Swift Flyer: March 8, 2013

Dance Help Thanks

Thanks to all the chaperones and parents who contributed drinks and snacks for the dance. It was a lot of fun and was a quick evening!

Twitter Users

Please follow #wcsswifthouse for additional "tweets" during the week!

Big Basket Raffle

Collections for the 13th annual Big Basket Raffle and Silent Auction are underway! This is one of FAP’s biggest fundraisers of the year, with proceeds distributed as grants to teachers and other FAP programs for the benefit of WCS/ABS students. Items donated by our Williston School District families will be made into beautiful themed baskets that will be raffled off at the BIG BASKET RAFFLE on Saturday, April 13th, 2013.

We ask each family to donate one (or more) item(s) that relate to your class theme:

Mrs. Donnelly's Core: Family Handyperson

Donation suggestions: tools(hammer, screw drivers, chisel scraper, Allen wrenches, etc.), hardware, work gloves, paint supplies, Home Depot or Lowe’s card, tool belt, toolbox, Do-it-yourself books or magazines, duct tape, utility line, electrical tape, level

Ms. Longchamp's Core: Motor Trends

Donation suggestions: auto safety kit, glass wipes, protectant wipes, travel mug, backseat organizer, car wash and wax, chamois, car freshener, tire gauge, gas card, car wash certificates, steering wheel cover, jumper cables, road atlas

Mrs. Laberge's Core: Get Organized

Donation suggestions: desk top/draw organizers, photo album, plastic bins, cord organizer, list notepads, Post It pads, highlighters, compression bags, dry erase board/calendar, dry erase markers, cork board, battery organizer, organizing baskets, gift card to Walmart, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, Staples, Christmas Tree Shop

Mrs. Skapof's Core: Fishing Frenzy

Donation suggestions: fishing rod, lures, fishing line, fish hooks, fishing vest, fishing nets,
bucket, knife, fishing chair, waders, hats, cooler, fishing magazines, fish ID book, gift cards to
Dick’s/ Wal-Mart

Donations are voluntary, and every donated item, large or small, is greatly appreciated.
Price is not a factor, and all donations are anonymous. If you have more than one child
in a house, it is perfectly acceptable to donate one item per family. Students may also
join together to donate a larger item.

We are also seeking donations from local businesses for gift basket items, gift
certificates, and silent auction items. If you have a connection with a local business
you think would be interested in supporting this school fundraiser, please contact
Lisa Wong at 878-1150 or lisakenwong@myfairpoint.net.

ExploraVision- Honorable Mention Team

Swift had two student groups submit entries to the Exploravision Competition this year. Students worked on this project during the fall, as well as during the month of January, during our independent project unit. In this STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) competition, students select and research a technology and create that technology 20 years into the future.

John Colt, Ananth Malladi, and Baxter Bishop's submission, "Inter-Protein Compound" was selected as a 2013 Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Honorable Mention Winner. The Honorable Mention award places this team’s project among the top 10% of all ExploraVision projects submitted to the competition this year (out of thousands). They are commended for a job well done in demonstrating innovative thinking in their exploration of science and its impact on technology and the future.

Reports and Porfolios

Reports/Porfolios will go home on March 22nd due to the Related Arts end date. Please click on the side links to schedule your conference with your child's core teacher. The students are working diligently on collecting evidences to support their progress on their personal plan goals, as well as reflecting on these goals in writing.

New Literature Groups This Week

Students started health related literature groups this week.

5th Graders with Ms. Skapof- Fifth graders are focused on culture: how is it defined and what makes each culture unique. Students are reading either Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr or Facing the Lion by Joseph Lemasolai Lektuton. Both books provide rich detail that will allow students to compare another culture to their own. One of our first projects will be to create a "cultural suitcase" in which students put artifacts that define their own culture.

6th Graders with Ms. Longchamp - Students are reading short stories and poems with the theme of growing up. We will be looking at gender differences and adolescent growth changes - physically, emotionally and intellectually. Next week, students will be assigned to interview one of their parents about their experience in middle school and growing up. During this unit, Mrs. Birdsall will also be teaching a class on Internet safety.

7th Graders with Mrs. Laberge- Seventh Graders will be working with Mrs. Laberge and Sarah Klionsky on Drug and Alcohol education. They will be reading the book, Bluefish, and engaging in discussions around this important topic.

8th Graders with Mrs. Donnelly- Mrs. Dolley's group will be discussing high school transition and reading the book, "Sleeping Freshman Never Lie." The description of the book is below.

While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer. While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer.

5/6 Argument Writing Class

The 5/6th graders started a writing class focusing on argument writing. Mrs. Donnelly and Ms. Longchamp are facilitating this class. Aside from learning how to back their "claims" with evidence and warrants, student will be reviewing capitalization and comma rules. Our goal is that these rules will become automatic in student writing.

We introduced argument writing by discussing "claims" and "evidence" to support claims. This is the language of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and will be the language used in the class. For Tuesday, students need to come in with some "claims" that they might want to support in writing. We are encouraging community or school issues since we will be submitting ten "editorials" to the Observer for their student-written edition, which will be published at the end of March. It would be GREAT if you could help your student with this so we have a large list of claims when we all get together for the next class. For example, one claim might be, "There needs to be a traffic light at the Oak Hill and Route 2 intersection." They would then, in the weeks ahead, research evidence to support this claim. Opposing claims do not come into the CCSS until 7th grade, however, more advanced writers will be encouraged to include this in their writing.

Science Fair 7/8th Graders

Science Fair- March 28th @ 6:00 pm
Seventh and eighth graders have formulated testable questions, written a hypothesis, and completed background research. We have reviewed dependent and independent variables, and what makes a testable questions. The next big task is to have a procedure written by Tuesday, March 12th. A good procedure will ensure that only one variable is changed at a time. Students should be checking in with parents about any specific materials they may think they need in the weeks to come. Please mark your calendars if you have not already done so!

Budget Update

As you know the school budget failed to pass by 23 votes on Tuesday. The administration and school board will be looking at trimming this budget and bringing it back to the voters later this spring.

Stock Market Game- Week ending March 8th

We were all watching a very active stock market this week, causing lots of energy. For most of the week (until Friday), Ms. Longchamp's class (7/8) was the #1 ranked middle school team (average equity of the top five portfolios). We slipped to #2 on Friday, however, the top three are within $100 of each other. We really liked seeing our name on top! We also had a team that was #1 ranked out of all the middle school portfolios. They slipped to #2 on Friday, but it is all very close! View the weekly Stock Market Game letter here.

The elementary portfolios (5/6) also saw improvement. Mrs. Donnelly's group went from 7th to 6th place on Friday (again, the average equity of the top five portfolios), out of 10 teams.

Top five 7/8 Teams

Team A242-Aaron W, Brock W, Matthew M., Cam L
Team A234- Chiara An, Matthew Y
Team A240-Riley, Carly, Alexis, Mariah
Team A244-Jackie, Annie, Chiara Al, Hannah
Team A246-Nathan, Zach R

Top five 5/6 Teams

Team A254-Olivia, Zach S, Prince
Team A262- Emma, Alex R., Elaine R., Pete
Team A259-Hannah, JoJo, Bray, Caroline
Team A248-Lily, Joe, Eve, Bekah
Team A253-Alix, Bryant, Madi

Pictures of the Week

Mr. Howard, one of the original Swift Facilitators, at the Monday Evening's Town Meeting. To celebrate Williston's 250th Anniversary, many Williston residents simulated what that first town meeting might have been like for the residents. Mr. Howard retired 4 1/2 years ago, but volunteers see him each year as Santa on the Polar Express!