Posted October 17, 2023
Dear Swigert Families,
I hope everyone enjoyed the Fall Break and beautiful weather. Our staff collaborated yesterday on ways to elevate math thinking strategies, develop student confidence in math and engage in real world application problems.
I wanted to share about one of our partnerships with a local education organization. The Denver-based non-profit Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC) offers teacher professional development as well as a residency-model teacher preparation program. We have partnered with PEBC’s teacher preparation program- hosting student teachers who work alongside a mentor teacher for an entire year and participate in regular professional development. Rachel Adler, Chris Jones, Aarti Vipani, Erica Ueda and Susan Cohen- all current Swigert classroom teachers- participated in the PEBC teacher program. Rhonda Margulies, Craig Ziegler, Catherine Kline and Meghan Montgomery all hosted student teachers as mentors.
Swigert’s partnership with PEBC is growing with classroom lab professional learning. For a number of years, 3rd grade teacher Holcomb Mosley has served as a PEBC “lab host,” welcoming visitors from around the country to facilitate classroom visits as part of their professional learning with PEBC. Her math lessons demonstrating student engagement and understanding are inspirational! This year, Kindergarten teacher Sumeera Aggarwal is participating in a Kaiser Permanente-sponsored PEBC Lab Fellowship program and will soon join Holcomb in hosting national visitors to her classroom. This past week, Sumeera and her students impressed a group of visitors from DPS curious about high quality math instruction in the primary years as part of a DPS / PEBC initiative.
Your opportunity to learn with PEBC is coming soon: on October 26 from 5:00 – 6:00 pm, Swigert will host a district-sponsored Math Parenting Night for all interested adults in the Swigert community. At this event, PEBC Senior Director and author Wendy Ward Hoffer will share some accessible ways that we as adults can each support our children’s success in school math and beyond. Hope you can join us! Please note that this is an adult only event.
Here are a few photos from our staff engaging together on Monday and enjoying our annual Chili Cook Off. There was quite a selection of veggie, white bean and traditional bean chilis.
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net
We are so excited to host our in-person Scholastic book fair from Tuesday, October 24th to Friday, October 27th !
Our book fair will be open to families at the following times:
Before school every day starting at 7:30am
After school every day ending at 5:00pm
We will also be allowing students to shop during school hours when their class visits the book fair.
If you would like your child to have the opportunity to shop, consider using the E-wallet. You can
find more information on our homepage. The E-wallet allows you to add money into your child’s
account for use at the book fair. They are unable to spend over the amount issued on the E-wallet.
There is also an opportunity for others to add money to the E-wallet (perfect for grandparents).
Please visit our homepage for more information at: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/swigertinternationalschl
We are still looking for volunteers. Click on the link to sign up:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B4EAAA823A7FE3-44900826-swigert#/
It’s already time to check out our winter enrichment options!
Registration starts WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25th at 6am and ends THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9th at 10pm. Please see the attached brochure for classes and registration information.
Please e-mail enrichment_extendedlearning@dpsk12.org if you have any questions.
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:
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!
The 4th graders will present “Colorado History” and the 5th graders will present “Friendship” on Thursday, November 9.
At 5:45 PM, 4th grade students will meet in their classrooms. Their concert begins at 6:00 in the gym.
At 6:25 PM, 5th 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 November 8 and Thursday November 9 during the school day: 8:15 (4th grade) and 9:20 (5th grade).
See you there!
Join us in shining a light on dyslexia! DenCoKID is proud to host the second annual lighting of the Denver City and County Building on October 27, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. in honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month!
This free community event will include an activity for youth, giveaways, special guests, and inspiring speaker lineup including our very own Ms. Tabitha Jones!!
Find more details here: https://www.dencokid.com/
Thursday, October 26
5pm
in the library
Math PARENT night is designed to offer adults strategies and skills to support children as math learners. We will talk about ways that you can set a mathematical example, notice and discuss math in the world around you, and support school math and homework.
**This is not a “math night” of games and activities but rather an adult learning experience.)**
Read about how DPS has rejected the city’s offer to work together in this week’s Central Park Ed News Roundup. And that DSST’s robotics team is learning about more than just tech.
And don’t forget to sign up for the nonprofit www.CPEdNews.org’s free Weekly Roundup! It’s a project of the nonprofit Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities.
Halloween is right around the corner! This year parties and the parade will take place during the afternoon on Friday, October 27th. Specific details about times will come from your student’s teacher soon. As you are starting to shop for costumes, please keep these guidelines in mind:
If your family does not celebrate Halloween, please let your child’s teacher know so that we can plan a fun alternate activity for them!
Here is your official invitation for Swigert’s Trunk or Treat! If you would like to decorate your trunk, please sign up below. There will also be a candy drive to collect candy to give out at the event… the class that collects the most candy will win a PIZZA PARTY!
Sign up here to host a trunk (candy will be provided) – https://www.swigertpta.com/trunk-or-treat
Grab a few extra bags of candy when you stock up for Halloween. Next week Oct 23 – Oct 27th we will be collecting candy for our Trunk or Treat. The class that collects the most bags of candy will win a class pizza party!
The Trunk or Treat is October 27th from 5pm-6:30pm in the Swigert Parking Lot. We have a few more slots for Trunks; if you would like to sign up you can here.
You can also join GW High School on Wednesday, October 25th for more Trunk or Treat fun!
Attention 5th Grade families. We know it’s so hard to believe, but it’s time to start thinking about middle school. Most middle schools have tour times listed on their websites. We’ve compiled all the the schools in our zone and a few honorable mentions on this page our website to help you out as you start to think about what might be the best fit for your 5th grader next year.
https://swigert.dpsk12.org/middle-school-info/. Questions, reach out to Emily Pool!
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
October 24-27 – Scholastic book fair in the library
October 25 – Picture make-up and retake day
October 26 – Parent Math Night
October 27 – Halloween Parade, classroom parties and PTA Trunk or Treat
October 31 – Halloween (no costumes or parties, students can dress in orange and black)
November 9 – 4th & 5th Grade Art show and Music Concert
November 16 – 5th Grade Wax Museum, 5pm
November 20-24 – Thanksgiving Break!