Posted September 21, 2021
Good afternoon Swigert Families,
It was great to connect with families at the PTA sponsored event at the Stanley Marketplace on Sunday. Thank you families for your generous support and a huge shout out to our PTA for all of the welcoming events this year. I know it’s challenging not to be able to walk the building and see where your students are during the day so it’s nice to be able to connect in person in other ways.
I wanted to share our priorities as a school this year and a few initiatives that are in the works. Our priorities are the following:
Swigert is a diverse and inclusive learning community where all differences are respected and celebrated… a community where
As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school we are committed to creating inclusive classroom communities through consistent morning meetings, focusing on the IB learner profiles- notably being caring and open minded, hosting parent workshops and diversifying our curriculum and classroom libraries. Please see our IB International Mindedness Moments section below for ways we are encouraging learner profiles and fostering international mindedness.
As a community we are also invested in coming together to support inclusive practices and learning about the diversity in our school and broader community. We are also working to diversify our classroom libraries and curriculum to include different perspectives. A few resources for parents include:
Parent Resources- How to talk to your kids about race
How to access Swigert’s Book Selection
Scholastic – Building Inclusive book shelves
We are hosting our second Planting Seeds Virtual Parent Workshop October 4th to discuss : Supporting Our Asian-American Students, Part 2. We are looking for topics for future workshops around diversity, race and inclusion and would love your input, please email me at Shelby_Dennis@dpsk12.org.
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.org
Please see the attached letter.
Swigert family! With contributions from the majority of you, we raised a total of $121,797 in a single week during Swigert Gives! This is a school record for the fall donation drive and we couldn’t have done it without YOU! We still have a ways to go to reach our annual fundraising goal of $250,000 so there will be more giving opportunities throughout the year for those of you who have not yet contributed. If your donation was eligible for employer matching, please complete and submit any necessary forms so Swigert receives the match. If you have any questions or need help with this process, please reach out to katierustici@hotmail.com. We are happy to help!
Thanks to everyone who came out for Swigert Celebrates! at the Stanley yesterday. So fun to see new and familiar faces come together to celebrate our incredible school community! We especially love how inclusive and welcoming this event felt. We are truly lucky to have such a great group of families at Swigert!
Raffle prize winners for the week are list below. If you won a prize, you should have received communication from our Swigert Gives team. If not, please email katierustici@hotmail.com.
1 hour tutoring session with Dear Abby Tutoring – Josh Babbitt
Class pizza parties – Orit Weinstein
4 tickets to the 2022 Swigert Auction – Sterling McLaren
Weekend stay in Frisco – Katy Estes
MatBall with Dr. Fisher and Dr. Shutts – Marcus Tuepker
PlayStation 5 – Marisa Cummings
$100 Stanley Beer Hall gift card – Nisha Alden
Principal for a Day – Cortney Dickey
Special thanks to everyone who made this week possible including: Erin Dormaier, Aaron Dormaier, Matt Rustici, Courtney Percival, Shelby Dennis, Daphne Jolley, Emily Pool, Mark Shaker and the Stanley Marketplace, and Sarah Knowlton (for providing some much-needed fun for our committee!). Cheers!
Please join us for our next Planting Seeds equity workshop:
Planting Seeds: Supporting Our Asian-American Students, Part 2
Monday, October 4, 2021
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 853 5341 9375
Passcode: 3LHfeJ
In May, Planting Seeds workshop participants identified a variety of questions and possible next steps for supporting our Asian-American students at Swigert. This workshop is open to everyone, even if you did not attend in May. We hope that Asian-American parents, caregivers, and staff–and allies of all backgrounds–will join us.
The workshop will explore:
1. What are our Asian-American students experiencing at Swigert?
2. How can we support our Asian-American students?
3. What can non-Asian students and staff do to be allies?
If you haven’t yet seen the Embrace Race webinar titled, “Violence Against Asian Americans: How Do We Support The Children?” (viewed during Part 1 of the workshop), it can be found here:
Please reach out to Shelby Dennis with any questions at shelby_dennis@dpsk12.org
Spirit Wear has arrived! If you placed an order, it should go home with your student today. If you have more than one student at Swigert, it will go home with the oldest. If you placed an order but it doesn’t come home today, please reach out to your oldest Swigert child’s teacher to see if it’s still in the classroom. If they didn’t receive the order, please contact Amy Sweeney at abklein03@gmail.com.
Thanks!
Transportation has now given us the (current) bus route information! They have officially merged the afternoon routes down to three: 476 and 480 are now both 476; 477 and 478 are now both 478, and 479 and 481 are now both 479. However, as of now, the only morning routes that have merged are 479 with 481, again now listed as 479.
Thanks,
Swigert Office
Welcome to International Mindedness Moments!
–This regular segment will feature an activity you can do with your child to reinforce International Mindedness learning at home and to take action!–
IB states: “An internationally minded person is open-minded about the common humanity of all people and accepts and respects other cultures and beliefs. The internationally minded person takes action through discussion and collaboration to help build a better and peaceful world.”
Did you know that the Swigert Learner Profile attributes help to develop international mindedness?
Learn more about the Learner Profile here (kid-friendly resource!):
Kid Friends Learner Profile Descriptors
Just like we do at school, you can recognize members of your family (and beyond) for showing these traits!
Use the following Swigert Learner Profile slips (or make something of your own), to notice and celebrate when you see someone being: open-minded, caring, knowledgeable, reflective, principled, balanced, a risk-taker, communicator, thinker, or an inquirer!
Swigert Learner Profile in Action Slips (Grades 2-5):
Swigert Learner Profile in Action Slips (K-1):
Swigert Learner Profile in Action Slips (ECE):
(This document includes caring and principled, the two traits that ECE has focused on thus far. More traits to come!)
Enjoy!
Mark your calendar!
3rd, 4th & 5th Grade
Dec 1 & 2
4:30-6:30pm
In-person in the Swigert main hall
Masks required
3, 4, 5 Sign-up required: https://www.
K, 1st & 2nd
March 2 & 3
4:30-6:30pm In-person in the Swigert main hall
Masks required
Sign-up required: Sign up link will be published at a later date
Please join us in the vegetable garden on Thursday, September 23rd 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.
Enrichment Programming will be returning on 10/19. Our Fall Session will begin the week of 10/18 and run through 12/17. We will be releasing our brochures to families by 9/29. Registration for classes will begin on 10/4 at 8:00am and run through 10/15 at 5:00pm.
As a reminder registration will be on a first come first serve basis, but we will create a waitlist for classes. As we get closer to the start of registration we will send a communication with information on how to register for classes.
Thank you,
Shavon (shavon_glasper@dpsk12.org)
Thank you so much to our community for the generous involvement in the Swigert Gives Drive last week. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. What a wildly successful drive! It was so much fun seeing all the kids dressed for Spirit Week, I loved all the photos! It was also so wonderful to see and meet so many families at Sunday’s celebration at the Stanley Beer Hall. A huge thank you to Erin Dormier and Katie Rustici for all they did to put on such a wonderful giving week.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for tomorrow nights Dine and Donate at Pizzeria Locale! A portion of all food sold will go back to benefit our Swigert Eagles!
The PTA is excited to see families at our next event, The Monster Mash on October 8th! This will be a family event at the Swigert playground/field from 5:30 – 7:30 to celebrate fall! We will have lots of games and activities for the kiddos!
Sept 22nd Dine & Donate (Pizzeria Locale)
Sept 23rd Garden and Coffee Day
Oct 4th Planting Seeds
Oct 8th Monster Mash