January 11, 2010
Dear Da Vinci Family:
Happy New Year! Welcome back to the second semester of school. We are looking forward to the new
projects that students will be exploring and creating! For example…
In humanities, students will be writing a children’s story, which will be read to students
at Cabrillo Elementary School and submitted to the Wiseburn Library’s Children’s Book
Competition. Michelle will be leading students to the Wiseburn Library and Cabrillo
Elementary for a “field learning experience” and children’s book author April Halprin
Wayland will be a guest speaker next week to share her ideas and experiences.
In engineering, students will be creating steam powered boats. Their objective is to
maximize the heat transfer between the heat source and the water in hopes of building
the fastest boat for the class competition. In the process, students will be learning and
applying physics concepts of thermodynamics.
As we start the new semester, we wanted to inform you that we have rearranged the students between
our two classes. We felt that a redistribution of the students would allow for increased connections
between new peers as well as provide a better learning environment for both classes. We thank the
students for their cooperation in these changes.
To all the parents who participated in the cleanup day… Thank you!! We know our rooms look fantastic
thanks to all of your hard work. The whole school looks great! (We’ll be having another cleanup day at
the end of the year if you would like to add more volunteer hours.)
Finally, thank you so much to the many parents who volunteered their time during Presentations of
Learning. You made our week much more successful and we were glad to hear your questions for
students and insights about the POL process.
Thank you once again. Have a great day, and an even better 2011,
Michelle and Mario
Please cut on the dotted line and return this bottom portion to Michelle or Mario.
Student Name: ________________________________________________________
Guardian Signature: ________________________________________________________
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