​Hello everyone,


What a beautiful weekend!  I hope you are able to enjoy it.  

If you are interested in volunteering during our garden dig days, the sign up sheet has been updated to include times for all the teachers.  We also need supplies for the dig days, especially gloves, and kid-sized gardening tools.

• Volunteer http://tinyurl.com/scesDigIn
• Supplies http://tinyurl.com/scesGardenWishes

Hope you and your family have a great week!!!
Marie

The Positivity Project: Love of Learning

WHAT IT MEANS

You master new topics on your own or in school.


WHY IT MATTERS
Developing a love of learning is highly beneficial for an individual. It means that they are intrinsically motivated to deepen their existing skills and abilities, or learn something
completely new. Since intrinsically motivated action is correlated with positive emotions, those who act on their love of learning may also have enhanced mental and physical health. Additionally, individuals who love learning have the desire and ability to overcome challenges, due to a sense of autonomy and control over their environment.

On a group level, love of learning is crucial. The best leaders (such as Benjamin Franklin and Nelson Mandela) have an insatiable desire to learn. And it’s only by learning and experimenting that we continue to grow.

April Newsletter Going Home on Tuesday
Check your child's Tuesday folder or get a sneak peak at http://swiftcreekeswcpssnetptahtml.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/2/2/24227387/apr172018_english.pdf

Tuesday, April 17: Swift Creek Night at Chick-Fil-A

20% of all sales will go to the school.  We will also have $1 sundaes on sale and all of the money goes to the Creek. 


Invite your friends, family and neighbors.  Everyone is welcome!

Friday, April 20: Muffins and Movement with Mom

Start your morning with a muffin or healthy snack and your child and his and her friends.  For those interested, you can also participate in some yoga movements.


5th Grade Graduation

Graduation will be Thursday, June 7 at 9:30am in the gym.

The 5th grade talent show will be later in the afternoon.  Talent Show forms will be distributed to 5th graders on Tuesday.  Please review this information carefully.  Parent permission is required to participate.

Mark Your Calendars!

• Tuesday, April 24: The Big Dig.   It is our building day for the new school garden. We still need supplies.  Check out our Garden Registry at http://tinyurl.com/scesGardenWishes.  Or volunteer to help at http://tinyurl.com/scesDigIn
• Wednesday, April 25: The Little Dig.  Time to put in that dirt!  
• Friday, April 27: Box Top collection day!  Turn in your Box Tops and Coke bottle tops by this date!  The class with the most points win a small prize and the teacher wins some classroom supplies!
• Sunday, May 6 at 3:00pm:  Swift Creek night with the NC Courage.
• Friday, May 18 8am: Donuts with Dad in the cafeteria.
• Thursday, June 7 5-7pm:  Join us on the field behind the school for a Swift Creek family picnic.  More details to come!

End-of-Grade Tests!  We need Proctors.
Attention 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade parents! Here is the end-of-grade test schedule:

• Friday, May 25: ELA (Grade 3) and Science (Coles: Grade 5)
• Tuesday, May 29: Math (Grade 3) and Science (Krauter: Grade 5)
• Wednesday, May 30: Science (Boyd: Grade 5)
• Thursday, May 31: Math (Grade 4) and ELA (Grade 5)
• Friday, June 1: ELA (Grade 4) and Math (Grade 5)
• Monday, June 4: Read to Achieve Test (Grade 3) and Make-Ups (Grade 4-5)

We need parent volunteers to help proctor these tests.  With parent volunteers we can limit the number of Teacher Assistants we have to use and limit the amount of interruption we have in our regular schedule.
Sign up at https://tinyurl.com/EOGatSwift.

​Hello everyone,


I have mixed emotions about the end of Spring Break.  On the one hand, hooray for children going back to school! But it has been nice to have some family time.  I hope most of you got to enjoy some family time as well.

Hard to believe that the end of school is 2 months until school is out.  Things at the Creek will be busy.  I'll try to keep you up-to-date!

Have a great week!  If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Thanks!
Marie

The Positivity Project: Integrity

WHAT IT MEANS

You are honest and speak the truth. You present yourself genuinely and sincerely.

WHY IT MATTERS
Integrity is vital to individual growth. It is correlated with a multitude of psychological well-being measures. Harmony in your feelings, thoughts, and actions makes you better
able to personally grow and achieve goals. Authenticity, and a lack of pretense, also makes you more likable and trusted by others, meaning your relationships will benefit.

On a group level, integrity is a cornerstone of high-functioning and sustainable teams, organizations, and societies.

Monday, April 9: Turn in Your March Fitness Calendar!
I hope your family had a great time completing the March Fitness Calendar from Ms. Graves and 2 of our awesome 5th graders.  Remember to turn the calendar to your teacher on Monday.

Tuesday, April 10: PTA meeting and 4th grade drama performance of Go West!

Join us in the gym at 6:30pm.  We will have a short PTA meeting that you won't want to miss.  Our partners, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, will be talking to us about our new school garden, which we are building April 24 and 25.

You can help by volunteering on our Dig days or providing supplies.

• Help your child’s class on a Dig day.  To help the kids get excited about our gardens, classes will be visiting the build site on our dig days. Sign up for a 30 minute time slot to help: http://tinyurl.com/scesDigIn
• See our Garden Registry at http://tinyurl.com/scesGardenWishes. You don’t have to buy items directly from this list.  These are just ideas of the items that we need.

If you have questions about our garden, please contact Nehal Outlaw, our Healthy Lifestyle chair, at nehaloutlaw@gmail.com.

After the brief meeting, the 4th grade drama club and the Cougar Chorus will be performing "Go West!"  The students, Mrs. Fallon, and Ms. Sutton have worked so hard on this.  You won't want to miss it!


Thursday, April 12: Meet the New Principal of Dillard Drive Middle School

The new principal of Dillard Drive Middle School has been named, and she is anxious to get to know our families.  You are invited to Coffee and Conversation with Mrs. Feldman on Thursday morning at 8:30am at Dillard Drive Middle School.

Mrs. Feldman will also be attending our May 8 PTA meeting, if you can't make this event.

Friday, April 13:  School Spirit Day; Deadline for Yearbook Orders

• Whose class will have the most School Spirit for April?  Encourage your child to dress in our school colors on Friday, and we'll find out.

• Friday is also the FINAL deadline for ordering a yearbook.  If you ordered a yearbook, you should have received a receipt from me from the Swifty Cougar email address.  If you did not receive an email, please contact me ASAP.

Order forms will go home in this week's Tuesday folders and are available from http://swiftcreekeswcpssnetptahtml.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/2/2/24227387/orderform_sponsorpagelastcall.pdf


Mark Your Calendars!

• Tuesday, April 17 5-8pm: Swift Creek night at the Chick-Fil-A in Crossroads Plaza. 20% of all sales will go to the school.  We will also have $1 sundaes on sale and all of the money goes to the Creek.
• Friday, April 20 8am: Muffins and Movement with Mom in the cafeteria. More information coming home in Tuesday folders this week!
• Friday, April 27: Box Top collection day!  Turn in your Box Tops and Coke bottle tops by this date!  The class with the most points win a small prize and the teacher wins some classroom supplies!
• Sunday, May 6 at 3:00pm:  Swift Creek night with the NC Courage.
• Friday, May 18 8am: Donuts with Dad in the cafeteria.
• Thursday, June 7 5-7pm:  Join us on the field behind the school for a Swift Creek family picnic.  More details to come!

End-of-Grade Tests!  We need Proctors.
Attention 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade parents! Here is the end-of-grade test schedule:

• Friday, May 25: ELA (Grade 3) and Science (Coles: Grade 5)
• Tuesday, May 29: Math (Grade 3) and Science (Krauter: Grade 5)
• Wednesday, May 30: Science (Boyd: Grade 5)
• Thursday, May 31: Math (Grade 4) and ELA (Grade 5)
• Friday, June 1: ELA (Grade 4) and Math (Grade 5)
• Monday, June 4: Read to Achieve Test (Grade 3) and Make-Ups (Grade 4-5)

We need parent volunteers to help proctor these tests.  With parent volunteers we can limit the number of Teacher Assistants we have to use and limit the amount of interruption we have in our regular schedule.
Sign up at https://tinyurl.com/EOGatSwift.



Accepting Nominations for PTA Officers for 2018-19
We are still accepting nominations for PTA officers for the 2018-19 school year.  We are interested in nominations for all officer positions:

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Secretary

If you are interested or you would like to nominate someone, please contact Marie Dexter at mariecdexter@gmail.com.  Elections will be at the May 8 PTA meeting.


Advocacy: Webinar about Healthy Snack Options


Last time I checked the session was full but you can sign up for the Wait List if you are interested.

The Healthier Generation Store with Amazon Business
Smart Shopping for Smart Snacks

Live Webinar: April 11th at 4:00 pm EST
 

Join us live for a chance to win one of ten $20 Amazon gift cards!*

Introducing the Healthier Generation Store with Amazon Business - making it easier to serve healthier products at your school every day.

The Healthier Generation Store takes the guesswork out of finding and identifying products compliant with USDA Smart Snacks in Schools Standards** – we have pre-vetted all items for you.

To help you get started, we are hosting a LIVE webinar on April 11th, featuring a demo of the store, Q&A, and more – plus, a chance at a $20 Amazon gift card! Space is limited so reserve your seat now!

If you are interested in purchasing a yearbook for your child, you have one last chance.  All orders are due by Friday, April 13!!!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are looking forward to the 4 day week and Spring Break!!!!  I hope everyone has a very safe holiday full of joy and laughter. And some quality time with our special kids.

Have a great week!
Marie Dexter

The Positiivty Project: Humor
In honor of April 1 (being this upcoming Sunday), this week the character strength is humor.  One of my personal favorites. :-)


WHAT IT MEANS
Humor is a sense of playfulness and lightness. It is a way of looking at and describing the world that brings laughter to people. A person with the strength of humor is skilled at
seeing at the funny side of things, bringing smiles and laughter to others, and identifying and communicating the absurdities in life.

WHY IT MATTERS
For individuals, humor has important health benefits, both mental and physical. Humor stretches the mind to look at things from different perspectives, keeping people mentally
agile and alert.

Humor plays an important role in helping groups of people rise above difficult circumstances and boost moral. It removes us from our present difficulties by easing tension and making life more fun.


Thursday: Regular School Day; Turn in Your Box Tops!
Thursday is a make up day for our January snow.  (On the original school calendar, it was a teacher work day.)

Turn in your Box Tops and Coke bottle tops for the Box Top Fairy's collection on Thursday!  Who will be our March Super Snippers?

Friday: School Holiday and the Start of Spring Break
SPRING BREAK!!!! I'm sorry. Did I say that too loud?  I'm a little excited. Hope everyone enjoys their Spring Break and comes back refreshed on Monday, April 9.


There is Still Time to Order a Yearbook!
Did you forget to order a yearbook?  You still have a chance.  Please send in your order form this week:  
http://swiftcreekeswcpssnetptahtml.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/2/2/24227387/orderform_sponsorpagemarch20.pdf

How Is Your Family Doing with the March Fitness Calendar?
This is the last week of the March Fitness Calendar challenge.  Please turn in your calendars after Spring Break.

Need a new form?  It is available at http://tinyurl.com/scesFit.


We need Watch DOGSWelcome to the WATCH D.O.G.S (Dads Of Great Students) program. This program focuses on education and safety in schools by using the positive influence of fathers and father-figures for a two-fold purpose: (1) to provide positive male role models for the students, demonstrating by their presence that education is important and (2) to provide extra sets of eyes and ears to enhance school security and reduce bullying. Fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles, older brothers, cousins are asked to spend at least one day at their student’s school volunteering.
They will support the school through monitoring the school property, working in small groups, reading, using flashcards, helping with homework, refereeing games, listening ears, or whatever else needs to be done to PLANT SEEDS OF SUCCESS in the lives of the students. 
For more information, please contact David Outlaw, drdavidoutlaw@gmail.com
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e094eafae2ca64-watch


Two Opportunities to Meet the New Principal at Dillard Drive Middle
Dillard Drive Middle School has a new principal, Mrs. Margaret Feldman.  Here are two opportunities to meet her:

• April 12 at 8:30am at Dillard Middle School for coffee and conversation. Please RSVP to me if you plan to attend so I can give Mrs. Feldman some numbers.
• May 8 6:30pm at our PTA meeting in the media center

Another Successful Book Fair!
Thank you for your support of the Spring Book Fair! Our total was about $7500, which means the school has earned around $3000 in money for books for the school.

Thank you to Aimee Langerhans, book fair committee chair, and Mrs. Wils for creating another great fair. An extra special Thank you to Alicia Haskell and Hani Brooks for returning to the Creek (even though they don't have kids here) to work the book fair!  Also, thank you to ALL the volunteers who helped with setup, preview, shopping, and take down!

Congratulations to our STATE Science Fair Winner!
Exciting news!  August Langerhans, a 5th grader at Swift Creek, won the State Science Fair this weekend!  How incredible is that?  We are so proud of you, August!

Join Us for Camp Invention! June 18-22
Looking for a summer camp the week of June 18-22?  Then look no further.  Swift Creek will be hosting Camp Invention,  a one week where your child’s creativity, innovation, and problem solving skills are challenged and developed in fun and exciting ways. 

Register today at campinvention.org!  Use these codes for a discount.

• Spring into Summer Discount: Valid March 22-May 4 $15 off with promo code SummerFun15 
• Two Siblings Discount $25 off each child promo code SIBLING 

If you have questions contact Camp Director, Monica Coles at mcoles@wcpss.net, or camp parent, Marie Dexter at mariecdexter@gmail.com.

Recap from International Night!
Did you miss International Night this Thursday?  It was an awesome event!  Our families did an INCREDIBLE job.

Thank you so much to these families for their incredible displays:

• India -- The Outlaw Family
• Guatemala - Mrs. Morales and Beatriz Morales
• Mexico - The Flores-Garcia Family
• Venezuela -- The Giraldo Family
• Iran -- The Alawazzi Family
• Egypt -- The Darwish Family
• Iran -- Farzaneh Rezaie
• Phillipines -- The Pacio Family
• Poland -- The Szkudlarek Family
• China -- Aubrey Word
• Spain -- The Fernandez and Word families
• Ireland -- The Ford family
• France -- The Dexter family

Thank you to all our amazing volunteers and committee members. As you can see, it takes an army to pull off an event like this:

• Nehal Outlaw -- such yummy food and great Indian entertainment
• Megan Word, Dave Word, and Aubrey Word -- for their performances in the gym
• Kim Partin -- for creating the popular passports and the map
• Elizabeth Wolber -- for coming up with the idea for International Night
• Cheryl Byrne -- for her idea of putting student drawings around the map in the hall
• Ms. Sutton -- for the music in the cafeteria
• Mrs. Mailhot, Mrs. Sedaghat, Ms. Lipe, Mrs. Hanna, Mrs. Robinson, Annie Pilz, Ann Douglas, Carrie Fernandez, and everyone who I unintentionally left out -- for volunteering and jumping in where needed during the night

A very special thank you to Mrs. Chadwick and the Swift Creek Service Club for all their help!  They were great International Ambassadors.

And Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mrs. Burkhalter, our ESL teacher, for all her support and hard work!


Link to photos from International Night: 
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2022836024655924.1073741838.1448850232054509&type=1&l=589a695f79


IMPORTANT Dates
You'll want to make a special note of these upcoming events:

• April 10 6:30pm - 4th grade drama performance & PTA meeting in the gym
• April 12 8:30am: Coffee and Conversation with Mrs. Feldman, the new principal of Dillard Drive Middle school. This event takes place AT DILLARD
• April 17 5-8pm -- Chick Fil A night at the Crossroads Chick Fil A.  20% of sales goes back to the Creek.  Plus, we will be selling $1 sundaes and ALL of that money goes to the Creek.
• April 20 8am (tentative) -- Muffins with Mom
• May 8 6:30pm -- PTA meeting where you can meet the new principal of Dillard Middle School, Mrs. Feldman
• May 18 8am -- Donuts with Dad
• June 11 -- 5th grade graduation​