Posted May 21, 2024
Dear Swigert Community,
May is moving along so quickly at Swigert. Our students are engaged in a myriad of end of year reflections, exhibition projects and activities. Please see the dates below for upcoming events and end of year celebrations. It’s been an incredible year and we are so incredibly grateful for all of your support and partnership.
I love this time of year as students reflect on their learning. It’s amazing to see how much growth students have made throughout the year – physically, academically and social emotionally. We are looking forward to student led conferences next Wednesday, May 29th from 3:30-5:00. As an IB School the end of year conferences are led by the students. They will share reflections on the year and their growth in academic and social emotional areas. If you are unable to make this time, please reach out to your child’s teacher.
Asian American Pacific Islander Month
We are excited to Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Please enjoy our video in which Swigert students and staff share about Asian American and Pacific Islander individuals that they admire and the IB attributes that they embody.
WATCH MOVIE HERE.
Kiwi Kindness Week
Max Schultz, fifth grade student at Swigert, is hosting the second annual Kiwi Kindness Week this week at Swigert. We all read the book, Manu the Kiwi of Kindness- it is worth a read. Students are decorating doors with unique kiwis and writing slips to students who are showing caring attributes during the week. Here is the slideshow for the week if you want to take a look – Kiwi Kindness Week
Innovation Zone Next Steps:
I wanted to keep you all in the loop regarding the next steps with Swigert and changes with our innovation zone. Last Monday the Executive Director of the LLN, Bailey Holyfield, spoke to our staff about what it would look like to join the Luminary Learning Network and answer questions. During our staff meeting on Wednesday we discussed pros and cons. At the meeting we did an informal vote of 35 members and they all indicated at this time they would vote yes to pursue membership to the LLN. Subsequently, Authorizing and Accountability reviewed and approved the plan and the final draft of the plan with the expansion appendix included was posted to the Swigert website Thursday, May 16, and will remain posted until Tuesday, May 28. The Swigert staff and School Accountability Committee will vote on May 29th and the Denver Public School Board will vote on June 13th. We will keep you posted and please reach out with any questions.
Sincerely,
Shelby Dennis
shelby_dennis@dpsk12.net
WHAT IS EXHIBITION?
Exhibition is the culminating project for all 5th graders in IB elementary schools. The ultimate goal of Exhibition is to inquire into something they are passionate about and then take action! Using the central idea of Inquiry Empowers Us To Act, they spend 6 weeks developing a complete IB unit around their topic. They research and then add these components to their unit:
Here are ways some groups are engaging our school community and asking for help with their action portions of exhibition!
BIKE or WALK TO SCHOOL DAY
Project by Luke, Reese, Aahana, Jayden, Pemma, and Sophie
On Wednesday the 22nd, 2 exhibition groups Ms. Adler’s and Ms. Kline’s classes are asking the school to participate in a bike/walk/carpool to school day. Our groups are focused on pollution. Please join us as we try and stop the ongoing pollution problem by using less emissions.
FOOD/CLOTHING DRIVE
Project by Julian, Emmett, Blake, Amaniah, and Neveah
They 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:
There will be boxes designated in the front office area.
BOOKS FOR THE SUMMER
Project by: Teddy Baumann and Risa Greene
They are working on a project to help support immigrant children from Venezuela, now living in Denver. Their project will help supply 1st grade students at Ashley Elementary with Spanish books for the summer. Please consider helping support their fundraising efforts to purchase these books (see attached flyer for Venmo information).
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: ECE Continuation
2:00-3:00pm in the Library
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.
The Scholastic Book Fair is going on now until Wednesday! You can add money to your student’s ewallet by following the directions on the Swigert Book Fair link: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/swigertinternationalschl
Also – this is great way to add money to your teacher’s ewallet. They are able to purchase books on the Scholastic website throughout the year. Please consider adding money to your teacher’s ewallet.
We are still accepting book fair cover entries! If you completed a book fair cover for the contest please submit to your teacher.
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.*
We are excited to Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Please enjoy our video in which Swigert students and staff share about Asian American and Pacific Islander individuals that they admire and the IB attributes that they embody.
WATCH MOVIE HERE.
From Mrs. Baker! Calling all musicians! Any student is welcome to sing or play a song for their classmates during music class on these days. These optional performances are a great time for kids to play music for each other in a pressure-free environment.
Here is a more detailed schedule:
Wednesday, May 29 (A day): Aggarwal, Hopper, Ms. Aarti, Mosley, Burdett
Thursday, May 30 (B day): Marijke, Page Edge, Kline
Friday May 31 (C Day): Ms. Shannon, Ziegler, Colter, Ross, Adler
Monday, June 3 (D day): Marisol, Margulies, Capozza, Jones, Appleman
Tuesday, June 4 (E day): Draper, Ms. Susan, Ramos, Lavezzo
Thank you for supporting your child’s creativity in the arts!
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 with questions or to get your student’s ID number to create a parent portal!
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.
The Swigert Summer Reading Challenge Is Here!
· Want to motivate your student to keep reading throughout the summer?
· Want to help prevent the “summer slide” in knowledge?
· Want to help support the school through a fun summer program?
· Does your child want to win cool prizes?
Then, it’s time to check out the Swigert Summer Reading Challenge!
Head over to https://www.swigertpta.com/summer-reading for more information and to sign up.
Swigert International friends, families, and community are invited to Swigert Fundraising Night, where you will receive special discounted ticket pricing for the Rapids home match on Saturday, May 25th and June 15th. Use our link to purchase tickets. Select section 112 or 113.
https://rapids.spinzo.com/?group=swigert-international-school-rb3b
Check out the Summer programming at Redline Denver East, including summer camps, daily skills sessions and more!
https://redlineathletics.com/denver-east/
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 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 – ECE Continuation
June 4th – 5th Grade Exhibition and Continuation
June 5th – 5th Grade Clap Out, Early Dismissal for all 12pm, LAST DAY!