SWIMS November Newsletter 2024
November
1st…Re-enrollment invitations for continuing students and their siblings for the 2025-2026 school year sent via email. Any remaining spaces will be open to new students December 1st. Once your student is enrolled for the 2025-2026 school year they are eligible to enroll in Summer School. Contact bruce@soaringwings.org if you have not yet seen your re-enrollment invitation.
1st…Parent/Teacher Conferences – No school.
4th…Rainbow Giveaway Deadline. Return donations in any amount in the envelope your student brought home. These funds will be sent directly to our Adopt-a-Native Elder, Navajo Grandma Frances Bahe, to help her with food and warm clothing for the winter ahead.
9th…Happy Birthday, Lindsay!
12th…Friends for Sight will be at our school to check the vision of every student over 3 years old free of charge. Parents will be notified if there is a concern.
15th…Ski School registration due!
23rd…Happy Birthday, Annie!
26th…Feast Day! We will once again gather at one very long table for a community feast of student-made dishes based on our Native American studies. Look for sign-ups for needed supplies. All classes dismiss at half day to give you time to get over the river and through the woods!
27th…Happy Birthday, Sarah!
27th – 29th…No School. Happy Thanksgiving!
December
2nd…Enrollment opens to new students for the 2025-2026 school year.
4th…Happy Birthday, Leah!
20th…No School. SWIMS Winter Celebration at Park City Community Church
9:00am Owlets & Ducklings Infant Classes, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers and Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Wasatch/Evergreen Elementary and Bridgemont Secondary School Classes.
10:30am Bluebirds, Ladybugs, Turquoise & Wildflowers Early Childhood Classes, Wasatch/Evergreen Elementary and Bridgemont Secondary School Classes.
Dismissal following the play. We will need lots of help with costumes, props, sets, and transporting infants and toddlers to the church for rehearsals on the 19th. Costume notices will come home the last week in November with all the details.
23rd – 3rd…No School. Winter Break! School resumes January 4th.
School Bulletin Board
Thank you for your support of our Rainbow Giveaway. All proceeds go to our “adopted” Native elder, Grandma Frances Bahe. If you’ve not yet gotten your contribution (in any amount) in, just send them in with any teacher by Monday November 4th.
Re-enrollment just went out for 2025-2026 for returning students and their siblings. Summer School enrollment will come along with your re-enrollment confirmation.
Our Bridgemont Secondary students just sailed through their Parent/Teacher Conferences with high reviews! We now have 5 secondary students in our class of 14 – 16 year olds. The expectations are huge in the Bridgemont program and the classes are rigorous. And our students are making us proud of their diligence and aptitude for everything that comes their way. Congratulations, Bridgemont! This year they are producing a music video for our Winter Celebration featuring their own talents. Looking forward to seeing it!
We approach the winter months ahead with anticipation for the long indoor work periods that bring so much progress in development for all of us. All classes are planning their Thanksgiving Feasts to be prepared by the children and enjoyed at one long community table. The Winter Holiday curriculum will involve the whole school in celebrations of Diwali, Las Posadas and Hannukah. Our Winter Celebration all-school play is an important piece of our Theater Curriculum bringing all students onstage to tell a story with song and dance. This year we are offering two shows so parking and seating isn’t such a challenge and hopefully all grandparents can come along, too! Infants and toddlers will be the focus in the first show and early childhood in the second show with Upper School bringing entertainment in both. Putting on a play involving the whole school is not done any more in most schools because it takes a lot of commitment by students, teachers and parents. But seeing the children gaining confidence as the years go by, until they are the stars of the show and experiencing the community effort that goes into a project this big is always worth the work.
We will see our Grandmother Frances supported with what she needs for the winter through the Rainbow Giveaway and we will collect goods for Peace House through our Angel Tree project that will begin right after Thanksgiving. Generally, the winter months are a time of progress in all areas along with celebration, gratitude and caring for others. We will be asking for your help often. Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Lower School
Infant & Toddler Impressions – Notes from Owlets & Ducklings Infant Classes, Bumblebees, Chickadees, Sunflowers & Tadpoles Toddler Classes
In November we study plants. We will learn the names of all kinds of vegetables and scrub, peel, chop and cook them for our Native American Feast on November 26th. Then we will set our places at the school community table and come together to enjoy our feast. Check with teachers on what will be needed for this event.
We continue our study of North America and Native American people, focusing on Grandma Frances, our “adopted” elder through Adopt-a-Native Elder. Thank you for your support of her through our Rainbow Giveaway. Each class has artifacts such as moccasins to try on, dolls, photos to match and examples of the “sister plants” – beans, corn and squash – which will likely be included in our Stone Soup for our feast. We will get to know some of the native wildlife in North America as well.
We begin our Winter Holiday curriculum with Diwali this month, creating a rangali in class, then joining the school community for stories, songs, dancing and a special Diwali snack. If you have celebrated Diwali and have something to share, let any teacher know!
It will soon be time to start our Theater curriculum in preparation for our Winter Celebration December 20th at Park City Community Church. Infants and toddlers will be onstage at 9:00am. There will be songs, dances, story-telling, costumes, props and sets to create in the next several weeks. And we’ll need help getting infants and toddlers to the church and back for rehearsals. Let any teacher know if you would like to be involved.
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 an infant/toddler’s pace so the whole family can take time to enjoy the season together. Consider saying “no, thanks” to some of the parties and house guests and put some of those sugary treats in the freezer to keep your home life as consistent as possible for the young ones in your family. We notice that when we keep things consistent for the students we adults benefit, too!
Every Day in Early Childhood – Events in the Bluebirds, Ladybugs, Turquoise & Wildflowers 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. In the fall the Wampanoag and surrounding tribes practiced a feast of gratitude called Nickommoh. We will use this idea as a base for our Feast on November 26th. Children will scrub, chop and cook vegetables, including the sister plants, corn, beans and squash, for our feast of Stone Soup. Children will assemble tables and chairs into a long community table down the hall. They will set the places, create centerpieces and serve one another. You may want to put your ec student to work in preparing your own family meals and feasts.
Our Art History Timeline has passed through the time of Rembrandt when the Separatists were preparing to leave Europe 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. Or copying the masters just like artists do!
As the Wampanoag show us their traditions in our History studies, 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 it’s okay to cry. We all do.
And somewhere in November we will begin working on our class songs and dances for the Winter Celebration school play at PC Community Church on December 20th at 10:30am. Costume notices will come home in the next few weeks.
Upper School
Elements of Elementary, Middle School & High School – News from the Wasatch, Evergreen & Bridgemont Classes
Wasatch and Evergreen Elementary students have finished their treehouse and are putting the finishing touches on their Spooky Forest that they have planned for the Lower School. It’s been fun to see them adding decorations and rehearsing the story line for this Halloween event that is preparation for the Winter Celebration to come in December. The Spooky Forest will soon be a fond memory as we move into November with our study of North America, Native People and the native plants that will make up our Thanksgiving Feast with the rest of the school.
Our Bridgemont Secondary students envelop themselves in their studies. Emily Squadroni is their Physicals teacher taking them into the wonders of nuclear science. They report that she is the best teacher ever. There are a bevy of talented teachers on Bridgemont’s faculty. And the students are from all over the world. One student attended online class nonchalantly from the Cayman Islands as the hurricane pounded at her door. When they met in person in Washington DC last spring it was as if they had always known each other in person. And after class these students work on their Wild Pine Design entrepreneurial endeavors and offer their coffee cafe on Mondays in an effort to raise money for this spring’s adventure, possibly to Costa Rica!
In November we begin to transform into the SWIMS School of Performing Arts as we put the finishing touches on our Winter Celebration play. Classes prepared by attending Giselle at the Santy Auditorium by BalletNEXT, noticing the magic of theater. Classes are getting to work on choreography and ideas for set design. Our Theater curriculum grows as the student does, allowing more ownership of the production as they acquire the necessary skills.
In Geography, classes are learning about the tribes who historically lived in Utah and Park City and what their feasts may have consisted of. For Feast Day students will prepare their meals themselves, create centerpieces, and set tables in the hall to join the rest of the school community for their meal in gratitude. 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!
There are so many things our Upper Schoolers can do, everyone has new project ideas!
The Upper School classes want to improve the design of their catapult so they can chunk some pumpkins much farther this year! School is not about sitting at desks all day any more!
