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Team Nine Teachers! (clockwise starting at top left)

Megan Flower.:English 9:.

Schehrezade Lodhy.:English 9:.

Lila Kalaf.:Resource:.

Lenny Perez.:Engineering:.

Jamie Larson.:Physics

Merily Hernandez.:Spanish 1 & 2H:.

Caline Smith.:Math:.

WELCOME TO THE 2014-2015 SCHOOL YEAR!

Join us in extending a heartfelt WELCOME to our new family member of the 9th grade team: Megan Flower. The ninth grade team would also like to welcome all of our students and families as we begin this new school year. We look forward to meeting and getting to know all of you through Back to School Night, Student led conferences (SLC’s), Presentations of learning (POL’s), and Exhibition night.

teamnine August/September 2014

Upcoming Dates: August 12:First day of classes

August 18:Picture Day

August 18/19: Seminars begin!

September 1:Labor Day (No school)

September 5:Join-A-club & Service

Learning Fair

September 10: Back to School Night

@ 6p.m.

September 12: No School (Staff

Development Day)

September 29:Makeup picture day

parent newsletter

Team Nine Newsletter August/September 2014

What we’re working on in... English. On the behalf of English 9, we want to give you a very warm welcome. You are truly lucky to be a part of the Da Vinci family. Staffed by the most passionate, intelligent and hardworking educators. Da Vinci is committed to enriching the lives of our students. Being Language Arts teachers, we have the privilege of teaching what is foundational for academic success: writing and reading. Students will be given the opportunity to refine these skills while taking a pulse on their culture, community and themselves. This will be a fun and rigorous year for all. We will begin the semester studying the act of compassion. The novel for the unit will be You Don’t Know Me by David Klass. In the unit we will identify what factors contribute to creating a positive school culture and students will even write a code of conduct. It will be eye-opening. Our second project will be My Absolutely True Diary which asks students to examine their past, present and future. Students will flash forward almost 20 years and envision themselves as college graduates in a career that they love. The novel for the unit will be The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. A bulk order will be placed during the first week of school, so please send in $7.00 to cover the cost. That said, we look forward to an exciting year in English 9 at Da Vinci Science! With much anticipation,

Schehrezade Lodhy and Megan Flower ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spanish 1.

¡Bienvenidos! I am looking forward to starting the 2014-2015 school year. In Spanish 1 we will explore the language and culture through Total Physical Response (TPR) in which instructors give commands to students in the target language, and students respond with whole-body actions. To start off, students are scuba diving in the “Spanish” language ocean where they will be exploring conversational language through motion in order to acquire enough vocabulary to be able to introduce themselves in Spanish and describe themselves to a Spanish speaking student on campus. For the first project, students will write an e-pal letter in which they are describing their physical as well as their personality characteristics using the vocabulary learned through TPR. They will also create an alien and give the alien’s description, along with

materials requests

MATH: 2 graph paper

composition books, colored writing utensils, pencils, 1 white board dry-erase marker, 1 highlighter, 1 scientific calculator, 1 three-ring binder (2” or more: can be for all classes)

PHYSICS:(6x) 3 prong

folders, 100 plastic sheet protectors, 1 graph paper composition book, (bound pages), pencils, pens, 1 big white eraser (Magic Rub), small colored post-its, glue stick, scissors, basic calculator

ENGLISH: Planner, black and

white composition book, blue or black ink pens, 3-ring binder

SPANISH: 3 Subject note-

book, agenda, English/Spanish Dictionary-Spanish/English Dictionary, pens, pencils, highlighters

SIGN LANGUAGE: 2 in.

binder, composition book, notebook paper, 2 pencils, 2 black pens, 2 blue pens, 1 purple pen, eraser, agenda ENGINEERING: ruler,

glue sticks, scissors, colored pencils

Team Nine Newsletter August 2012

August/September 2014

this they will give a short presentation of their alien to the class. This year will be using Edmodo.com as their primary site for resources for their Spanish class. Students should access Edmodo for class materials, important updates, and other information related to their classes. Please do not hesitate in e-mailing me if you should have any additional questions. Starting the second week of classes, my office hours will be Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 am – 8:50am. *Spanish 1 Honors will be taught by Erika Magaña

Merily Hernández ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Engineering.

Engineering is a professional practice that has evolved through centuries of experience. Learning concepts and practicing skills in this course will provide a foundation for a lifelong engineering career. The design process (i.e., method to solve a problem or create a new product) is a cornerstone of all engineering professions. We will begin the year focusing on the design process since it provides a foundation for engineering knowledge and professional practices that will be used through this and other pathway to engineering courses and throughout a student's career. Students will develop skills such as concept sketching, setting up, and maintaining an engineering notebook and portfolio.

As they advance in their experiences and skills through the course, students will learn basic rules of technical sketching and will learn the drawing standards that apply. The understanding of technical sketching is critical for designers when effectively conveying their ideas about a product. Sketching is the beginning stage of product development. Students will learn how to sketch isometric, oblique, perspective, and multi-view sketches of various objects.

Lenny Perez ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Physics.

Our first Physics project will be “You WIND some, You lose some.” In teams, students will be designing and carrying out controlled experiments in order to maximize power output for a wind turbine. Students will be using the design process, researching renewable energy and manipulating variables with their blade design and ultimately produce a formal lab report. Their findings will be formally presented in a forum of staff members.

Resubmission Policy:

Students will have a 2-week re-submission

window (from the date an assignment is returned by the teacher) for any components of a

particular project to be reassessed for mastery

(not accountability). Students must submit

the project components on the due date to be

eligible for resubmission.

Team Nine Newsletter August/September 2014

TEACHER CONTACT INFO: We are an email-friendly school, so this will be our primary mode of parent communication. Please make sure the front office (see Liz) has your correct parent email information on file. ENGLISH [Schehrezade Lodhy] slodhy@davincischools.org ENGLISH [Megan Flower] mflower@davincischools.org SPANISH 1 [Merily Hernández] mhernandez@davincischools.org PHYSICS [Jamie Larson] jlarson@davincischools.org ENGINEERING [Lenny Perez] lperez@davincischools.org SIGN LANGUAGE [D’yann Crosby] dcrosby@davincischools.org MATH [Caline Smith] csmith@davincischools.org RESOURCE [Lila Kalaf] lkalaf@davincischools.org SPANISH 1H & 2 [Erika Magaña] emagana@davincischools.org

Honors: The honors project for this semester will be a DIY (Do it Yourself) Video explaining how to build a speaker. Students will be demonstrating mastery in most essential knowledge of the semester including Energy, Sound Waves, and Electromagnetism. Students will be given the project outline in late September and need a B- or higher in the class to be eligible to complete the project. The final due date for the Honors project will be the last class of 1st semester.

Physics Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 8:00 – 8:50 am. Students can access all class materials on EdModo.com which will include important updates, calendar checkpoints, quizzes and extra practice for problem-solving will also be posted on this website. Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns! Late Work & Absences: Late homework will be accepted until one day after the original due date, at which point students will receive partial credit if the assignment is fully completed. Late projects will not be accepted. If students are absent, they will be responsible for collecting notes and checking for updates on Edmodo. Students will receive one extra day to complete missing assignments. Donated Material Requests: old speakers, old headphones, tape measures, scissors, glue sticks, box cutters, white board markers, graph paper composition books.

Jamie Larson ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sign Language.

THUMBS UP! I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and lived 6 years in the state of Maryland. Prior to coming to Da Vinci, I taught 5 years at Century Community Charter School and 3 years at Century Academy for Excellence in Inglewood. I hold four degrees: B.A. in Communications from USC, a B.A. in Deaf Studies from CSUN, and two Masters Degrees from University of Phoenix in Organizational Management and Education. I am a credentialed English teacher who will soon be adding ASL teaching as a second credential and pursuing an Administrative Service Credential. Outside of the classroom, I am the Founder and Executive Director of Sign with Me Incorporated, a Freelance American Sign Language interpreter, a producer of accessible media content, a sign performer, and a Certified Community Emergency Responder (CERT). I also enjoy fashion modeling and sports (Quick fact: I was

Team Nine Newsletter August/September 2014

a former USC Women of Troy Basketball player. Watch out, I still got game!). I am so excited to get to know you all throughout this year and to build our American Sign Language knowledge and skills!

First Project! Mos Deaf: Deaf people have a rich heritage and there are many deaf individuals who have made great contributions to American society. Historically, however, deaf individuals have received little recognition for their contributions. Students will research a famous Deaf person, identify the time era that the individual lived in, and evaluate the social, economic and political implications that impacted the deaf person or community during this significant time in history. Students will make a connection between the difficulty of this contribution being recognized by society due to the social, economic and political climate of the time. Students will write a 2-3 page paper, create a poster board and present to the class in both spoken and signed languages.

D’yann Crosby

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Math.

Welcome to math with Ms. Smith! I am truly looking forward to the start of this school year!

Ninth grade math at Da Vinci Science is challenging, yet truly enriching. The curriculum focuses on preparing your student for life-long mastery of key mathematical concepts critical to our modern society. Your student will not just take notes and regurgitate formulas this year, but will engage in hands-on activities to discover mathematical principles. Research shows this style of learning leads to better understanding and longer retention of the material. And although this style of learning may feel new and different for the students – and perhaps even frustratingly difficult – this is a normal part of the process.

Da Vinci offers ninth graders Algebra and Geometry based on their needs. During the first week of school, students will be taking a diagnostic exam developed by the UC and Cal State systems to help us ensure that students are placed in the appropriate math class. Schedule changes may occur within the first few weeks for this reason. After this transitional period, I will distribute detailed syllabi that contain important information pertinent to each course.

Both Algebra and Geometry begin with activities that will introduce the students to the big ideas of the course. In Geometry, we will become familiar with basic geometric shapes and investigate rigid transformations. In Algebra, we will explore nonlinear functions and learn how to describe a function completely.

If students need extra help, I strongly encourage them to attend my office hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. If you have any questions about the curriculum, me, or the course, please do not hesitate to contact me at csmith@davincischools.org or call me at extension 1805.

I look forward to meeting you all and having a wonderful year together! Caline Khavarani Smith

Team Nine Newsletter August/September 2014

MON TUES WED THURS

ENGLISH SchehrezadeLodhy

ENGLISH Megan Flower

MATH Caline Smith

SPANISH Merily Hernández

PHYSICS Jamie Larson

ENGINEERING Lenny Perez

SIGN LANGUAGE D’yann Crosby

teamnine office hours

Resource. I am absolutely thrilled to be working closely with your family to support your student’s success and make the transition to high school as smooth as possible! I will be supporting students in their academic classes as well as working with them in small groups during resource seminar. During resource seminar, I will be pre-teaching or re-teaching academic concepts and reviewing and building greater fluency in foundational math and literacy skills. I will be coaching students to develop their executive skills such as planning/prioritization, organization and time management. Developing these skills will allow students to be more confident, independent and successful in their projects and Presentations of Learning and in their careers! During the 9th grade, we will be building the foundation for your student to be able to self-advocate for his/her needs and take ownership of his/her education! Please do not hesitate to contact me!

Lila Kalaf