December 15, 2013

Thank You...

*Polar Express Elves~  Our Swift elves were perfectly elfish and incredibly welcoming to the young folks arriving at the "North Pole" on the Polar Express last night.  Thank you so much for your ongoing support with this.

*Bottle Drive Volunteers~  The bottle drive last Saturday made $806 (bottles + cash). A total of 12,848 bottles were collected.  Wow!

Happening this Week...

*Holiday Concerts~ Swift students will either perform at or attend the 7th and 8th grade band and chorus concert on Wednesday morning.  There is also a 5th and 6th grade concert in the afternoon that many students will perform in.

*Poetry Slam~ We will wrap up our poetry unit with a "Poetry Slam" Friday morning.  Students will read their poetry with expression and feeling in front of judges and their peers.  This is meant to be a fun, low-pressure, interactive event with the audience weighing in as well.

*Cinema Day~ As part of a school-wide celebration for meeting the "Smart-cell" goal, all WCS students will take part in Cinema Day Friday afternoon.  They will be getting tickets this week for the movies based on their top choices.

After Vacation...

*New Literature Groups~ The next round of literature books will be non-fiction in many genres.  The sign-up form will be sent home this week.

*Independent Projects~ When students return to school in January after vacation they will begin their own independent research projects during our science and social studies block. Fifth, sixth and seventh graders will choose a topic related to one of their social studies or science units from the fall while eighth-graders will continue work on their eighth grade challenge projects.  After selecting a topic students will write focus questions, find resources, create an outline and take notes on notecards. They will then write a detailed research report and create a visual product to present at our open house in February. This is a great time for students  to start brainstorming possible topics for January.



Swift House Dance- February 7th 

Swift House will host the WCS school dance on February 7th.  We are looking for parents to chaperone the dance.  This duty involves keeping an eye on students in the lobby and the gym, or selling concessions.  We also are asking for all families to send in items for the concessions if possible.  We are asking for the following:

• Hunt/Donnelly two 2-liter bottles of juice, soda, etc. 
• Skapof/Laberge- Individually wrapped snack items  

If you are coming to chaperone you can bring the concessions with you. Otherwise, please send them into Swift house on Friday, February 7th so we can get the concessions set up ahead of time. Please sign up to chaperone the dance here. Thank you so much for this support. The dances are excellent fundraisers for our field trip funds.