October 8, 2024

Dear Swigert Families,

October means it’s time for our fall parent teacher conferences. At Swigert, we set a goal to achieve hundred percent attendance! We truly believe in the importance of partnering with families to support our student’s educational journey and conferences are an important step. Please look for communication from your child’s teacher for when to sign up for a conference. This is a great opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher, learn about how your child is doing academically as well as socially/emotionally, set any goals, and learn about ways to partner together.

As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school we strive to spark student inquiry and wonder to increase engagement and a joy for learning. There were several examples of ways inquiry and wonder were fostered this week that I wanted to share.

Our ECE students observed different fall pumpkins and gourds with the opening question- What do you notice? Check out a few of their noticings and questions below in the pictures below.

We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful and accessible School Community Garden. Thank you for all of our volunteers who help support this space and provide multiple opportunities for students to learn about planting and gardening, do immersive science lessons, and explore connections to their writing. Last week, first graders used the plants in the garden as a platform to explore what it means to zoom in on a small piece of a plant and then apply that to their small moment writing. Ms. Capozza's 3rd grade class also used the garden to find ways to use adjectives to describe an object in the garden.

There are several aspect of our programming that we are fortunate to utilize that make us unique an different from traditional schools - including having the autonomy to creating our own units of study tied to science and social studies standards. Teachers meet weekly with our IB Coordinator to adjust and improve these units with integrated fieldwork and community speakers, diverse texts, and authentic tasks. Being an IB school makes Swigert a vibrant and engaging learning community.

If you want to learn more about what IB check this link on our website and join us for our next community coffee on Thursday October 24th at 8:20 in the library. Caroline Dane, our IB Coordinator, will be there to provide more information and answer any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

Shelby Dennis

Fall Break

Here is our fall break schedule:

Thursday, Oct 10th - No school for students. Many families will be in the building for parent/teacher conferences

Friday, Oct 11 - Monday, Oct 14th - NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, Oct 15th - return to school (picture make-up/retake day)

Notes from Admin

Emergency Contact Information:

If you are traveling and your kids are staying with a relative, friend or babysitter, please make sure that the school has contact information for the caretaker. In the case of an emergency, early dismissal, missed bus, etc. the school needs to know who to get ahold of.

Also please notify the school anytime someone who is not in the child's contact list will be picking the student up. You can do this by calling the office or reaching out ahead of time to the teacher. If the change is happening on the same day, it is best to call the office.

DPS Your Voice Survey:

The DPS Your Voice/Tu Voz Family survey is now available. This is your opportunity to give DPS valuable feedback. DPS has a goal of getting 35% of families to complete the survey. We know Swigert families can do a lot better than that, so let's show up as a school! The survey can be found at the following link:

https://survey.k12insight.com/survey1.aspx?k=RQsUPPTYsUYXsPsPsP&lang=0

Lost and Found:

We will be cleaning out the lost and found and donating any unclaimed items to Goodwill over fall break. Please look for items that belong to your children prior to Thursday! Also, this is a friendly reminder to label any items that you would like to have returned to you (very important for lunch boxes, water bottles, jackets, sweatshirts, etc.). We have students who check all lost and found items for names, and we deliver all labeled items directly to students!

Congratulations Ms. Mosley!

Congratulations to Swigert Third Grade Teacher, Holcomb Mosley, for being recognized and honored by receiving the 2024 Joe Blake Phenomenal Teacher Award. Holcomb is a Classroom Lab Host for the Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC). Teachers from all over the country come into her classroom to learn about the way she elevates thinking strategies. Here is a quote from one of her colleagues -”Holcomb is an outstanding example of a teacher who encourages her students' learnings in all capacities and builds their confidence for taking agency for their learning. Whenever I have attended her classroom lab, I have always seen her encouraging students' work with positive comments and pushing them to challenge their thinking for a certain math/literacy task.” She will be honored at a PEBC event elevating educators on November 14th.

October Artist of the Month

October’s Artist of the Month is 3rd grader Harlem Porche in Ms. Nguyen’s class. Harlem is always very Caring, Principled, and Open Minded in art class. She did an amazing job using radial balance, analogous colors, and wet-on-wet watercolor technique. Here she is holding her Flowers and Bugs project. Way to go, Harlem!

Picture Retakes/Make-ups

Picture make-ups and retakes will happen on Tuesday, October 15th around 8:30. You can sign up your student for these on Bloom's website: https://thebloombeehive.com/swigert.

They will get picked up (our younger friends) or called down from their classroom.

Winter Enrichments

The Winter 24/25 Enrichment Session is just around the corner. Registration opens on Tuesday, 10/16 at 6 am for Swigert!

CLICK HERE FOR THE WINTER CLASS OFFERINGS!

Email enrichment_extendedlearning@dpsk12.org if you have any questions.

Dine & Donate

First Grade Family Meet-Up

Calling All First Grade Families... Come meet and mingle with other first grade families.

When: Saturday - October 19th, 3pm-5pm

Where: Denver Beer Co. in Lowry 7070 E Lowry Blvd Denver, CO 80230

What: Casual meet up to get to know other Swigert families

No RSVP necessary, but if you know you are able to attend, please email Stacy at stacybabbitt4@gmail.com in order to get an approximate headcount.

Community Coffee

Join us for our second community coffee of the year. This session will be all about IB, led by Caroline Dane, our IB coordinator. There will time for questions for admin as well! Coffee from Einstein's will be provided.

Thursday, October 24th

after drop off in the library

Recorders

As a part of the music curriculum, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are learning to play the soprano recorder. The 3rd grade classes are starting their recorder unit now. The 4th and 5th grade classes will have their recorder units later this year. We have found that many parents like to purchase the recorders so students can practice at home as well as at school. We will be ordering 3-piece Yamaha recorders. Each recorder (including shipping) costs $5.00.

Students may also wish to purchase a copy of Recorder Express for $6.00. This book is supplemental to the work the students are doing in class.

Here are some helpful practice hints:

Cover all the holes tightly- leaks lead to squeaks!
Left on top-forget me not!
Blow gently with “warm” air.

If you choose to purchase a recorder, you can order online. Simply sign into your account at myschoolbucks.com. From there, click on “School Store,” then “Browse All Items,” then “Recorder-Swigert.” You will have the option to choose a recorder alone (standard), recorder and book, or book alone. Your student will receive their recorder during music class.

Thank you for your continued support of your child’s creativity in music!

Mrs. Baker

Halloween

Trunk or Treat

Join us Friday, October 25th, from 5-6pm, for Swigert's Trunk or Treat celebration; it is going to be a great time! If you're interested in decorating your trunk, please reach out to Jeff Nazzaro jeff@denverdenver.com and sign up! Each year, this event grows and the trunks are great! Whether you want to decorate your trunk or just show up to trunk or treat, we hope to see you there!

Each trunk will be entered into a raffle! One name will be selected and the owners of that trunk will win two lift tickets to Loveland Ski Area, for the 24/25 season! The tickets are transferable and the tickets were generously donated to Swigert PTA from Loveland Ski Area

If your family would like to donate a bag or two of candy for this event, we'd greatly appreciate it. You can send it in anytime now until October 25th with your student and Mr. Fisher will collect it from classroom teachers.

Thanksgiving Lunch | Save the Date

This year, Swigert's Thanksgiving Lunch will be held on Thursday, November 21st. Parents and siblings are welcome to join their Swigert students! Thanksgiving lunch is free for students; tickets are $7.00 for adults and $6.00 for siblings and must be purchased by Thursday, November 7th. Please note that tickets can only be paid for with cash (if possible, exact change, please) or check. Tickets only need to be purchased if you want the meal. If you have a younger child who will share your meal, you do not have to buy a separate ticket for the sibling.

You are also welcome to pull any children with a later lunch time to join you and your other child at the earlier lunch time. Please note that we do not have coverage for students who have already eaten, so unless you are going to be with them, they will still have to go to the cafeteria at their regular time, although they don't have to eat again.

Due to the number of meals served, lunch times will be changed, and the schedule will follow at a later date. In the past, meals have begun as early as 10:30 am and run through 2:00 pm.

More details to come!

Denver Free Days | Museums and more!

Enjoy these Denver Free Days:

10/08 & 11/02 Denver Art Museum
10/11 Mizel Institute
10/12 Longmont Museum
10/13 Denver Young Artists Orchestra
10/14 Museum of Outdoor Arts
10/20 Denver Museum of Nature & Science
10/25 Four Mile Historic Park
10/27 Brighton Music Choir and Orchestra
11/01 Denver Zoo
11/02 Clyfford Still Museum

Get more information HERE.

We strive to have great communication about all things Swigert.

Please visit our website at www.swigert.dpsk12.org learn more about Swigert and events that are coming up.

You can also join our Friends of Swigert International School, a private Facebook page. We post pictures of events at school, interact as a school family, and you can see friendly reminders of upcoming events.

Wondering who to contact if you have questions about? See table below:

Swigert uses Google Calendar. Do you? If so, you can stay up to date on all school activities.
Just add the Swigert Calendar to your personal calendar. Learn how to do that here.

To reach Swigert International School:
Office: (720) 424-4800
Attendance: (720) 424-4740