Activities
Lone Pine Field Trip
By Soraya
11 May 2017
On May 11, the first graders of Swan River School went to Lone Pine State Park. They were taken by volunteer parents by car. Spending the afternoon exploring the great outdoors and learning about animal habitats. They hoped for good weather so they could hike on the Lone Pine trails, and thankfully, they got perfect weather for hiking. While the first graders were there, they visited the Visitor Center, and during their time there, an Americorp member at Lone Pine State Park, Casey Fuson gave a lesson on animal habitats as well.
This Lone Pine field trip is the third trip the first graders have been on this year, other than the multiple plays they have gone to at the Bigfork Children's Playhouse. The first graders last field trip included going to Kehoe's Agate Shop to look at fossils; this is an educational field trip since the first graders studied a unit on dinosaurs. On that same day they also went to the Post Office to learn where mail goes. First graders have already become Pen Pals with Mrs. Buck's class, formerly known to Swan River School as their fourth grade teacher, Ms. Poston.
Mrs. Brevik, the first grade teacher, shared the information about the trip and said, "I am very excited for this trip. We are hoping to make a side stop for a special treat." We hope there will be more field trips before the school year ends!
Mrs. Fitzpatrick's Spring Hike
By Nai'a
11 May 2017
Mrs. Fitzpatrick is taking her students on a spring hike at Holland Lake Falls. There are going to be parent volunteers/chaperones to drive the students to Holland Lake Falls and they are also going to do the hike with Mrs. Fitzpatrick and her students.
Throughout the day the students will be playing, hiking, and having fun. They will be leaving on May 30th at 8:00 a.m. and coming back at 3:00 pm. Mrs. Fitzpatrick is offering this hike as a reward for the students doing their work and being good all year.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick said that her students work hard for this trip and that she loves hiking up there and wants to share this experience with her students. Have fun Mrs. Fitzpatrick and her students.
Middle School Ski Trip
By Nai'a
1 March 2017
Who likes to go skiing? The Swan River Middle School students do! This year the Middle School went on a ski trip on February 3, 2017. Each kid got to choose if they wanted to go skiing or snowboarding.
The students left at 8:00 a.m. and got back at 4:30 p.m. The parents are drove to Whitefish Mountain Resort at Big Mountain. Parents got to stay and ski, leave, or stay in the ski resort's lodge. The students had a lot of fun and said that they are really excited for the next year's ski trip.
Sean B. in 6th grade said that he loved the ski trip and loved how he was challenged. That concludes our 2017 ski trip at Big Mountain.
The Amazing Swan River School Band!
By Shelby
1 March 2017
Here at Swan River School we have band heroes! In the band room, Ms. Fuzesy and her band students are having a blast learning more about their instruments and how to play more songs on them. In our band we have everything from saxophones and flutes, to piano and percussion. The students performed at our annual Veterans Day assembly. The students also performed a segment in the elementary Christmas program. We will get to see more of their performances before the end of the year.
We asked a few students including Joelle, Lexi, Fin, Jenna, Grace, Kol, Brandon A., Faith, and Rylee what they love about band. Rylee said, “I love the rhythm of instruments.” Lexi commented, "I love playing songs." Fin told me, "I like to increase my talent in music." Kol said, "I like playing my drums."
I also talked to the band students about why people should join band. Jenna said, “Kids get an opportunity to be themselves.” Grace told me that, “Band increases listening skills.” Faith explained to me that, "Band is fun and it is a good learning experience." Brandon explained, "You can get many news skills by taking band, such as listening." Joelle explained, "I want people to be able to experience the joy of music." Our school's band will keep playing instruments and learning about their instruments until the end of the school year.
Computer Science Club
By Josh
1 March 2017
Mrs. Emslie of Swan River Elementary School has started a Computer Science Club! It is hosted in the fifth grade classroom on the first and third Wednesday of every month. Mrs. Emslie said, “Coding is the future and the foreign language for the students of today. Everything is here because of coding and it is the algorithm of everything technological. Every video game and website was coded by someone.”
The Computer Science Club uses Google CS-First and students do many lessons in Scratch. Scratch is a coding program where students use code blocks to program a character to perform different functions, such as jumping and running. Mrs. Emslie has offered three different classes on friendship, sports, and fashion.
The Computer Science Club has an average of 15 to 25 people per meeting, depending on the day and if people have other things to do.