Posted January 24, 2023
Dear Swigert Families,
Last week was a great example of our IB program coming alive within and outside our school walls. One of our main goals is to connect our students’ learning with authentic and relevant real world examples and spark curiosity and wonder.
Here were a few IB highlights:
Second Grade:
Our second graders kicked off their innovation unit last week with a parent speaker and inventor, Taryn Omran. She spoke to the students about how she comes up with new inventions, the design process and how to get a patent.
Fourth Grade
As a culminating arts integration project to their government unit, Swigert fourth graders designed social action posters on issues they are passionate about. The posters are on display at the Stanley Marketplace until February 7th. We kicked off the art installment last Thursday evening. It was great to see so many families.
First Grade
Our first grade students ended their Who We Are Unit about change makers by spreading kindness and making a difference for families with children in the hospital. As part of their unit they read all about change makers from around the world and heard from change makers in our own community, including Paula DuPre Pesman, Director of the non-profit organization There with Care. The students created activity bags with hand written messages that will be delivered to families in need.
Our third graders are hosting their presentation of learning this Thursday night at Swigert. Students will be sharing their historical narrative stories based on their immigration unit.
These culminating projects and activities lead to high student engagement. I hope you are all staying warm and healthy! Some of our students are doing an informal experiment to see how many days the snow will stay on our field. So far the range is from 2 days to 28. We shall see!
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net
We are in need of sweat pants/stretch pants in various sizes to keep on hand in the nurse’s office. We use these so that when kids spill on themselves, slip in the mud, or have any other type of accident they have something clean and dry to put on. Our current supply is dwindling pretty low, so if you happen to do a closet clean out at home and have sweats or stretch pants that are still in good condition, we would be happy to take them! You may drop them off at the front office or send them in with your student to drop by the front office. Even the older students have a need, so sizes from very small to young adult are welcome. Thank you!
As an Innovation School we have some flexibility over our calendar. This flexibility allows us to be strategic with our planning time and professional learning opportunities. Our calendar committee is meeting this week to put together a few proposals to present to our staff and SAC to vote. Our goal is to have our calendar finalized by the second week of February. We will not differ too much from the DPS calendar and will keep the same start and end date as well as major holiday breaks. Here is the DPS calendar for 2023-2024.
The Swigert Semantics Team came very prepared to the District Spelling Bee that took place on Friday, January 20th at Denver Language School. There were 56 spellers in total from several schools including middle school students from DSA and Slavens. All students performed well and 5th grade student, Riley Sanders, came in 5th place. Go Team!
Swigert will be hosting an Art Show for Kindergarten through 2nd Grades on Thursday, March 23rd, from 5:30 – 7:00 PM.
We hope to see you there!
We have our CMAS schedule set for April for our third through fifth grade students. Please try and schedule trips and appointments around these times and dates. We will send out more information as we get closer, but want you to have it on your calendar. Please reach out with any clarifying questions.
We’re halfway through the month of January and the Climate Activism team would like to remind you about our climate monthly challenge to pick up a piece of trash every day. If your Swigert student participates they can fill out this google form to be entered into a raffle to earn a prize. Thanks for participating!
Choice for the 2023-24 school year opens at 10 AM this Friday, January 13th and will close at 4 PM (DPS time) Tuesday, February 14th. All students who will be entering ECE, Kindergarten, or 6th grade (and, for siblings, 9th grade) need to have a Choice Form completed. Students who are currently in Kindergarten through 4th grades only need to have a Choice Form completed if you/they are choosing to change schools. If you do not complete a choice form for a student in K – 4th, they will roll back into Swigert for next year. It doesn’t matter if you complete the form on the first or last day of the window, but you MUST hit submit by 4 PM on February 14th or you will have to wait until 2nd Round, which greatly reduces your likelihood of getting into your school of choice.
There seems to be a glitch in the system, which sometimes shows students don’t have siblings even when they do. Please submit your application even if that is incorrectly marked. We always go through and ensure siblings are getting the correct priority. If the student you’re applying for has a different last name than the sibling, please email djolley@dpsk12.net to ensure that student is on the radar.
The DPS process remains the same: you must complete a Choice Application. However, in addition to the DPS form, you must also complete the Colorado Universal Preschool (UPK) application, which provides 15 hours of free preschool to every ECE student. This does not mean that you can only have 15 hours free; the rest is based on income, just as it has been in the past. Please see the attached UPK letter for more information. The UPK application window has changed. It is open now through February 14th, just like the DPS application. The UPK application is where you’ll be able to input sibling information and school choices.
For DPS’ Choice, go to dps.schoolmint.net. If you already have an account (which most of you reading this will, from getting your older child(ren) into Swigert), you can either log into your old account, if you still have access to the email you used, or you can create a new account. Any students you have already choiced into a DPS school will show up on your existing account, but you don’t have to create a choice form for them unless you want to – or they are in ECE, K, or 5th grade. There is also a box you can select to create a new student, meaning new to the account. Even if they are currently in DPS, create a new student if they aren’t already on your account. For ECE only, you will not be able to select schools through DPS. The only option you can choose is UPK.
DPS no longer offers paper registration. However, if you have difficulties with the process, Daphne will be happy to help you. Just come by the office during the hours from 9 AM – 3 PM on any school day; if those times don’t work for getting to the school, then feel free to call 720-424-4802 for help. You wIf your child is entering ECE or Kindergarten (and isn’t currently attending a DPS ECE), please be sure to bring proof of age: Birth Certificate, Passport, or signed hospital/religious birth paperwork.
Please be sure you fill out BOTH applications!
The 1st and 3rd grade concerts are coming soon!
The 1st graders will present “A Continental Concert” and the 3rd graders will present “Mother Nature” on Thursday, February 2.
At 5:45 PM, 1st grade students will meet in their classrooms. Their concert begins at 6:00 in the gym.
At 6:25 PM, 3rd grade students will meet in their classrooms. Their concert begins at 6:40 in the gym.
Dress for this concert is nice clothes.
If you cannot make it to the evening concert, you may attend the dress rehearsals: Wednesday February 1 and Thursday February 2 during the school day (time TBD).
See you there!
We’d love to connect with you as much as possible. You will be automatically added to our weekly Swigert Eagle newsletter that comes out every Tuesday during the school year. Please also visit our website at www.swigert.dpsk12.org to learn more about Swigert and events that are coming up. You can also join our “Friends of Swigert International School” private Facebook page – www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofswigert. When requesting to join, please include a note to say you are a new family. We post pictures of events at school, interact as a school family, and you can see friendly reminders of upcoming events.
Who to contact if you have questions about:
| Registration | Daphne Jolley | DJolley@dpsk12.net |
| Technology and events | Richard Fisher | Richard_Fisher@dpsk12.net |
| Daily School Life | Emily Pool | Emily_Pool@dpsk12.net |
| Instruction, Programing, etc. | Shelby Dennis Amber Holthus-Pera | Shelby_Dennis@dpsk12.net Amber_Holthus-Pera@dpsk12.net |
| Health | Nurse Hoang Tran | Hoang_Tran@dpsk12.net |
| IB Program/Service Learning | Caroline Dane | Caroline_Dane@dpsk12.net |
Key Dates
Feb 2 1st & 3rd Grade Concerts
Feb 14th Choice & UPK Close 4PM
Feb 20- 21 No School (President’s Day)
Feb 23 ECE Art Show
Mar 9 Kdg & 2nd Grade Concerts
Mar 23 Kdg-2nd Art Show
Mar 27 – Apr 3 Spring Break
Apr 29 Swigert Auction