excited to bring this workshop into the Maker Space with Jim for a hands-on, creative project about Mesoamerican masks! Upcoming Events: Da Vinci Mixer & Silent Auction - Mon., March 12, 6-9pm. oTicket sales are live!!! To RSVP & to buy tickets, click here. oThis will be FUN! Don’t miss it! DVIA's Second Annual Science Fair – Sat., March 17, 1-3pm oFollow this link for more information and to sign up. oThis is a great opportunity. We hope many of you will participate. March 19th, 9 AM – 10:30 AM – State Testing Information Workshops for parents and students in grades 3-8. I will meet with parents and Janette will work with students. I will talk with you about how to help your child have a positive testing experience and go over the logistics of test days. Janette will share with students what to expect, our DV testing philosophy, how to navigate the computer interface and different problem types. I encourage all collaborative families new to DVIA to attend. Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state1 March 22 11 AM - Trip to the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro. This is for Collaborative K – 5th grade students. Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44ada729a13-marine March 23rd – 10 AM – 1 PM – Hike at Millard Falls in San Gabriel Mountains. The Ballard family will guide us on a short hike that takes us to a waterfall. This is open to all collaborative 3rd – 8th grade students. Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-hike March 26 – 30 – Student Led Conferences – Work Journal 4 is a bit shorter than the others so it’ll already be time for us to meet again for SLC’s. This will be our last SLC of the year. A sign up will be sent out to you from either Janette or myself. April 2 – 5 Spring Break! Enjoy the week off! Tuesday April 10 at 5 PM - LACMA Evening for Educators: City and Cosmos: Arts of Teotihuacan – These adult evenings are great events focused on building educators’ skill sets and content knowledge. The $15 ticket includes a catered dinner (served outdoors, so wear layers). http://www.lacma.org/evenings-for-educators oJanette will attend. Hope to see you there! oWe are scheduling a field trip to this exhibit. More info TBA. April 16 – April 27 – State Testing – If you haven’t signed up yet, please sign up for 4 time slots (5 time slots for 5th grade and 8th grade students). More info and Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state May 1st 9 PM – 11:30 PM – Grunion Run at Cabrillo Beach – More info. and sign up coming later… We are enjoying the sound of the rain in our bungalow! So soothing and peaceful here.
From Ethel: It’s been wonderful getting to connect with your kiddos on Tuesdays! In the morning, students completed researching and illustrating an organism from a coral reef. They needed to determine the trophic level, predators and prey (among a few other facts) in order to create a whole-class food web. Working together, they determined the flow of energy between all of their organisms and completed a colorful food web. We continued our learning by discussing how populations of organisms rely on and interact with each other for survival. After lunch, students jumped right in to the Mesoamerica project. In small groups, students began learning about the Mayan and Aztec religions. They used books as well as an online Padlet site that Katie created to aid in their research. GENERAL INFO MAPS testing – We have started our MAPS testing and will continue until March 9th. Please sign up for 2 appointments. One for math and one for reading. You may sign up for appointments with either of us: Janette’s MAPs or Jennifer’s MAPs. State Testing – Many of you have already signed up for your State Testing dates. If you haven’t already, please sign up for 4 sessions, plus an extra session for 5th graders for Science. Remember that there will be no workshops on Tuesday, April 17 or Tuesday, April 24, and you can do both the AM and PM sessions, so if you’d like to get 4 state tests done during the time you’d normally be at workshops, that could make it easier on your schedule. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084bafae2da5fe3-state Janette’s Office Hours and Home Visits Sign-Up Jennifer’s Office Hours Sign-Up SAVE THE DATE (reminders) Da Vinci Mixer & Silent Auction - Mon., March 12, 6-9pm.
Friday, March 23rd Hike – The Ballard family will be leading the group on a short hike so we can learn from nature and get some fresh air and exercise! Jennifer will be joining you (I have workshops on Fridays). More info coming. LACMA Evening for Educators: City and Cosmos: Arts of Teotihuacan – Tues., Apr. 10 at 5pm. These adult evenings are great events focused on building educators’ skill sets and content knowledge. The $15 ticket includes a catered dinner (served outdoors, so wear layers). http://www.lacma.org/evenings-for-educators
Tuesday, May 1st Grunion Run – 9 PM – 11:30 PM at Cabrillo Beach. |
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