Important Dates
- February 14-18 - Kindness Week
- February 15 - 100th day of school
- February 16 - School Closes 3 hours Early (No 1/2 Day Pre-K)
- February 16 - Black History Month Virtual Event - 6:00pm
- February 21 - School is in Session - Inclement Weather Make-up Day
New Information
Kindness Week, February 14th-18th
Kindness is one of our most important success factors here at Swansfield! You can find staff celebrating all the kindness we see around our school by giving out swans, praising students for being kind, teaching special kindness lessons, choosing kind students to be recognized as Swan of the Week, and more!
We are excited to kick off Kindness Week, which is recognized across the nation, on Monday, February 14th through Friday, February 18th. Students will engage in special activities to discuss and celebrate kindness, such as:
- Spirit Week Dress Up Days
- Monday: Wear red or pink to show how much we care for one another at Swansfield and our community.
- Tuesday: Show your kind character by wearing your favorite cartoon character or superhero attire. We are all heroes when we are kind!
- Wednesday: Wear a hat to school to show that we think before speaking and acting in order to make a KIND choice.
- Thursday: Let Kindness Shine! Wear sparkles, glitter or neon clothes, or wear a shirt with a kind message.
- Friday: Wear comfortable clothes to show how warm and caring we are as a school community.
- Discussion Questions about Kindness in the morning during Community Time (such as: "What are some kind words you can say to someone who seems sad?")
- Kindness Activities (such as creating kindness superpowers and writing kind notes to classmates)
- Random Acts of Kindness BINGO Board with kind acts to be completed at home. Students who turn it in by the end of the week will receive a special reward from their homeroom teacher.
Swansfield School Spelling Bee
Congratulations to the following students who participated in the 4th grade Team Spelling Bee: Caleb Agyapong, Logan Avrunin, Anika Bakshi, Brandon Cheskis, Jacob Fisseha, Nora Goldberg, Aya Kanddil, Ethan Pisner, Andrew Ryan, and Zarra Sudarsan, and congratulations to the following students who participated in the 5th grade Team Spelling Bee: Jordan Dalpe, Wabi Gememchis, Lily Holt, and Rory Morrison.
Caleb Agyapong, Aya Kanddil, Zarra Sudarsan advanced to Swansfield Elementary’s School Spelling Bee. Zarra Sudarsan is our school champion and Aya Kanddil is SES first runner up. Zaara will represent Swansfield at the Howard County Library Virtual Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 19th at 11am. If for any reason Zaara cannot attend, Aya will represent SES.
G-o-o-d l-u-c-k!
Celebrating Maryland's Healthcare Heroes Poster Competition Information
Late last week, Governor Hogan announced a student poster competition as part of Maryland's Healthcare Heroes Appreciation Week. The contest asks public school students to design posters of any size on the theme: "Celebrating Maryland's Healthcare Heroes." The contest is open now, and the last day for students to submit artwork is March 8, 2022. One winning poster will be selected at the state level from each category: elementary school, middle school, and high school.
Two jurors, First Lady Yumi Hogan, and Dr. Jinlene Chan, Maryland's Public Health Doctor, will review the district submissions and choose one winning poster from each grade band to be installed at a public event with the Governor.
MSDE is also considering displaying the remaining posters in a virtual format or in various healthcare facilities across the state. The winning students will be invited to a celebration to receive a Governor's Citation.
All provided information can be found on the MarylandPublicSchools.org website - 2022 Governor's Healthcare Heroes Poster Competition.
Each submission must also have a signed release form by the students and their guardians - a copy of this release form is attached. Also attached is the MSDE Fine Arts Office's guide to photographing physical artwork for online submissions.
The last day for students to submit poster designs to the HCPSS Fine Arts Office is March 8th through the following link. STUDENT POSTER DIGITAL FILE UPLOAD & RELEASE FORM UPLOAD LINK
BSAP Corner
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 enabled the federal government to prevent racial discrimination and segregation based on race, color, religion, or national origin in several areas including private businesses and public facilities.
- The law gave the federal government more power to create lawsuits to force school desegregation.
- It established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and also prohibited discrimination by private employers based on whether you were male or female.
- The Equal Pay Act of 1963 stated that men and women should be paid the same amount of money for doing the same job.
For more news and information follow Swansfield BSAP on Instagram @ses_bsap
Black History Month Slideshow
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nNDdAQm2GjPc8U63FiE6aVobyWO5h7_TWHh4XuikPAA/edit#slide=id.p
From Your Title I Team
OMHS Food Pantry February 16
If you or someone you know is in need of food support, Oakland Mills High School will be hosting a Food Pantry on Wednesday, February 16 from 3 to 5pm at 9410 Kilimanjaro Road, Columbia. All you need to bring is a photo ID.
Reminders
Kindness Week - Spread #kindness and #love!
During the month of February, we would like to spread #kindness and #love to our amazing staff members. Please consider writing a few notes to SES staff members throughout the month. These notes can be from any family member (parent or student). Decorated boxes are in each grade level pod for students to place their notes when they return them to school. The notes will then be distributed to staff members throughout the month.
A hard copy was sent home in each student’s FISH folder on Wednesday. Additionally, you can find an electronic copy here.
Thank you for spreading kindness and love to our AMAZING staff!
Kids Heart Challenge
Our annual Kids Heart Challenge fundraiser for the American Heart Association, Hoops for Heart is still underway. We will continue to celebrate by working on both basketball and jump rope skills. Please visit our school's webpage at http://www2.heart.org/goto/swansfield to sign up and take the challenge. This year's event will continue through Friday February 25th. Any donations must be made online and should be turned in by Friday, March 4th. Thank you for supporting our school and the American Heart Association!
Message from the Health Room
Did you know that if your child is fully vaccinated, and not showing any symptoms, your child is not required to quarantine when identified as a close contact? Having this information on file in our health room will help SES staff to be more efficient when determining if a close contact will or will not need to quarantine as a result of exposure to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
To assist with this process, we are asking all families to consider completing this voluntary SES Student Vaccination Status Survey. Please note, the results of this survey will only be accessible to our health room staff and administrators.
Nominate an Outstanding Educator!
The annual HCPSS Educator Recognition Program sponsored by the Gifted and Talented Advisory Committee (GTAC) celebrates educators who demonstrate exemplary commitment to the needs of advanced-level learners and/or the Howard County G/T Education Program.
Now through March 4, families and students have the opportunity to recognize a G/T Resource Teacher, content or classroom teacher, or administrator who has enriched the educational experience of advanced-level learners. ALL educators for whom submissions are received will be recognized.
Submissions will be accepted via an online form, which includes a minimum 150-word description of the educator’s contribution to the education of advanced-level learners. Information and submission instructions are available online. For more information, visit this link.
Swansfield Wish Lists
We will continue to update our wish lists throughout the school year.
Student Lounge Wish List
Classroom Wish List
PTA Updates
February PTA Hospitality
The hospitality committee is looking for volunteers to provide/donate soups (in crockpots), bread, drinks and paper products for our February SOUPer Staff Lunch on February 24th. Sign Up HERE!
Celebrate Black History
School-Wide Virtual Field Trip February 16th at 6 p.m.
Heritage Tour of Maryland sponsored by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum
Google meet code: ses-bhm
Siblings should try to view the presentation from the same device if possible so there’s plenty of room for others to log on.
What does a virtual Science Fair entry look like?
The Swansfield Science Fair will take place online on Monday, March 21st for students in grades K-2nd and Tuesday, March 22nd for students in grades 3rd-5th. Students will have the option to share their science fair experiment by creating a video or recording a google slides presentation about their project.
If your child is still not sure whether they want to participate in the 2022 virtual science fair at Swansfield, check out some of the entries from last year’s science fair to see how fun and easy it can be! Click here to see a few examples.
If any students are interested in participating, please let us know by filling out this Interest Form for each child. By filling out the form, you will be sent a template your child can use if they want to do a slide presentation, along with a packet of information about the fair and a “how to video” that explains how your child can prepare their entry. We recommend signing up by Feb 16th to get access to these resources. Final entries must be uploaded by March 9th at 5pm. Participating students will earn a prize.
Questions? Contact your Science Fair Co-Chairs: Meagan Downey at leatherbury.meagan@gmail.com or Jeanie Prescott at jeanieprescott@gmail.com
