Important Dates

• February 8 - Stamped Book Club - 7:00p.m.
• February 9 - Restorative Justice Peacemaking Circle - 6:30p.m.
• February 10 - Early Dismissal for Students & Parent Teacher Conferences
• February 11 - Early Dismissal for Students
• February 15 - 100th day of school
• February 16 - Black History Month Virtual Event - 6:00pm

New Information

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!  

Success Factor “Empathy” Volunteers Needed!

We are excited to focus on our next Success Factor, Empathy!  Our students will be learning about Empathy (the ability to understand and share feelings of another) and we need your help!

If you are passionate about an organization that helps others and are interested in teaching our students about it, we would love your help! If interested, you would be responsible for creating a 5-7 minute power point presentation to present virtually through Google Meet. The teacher will project you and the presentation for all students to see.  

 What will the presentation need to include?

• What the organization is
• Who or What the organization helps
• How the organization provides help or support
• Ways our Swansfield community could support this organization

Organizations could be charitable organizations (such as an animal shelter) and/or organizations that would benefit from community support (such as a nursing home or veterans group). 

Ultimately, our goal is for all grade levels to learn about multiple organizations.  Our students would then vote to determine which organization they feel the greatest connection to.  After voting, we will then determine how to support the organization as a Swansfield Community.  

Please complete this survey if you would like to support our work around our Success Factor - Empathy.  We appreciate your time and efforts!

2022 Summer Program Enrollment Registration

Summer program online enrollment requests for currently enrolled students opened Tuesday, February 1:

• BSAP Summer Institute (Entering Grades K-9)
• Gifted and Talented Summer Institutes for Talent Development

Note: Invitations for eligible students for Academic Intervention and Extended School Year Special Education programs will come directly from the school from our special education team in the spring.

Enrollment requests can be made by a parent, guardian, school counselor or school achievement liaison. Please carefully review the course descriptions, dates, times and locations in the program course lists before submitting an enrollment request. Enrollment requests are made via HCPSS Connect Synergy. Directions are available online.

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.

National School Counseling Week - February 7-11, 2022.

National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counseling Association, highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career. Please join us in celebrating your school counselor(s) Ms. Alesia Richter (grades 3-5) and Krissy Rainier (grades K-2).  We are extremely grateful that these dedicated individuals are a part of our #SwanFamily!

From Your Title I Team

The library is coming to your neighborhood! The free pop-up library is coming in February and is geared toward parents or caretakers and children ages 0-5. During the pop-up times you can attend a children's class, check out books and activities on site, learn about community resources and use the free Wi-Fi. The dates, times, and locations are on the attached flier. HCLS Pop Up Library.pdf

BSAP Corner 

Welcome to the BSAP Corner at Swansfield Elementary! Tuesday, February 1, 2022 started Black History Month. Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. 

Throughout the month, you will be able to find Black History facts and information, as well activities in the BSAP Corner about Black History Month.  

Black Scientist & Inventors 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glZpu0xMSuM&feature=youtu.be 

Famous Black Inventors 

https://www.education.com/download/worksheet/98834/african-american-inventors.pdf

Reminders

Kids Heart Challenge

Our annual Kids Heart Challenge fundraiser for the American Heart Association, Hoops for Heart, began Monday, January 31st. This year we will 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!

Restorative Justice Peace Making Circle February 9, 2022

It’s not too late to join Swansfield staff and parents in a special community building circle on February 9th at 6:30pm. Adopted from indigenous cultures, peacemaking circles bring people together in a way that builds trust and creates opportunities for connection, collaboration, and mutual understanding. Participants will sit together in a circle spaced 2-3 ft apart.  Please come experience the power of a circle.   If you are interested in participating, please email Keynora Greenwood at keynora_greenwood@hcpss.org.

A Message from Swansfield’s Rainbow Reps

CARY (Community Allies of Rainbow Youth) is an organization started by CHS parents that advocates to improve opportunities for LGBTQ+ young people.  CARY is sponsoring a virtual program on understanding and supporting trans and non-binary young people.  It will take place on Tuesday Feb. 8 at 6:30 PM. To register use this link.  Not able to attend?  When you choose to register there is an option to record the webinar and download it to watch at another time. 

Swansfield Wish Lists

We will continue to update our wish lists throughout the school year.  

Student Lounge Wish List

Classroom Wish List

 

PTA Updates

Black History Month Event

Save the Date: February 16th at 6 p.m. Virtual Heritage Tour of MD sponsored by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. Login details coming soon!

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 (leatherbury.meagan@gmail.com) or Jeanie Prescott (jeanieprescott@gmail.com)