September 27, 2013

NECAP Testing- Snacks and Sleep

This year's NECAP testing will take place between Tuesday, October 8th to Friday, October 11th.  During these days we emphasize the importance of sleep and a great breakfast.  Students should also plan on bringing an engaging book to read in case they finish any portion of the test early.  There will be two tests each day which will encompass most academic time.  Students will have reduced homework assignments during this time. 

We are looking for parent volunteers to bring in healthy snacks on our NECAP testing days.  Apples and cheddar cheese, crackers and cheese, banana bread, muffins, bagels and cream cheese, veggies and dips; any snack of the sort provides students with a special break before the testing begins and does wonders for our morale. Please click here for the exact testing schedule and to sign-up by grade level to bring in a snack.  Thank you!

Fun Night

Fun Night, scheduled for Friday, October 4th is being sponsored by Swift. Fun Night coincides with the first middle school dance and is open to all K-5th graders to attend. It is a fabulous fundraiser in support of our end of the year field trip to NYC. We still need more parent volunteers to make this evening a success! Please click here to sign up to volunteer. If you happen to have any small "trinkets" that could serve as prizes during Fun Night please send them in to school and ask your student to give them to Mr. Hunt or Ms. Donnelly. Last spring we ran out of goodies at our prize table!!

5th Grade World Language

World Language classes for 5th graders begin this Monday at 11:50 and continue every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the rest of the year. Students are enrolled based on the forms completed at the end of 4th grade.  Please contact your son or daughter's core teacher if you have questions about enrollment.

Polar Express- December 14th

Calling all elves!  Parents and students, please join us for a Swift House tradition from 3:30-8:00 on December 14th.  Each year we volunteer as elves to greet the trains as they arrive at the North Pole as part of Burlington's Polar Express fundraiser.  This amazing event benefits the Vermont Children's Trust Fund.  We contribute by bringing at least 40 elves (parents and students) each year to make the event festive.   To sign up please click here to add your name and t-shirt size.  Remember, adults make great elves, too.  Watching the faces of the little folks on the train when they see us elves at the North Pole makes it all worth it! 

Parent Retreat

Thank you so much to all parents who were able to make attend our Parent Retreat. We started with great potluck dinner and then equipped all participants with school iPads for the evening. All joined in on a presentation on Nearpod, an interactive presentation app, which allows participants to give direct input. Major topics included technology, communication, curriculum and parent involvement. Notes from the presentation and discussion can be found here. If you would like to add any ideas to our brainstorms please e-mail your son or daughter’s core teacher.

FAPAC September Meeting Highlights Information 

To: Swift Parents
From: Sarah Forbes and Gabrielle Young, FAPAC Representatives

The FAP Advisory Council held its first monthly meeting of this school year on September12th. FAP is Williston's equivalent of a parent-teacher organization. We meet each month, our meetings our open to all, and you will receive an email like this every month with highlights of the meeting and a link to the FAP website for the full minutes. Check the full minutes in a PDF format by clicking HERE. Below are a few meeting highlights:

Administration Report -- Walter Nardelli, District Principal, speaks at every FAPAC meeting. Topics he covered this month were: placement change requests, the large number of 5th graders this year, Algebra/8th grade math changes, Spark Academy options, and the WCS IPad purchase. Check the full minutes for his remarks!

Williston Annual Fund -- This replaces Williston Wins and to date over $7000 in donations has come in. Thank you! Remember that this fund pays for your children's school field trips, among other educational items. So please send in your donation today or you can do it online. Click here for information.

FAP Events -- Dates have been set for many FAP Community Events; check the School Bell over the coming weeks for more information on these. Those coming up in the next 60 days are listed below and all events are on the calendar on the FAP section of the school website:

• Learning Expo and Potluck Dinner -- the new date for this event is Thursday, October 24th (revised from Minutes). This is a first ever FAP community event where we expect to have booths set up with information on many school programs and opportunities for your children along with a few presentations. 
• Craft Fair at Williston Central School -- Saturday, November 2nd 
• Circus Smirkus After School Camp and Performance -- November 4-8th 
• Scholastic Book Fair -- November 11-15th 

Calendar 2.0 Forums -- Changes are being proposed to the School Calendar in several Vermont counties. The changes would be put in place as early as the 2014-2015 school year. Community Forums are being held on this topic. The forums in our area, all scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm, are: October 2nd at Essex High School, October 9th at Burlington High School, and October 10th at CVU High School. You should try to attend one of these forums to learn more about this.

Please contact Sarah at sarahforbesdesign@comcast.net or Gabrielle at scotian0495@yahoo.com if you have feedback or questions on FAP. Thanks.

September 20, 2013

Parent Retreat

Parent Retreat- 6:00 pm, Thursday, September 26 Calling all Swift House parents. Please join us for a potluck dinner and discussion of Swift House now and in the future at 6:00 pm on Thursday, September 26th. As the world changes we need to continually look at our system and make changes that result in our students building those skills necessary for their future. Topics to discuss include, but are not limited to: home/school communications, technology and 21st century learners, impact of the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. The Bohmanns have graciously offered to host the event this year at 596 Southridge Drive, Williston. This is a great opportunity to meet or catch up with other parents while thinking about the future of learning and education in Swift House and beyond. Click here to RSVP. Please also post what dish you will bring and any questions you may wish to discuss.

Swift Virtual Book Club 

Ms. Longchamp, one of the original Swift Teachers who retired in June, is running a Virtual Book Group. The first book is going to be Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. This book is a free download to your tablet, cell phone, computer, etc. or you can purchase this at your favorite bookstore. It is also downloadable as an audiobook free of charge at http://librivox.org/author/189. If interested in joining, students should email Ms. Longchamp at jlongchamp@cssu.org. She has set up the blog and will email students the link. This is not open to the public.

New York City Field Trip

On Thursday in kiva students viewed a short presentation over viewing our June 2014 trip to NYC. The trip is scheduled for June 3-June 6th. If your student is interested in attending they will be bringing the permission slip home with them this week. In looking forward, we would like to form a planning committee made up of interested parents. Specifically, the planning committee would help to organize fundraising efforts, and help coordinate details of the trip. Fundraisers already scheduled include:

• WCS Fun Night (10/4) 
• Bottle Drive (12/7) 
• Marko the Magician (January) 
• Theater Festival (April) 
• Hanging Baskets (May) 

If your student is interested, but forgot their permission slip at home you can find it here.

The Odyssey at the Flynn

Ms. Donnelly and Mr. Glass have organized an enrichment reading group for the Odyssey this fall.  Students signed up on a first-come first-serve bases and are currently reading excerpts and summaries of the Odyssey during lunch and recess.  They will then attend a trip to the Flynn in October to see the Odyssey performed.  Thank you so much to the facilitators and the engaged students for taking advantage of the many opportunities the Flynn has to offer.  All Swift House students will attend a trip to the Flynn in March to see the Golden Dragon Acrobats!

Lunch Time Literature Group

Fun Night

Fun Night, scheduled for Friday, October 4th is being sponsored by Swift. Fun Night coincides with the first middle school dance and is open to all K-5th graders to attend. It is a fabulous fundraiser in support of our end of the year field trip to NYC. We need parent volunteers to make this evening a success! Please click here to sign up to volunteer. If you happen to have any small "trinkets" that could serve as prizes during Fun Night please send them in to school and ask your student to give them to Mr. Hunt or Ms. Donnelly. Last spring we ran out of goodies at our prize table!!

Curriculum Night

Thank you to those able to join us for Curriculum Night last week.  We made introductions, reviewed the Swift House mission statement, schedules, our curriculum calendar and special events throughout the year.  We also answered questions about homework and greensheets. To see the presentation slides please click here and feel free to contact your child's core teacher with further questions.

September 16, 2013

Photo Day

School photo day is this Wednesday, September 18th.  Be sure to send your child in with an order form if you wish to purchase photos.

Campout Photos

You can view our campout photos here.  The password remains the same: flyforever.

Curriculum Night- 6:30 pm, Tuesday, September 17th

The WCS Curriculum night is Tuesday, September 17th, starting at 6:30 pm.  Parents will join facilitators in Swift House from 6:30-7:30 and then head to the auditorium for presentations from other members of the WCS faculty.  In Swift we will share information about our curriculum for the year, field trips, work completion plans and more.  We hope you are able to join us.  If not, we will share our slide show for those of you who cannot attend.

Parent Retreat- 6:00 pm, Thursday, September 26

Calling all Swift House parents.  Please join us for a potluck dinner and discussion of Swift House now and in the future at 6:00 pm on Thursday, September 26th. As the world changes we need to continually look at our system and make changes that result in our students building those skills necessary for their future. Topics to discuss include, but are not limited to: home/school communications, technology and 21st century learners, impact of the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.

The Bohmanns have graciously offered to host the event this year at 596 Southridge Drive, Williston.  This is a great opportunity to meet or catch up with other parents while thinking about the future of learning and education in Swift House and beyond.  Click here to RSVP.  Please also post what dish you will bring and any questions you may wish to discuss.

Peace One Day Celebration

 

On Wednesday, September 4th all students in Swift attended an assembly to celebrate Peace One Day. Students watched a documentary about Peace One Day, the mission, and the founder, Jeremy Gilley. Jeremy Gilley is from the UK and has worked diligently since 1999 to spread his message of peace throughout the world. Finally, after years of hard work and perseverance, Peace One Day was passed in a resolution posed to the United Nations. On September 21 the world will celebrate Peace One Day, a day of global ceasefire and non-violence. After the documentary students were asked to brainstorm questions they might have for Mr. Gilley. Each upper house selected between 4 and 6 representatives who were given the opportunity to Skype with Mr. Gilley on Friday, September 6. The following students from Swift were selected. Please find their names and questions they posed to Mr. Gilley below.

Logan Chalmers: Jeremy, when you set out to make your day happen, how did you keep your motivation after you were told by some people you could not do it?

Molly Duncan: Have you set a larger goal for after you have achieved peace one day?

 Jimmy Jiang: Hello Jeremy, I was wondering as you were in Afghanistan what was it like meeting the suffering children? Did they teach you anything?

Prince Yodishembo: Why do you think peace is possible when it's never happened in history?

Hannah Bohmann: When you traveled to the different countries, was there one that really stood out for you? That you really wanted to help?

 Eliza Fehrs: Do you believe that a powerful government official has more influence over people than a celebrity?

September 5th, 2013

The Campout~ Thank You, Parents!

Thank you parents for all of your support towards an excellent campout.  Between helping kids pack, purchasing bacon, and volunteering to be chaperones, students were well supported for this year's campout.  We truly met our goal of building a team community.

The Trust Wave

Candlelights

Egg Toss Victory

Team Mascot?

Team Photo

There are many more photos on our Swift Photo site (password "flyforever") linked to the right here.  There are many high-quality items left over from the campout in our kiva, including sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and sneakers.  Please inventory what came home this week with your son or daughter to make sure nothing is missing.

Swift Student Wins First Prize at Stellafane Telescope Convention!

Williston Central School student John Colt won a First Place Award in the Junior Division at Stellafane, an annual convention for amateur telescope makers in Springfield, Vermont. Colt designed, built, and programed a microprocessor-controlled solar telescope, which projects a magnified image of the sun for safe viewing. It is patterned after the McMath-Pierce Solar telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona, which Colt visited last summer with his family.

Stellafane is run by the Springfield Telescope Makers (STM), and is the oldest event of its kind in the world. It is attended by people from as far away as Australia. For more information on this world class event right here in Vermont, see stellafane.org.

John Colt with judges

Adams Harvest Festival Wagon Ride Volunteers

Volunteers are needed to collect money and drive tractor around a field at the Adams Harvest Festival, September 14th and 15th. No experience necessary. Driving lessons given on site. All funds raised go to the Swift NYC trip. To sign up please use this link.

School Picture Day

WCS Picture Day is Wednesday, September 18th.  Students received their purchasing forms this week and should be bringing them home on Friday.  They should return these forms on or before picture day if you would like to purchase photos.   We recommend sending the forms in early!