December 16, 2018

Ridin Hy

On Tuesday, December 18th, all WCS 8th Graders will receive permission slips for the 8th grade trip to Ridin Hy Ranch in the Adirondacks.  This celebratory trip allows students to spend time together as a class while engaging in camp activities such as swimming, boating and horseback riding. 

Bottle Drive

This was our most successful bottle drive ever; at 6 cents/bottle the students collected $1,621.50!  With addition cash donations of $123.00 or grand total came to $1,744.50 for the DC trip.  Thank you again, parents and students, for the energy and teamwork.  Amazing.

Marko the Magician and Hypnotists, January 11th

Our next Washington DC fundraiser, Marko the Magician, happens right after break.  Please consider helping in three ways:

• Attend the show!  It's truly fun for all ages with two sets, magic and hypnosis.  See Ticket Order Form here.
• Spread the work.  Print and post flyers for the show.
• Sign up to help the evening of the show.  Click here for opportunities.

We are in the process of setting up our Washington DC and will begin emailing families directly with more frequent updates.  Between now and January our updates will be largely around fundraising (we got this!) and then we begin trip planning in earnest.  

Curriculum Updates

• Literature: We begin a new literature unit on January 3rd with a focus on all types of non-fiction reading from history books to memoirs to how-to books.  See the survey here and talk with your child about their choices.  If a student has submitted the survey already and would like to make a change, they can resubmit and let their core teacher know. 
• Writing: Students are wrapping up personal narratives with a focus on following a story arc with descriptive language, dialogue and proper grammar and mechanics.  We will have a celebration of writing next week with poetry and sharing. 
• Social Studies: Fifth and sixth graders are researching explorers while seventh and eighth learn about the impacts of World War I and II.
• Science: Fifth and sixth graders have embarked on a poster campaign to help protect Lake Champlain.  They will be submitting their top posters into the World Water Day contest.  Seventh and eighth graders are exploring the pros and cons of oil pipelines and the challenge of cleaning up oil spills.

Kindness

The WCS December "booster cell" challenge focuses on kindness.  We have celebrated all acts of kindness among peers, teachers, families, etc. and watched the inspiring Ted Talk shown below.  We will wrap up the week with the school tradition, Cinema Day, on Friday afternoon.  Students are invited to wear their PJs for the day.

Swift House Lost and Found

It's a bit like a familiar carol...  We have five lovely lunch bags, four unclaimed binders, three real nice jackets, two cozy sweatshirts, and more water bottles than we could count or see.    We'll post a picture soon.  The items will head to the school lost-and-found collection in the front lobby at the end of the week.