Posted February 20, 2024
Dear Swigert Families,
One of our priorities is for our students to give back to the community around them and continue their development as caring members of our community. Last week four fourth and fifth grade students had an opportunity to engage in meaningful service learning.
Swigert fourth graders donated over 400 snack bags to newcomer families who are living in shelters in Denver. Fourth graders and their families donated non-perishable snacks and made snack bags to be distributed to children around the city. Students worked in Spanish class with Senor Amador to write cards, using their excellent Spanish skills. When Leslie Raynor, our Special Education teacher, delivered the bags she said, “The staff was overwhelmed with the generosity of our students and were particularly impressed with the notes in Spanish. The staff shared that these snack bags will be distributed to children living in shelters around the city and will be so excited.”
Our fifth grade classes are each going to spend a half day at the Food Bank of the Rockies– packing food for families in need. The mission of the Food Bank of the Rockies is to ignite the power of community to nourish people facing hunger. Mrs. Kline’s class was the first to go last Thursday and greatly enjoyed the experience. Many students went home and asked if they could sign up to volunteer with their families.
I so proud of our Swigert Eagles. I have fielded a few questions regarding our calendar for the 2024-2025 school year. As an innovation school we have some flexibility regarding our calendar and how we use our time- it plays out in where we put our professional learning or green days. We will work with our SAC and staff to design a calendar with these small changes. Our calendar mostly mirrors the DPS calendar, especially with regards to start and end dates and all major holidays. Please see the DPS calendar here, we will share the Swigert specific calendar in mid March.
Please reach out with any questions.
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net
Swigert has a Special Education 1:1 Para Professional needed at Swigert: We have an opening for a part time (.5) paraprofessional to support a special needs student one on one for the remainder of the school year. Please reach out if you are interested, Shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net.
Summer Connections is a free, five-week academic program that is open to all rising first through fifth-grade DPS students at eligible schools. This full-day program focuses on preparing elementary students for future success. Registration will open Friday, Feb. 16. Please check back for updates!
Students will engage with content they will see in the upcoming school year, which will include instruction in foundational literacy, math, science and technology. Our enrichment partners will provide enrichment opportunities daily. Students with IEPs are invited to participate in Summer Connections.
I wanted to share our CMAS testing schedule for our 3-5th grade families. Please mark these dates on your calendar. Please try your best not to schedule appointments during these times.
What’s new?
*We have been finishing up our Original Works projects. They are turning out great! More info coming soon!
*Welcome our new guinea pigs, Bean and Mr. Frank! If you are interested in pet sitting… to see the entire newsletter, please click here.
The Kindergarten and 2nd grade concerts are coming soon!
The Kindergarteners will present “Musical Patterns” and the 2nd graders will present “Folktales” on Thursday, March 7.
At 5:45 PM, Kindergarten students will meet in their classrooms. Their concert begins at 6:00 in the gym.
At 6:25 PM, 2nd 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 March 6 and Thursday March 7 during the school day: 12:20 (2nd grade) and 1:20 (kindergarten).
See you there!
Hello Swigert Community,
I hope 2024 has been going well for everybody. We have been having lots of fun in GT groups in the new year. Kinder students have been working on equivalent equations, target equations, creative math prompts… click here to continue reading the full GT newsletter.
Registration for Summer Connections (previously Summer Academy) is now open! Summer Connections is a free, five-week academic program that is open to all rising first through fifth-grade DPS students at eligible schools. This full-day program focuses on preparing elementary students for future success. Registration will open Friday, Feb. 16. Please check back for updates!
Students will engage with content they will see in the upcoming school year, which will include instruction in foundational literacy, math, science and technology. Our enrichment partners will provide enrichment opportunities daily. Students with IEPs are invited to participate in Summer Connections.
For more information, or to apply, please visit https://www.dpsk12.org/page/summer-connections
Central Park schools win half the city’s spots in the State Spelling Bee! And Willow students talk about why they entered the Bee.
Read about it in this week’s Central Park Education News – www.cpednews.org! CPEdNews.org is a project of the nonprofit Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities.
Heartfelt thanks to the Swigert International School students who’ve learned Hands-Only CPR during Kids Heart Challenge, earned characters delivering heart-healthy messages, and are spreading awareness through texts, emails, and social media!
Our goal is to raise $5,000 donations so we can help the American Heart Association and earn PE equipment for our school. As of 2/20/2024 we’ve raised $8,881 donations towards our goal!
Want to help? Sign up, donate or get a donation, and complete Finn’s Mission!
Download the free app foriPhone orAndroid, or online:http://www2.heart.org/goto/SwigertInternationalDenverCO.
The class that raises the most gets an EXTRA PE CLASS! Any student who raises $50 will qualify to purchase discounted tickets and get a special ON COURT experience with the Denver Nuggets!
Congratulations to the following students who have already earned our school’s challenge: Eliot M , Asher V , Luana F , Emelina H , Noemi F , Zahra R , Allison F , Henry S , Julia R , August R , James M , Kaiya S , Liam L , Benny M , Patience C , Mattie K , Alex A , Milo B , Isla A , Cora A , Sloane A , Beckett H , Austin B , Thomas M , Emma F , Daniel K , Brody E , Jeron R , Colt C , Rocky B , Meredith G , Colin M , Gregory Z , Ben T , Olivia C , Boden G , Evelyn M , Alexander O , Rinley M , Maddox D , Aiden K , Ian G , Enzo P , Maddyn M , Matilda B , Adrian River D , Diego F.
Inspire Others. “Being someone who can save a life, that’s a superpower if you ask me” – Damar Hamlin.See what he says about knowing CPR. Completing Finn’s Mission is the way to inspire friends and family to get healthier, learn CPR, and to spot a stroke.
As a school dedicated to the Whole Child, one of our focuses is on mental health. Please see the attached resources for parents of Elementary students who would like Mental Health Support:
All About Mental Health
Supporting Mental Health
Coping with Stress
Calming Techniques
Managing Anxiety
Building Self-Esteem
Please join us for our next Diversity and Inclusivity Working Group meeting: Monday, March 4 from 6:00-7:00 p.m. in the Swigert Library. If you are interested in meeting families of all backgrounds committed to celebrating diversity, building International Mindedness and making Swigert even more inclusive, please join us! Please RSVP to shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net.
Some of our students now have smart watches and cell phones, and we want to reiterate our school policy. Smart watches are ONLY used as watches during the school day. Please don’t call or text with your students during the day through the smart watch. Students should not be calling home or using apps at any time. If they need to call home during the day they need to ask permission from a staff member. Phones are to be put away before class starts in your backpack and not be used during the day. If there is a change of plan for a pick up please notify Daphne at the front office and your teacher. If phones or smart watches are being used incorrectly in class, teachers will take the phone or watch for the remainder of the school day and return it to the student at the end of the day.
The Avalanche will have a pre-game Girls Only Try Hockey and a Post Game Female Open Skate and I wanted to make sure that your students were aware of the opportunity to join us and skate on Ball Arena Ice.
Here are the links as well:
Pre:
https://avalanche.spinzo.com/colorado-avalanche-vs-detroit-red-wings-2024-03-06-JZWBC?group=girls-hockey-night-pre-game-hz2d
Post:
https://avalanche.spinzo.com/colorado-avalanche-vs-detroit-red-wings-2024-03-06-MACQR?group=girls-hockey-night-postgame-4vj8
This is the link to buy tickets: THE LINK TO BUY TICKETS FOR FROZEN
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 Dennis Amber 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
February 22nd: Talent Show (5:30 PM)
March 1st: Swigert Science Fair
March 7: Kdg, 2nd Grade Concerts
March 8th: ECE not in session, K-5th there IS school
March 13th: PTA meeting, 6pm
March 25th – April 2nd: No school, Spring Break
April 19th – ECE not in session, K-5th there IS school
May 2nd – International Night
May 3rd – No School
May 4th – Auction!
May 10th – Service Day
May 17th – Field Day
May 27th – No School, Memorial Day
