Swift Flyer: 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.