Swift River School Current

Notes from the Principal’s Desk

NOTES FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Happy Ground Hog Day,

We heard that the ground hog named Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his winter home today and saw his shadow. The legend tells us there will be 6 more weeks of winter. That puts winter’s end in mid March!

Join us for all school Community Sing tomorrow (8:45) when the children share what they have learned with Abdou Sarr. It has been two great weeks of singing, dancing and drumming. Come and learn about the performing arts of Senegal.

On Thursday evening, the PTCA will host a Celebrate Africa! potluck dinner starting at 5:30. Please bring food to share (label ingredients and country of origin.) Abdou Sarr and two musicians from Senegal will perform that evening. Sally has been exploring different styles of art from a variety of cultures of Africa. Examples of students’ work will be on display in the hallways.

On Wednesday evening, February 29th, at 5:30, Swift River will celebrate the life of Keith Fiske. You are invited to join us while we sing songs, tell stories and reminisce about a person who had an amazing impact on our community for so long.

Mr. Frank Cammuso was here on Thursday to speak to the students in grades 2 through 6. He is the author of the graphic novels series, The Knights of the Lunch Table. The Dodge Ball Chronicles is a 2012 MCBA book that many of our students have read. Mr. Cammuso gave a brief autobiography detailing how his early years were filled with doodling and drawing. He continues to publish political cartoons for newspapers, and is working on a new graphic novel series. Many thanks to Betsy Bergantino for organizing his visit. It is quite an impressive feat to have an author come to our school and be so accessible for our students.

Warm regards,

Sheila Hunter

LOST AND FOUND
Please check the lost and found! Before you throw away any gloves, we seem to have many singles. We also have hats, socks, sweatshirts and jackets.

Bake Sale
The 6th grade is once again running a Bake Sale Fundraiser during Swift River Soccer every Saturday from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. We will offer breakfast foods, hot items, desserts, chips and various drinks. So stop by and support the 6th grade in raising money for their class trip in June!! Any food or drink donations are welcome as well!! Thank you and see you there!

ENCHANTED FOREST NEWS
Winter Exploration! Ranger Shawn Kennedy is coming to EF to lead an exploration of the winter Nature Trail. Under his guidance children will look for animal signs and plant growth to understand how nature adapts to winter conditions. Shawn used to work in EF and is now Head Ranger at Tully Lake Campground where he educates children and adults about the various environments around the lake. Children always love his workshops! A flier was sent home on Wednesday; sign up soon for this fun afternoon! Be sure your child is warmly dressed with good footwear for this outside activity.

February Dean’s Beans Order
Please use the attached form to order coffee, hot cocoa, etc. All orders are due by Friday, February 10th. Contact Nan Mead at the school if you have any questions. Thank you for supporting our PTCA!

Library Lines
On Tuesday, we welcomed MCBA author Frank Cammuso to Swift River School. Mr. Cammuso wrote and illustrated the graphic novel Knights of the Lunch Table No. 1: The Dodgeball Chronicles. We learned that he has written 3 more books in this series as well as a new series he is working on. He talked about writing 50 drafts of each story until he had it right and encouraged the children to keep drawing. He drew many of the characters in his book for us while we watched in amazement at how quickly a few simple shapes become a person.

Last week in the library we played a game I call "Dewey Decimal Charades". Students were given a topic found under the nonfiction categories to act out (like charades). The remaining students were divided into two teams and were given a set of cards that listed the topics in the call numbers between 300 and 900. The teams had to guess the topic being acted out and identify which call number category that topic would be found. This was a lot of fun and the acting was very impressive!

Melvil Dewey created the Dewey Decimal System in 1874 while working in the library at Amherst College. He organized all knowledge into 10 main classes, which were further divided into 10 divisions and each division into 10 sections. Prior to this, books were shelved in a fixed location, which varied from library to library. The Dewey Decimal System is used in over 95% of libraries today and Melvil Dewey well deserves the title of "Father of Modern Librarianism"

This week in the library we have read books (both fiction and non-fiction) about Groundhog Day, then we did a survey of who would like an early spring and who prefers six more weeks of winter. According to this morning's news reports, Punxsutawney Phil did indeed see his shadow and we will have six more weeks of winter.

Some important Library dates:
Week of Feb 13 - MCBA Battle of the Books tryouts
February 17 - Six Flags Reading logs due
March 9 - MCBA Books in Action Party at Leverett Elementary School
March 15 - Heifer International "Read to Feed" program ends
March 30 - Deadline to turn in "Read to Feed" donation money

Make time to read,
Betsy

Celebrate Diversity! Celebrate Africa!
Thursday, February 9, 5:30 p.m.
Bring a dish to share! Use the suggestions below, or bring whatever you'd like!

Pre-K: drinks
Kindergarten: desserts
1st and 2nd grades: side dishes
3rd and 4th grades: main dishes
5th and 6th grades: appetizers
Centerpieces for the tables are also needed!

All are welcome!

SNOW DAY INFORMATION
If school is called off because of inclement weather, power outage or other reasons, information is broadcast on the following stations:

Amherst           WRNX   100.9        WPNI   1430 AM
Greenfield        WRSI      93.9        WHAI    98.3
Northampton WHMP    99.3
Orange            WAHL     99.9        WJDF    97.3
S. Deerfield     WPVQ     95.3
TV       WWLP Channel 22         WGGB Channel 40

Please note that Swift River is part of Erving School Union #28. School closing or delayed openings are made as School Union #28 or Erving Union #28, usually not as Swift River School.

You may also call the school at 978-544-6926. In difficult weather, we will have a recorded message on that line announcing a closing, a delay, or an early dismissal. Kuzmeskus, our bus company, has a website you can check to see if school has a delayed start or will be closed due to bad road conditions. The website can be found at www.travelkuz.com

Things Swift River Needs

As recommended by the School Committee members, we will publish in this box a list of needs for our school. You don't know until you have asked!

Networkable Color Laser Printer

Several iPods - any model except the Shuffle

iPads

Community Bulletin Board
These announcements and events are not school sponsored.

Free Program
Tuesday Feb 21 at 1:30 p.m.
Bassett Planetarium, Morgan Hall Amherst College
This hour long program will first look at the constellations found in the February evening sky over Amherst and finish with the first local public showing of NASA’s “Space School Musical.” This program is FREE and the Planetarium seating is limited to the first 60 people. Please park around the Amherst Common and walk over.

New Salem Library News
Friends of New Salem Library sponsored a Community Reading Day at Swift River School on Wednesday morning, January 11th. Elected officials, town workers, and volunteers, representing both New Salem and Wendell read to students in each of the seven classes, kindergarten through 6th grade. New Salem readers were Stacy Senflug, town clerk; Nancy Aldrich; town coordinator, Dorothy Johnson, director of community musicals and former library trustee; Hugh Mackay, chair of the Friends of the New Salem Library; and Tony Palmieri, selectman. Wendell readers were Gretchen Smith, town clerk, and Jeoff Pooser, selectman. When readers introduced themselves to the students, they explained what they did and how they worked for their towns.

Betsy Bergantino, school librarian, helped Mary-Ann Palmieri of the Friends to organize the event.

Calendar for February

2/8th at 7:30 PM: Reading Aloud for Grown Ups at the New Salem Public Library with Janet and Bo Henderson; (snow date February 15th)
2/11th at 10:30 AM: Library for All Seasons. This program for all ages will focus on Abraham Lincoln's Birthday and Valentine's Day and features stories and crafts. Refreshments are served.
2/12th at 3:00 PM: Come celebrate Dorothy Johnson's latest work: Swift River Anthology. The author will read from her book; and refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Library.
2/14th at 5:00 PM: Pizza and Pages featuring Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French
2/25th at 11:00 AM: Civil War Artifacts Program which features a brief talk and display.

2/26th at 3:00 PM: Book group discussion of March by Geraldine Brooks. Books will be available February 2nd at the New Salem Library.

Information About Our Town Libraries

Wendell Free Library

Tuesday 3-6
Wednesday 11-8
Saturday 9:30-3:30

New Salem Public Library

Tuesday 12 - 8
Thursday 9 - 3
Saturday 9 - 1

Laptop Computers

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