SWIMS November Newsletter
November
1st…Re-enrollment invitations for continuing students and their siblings sent out via mail. Enrollment opens for new students December 1st.
2nd…Friends for Sight will check the vision of every student over 3 years old. Parents will be notified if there is a concern.
4th…Deadline for Rainbow Giveaway! Please return envelopes with contributions in any amount to help Grandma Frances through the winter. Yah-aht-ey!
4th…Deadline to register for Silent Journey on November 10th. Come learn more about your student’s Montessori journey and how they are preparing for high school. Only a few spaces left – respond to duna@soaringwings.org. Adults only, please.
7th…Usborne Book Fair deadline! Do a little holiday shopping at SoaringWingsBookFair.com and earn free books for our school!
10th…Silent Journey 4-6pm. Learn more about your student’s Montessori journey and how they are preparing for high school. Respond to duna@soaringwings.org by November 4th to reserve your space. Adults only, please.
21st…SWIMS/DV Ski Program registrations due! This program is open to students 3 – 12 years old who are reliably independent in toileting. Contact leah@soaringwings.org for more information.
22nd…Feast Day! Each class will hold a simple Thanksgiving Feast. Teachers will circulate sign-ups for needed supplies. Please let us know if your students will not be in class on this day. EC classes start at 9:30am on this day. All classes dismiss at half day to give you some time to get over the river and through the woods!
23rd – 25th…No School. Happy Thanksgiving!
December
1st…Enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year opens for new students.
1st…Summer School Enrollment opens for students enrolled for the 2023-2024 school year.
16th…SWIMS Winter Celebration school play at Park City Community Church, 11:00am. We are thrilled to bring this event back in person, but the space is limited so we invite just two family members per student. Details will follow!
19th – 30th…No School – Winter Break
Infant & Toddler Impressions – Notes from El Nido, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers & Tadpoles Classes
November is a time of enjoying the quiet as winter and the holidays approach. Our infants’ and toddlers’ days are filled with cycles of eating, sleeping, indoor work, outdoor play, diapering and toileting. Every day there is another challenge in school. At first snacks were served by faculty. Now children are taking part in preparing snacks, setting places, washing dishes and cleaning up their dining area. At first they were mostly in diapers but now the older ones are participating in stand up diapering or wearing training pants in class. There are more challenging puzzles, stories, games and songs. Our little ones are slowly becoming more independent!
In November we will practice scrubbing and preparing vegetables for the Stone Soup we will make for our Thanksgiving Feast. We have looked at Indigenous Peoples in general and our friend, Grandma Frances, in particular. We may include the Native American “sister plants” in our soup. Teachers will circulate sign-ups for supplies needed for our Feast.
We will practice songs, stories and movement in preparation for our Winter Celebration on December 16th. This year we will present a play at the Park City Community Church and each class will present a song to help tell a story. Costume notices will come home in the next few weeks.
We like to approach all holidays with simple crafts, cooking, songs and stories to emphasize healthy ways to celebrate. We recommend keeping your holiday plans at a toddler’s pace so the whole family can take time to enjoy the season together.
Every Day in Early Childhood – Events in the Bluebirds, Ladybugs and Turquoise Classes
The study of our Navajo Grandma Frances in particular and Native Americans in general has led us to a closer look at the Wampanoag of the region now known as New England. We are taking a look at their lifestyle in 1620 – their homes, clothing, foods, games and families. We have studied explorers who built boats and sailed out across the oceans from Polynesia and Europe. The next chapter in our Thanksgiving Timeline includes the plight of the Separatists in England and their journey across the sea to build a whole new England. As the decades have passed, this story evolves from what you may have heard in grade school to a more balanced tale of two cultures coming together. And for just a small moment in history, they managed to get along.
Our Art History Timeline has passed through the time of Rembrandt when the Separatists may have crossed paths with the artist or had their portraits painted, into Mary Cassatt’s world of color and emotion. This is a good time to play memory games with matching sets of art notecards. We choose topics that are familiar to children – families, landscapes, children, animals. After a little practice we are quizzing each other on artists and titles of paintings. Or picking a Rembrandt from a selection of many artists’ work.
As the Separatists approach North America our Geography studies are taking us on a walk across the continent, stopping to notice native plants, animals and features along the way.
And as we plan our feast of Stone Soup we are simultaneously learning botany nomenclature and the edible parts of plants. Students will be bringing home plants they have grown from seeds.
Tomie DePaola is the author for November and we enjoy his Native American stories as well as his funny, sweet and sad stories from his own life. On your next trip to the library check out a few of DePaola’s works. Try Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs and we dare you not to cry. We all do.
And somewhere in November we will begin working on our class songs for the Winter Celebration school play at PC Community church on December 16th at 11:00am. Costume notices will come home in the next few weeks.
Elements of Elementary & Middle School – News from the Wasatch & Evergreen Classes
In November we begin to transform into the SWIMS School of Performing Arts as we put the finishing touches on our script for the Winter Celebration play. Evergreen Class prepared by attending a play at the Egyptian Theater. Wasatch got right to work working on the choreography for their dance. Of course there is the usual academic practice as well as research for the Indigenous Peoples feast the classes are planning. Classes are learning about the tribes who historically lived in Utah and Park City and what their feasts may have consisted of. One delicacy? Crickets.
Students will prepare their meals themselves, create centerpieces, and set tables in the hall to join the rest of the school community for their feast. Take advantage of these skills and invite your students to prepare a dish for your family feast. These students are capable of just about anything!