January 1, 2018

SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENTATION

WCS is partnering with the Williston Reparative Board to bring a social media presentation to middle school students and parents.  There are three presentations-- one for 5th and 6th graders, one for 7th and 8th graders and one for parents-- each focused on developmentally appropriate issues related to safe social media use.

We highly recommend the parent presentation to gain a sense of the issues which arise and the present solutions.  It will also provide you with insight as to what your son or daughter learned in their presentation.  Click on the flyer below for more details.

Click here to full PDF 

CULTURAL STUDIES CELEBRATION

We had a lovely celebration on Friday the 22nd with students sharing artifacts and food from a culture of their choosing.  Many students chose countries with personal connections, while others chose to study new distant lands.  We truly appreciate the support provided at home to make this all happen!

Isabella with cookies and photos from Italy

Trevin and Hayden representing Canada and Puerto Rico

Joyce with pastries from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Tanner serving paella

Logan with dark chocolate with panko cruch from Japan

Nate M with family photos, food and artifacts from Sri Lanka

Philip serving dumplings and rolls with a traditional Vietnamese setting

Gianna with treats and her grandmother's crafts from Russia

See our Shutterfly site for many more photos in the folder "School Days." Password: flyforever

CURRICULUM UPDATES

JANUARY LITERATURE SURVEY

Click here to see our January literature group choices.  Students have selected books and will begin their new groups on Wednesday, January 3rd.

INDEPENDENT PROJECTS

We will begin Independent Projects after vacation. Each student will select a topic to research related to their fall science and social studies classes. They will create focus questions, find resources, create an outline, take notes, write a report and present a visual over the month of January. Brainstorm potential topics with your son or daughter over vacation so they have some ideas about what they might want to study when they return. Eighth graders will continue on with their 8th grade challenge projects.

This unit will culminate with an Open House, required for all students.  It is a wonderful chance for students to share their learning with the adults in their lives!  Please save the date:

Swift Open House ~ January 25th @ 6:30 pm

THANK YOU FROM THE POLAR EXPRESS

This e-mail says it all...

BOTTLE DRIVE

Students attending the NYC trip will be holding a fundraising Bottle Drive on Saturday,January 6 from 9:00 to 12:30 pm. We are in need of volunteers to drive small groups of students through neighborhoods to collect bottles from Williston residents.

• Please click here to sign up if you are able to help from 9:00 to 12:30 on Saturday, January 6 or if you are willing to place signs at entrances to Williston neighborhoods. 
• Click here for a printable flyer to post

Instructions for routes and bottle redemption location will be emailed prior to the January 6 drive.

In the meantime, please begin to collect your bottles! Families can also deliver bags of bottles to Swift House prior to our drive for collection towards our fundraising efforts. We appreciate all the support from our Swift families! These trips would not be possible without the fundraising efforts of everyone attending.

CVU COUNSELORS MEETING

The CVU school counselors will be coming to WCS to present to the class of 2022!

• When: Friday, January 19th 1:50-2:50 pm
• Where: Auditorium
• Why: To review the freshman class registration process

Your 8th grader will be given a CVU course handbook and a special registration code at the meeting.  There will also be a information night for incoming freshman and their families on February 8th at 6:30 pm, according to the CVU calendar.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

If you'd like to look ahead in the Swift House calendar of events you can visit our Google Calendar anytime.  We post relevant Swift and WCS events here as soon as the dates are known.  The calendar is also linked to the Flyer (see right) and our website.  If you're feeling particularly tech-savy, you can add the calendar on top of your own Google calendar with this link: https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=Y3NzdS5vcmdfMTc2bTJpanFybWMzbXQ2OGRnamNnZGkwdTBAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ

December 8, 2017

POLAR EXPRESS

We had another fantastic evening as elves at the Polar Express!  The Swift elves shared their positive energy and good cheer with hundreds of passengers Saturday evening.  We are so proud of their commitment to excellent event in support of the Vermont Children's Trust.  Bravo!  See more photos at our Shutterfly site (password: flyforever).  

PS We've raised $420 through out Swift Elf fund as well!  It looks like the site is still live. If you know of anyone who might want to contribute, send it their way!

CULTURAL STUDIES

For the two weeks leading up to winter vacation, Swift will take part in a cultural research project during our literacy block.  Students will consider cultural differences and the components of culture which make each one unique.  This exploration will culminate with students creating an artifact and food from one country of their choosing.  We'll encourage students to explore a culture that has meaning to them or their family directly; have a discussion at home about their interests and options!

Our Cultural Celebration will take place on December 22nd during the school day with food and artifacts.  We will ask students to plan their food contribution well ahead of time to avoid last minute shopping!  We thank you in advance for your support on this project and will happily help students prepare food here at school if needed. 

GUYS & DOLLS INFORMATION MEETING

From School Bell: On Monday, December 11 at 5:30pm come find out about the spring musical “Guys and Dolls”. The meeting will take place in the auditorium and will answer your questions on auditions, stage crew, stage managers and the show in general. Students in grades 6-8 can audition for the play. Students in grades 5-8 can be part of stage crew. The stage crew builds and paints the sets and helps run the show during production week. There will be a workshop for the auditions on Tuesday, December 12th at 2pm. Come learn the music, dance and practice the readings to prepare for the auditions in January after the break. Auditions will take place January 4-9. Rehearsals will start January 11th. “Guys and Dolls” will run April 6-7, 2018!

JUMPROPE 

On Friday Jumprope-- our school-wide reporting system-- sent home a link to Trimester 1 reports for your son or daughter. If you did not receive this e-mail please contact your child's core teacher and/or check your spam folder. The Trimester 1 report includes feedback for all Swift, Essential Arts, Music and World Language classes.​​ For more detailed information, please login to the JumpRope portal. https://nyc.jumpro.pe/login/ The login is the same for students and parents within a family, using the student’s school email address (@cvsdvt.org) and a 5-digit password that was shared a few weeks ago.

CONFERENCES

We are off to a great start with Trimester 1 conferences. If you have not already done so, please schedule a conference with your child's core teacher here. Ask your son or daughter to share his or her PLP site with you before the conference. They can access their site from any internet connected device by logging into their school e-mail.

5th GRADE PASSPORT

Have you heard of the 5th Grade Passport?  All 5th graders are eligible for 3 free passes to each of the major alpine and nordic resorts in the state of Vermont, for a total of 88 possible days of free skiing.  Passport holders need to be accompanied by a ticket or pass holding adult and each adult may bring up to two Passport holders.   For more information or to register your 5th graders, see the website here: https://skivermont.com/fifth-grade-passport

SCIENCE UPDATE

Seventh and eighth graders have been researching how the molecular structure affects the properties of substances.  They have created models of molecules with atoms represented by gummy bears and extended crystal structures with clay and 3-d drawing apps!  We're now looking at how the bonds between atoms are broken and rearranged during chemical reactions.

Simple molecules

Propane and more

The extended molecular structure of calcium floride

Some chemical reactions produce gas

Others create new participates

Stay tuned for our 5/6 weather forecasting videos...

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