SWIMS May Newsletter 2025
May
6th…Family Day!!! Bring your family for a special celebration in class.
- 8:30 – 9:00 or 8:45 – 9:15 Ducklings, Owlets, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers and Tadpoles Infant & Toddler Classes (details to follow from teachers)
- 2:00-2:30 Bluebirds, Ladybugs, Turquoise, Wildflowers Early Childhood Classes, Wasatch, Evergreen & Bridgemont Secondary Classes
6th – 8th…Wasatch Elementary Class Expedition to Snow Canyon!
7th…Happy Birthday, Bruce! (wear your Hawaiian or western shirt today!)
8th…Yearbook orders and ads due!
9th...Spring Photo orders due!
15th – 17th…Evergreen Elementary Class Expedition to Capitol Reef!
19th – 23rd…Bridgemont Secondary Class Expedition to Moab!
23rd…Half day!
- 11:30-11:45 dismissal for Ducklings Infant Class, Bumblebees & Sunflowers Toddlers Classes, Turquoise & Ladybugs Early Childhood Classes
- 11:45-12:00 dismissal for Owlets Infant Class, Chickadees & Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Bluebirds & Wildflowers Early Childhood Classes, Wasatch/Evergreen Elementary & Bridgemont Secondary Classes
26th…No School Memorial Day
30th…Closing Ceremonies, No School
Join your child’s class for a simple, sweet closing to the year with special accolades to graduates (those who have completed their work at each level and are moving to the next class).
Owlets & Ducklings Infant Classes, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers and Tadpoles Toddler Classes 9:00 – 10:00am
10:15am Musical Performance “Wonder” in the Sanctuary
Bluebird, Ladybug, Turquoise & Wildflower EC Classes, Wasatch/Evergreen Elementary and Bridgemont Secondary Classes 10:30 – 11:30am
Overflow parking at Matt Knoop Park to the south and along Shadow Mountain Drive.
June
2nd-6th…No School – Happy Summer Break!
9th…Summer School starts!
14th...Duna is older than fossils
18th…Happy Birthday, Mandy!
July
3rd…Happy Birthday, Maribel!
15th…Happy Birthday, Emily!
26th…Happy Birthday, Megan!
29th…Happy Birthday, Richelle!
August
8th…Happy Birthday, Leith!
7th…Summer School ends
11th – 19th…No School – Set-up Week
19th…Open House! 2:30 – 4:30pm
25th…Happy Birthday, Jade!
20th…2025-2026 School Year begins!
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Administrative Notes
Another school year winds down and we are at once taking joy in our students and families, marveling at our own accomplishments and barely controlling the tears at the thought that this golden year will soon be gone. We have accomplished much and are so proud to see your children exceeding our expectations.
This year:
We expanded our reach in getting more of our families into the school to see the magic that we get to see each school day.
We examined our latest challenge, the public preschool offerings, and listened to the voices resonating on the depth and breadth of the curriculum that we are able to offer students at all ages. In this highly educated community, we are honored that you recognize what we do despite the alternative of greater convenience and less expense.
We added two new solar panel arrays, increasing our ability to support faculty electric vehicles as well as our school electricity needs.
We added a composting program that transforms our food waste into fuel.
We added a new early childhood classroom led by Hollis Esposito that just vibrates with joy.
We grew our new Bridgemont Secondary Class five times larger!
We opened a new infant class reducing the enormous Wait List and seeing another beautiful infant community come to life thanks to the very talented Mandy Pratt.
We took the LA fires to heart and made steps to fire-proof our school so that we can offer shelter should such a disaster strike us.
We continue to constantly train for and improve our safety procedures and have members of the PCFD and Summit County Sheriff’s Department in to review our protocols.
We worked on a plan for an adjoining fine arts center. Do you like the arts? Let us know if you’d like to help with this!
We saved our employees approximately $6,000/school year with our UTA Vanpool.
We improved our benefits with a healthcare stipend.
This list got long very quickly! But there is an equally long list of the goals we are working to accomplish. The best part is that we are all ecstatic to be able to do this every day because our families make it so worthwhile. Thank you for supporting our dream.
Namaste’
Duna Strachan, MEd
Founder and Executive Director
School Bulletin Board
Finally! The snow is gone, the grass is growing again, some brave flowers are starting to bloom and the pot guts are awake and living life as only they know how! But don’t put away those boots yet – the playground will be soggy for awhile.
Best wishes and warm hugs to Annie Hays and family on the birth of Walter on Monday night, just hours after Annie had put the finishing touches on her Turquoise Class, leaving it more than ready for the remainder of the school year. We can’t wait to meet him!
Now is the time when faculty are admiring their work as the school year comes to an end. The long work periods of winter have given students significant progress and as classes busily hum along, teachers are planning how to end this school year well. We are creating the yearbook, revelling in all that we have done together. We look forward to Family Day, beginning rehearsals for Closing Ceremonies and working on end-of-year gifts for our neighbors and friends such as Augustine who delivers lunch right on time every day, Brook who cleans our windows so cheerfully, Summit County Sheriff’s Department deputies who come running whenever our silly alarm goes off when a door blows open, Gladys and her whole family who clean our entire school every night. May is just like December only without the lights and ornaments!
Before you pack up the family wagon and hit the dusty trail for your summer adventures, be sure to look over the calendar above. We will need your help throughout May with field trips, projects and the details of closing out the year.
Family Day! We are super excited about having our families in for a little classroom fun! We decided a few years ago that, due to the myriad family constellations in our school, we would replace our Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day events with Family Day. We always look forward hopefully to an outdoor event, but whether inside or outside, families are invited to come to school on May 6th according to the schedule in the calendar above.We look forward to celebrating your family!
Closing Ceremonies, May 30th Families are invited for a small, intimate Closing Ceremony in each classroom. Everyone will be honored for the work they have done this school year and graduates will be celebrated. (Graduates are those students who have completed all of the requirements of their current program level and are prepared for the next.) Every class has a variation on this theme. There have already been tears shed at faculty meetings in anticipation of this event. Yes, most will be back together in the fall, but some move up, a few move on and new friends join us. Our classes will never be quite the same again. We are simmering in the joy of the present.
Lower School
Infant and Toddler Impressions – News from the Ducklings and Owlets Infant Classes, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers & Tadpoles Toddler Classes
My, how we all have grown this year! Infants are crawling, walking, speaking, setting their own places and exploring every part of campus. Toddlers are cooking, cleaning, toileting and taking care of themselves with little assistance needed. We have learned a little about the big, wide world we live in and the variety plants, animals and people here. Most of all we have learned to be confident and caring members of our classroom community.
Families can keep this independence growing at home by providing a child-sized table and chairs in the kitchen where children can prepare a simple snack or work on a project while you cook. With a shelf in each room equipped with just a few books, puzzles and toys, your child can keep themself busy wherever they are. And after a year in school they are familiar with putting things away when they are done. With appropriate clothing in a low drawer in the bedroom your child can choose clothing for the day and practice dressing themself.
In school children wear cotton training pants in class by about 18 months when they are ready to practice toileting. With a basket of fresh pants in the bathroom and a pail for soiled ones, they can continue this routine at home, taking responsibility for the toilet learning process.
Outside, provide a small bucket with only about an inch of water and a small sponge and your child can wash tables, chairs and toys.
Whatever you are doing, your child can practice a simpler version with child-sized tools. Our infants and toddlers are growing fast. Be sure to spend lots of time with them this summer doing simple things together, moving at your child’s pace and seeing the summer through their eyes.
Excellence from Early Childhood – Every Day in the Bluebirds, Ladybugs, Turquoise & Wildflowers Classes
While our first and second year ec students keep on doing what they love, our third year, a.k.a, Leadership Year, students completed their Ancestry Reports and worked with elementary students over the past few months to learn new lessons as their final rites of passage to our elementary class or 1st grade at another school.
Early childhood classes complete the school year having taken a look at every continent and its people, plants and animals; several authors, poets, artists and composers; seasons, holidays from many lands, historical timelines; and every major class of animal including a personal visit with many. We have conducted experiments, used many types of artistic media to express ourselves, practiced sewing, tool use, cooking, reading and math operations. Most of our Leadership Year students are now working at a 1st, 2nd, or possibly 3rd grade level. We have sung many, many songs, recited poems, learned games and dances. We have taken turns both leading and following the group.
First year students became familiar with the classroom and routines and mastered many of the foundational skills. Second year students built their social skills while practicing some challenging exercises in every area of the curriculum. Third year students polished their skills in every area as they built their independence and confidence. They are ready to graduate with academic and social skills in place, able to join their new class knowing they are great problem-solvers, conflict resolvers and respectful citizens of their new communities. This is why teachers are so emotional this time of year. We will miss our graduates immensely – even if they are just upstairs. Even though most of the class will be back in the fall, we will all have grown and evolved and we will never be just the same class again. It’s been a wonderful year. Thank you for allowing us to witness the growth of your students.
Upper School
Upper School Update – News from the Wasatch/Evergreen Elementary, and Bridgemont Secondary School Classes
Upper School students take field trips every Friday to confirm what they have learned in class. Recent field trips have included The Front for working on rock climbing skills, Swaner Nature Preserve and the Equellness Center where Bridgemont students have been practicing emotional wellness with their horse partners. They are finishing off the year’s academic goals and busily preparing for their expeditions that they have been planning since fall.Expeditions are a traditional Montessori approach to learning for the older students. Dr. Montessori observed that as Montessori children grow they often exceed the traditional academic standards and don’t need to spend long hours in a classroom. Instead, there should be a routine of “going out” into the world to participate in the community at large. The expedition is a longer trip planned to explore a new part of the world. This month Wasatch is going to Snow Canyon, culminating their curriculum in biomes, geology, history and Practical Life as they take the lead in setting up camp and preparing meals with their families. Evergreen is joining another Montessori school, Foothill Montessori, on a camping trip to Capitol Reef along with accomplished Montessori nature expert, Donda Hartsfield. Bridgemont will join their online classmates IRL in Moab. Although the choices in destinations included Cayman Islands and Costa Rica and our students may have been a little disappointed that their classmates voted for Utah, they are excited to hang out with these friends from across the globe that they have been working with online over the past school year.
Expeditions involve planning expenses, raising the funds, planning meals, organizing camp/sleeping arrangements, planning a schedule, journaling, sketching and interviewing experts such as park rangers or the Bridgemont instructors who seem to know just about everything.This year our Upper School Director, Leith Strachan, will share some of his talents in orienteering with Wasatch Class from Eagle Scouts plus 20 years in the Army.
These trips are the culminating learning experiences of the school year and the capstone projects for their entrepreneurial studies, since students use everything they have learned to make their expedition happen. The school will be quieter with our big kids gone, but they will come back dirty, exhausted and happy. Have fun, everyone! Thank you, SWIMS families, for supporting their coffee sales!
