December 11th, 2015

Upcoming Dates

• Polar Express- Sunday, Dec 13th @ 11:30-4:00 (see previous Flyer for details)
• New literature survey next week
• Swift Bottle Drive- January 9th

Student e-Portfolios

Students have finished their first trimester e-portfolios and are ready to share them with you, if they haven't already.  Features include:

• Five Goals with Evidences and Reflections: Communication, Problem Solving, Informed and Integrative Thinking , Citizenship and Self-Direction

• Class Reports: Science, Math, Social Studies, Literature, Theater Reflection, Final Narrative Writing and Independent Reading

Thank you for reviewing this material before our upcoming conferences.  These kids have done some hard work that they should be proud of sharing!  

Our Portfolio Template

Ski and Ride Program Learn to Ski or Ride Program

The Williston Ski and Ride Program starts Jan. 15th.  The deadline to register is January 8th. Online registration is now open. Click here to register or here for an informational flyer.

In Swift House, we ask that Ski and Ride students complete their Greensheets on Thursday, as they will be missing Friday afternoon classes.  Students with missing work (circles on their Greensheets) will not be allowed to attend until the missing work is complete.  This is a great incentive for students to keep up with classes, and an awesome opportunity for fresh air and physical activity!

Now let's hope for snow, or at least some snow-making temperatures!

Swiftie in the News!

Joe Soares was featured in the Fox 44 news recently in connection with a student from St Mike's Lacrosse team.  Watch the story here:

CVU Registration

WCS just scheduled the CVU counselors (meeting with all 8th graders) for the afternoon of Jan. 14th at 2pm. The WCS guideance department will be sending home registration information to parents and teachers soon.

Poetry

We are continuing our poetry unit throughout the month of December.  Seventh and eighth graders will be creating a multimedia presentation of one of their poems.  The fifth and sixth graders have been sharing poems through slide shows, such as these:

5/6 Diamante Poetry- click here
5/6 Haiku Poetry- click here

Science Update

Fifth and sixth graders are learning about matter, specifically exploring the concept that matter is made of particles that are too small to be seen.  Evidence of this concepts has included the mass of air, determined by measuring a balloon's mass before and after filling, and the differing masses of liquids.  The more dense liquids have more particles compacted together, and formed different layers when students combined them:

Liquid Layers-- Exploring Density

Seventh and eighth graders are exploring chemical reactions, learning about how the amount of reactants is equivalent to the amount of products in a chemical reaction.  They experimented with varying reactants in a reaction so that the product (carbon dioxide bubbles) just reached the top of the beaker.

The perfect amount of reactants