Posted May 7, 2024
Dear Swigert Community,
So many wonderful things to celebrate right now at Swigert! It was lovely to see and connect with so many families at the Swigert Auction on Saturday night. Thank you all for your incredibly generous support. We went over our goal! Thank you, thank you, thank you! The funding allows us to continue our important International Baccalaureate programing, professional development, and staffing model that provides additional support for our students and staff. The paddle raise will provide important social emotional support and programming to help all students and staff at Swigert. A huge shout out and deep appreciation to all that pitched in their time to help, it truly takes a village- and especially to parents – Anna Moles, Cortney Dickey Francine Mugge, Allison Owen, Cara Bayern, Rosie Bellville, Andrea Buckett, Christina Either, Ashley Fallhowe, and Emily Carter for their tireless hours and efforts!
It was also great to celebrate International Night last week. The event highlighted different cultures from around the world as well as our staff and student body and celebrated our school diversity. In addition, we harvested and ate beautiful flowers, lettuce and radishes from our school garden. Here are a few photos:
Finally, I want to share a heartfelt appreciation for our Swigert educators this week. They inspire me everyday with their dedication and passion for their work and the students they serve! As Chris Jones says to his kids and I want to pass along to teachers, put simply, “ you rock!”
Science Fair
Our Swigert students who moved on to the district science fair participated at the science fair. Luana Farais-Torres and Emma Miyazaki represented the 4th grade, Kotaro Hamada and Caroline Klug represented the 5th grade. Luana won 3rd place for 4th graders and Caroline won first place as the 3rd Grade representative in the science fair. Congratulations to our Swigert Scientists!
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net
Information for the 2024-2025 School Year:
Swigert Calendar for 2024-2025
Bell Times:
Our bell times will remain the same for the 2024-2025 school year. DPS was not able to shift our bus times for the morning shift so we will continue to host the morning bus riders in the library for next year. Please see the information on this page on our website and reach out with any questions.
Summer Connections:
Check out this free five week program sponsored by Denver Public Schools for rising first through 5th graders. Summer Connections Information
2024 Class Placement Process:
As a staff, we start the class placement process in May for the following school year, and there are many factors that we consider. We will use part of the green day May 3rd for this important process. Grade level teachers, administrators, and our mental health team work together to decide on the best placement for every child. We know your child well, and consider things such as kids who might benefit from being in class together, kids who may need to be separated, academic needs, and social/emotional needs. We also try to balance classes as far as gender, diversity, etc. We ask that you please trust the process. We know your children well and we will very thoughtfully place them with whom we think is best. The school policy is that we do not take teacher requests from parents. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to the admin team.
May 6th – 10th – Teacher Appreciation Week
Please see the infographic below
May 10th: Service Day
This will be our 6th annual service day. We start the day with a whole school assembly and invite speakers to share about the importance of giving back. After the assembly each grade level partners with a different non-profit to do a community service project including Project Angel Heart, Balfor, There with Care, Bin Blessed. We also do some grounds projects around our school. Parents are welcome to come lend a helping hand (details to come).
May 14th: Sweet Cow Dine & Donate
Stop by Sweet Cow at Stnaley Marketplace for a sweet treat and they’ll share a portion of their profits with the Swigert PTA! 11AM-9PM
May 16th – Kindergarten Round-Up
An opportunity for our new to Swigert kindergarten families to get information about kindergarten and let our kinder teachers meet the new faces.
May 17th: Swigert Field Day
Mr. Shutts organizes a day where all students participate in a variety of activities; including but not limited to relay races, hurdles, shoe toss, tug a war and water games. We split the day into two and ECE-2 goes in the morning beginning at 8:30 and 3-5 in the afternoon beginning at 12:30. Parents are welcome to come watch. May 17th: 5th Grade Dance, details TBD
May 22nd: New Family Information Night for 1st-5th grade new families
An opportunity for any new families to learn about the year ahead. We will meet together in the library at 6pm. We will do Q&A at the end.
May 23rd: ECE4 New Family Info Night
An opportunity for ECE families to learn about the year ahead. You can sign up for a one hour time spot. We will meet together in The Nest for an admin presentation and then you will spend 30 minutes in the class with your child!
May 27th: No School, Memorial Day
May 30th: Volunteer Thank-You Breakfast 7:45 – 8:15
May 30th 2:50-Second Annual Swigert Alumni Walk Through:
Celebrate our High School Graduates- Swigert alums from different schools across the metro area will walk through the school with their caps/gowns and celebrated with a clap through. Families welcome.
June 4th: 5th Grade Exhibition and Continuation
Swigert Fifth grade students will share their culminating IB exhibition projects to the community and then we will have a continuation ceremony to honor fifth grade students.
June 5th: 5th Grade Clap Out
All ECE-4th grade students and 5th grade parents will join us to clap the 5th graders out of Swigert and on to middle school- It’s a pretty emotional event. The clap out will begin around 11:50 am.
June 5th: ½ Day Last Day of School
The last day of school is a noon dismissal. No lunch is served.
To everyone who has volunteered at Swigert this year we are hosting a breakfast to say thank you! We appreciate all you have contributed to our school community, this is a small way for us to share our appreciation.
When: Thursday, May 30th from 7:45-8:15
Where: Swigert Library
5th grade students Julian, Emmett, Blake, Amaniah and Neveah are starting a food drive for their exhibition project! The drive will start on May 8th and end on May 31st. All the contents will be donated to the Denver Rescue Mission.
We would like:
-Non perishable food items
-Men’s, women’s and children’s clothing (Note: underwear must be new and unopened)
-Toiletries and hygiene products
Donations would be appreciated! There will be boxes designated in the front office area.
Enjoy Sweet Cow and support Swigert on Tuesday, May 14th from 11AM-9PM!
Thank you for supporting The Denver Public Schools medication policy. Please make sure to pick up all medications used by your child on or before the last day of school. Colorado Guidelines state that medications are not permitted to be sent home with your child. If your child is participating in a summer program, their medication will not automatically be transferred to the site of the program. It is up to the parent/guardian to pick up the medication from the school and transport it to the summer program site.
*REMAINING MEDICATIONS WILL BE DESTROYED END OF DAY JUNE 5th 2024.*
Monday – Soda and Snacks in the Lounge
Tuesday – Breakfast Burritos and Coffee
Wednesday – Sweet treats and cards
Thursday – Bagels and Coffee Cart
Friday – Chipotle lunch and aprez school Gift Bags
**Parents, please have your student(s) create a card or note for their teachers on Wednesday, May 8th**
We are getting so excite for our 6th annual Service Day! We will start the day with a whole school assembly and invite speakers to share about the importance of giving back. This year we will have Mayor Johnston spearheading the event and Representative Jason Crow will share too!
After the assembly, each grade level partners with a different non-profit to do a community service project! This year our partners include Project Angel Heart, There with Care, and our 4th graders will be making migrant/refugee snack bags.
Our 5th graders have a variety of causes that they will be off campus for: Denver Dumb Friends League, Urban Farm, Bluff Lake Nature Preserve, SPREE (South Platte river environmental education), Clayton Early Learning Center, Wee Cycle, and Rescued Friends Animal Sanctuary
Parents are welcome to come lend a helping hand!
There are still a lot of spots open to help volunteer for the spring book fair. We’d love for you to join us and help the kids get ready for summer reading!
SIGN UP HERE TO HELP!
Volunteers:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F4CAAA62AA02-49306970-5thgrade
Snacks:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F4CAAA62AA02-49249466-5thgrade#/
Get a head start on next year and order your school supplies! Please visit SwigertSchoolSupplies.com to place your order. If you need it, our school ID is SWI028
Early bird DPS registration runs through May 24th. For full details on how to register, go here: https://swigert.dpsk12.org/registration-2024-25/
Reach out to Daphne Jolley or Emily Pool with questions or to get your student’s ID number to create a parent portal!
Swigert 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. We are also struggling with the lack of parking due to the construction at our neighbor, United Airlines. Please do not double park in the parking lot. We can also utilize the bus lane (on the Syracuse side) for drop off in the morning because our morning buses have already dropped off by 7:50. There is often parking in the Sam’s Club parking lot if you need to park and pick up. If you would like to have a longer stop, please go ahead and pull into a parking space and do not park behind a car in a designated space. Thank you for understanding.
We’re starting to work on the video that will be played at the ceremony. We would love to get from every family a baby/toddler/younger picture of your child and then a more current 5th grade one to be used in the video.
You can upload them to this google drive: 5th Grade Continuation Photos
– Click on the drive clink.
– Click on your teacher’s name
– Click +New
– Then click File Upload
You can also feel free to email them to me if that’s easier at emily_pool@dpsk12.net.
We will also need help on the day of Tuesday, June 4th to help with decorating the gym, setting up a photo area, picking up cupcakes, and a few other things. If you could offer an hour or two of help, please consider signing up here and I’ll be in touch as the day gets closer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4CA4A92DA3FAC25-49011106-5thgrade
We have lots of events this spring to help welcome all our new families for the fall. See below for links to all the details!
1st-5th Grade New Families Information
If you will be needing Discovery Link for before or after school care for the ’24-’25 school year, registration for that opens on May 17th at 6am. You can get more details about that HERE
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
May 10th – Service Day
May 16th – Kindergarten Round-Up
May 17th – Field Day
May 17th – 5th Grade Dance
May 20, 21, 22 – Scholastic BOGO Book Fair
May 22nd – New Family Info Night (1st-5th Grade)
May 23rd – ECE Round-Up
May 27th – No School, Memorial Day
May 30th – Volunteer Thank-You Breakfast
June 4th – 5th Grade Exhibition and Continuation
June 5th – 5th Grade Clap Out, Early Dismissal for all 12pm, LAST DAY!