Posted August 29, 2023
Dear Swigert Families,
We are off and running. It’s been awesome to see classroom communities being created daily; through building essential agreements, daily morning meetings, and community building activities.
We are excited to invite you to Back to School Night this Thursday, August 31st! This will be a chance for you to hear from your child’s teacher(s) in more depth about the upcoming year. You’ll hear about their schedule, some of the things they’ll be learning, and be able to ask questions! Teachers will hold 2 identical sessions in their classrooms, one at 5:30pm and one at 6pm.There will also be two identical sessions in the gym for school wide information. We will hear from school leadership and our NDIZ Zone Director, Dr. Colleen O’Brien. These sessions will be held at 6pm and 6:30pm. Our specials teachers will also be on hand to show you their space and answer any questions about Art, Music, Spanish, STEM, and PE. Lastly, Robin Bresnahan, our GT Coordinator, will be discussing Gifted and Talented Identification and Programming at Swigert. If you would like to learn more about Giftedness, how students get identified as Gifted and talented, Advanced Learning Plans, and programming at Swigert, please join Mrs. Bresnahan in her GT room (106) for a session at 6 or 6:30pm. We do ask that this be attended by adults only.
If you cannot attend or have more than 2 students, all the information will be emailed out the following day.
| Sessions Offered (in classrooms) | Sessions Offered (in gym) | Sessions Offered (in GT room 106) | |
| 5:30pm | Teacher Sessions | – | – |
| 6:00pm | Teacher Sessions | School Wide Information | Gifted and Talented Programming and Identification Session |
| 6:30pm | – | School Wide Information | Gifted and Talented Programming andIdentification Session |
We also wanted to let you know we are in the process of completing our safety drills. Today we did a fire drill and the students did an amazing job. They were calm and walked quietly outside the building. Tomorrow we will do our other safety drills with Denver Public Schools.
We know these drills can provoke anxiety and are difficult for many of our staff and students. We do our best to communicate about them in advance to our students and staff when we can. We share that the drills are in place to keep them safe in an event of an emergency. They are required by DPS to administer in the first thirty days of school. Here is a list of our safety protocols at Swigert and an explanation of the different drills. Swigert Safety One Pager
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net
Thank you for your patience as we work through our arrival and departure procedures. A few reminders to keep things running smoothly.
*Please do not park in the bus lane (lane right in front of the main office along Syracuse. The buses need that space for drop off and pick up.
Kiss ‘N Go LaneSwigert has Kiss ‘n Go lanes on both the east and west side of the school. These areas, indicated with a yellow curb, are designed for parents who want to quickly pull into the parking lot, let their kids out, and then continue on to work. Now that it is winter, and piles of snow will restrict the flow of traffic further, it is important that you respect the rules. If you would like to have a longer stop, please go ahead and pull into a parking space, or pull alongside a curb so that other parents can continue on with their day.
We’re thrilled to be using Bloom School photos again for our school photography. Bloom takes photos outside, in the mornings before lunch messiness. This means that we have 4 days of photos. The schedule will be coming out later this week. It will be important that you check which day your child’s class has photos! Not all grades have photos on the same day. 🙂 Details coming soon!
Last year, we had yearbooks delivered in the fall. (If you ordered one and didn’t pick it up already, you should recieve it in this week’s Friday Folder.) This was after surveying families to see if they’d prefer to stay with Spring Delivery, or switch to Fall Delivery so that we could include end-of-year activities like Continuation and Field Day, and having a slim majority for fall.
Having tried Fall delivery, we wanted to see which option works better for our families. Please complete the survey here.
Do you have some videographer skills? Our promo video for our school could use a a major update! We’d be thrilled if you would love to donate your time, energy, and skill to this project this fall. Email Emily Pool for more details!
Calling All Climate Activists! The Swigert Climate Action Team is looking for new members of change makers to serve on our Team. Interested third – fifth grade students are invited to fill the Climate Action Team Application Due September 15th. The Team meets the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month starting in October. If the poem Earthrise by Amanda Gorman inspires your kiddo, this club could be a great fit. If you have any questions email Robin Bresnahan at robin_bresnahan@dpsk12.net or Caroline Dane at Caroline_dane@dpsk12.net.
If your child is in 5th grade, please see the attached information about the Yearbook Club.
Swigert’s Direct Giving Week will take place the first week of October this year! More information to come on Spirit Week, our 2nd Annual Color Run, and why we hold an annual Direct Giving Week. In the meantime, book your babysitters now because you won’t want to miss the adults-only kick-off party on September 29th!
WHO: ALL Swigert Parents, Teachers, and Staff
WHAT: A Casual Backyard Cocktail Party
WHERE: The Weldon Family Home 10194 E. 60th Pl.
WHEN: Friday, September 29th 6-9 PM
COST: Sponsored by the PTA, this event is FREE TO ALL
Do you love your College and want to show some school spirit?
Mr. Shutts is looking to decorate the gymnasium by hanging up pennants from various colleges. If you are willing to purchase, and donate, a flag to our school, please fill out the correct spot on the spreadsheet below. If your school is not on the list, add it to the bottom. If your school has already been claimed, pick another:
College Pennants for Gym
Mr. Miller, our STEM teacher is in need of cardboard egg cartons (not the Styrofoam ones) or cardboard drink holders. You can send them with your student or drop them in the main office! The 5th grade team is also needing some 2- liter bottles!
Every Friday, show your school spirit by wearing Swigert gear or blue!
Want a peek at next month? Here is September at a glance. These calendars are always available on our website if you want a full resolution download for your refrigerator. 😉
https://swigert.dpsk12.org/about/calendar/
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:
| ROLE | NAME | |
| Instruction, Programing, etc | Shelby DennisAmber Holthus-Pera | Shelby_Dennis@dpsk12.net Amber_Holthus-Pera@dpsk12.net |
| Daily School Life | Emily Pool | Emily_Pool@dpsk12.net |
| Registration | Daphne Jolley | Djolley@dpsk12.net |
| Technology and events | Richard Fisher | Richard_Fisher@dpsk12.net |
| Health | Nurse Hoang Tran | Hoang_Tran@dpsk12.net |
| IB Program, Service Learning | Caroline Dane | Caroline_Dane@dpsk12.net |
| Swigert PTA | Cortney Dickey | president@swigertpta.com |
Key Dates
August 31 – Back to School Night
September 4 – NO SCHOOL, Labor Day
September 5 – SAC Meeting, 5pm
September 6 – PTA Meeting, 6pm
September 11-14 – School Pictures!
September 22 – NO SCHOOL, Professional Development Day
September 29 – Swigert Gives Direct Giving Party
