October 5 - October 16, 2020

DEAR FAMILIES,

October is here and we have much to celebrate. Our high school girls have several great projects going on. Please support their wonderful initiatives. Mrs. Ashley's monthly cooking event has been a success. The students have made sushi rolls, tofu patties, and pita pizza. Jin Jr Shi has a fun puppet creation event planned on the 9th. She would love for everyone to attend.

Our virtue of the month is kindness. When we intentionally teach and model kindness daily for our children, they will grow up to be more empathetic. A great question to ask your child during bedtime is "How did you show kindness today?" It can be as simple as helping a younger sibling with a task or holding the door for someone. Try out the Family Kindness Calendar together. Wishing you all a wonderful month ahead!

Kind regards,

IGDVS Team

---

VIRTUE OF THE MONTH: KINDNESS

Inspiring Kindness Story: Jorge Munoz is a school bus driver and is also the founder of An Angel in Queens, which is a non-profit organization that delivers free meals to the people of Queens, New York. After his school-bus job, he and his family cook enough food for about 120 - 140 people, who gather underneath a subway stop and eat the free, home-cooked food. Jorge Munoz has been feeding the hungry and needy for 4 years. We hope his story will inspire everyone to be kind and help those in need! Watch the video below for more information: https://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=1606

Short Movie About Kindness: The Song For Rain The animation tells the story of a little boy who meets a fox on a rainy day. The fox wants to collect water from the city, so the little boy helps the fox with his plight and accidentally finds another world where the little fox comes from.

https://vimeo.com/48717374

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: SOLA LONG

Sola Long is a senior at DVGS this year. Question: What has been your most memorable experience here? Sola: I believe it was a Friday evening in Junior year, following the announcement that we would be eating our own dinner, our class decided to be fancy and cook "hotpot". Fancy is really an ironic description, considering that we use a huge metal Tupperware to carry our "hotpot," which in reality was just a lot of boiled veggies. We convinced ourselves that eating under the setting sun was just like a "5-star candlelight dinner." We were having the time of our lives sitting on the curb next to the school, while anyone passing would think we were crazy, including our principal coincidentally on her way to school. When we told our principal the complications of why we sat outside, she laughed at us with empathy, or maybe, mockery. Nonetheless, she couldn't resist sitting down with us. We were having too much fun, I'm sure no one would think twice before joining our "5-star dinner." I forget what we talked about, but I remember vividly being asked for an adjective that most represent our class. "Sassy," or "quirky," I think that's what we said, thinking back now, we probably sounded so sassy in calling ourselves "sassy." All in all, this was one of the few hotpot moments that really honed in on the close-knit quality of our community here at DVGS, and that's what really matters at the end of the day. To find yourself in a community where you feel supported, and surrounded by people who will celebrate your successes, lead you through downfalls, point out your flaws, trust your capabilities, and most importantly, care about your wellbeing. Question: Do you have any advice for upcoming seniors next year (or any advice in general for students)? Sola: 1. Take every opportunity, and don’t stray away because of self-doubt. Often it’s when you push yourself beyond the boundaries that you accomplish great things. 2. Sooner or later you will find that perfection is near non-existent, there isn’t the perfect high school experience or the perfect student. And because of that, empathy and inclusiveness prevail at the end of the day, bringing people together despite diverse interests or backgrounds. 3. Find activities that make you lose track of time, and engage in them for yourself. You should dedicate your energy and time, but also know that achievements may come in different forms, maybe you’ve not won national awards, but you’ve given someone a sense of purpose, and lightened their day.

COVID-19 EDUCATION

What Exactly Is COVID-19? COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause respiratory illnesses such as the common cold, SARS, and MERS. This virus is officially known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), while the disease it causes is called coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19 for short. Some symptoms of coronavirus include cough, fever, headache, tiredness, sore throat, and shortness of breath. These symptoms may appear anywhere from 2-14 days after exposure. The severity of COVID-19 symptoms can vary from person to person, although people who are older have a higher risk of serious illness, as well as people with chronic medical conditions such as serious heart diseases, cancer, severe obesity, sickle cell disease, or chronic kidney disease. Most people with COVID-19 have only mild to moderate symptoms, but it can cause serious medical problems or even death in people with high risk. COVID-19 spreads easily between people, and it is spread by respiratory droplets released when someone with the virus coughs, sneezes, or talks. These droplets can be inhaled or breathed in. Although there is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19, there are many preventative measures we can take to keep safe. Some ways include avoiding mass gatherings, avoiding close contact, social distancing, wearing a mask, washing our hands frequently, not sharing personal items, and cleaning high-touch surfaces. With the proper precautionary measures, we can help to limit the spread of COVID-19. Sources: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/symptoms-causes/syc-20479963 https://coronavirus.dc.gov/page/what-covid-19

PUPPET CREATION WITH PRINCIPAL JIN JR SHI

WHEN: FRIDAY, OCT. 9TH, 1PM WHERE: THIS IS AN ONLINE EVENT. MORE INFORMATION

• Construction paper

• Glue

• Scissors

• Crayons and/or colored pencils

• Wood craft sticks

• PDF templates
  

UPCOMING DATES

Oct. 16: Fun Friday: Origami & Games-Materials: origami paperOct. 14-16 Midterm Exams Oct. 23: Screen Free Friday Afternoon (No K-6 Event) Nov. 14: Virtual Honoring Elders Day

K-6 FALL HOME LEARNING SURVEY

Just a gentle reminder to fill out the survey for us. We appreciate all the feedback! https://forms.gle/XdFz727k5yZnv4Cu8

YEARBOOK SURVEY

Would you like a digital or hardcopy of the yearbook this year? Please fill out this survey to let us know. Thanks! https://forms.gle/ePG2pSmKpeVBNnKC8

VIDEOS FOR HONORING ELDERS DAY & ADVENTIST HEALTH HOSPITALS

We are excited to announce one of our latest projects by our seniors. They are putting together pre-recorded videos of various performances done by our students on Youtube for Honoring Elders Day and Adventist Health Hospitals. Students can sing, play a song on an instrument, recite poetry, or read a story. If your child is interested in participating, record your child doing one of the above activities, and email the video to dvgs@drba.org. The video needs to be of high quality and go through the review committee before it will be posted. Any submitted videos will also require parental consent for your video to be posted publicly. More information will be sent out in a separate email.

GLOBAL ART EXCHANGE

Calling all artists for this amazing opportunity! "Our Global Art Exchange is a program for K-12 participants. In this one-to-one exchange American students engage in artistic peace building by sharing handmade, heartfelt artwork with kids from countries that are culturally very different from the USA. Currently we are exchanging with youth from Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Nigeria." https://www.memoryproject.org/artexchange If you child is interested, please email Ms. Yee to sign up. The non-profit organization does request a $12 contribution per student that participates since it is their only source of funding.

HOMELESS RESOURCE CENTER DRIVE

We are selling a nice blue and green plaid scarf that will go well with your school uniform. All the proceeds will go to purchasing supplies for the homeless. If your child is in grades K-6, please email dvgs@drba.org to place an order, and grades 7-12, please email thuy.nguyen@igdvs.org.

Look at our Yummy Pita Pizzas!