Posted August 31, 2021
Good afternoon Swigert Families,
There have been some definite highlights to our first two weeks back- high student engagement and strong community building across the school. Here are a few examples of Ms. Carlson’s second grade class questions asking students to get to know them better.
It’s wonderful to have specials in person and see our youngest ECE students engaged in STEM, PE and Art.
Mr. Miller teaching STEM to our ECE students – they built different block structures and wanted to see what structure would topple Mr. Humphrey.
Teachers are also busy finishing our beginning of year assessments in reading, writing and math. We will be sending updated student data to you by the end of next week – September 10th. We received our school wide CMASS data from the spring of 2021, but are waiting for individual scores to share with parents. We are hoping that will occur in the next two weeks.
Thank you all for your continued support. It was awesome to see families at the PTA welcome breakfast over the weekend. Thank you PTA for organizing such a warm, inclusive and festive event.
Covid Update:
I want to be as transparent as possible as we navigate covid this year. We all wish we were in a different place and look forward to the day when our students are eligible for vaccines. Our staff is fully vaccinated and we are implementing full masks inside the building as well as washing hands regularly. We spoke to all the students about the importance of wearing masks – it’s currently our best defense – and why it’s important to wear them fully covering our nose and mouth. Students can take a mask break in the hallway and during recess/lunch.
We had a few student cases tied to community exposure that came within the first few days of school. The students are isolating themselves and will return after 10 days. We do have one staff member, fully vaccinated, who developed symptoms and is currently in quarantine. I am hopeful that this is a hurdle in the beginning of the year as we return from summer and start in person learning together. We are following the covid quarantine procedures that only students in close contact – 3 feet or closer without masks – need to quarantine. There are no quarantines in place for outdoor exposure.
For specific questions please contact our covid coordinators:
Hoang_Tran@dpsk12.org–Swigert School Nurse
richard_fisher@dpsk12.org–Dean of Operations
Here is DPS information on health procedures:
Update on Masking and Health Procedures for the Start of School | Denver Public Schools (dpsk12.org)
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.org
The driving force behind the PYP (Primary Years Programme) is the philosophy about the nature and future of international education. This starts with developing beliefs and values about what it means to be internationally minded.
The learner profile attributes are what we want our children to aspire to be and how we develop international mindedness….
PYP Learner Profile
Our learners are aspiring to be:
| Caring | They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. |
| Inquirers | They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives. |
| Thinkers | They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions. |
| Communicators | They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others |
| Risk-Takers | They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs. |
| Knowledgeable | They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines. |
| Principled | They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them. |
| Open-minded | They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience. |
| Balanced | They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others |
| Reflective | They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development. |
As we all aspire to be ‘global citizens’ and work collaboratively together to assist our children to be ‘the best learners they can be’ we support and embrace the attributes and dispositions described in the PYP learner profile set out in the table above. As teachers, we reflect continuously on how we are ensuring that the profile is embedded in our teaching. We are also incorporating a new way to highlight the Learner Profile in action this year at Swigert. Students will be encouraged to identify the learner profile attributes when they see them in action. SLPs (Swigert Learner Profile) will be an interactive way for our students to track and highlight the attributes demonstrated by one another.
As we explore and model the PYP qualities each month, you may like to also discuss them at home.
Please see the attached infographic (PDF) for ways to support your child as a PYP parent.
Hop on zoom Tuesday, September 7th, from 5:00 – 5:30 to learn more about GT identification and programming from Mrs. Bresnahan our GT Coordinator, and get your GT questions answered! Hope to see you there! If you are unable to make it and you have questions, please email Robin Bresnahan at robin_bresnahan@dpsk12.org.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 916 283 0882
Passcode: 8PeN75
Please join us in the vegetable garden on Thursday, September 9th from 8:15-10:15 for gardening & coffee. Green and brown thumbs are welcome! Tasks will include weeding, tending beds, trellising vines & harvesting vegetables. Please bring your own garden gloves & hand tools. Coffee will be provided.
Please see the attached Lunch Menu for September. Please note: the vegetarian option this Friday will be Grilled Cheese Sandwich. It was inadvertently omitted from the menu.
Last week, we were informed that lunches are free as long as the student takes an entire meal. If they want only milk, it is $.50, and they will be charged if they take only an entrée or side (sorry, I don’t know the prices for those items). If you have any questions, please email our Kitchen Manager, Laura Gonzalez-Carrazco.
Lifetouch will be here on Monday, September 20th for individual pictures. We will send order information home as we get closer to that day.
Mark your calendars! Swigert Gives & Spirit Week 9/13-9/17
What is it? A weeklong celebration of Swigert with a giving drive to fund our unique school programs
How does it work?
What does Swigert need these fundraising dollars for?
Swigert Gives supports the following programs:
We hope you can participate!
Swigert Gives, it’s for the kids.
www.SwigertPTA.com/Swigert-
We’ve all heard the buzzwords: Social Engagement. Community Membership. Belonging. Connection. Empathy. Emotional Regulation. As a group, we parents strive to embody these values in our homes, workplaces, and broader community. But how are we cultivating these principles for our students? New for the 2021-2022 school year, the PTA has launched a committee intent on collaborating with parents and teachers to build awareness…please click here to download the entire PDF or Word Doc.
August 31st, 2021
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the 2021/22 school year! It was great to see so many faces yesterday at Meet the Teacher Night! For those of you whom I do not yet know, my name is Robin Bresnahan (Mrs. B or Mrs. Bresnahan) and my main role at Swigert is as the Gifted and Talented Coordinator. l am also at Montclair on Tuesdays. This is my 19th year as an educator with a Bachelor’s degree from CSU in Art Education and a Master’s degree in Administrative Leadership and Policy Studies from CU Denver. I have extensive experience teaching visual arts to all grade levels, including teaching art in Spanish and Mandarin at Denver Language School. I also have experience teaching in Spain and China, as well as experience in various administrative roles. This is my 5th year as GT Coordinator at Swigert and I love seeing what these talented Swigert students are capable of achieving! In the past four years I have collaborated with staff to start a wide variety of clubs and teams to meet the unique needs and interests of our students. I’m excited to share that this year we will be bringing back the Writing Mentorship, Climate Activism Team, and Semantics Team.
My husband is a Social Studies teacher at George Washington High School, and is also leading GT work this year at GW. We plan on collaborating on the Climate Team and possibly creating other mentorships with our students. More on that to come. We have a daughter going into third grade and a son going into first grade at Swigert. When I’m not teaching you can find me running, biking, hiking, practicing or teaching yoga, cooking, gardening, making art, brushing up on my language skills, or spending quality time with family and friends.
I look forward to working with our Swigert students in person this year! I work with a wide variety of students, not just those who are GT identified or in the GT process. Typically I work with teachers as teams or individually each year to see how I can best support them in meeting the needs of their high learners. I do provide teachers with a list of students whom I have worked with in the past or who are somewhere in the GT identification process. Please be patient, it usually takes teachers a few weeks to figure out which students need the extra challenge. I provide extensions and challenges, support in the classroom, and pull high academic specific groups or more broad GT groups (think creativity and curiosity development, rigorous academic challenges, social emotional development, etc).
Here is a link to some of my favorite GT resources by category – general, math, literacy, and social emotional. GT Resource List. Please let me know if you have questions or would like to set up a time to chat.
Warm Regards,
Robin Bresnahan
robin_bresnahan@dpsk12.org
GT Coordinator
Swigert/Montclair
Thank you to all the families who joined us for the Welcome Breakfast! It was so great to see returning families and meet so many new families! Though very hot, we all enjoyed being able to spend time socially. The first PTA Meeting of the school year will be Wednesday, September 1st from 6:00-7:00.
This first meeting will have to be run virtually, please join us on Zoom.
Meeting ID: 865 6814 7462
Passcode: 6Jt5Ue
We look forward to seeing everyone online!
Courtney Percival
Swigert PTA President, President@swigertpta.com
Swigertpta.com