School Events
Last day of school field trips
By Stryker and Ezra, 8th grade
The last day of school is the day everyone is waiting for, and each middle school class is doing something different. Most elementary classes are going swimming, but the middle school goes on way more elaborate trips.
The sixth grade class will go to Echo Lake and take canoes and kayaks, which are provided by students. They will also go fishing with poles they bring from home, so will be out there for most of the day.
The seventh graders are going to a movie theater in Polson to watch a movie picked by Mrs. Burchwell. Then the seventh graders will head to Wayfarers to tie dye shirts and swim for the rest of the day.
Our eighth graders will go to Glacier Ziplines, a zipline park in Columbia Falls. The Glacier Ziplines will be the last field trip for our eighth graders this year on the last day of school.
Finding geocaches
By Tristan, 6th Grade
The 6th Grade class will be going on a field trip to the Wild Mile to find geocaches. They will leave May 16, 2023 at 8:30. Mr. Gaiser has been taking the 6th graders on this field trip for 21 years.
The 6th grade class will be learning how to use GPS to track down their geocaches. On the trip, they will be biking along Swan River. Don’t worry, this trail is not a road, and motorized vehicles are prevented from entering the trail.
Rhett, a seventh grader, said in an interview "The field trip (last year) was very fun”. Also, in another interview, Ryder from seventh grade stated, “It was challenging, but very enjoyable.” All of these students had previous experiences going on the geocache field trip.
They will start at Swan River School and head down Swan River Road. Then, they will take a turn at the Swan River Trail. The students will work their way through downtown Bigfork and stop to get ice cream at Burgertown. Eventually, they will make their way back through the same path to get back to the school.
The 6th grade students will have to bring their own bikes. Mr. Gaiser has only a small supply of bikes in case the students don't have their own to bring. The students need to make sure their bikes don’t have any flat tires or missing parts. They must also wear helmets.
32nd Annual 8th Grade History Trip!
By Kinsey, 8th grade
Students in the 2023 eighth grade history class finally have enough money to go on the trip! On May 16th–19th, the 8th Grade History Trip will take place. The students will go to places like the Lewis and Clark Caverns, Gates of the Mountains, Virginia City, and more. The purpose of this trip is to learn about the amazing state of Montana. A huge thank you goes out to Mrs. Norris for making this trip possible. Without her hard work and planning, the history trip would not be happening.
On the trip, kids will acquire knowledge about the history and land of Montana. The first stop on this amazing trip will be Gates of the Mountains. The 8th graders will take a tour on a boat to drive to the landmark. After that, the kids will visit Helena to see the capitol building and get a tour of this amazing place. Many more locations will be visited during the trip. According to Sadie, a fellow 8th grade student, "I'm excited to hang out with my friends." Another student, Madison, said, "I’m excited to swim in the pool at Fairmont Hot Springs and go to the Old Faithful Inn."
All in all, the 8th grade class is very eager to travel the state of Montana and learn about its rich history.
7th grade Big Creek field trip
By Gwen, 7th Grade
The 7th grade class will be going on their annual Big Creek field trip. The field trip will be at Glacier Institute Outdoor Education Center up the North Fork Road, outside of Columbia Falls.
The class will have parent chaperones and drivers. The 7th graders are going to learn about ecosystems and stream ecology.
Chaperones will have responsibilities of their own and will help watch the students. There will be many different activities during the day for the students including, Aquatics Exploration and Orienteering. It will be two days full of fun.
Teachers going on the trip are Mr. Gaiser and Mrs. Burchwell. The trip relates to what the students are learning in science; by the end of the trip students will gain the knowledge to identify a healthy ecosystem.
Talent show!
By Kaylee, 7th Grade
The talent show was a hit this spring! The people who join the talent show get to do any act they want. The event takes place in the Swan River gym. This year, the show was on April 19, 2023.
Why do we have a talent show you ask? Well here at Swan River School, we like to express our talent! The format choice was grade by grade, for example first the show will start with the elementary, then the middle school acts will perform.
The MCs are the people who introduced the students, so they are the masters of ceremony. They had very good jokes to tell and they did their job to entertain the audience. A big thanks to Mickie and Halle from 8th grade, and Kenley in 7th.
People in all grades have talent; some students in elementary danced or sang, such as Tallulah, who’s in second grade. She was one of the students dancing. As for the singing acts, the kindergarten students shared a song called Sing it, Say it, Sign it. The middle school had two aerial acts including Adriana from 6th, and Sage in 7th grade performed the aerial hoops! Adriana has been doing the silks for about three years now at SRS. For the third aerial act, Grove from 2nd also took to the silks.
Last year's show had some amazing, but also interesting acts! This includes Noah from the elementary school, who performed some magic. This year, he is in third grade and still has tricks up his sleeve.
Our school really appreciates our talent Thank you to Ms. Knutson for organizing and putting on this year's amazing show!
Sweet treats by the week!
By Madison, 8th grade
On February 17, 2023, Madison started a bake sale to help raise money for the 8th grade Montana History Trip. Every other week, Madison, Emily, and Kinsey sat in the cafeteria selling wonderful treats to kids after they ate lunch. Around six different types of treats a week were offered. The bake sale made around $400, and the last one was Apr 21, 2023.
After asking people a few questions, Emily stated, “The treats are scrumdiddlyumptious.” It was a great way to make some cash, and the students got a sweet treat after a great meal. The kids were very excited to see there were treats to buy. After the first week, they were mad the homemade goodies were not there every week.
All proceeds go to the History Trip, so thanks for all your hard work, Madison, and to the students of Swan River, who know how to enjoy a good thing when they see it!
Students dare to dissect frogs
By Savanah, 7th grade
The seventh grade class at Swan River School had the opportunity to dissect frogs in science starting on March 20-24. Mrs. Norris found the frogs in a cupboard and didn’t hesitate to use them for the life science class.
Along with the other systems of the body, seventh grade students studied the digestive system and were able to end the topic with a fun frog dissection. Students wore safety glasses, aprons, and used many tools to open the frog up and remove its many organs. They learned frogs had a lot of the same organs as humans, so kids found it interesting to see what their own digestive systems look like.
With that, Norris also wants to dissect lily petals or a rose petals because plants are an equal part of life science. She thought the frog dissection was very interesting, but she saw something fascinating in particular. Norris told the interviewer, “In one of the frog’s stomachs, there were crawdad claws. I couldn’t believe it!” She looks forward to doing the dissection next year and has already looked into purchasing the bullfrogs who are to be studied by students in the future.
Photo taken by, Monica Norris.
Swan River is crazy about Pi!
By Hope, 6th grade
Pi day was on Tuesday, March 14. The students and staff of Swan River School ate copious amounts of pie. Most importantly the middle school students were able to participate in Pi-based activities during math.
Ms. Henderson organized this event, and she advised each student to bring a pie. Some did not bring pie, but that was not a problem because lots of students brought not one pie, but even two or three! Whoever brought a pie received extra credit points in math! We had enough pie for the entire elementary wing and middle school to eat pie and still had lots of leftovers!
Ms. Henderson chose to celebrate Pi Day because she loves Pi and wants more kids to know about it. Until just this year, many students didn’t know much about Pi! Ms. Henderson is great at teaching math because of how enthusiastic and funny she is. I know lots of people who don’t like Pi, but Ms. Henderson made Pi Day very fun, and I heard nothing negative about how she taught it!
Everyone enjoyed that Pi Day wasn’t filled with everyday math. Instead, Ms. Henderson planned out fun activities during math. The activities included a circle drawing contest, learning the language of Pi, drawing a picture that represented Pi, and even more! However, only middle school students were able to participate in Ms. Henderson’s absolutely amazing activities, sadly.
Everyone I interviewed said they truly loved participating. One of Swan River’s sixth graders gave an opinion, “I think Pi Day was just really fun.” I was told by a few, the circle drawing contest, pie eating, and overall just being able to hang out with their friends were some of the best pieces of Pi Day!
100th Day of School
By Ryder, 7th grade
On Monday, February 13, Swan River School celebrated the 100th day of school. To commemorate the day, 100 feet of rain gutter was set up in the cafeteria and filled with ice cream. The elementary school students went down and ate ice cream first. Once the elementary students were done, the middle school had their turn.
Last year was the first time Swan River School participated in this event, and hopefully we do it for many more years going forward.
Here comes Santa!
By Millie, 8th grade
On December 16, in the Swan River School gym, Antlers was performed by the 5th grade class. There was a performance by the rest of the elementary school, they sang different Christmas songs. Swan River School puts on this traditional activity every year as a way to spread some Christmas cheer.
Mrs. Emslie worked with Mrs. Knutson to help direct the play about three reindeer that don't want to be ordinary, but instead they want to be extraordinary. Many different kids took part in this amazing show. The reindeer where played by a select number of fifth graders. The students playing the reindeer where Akina, Brooklyn, and Maggie. They did a wonderful job portraying the three reindeer working on fulfilling their dreams.
When asking the two directors and creative minds, Mrs. Knutson and Mrs. Emslie, they both had similar thoughts and worries about the play. “I really just want the kids to enjoy themselves. My only worry is that everyone will be here to perform,” said Mrs. Knutson
Hopefully you were able to come down to Swan River School December 16 to support and watch family or friends in the wonderful annual Christmas program.
These creative kids just love to create
By Hope, 6th Grade
On December 2nd, Craft Day was upon us. Every child in Swan River School went around the school, class to class and created crafts for their families, friends, and themselves! Maggie from fifth grade, said, “I love making things I can use for decoration.” A different student interviewed from first grade explained how much she loved to see other classrooms and teachers on Craft Day.
Mrs. Emslie is the person who made Craft Day possible. Mrs. Emslie is a crazy and imaginative teacher. She decided Craft Day was a good idea in the early 2000s. She thought children should give something more to their parents than something cheaply bought as a gift.
Mrs. Emslie informs us Craft Day is difficult to make possible each year, however it is worth the hard work. Mrs. Emslie, the PTO, and other staff members buy all the supplies used on Craft Day. The supplies are incredibly good quality, on brand, and we thank the PTO and staff for buying the supplies.
Everyone from Swan River School loves Craft Day! Even the teachers love Craft Day! Mrs. Brevik, Swan River’s Kindergarten teacher loves Craft Day! Mrs. Brevik made simple paper ornaments for a holiday tree in her amazing Kindergarten class. She loves seeing all the different children come into her classroom and seeing the parent helpers. Mrs. Feller, the teacher of our fourth grade class can’t get enough of Craft Day, even though she admits she is terrible at making crafts! Mrs. Feller loves interacting with the different kids from different classes. She is able to see her students from the previous years and her students to be on Craft Day! This year, she planned to make snowmen cards in her cozy classroom.
Mrs. Brevik commented on parents, “We couldn’t do it without them.” Without parent helpers, Craft Day would have fallen apart like a craft without glue. Parent helpers organize all the messy supplies while teachers are instructing.
Veterans Day Assembly
By Ryder and Brody, 7th grade
This year Swan River had their annual Veterans Day Assembly. The people responsible for putting the assembly together were Mr. Vierzba and Mrs. Emslie. Mr. Vierzba is the 2nd grade teacher and was the 5th and 6th grade basketball coach. Mr. Vierzba provided lots of great information about the process of setting up the assembly. As with past assemblies, Swan offered snacks and coffee for the veterans after the assembly.
Like every year, we had a guest speaker who spoke in front of the whole school. This year, our guest speaker was retired general, Colleen Maguire. She told stories and answered questions from each class. General Maguire was born in Montana, who currently lives in Kalispell.
Swan River School Band and Choir performed at the assembly.
When asked why SRS hosts the Veterans Day Assembly, Mr. Vierzba said, “It is our responsibility to honor the veterans who have fought and died for the freedoms we get to enjoy here today, and it's the least we can do.”
Halloween parade
By Ryder, 7th Grade
On October 31, 2022 Swan River celebrated Halloween with our annual Halloween Parade through the school. Around the end of the day, all the elementary school students put on their costumes and marched through the school to show off their costumes.
Middle school students were able to wear their costumes all day.
Swan River School has had a parade annually for many years. It is always enjoyable seeing the students in their costumes.
Fantastical fall hike
By Logan, 8th Grade
On September 14, 2022 the Middle School classes of Swan River embarked on their yearly Fall Hike. This year the destination was Holland Lake near Seeley Lake. Students rode buses to the trailhead and began walking, led by Mr. Gaiser. The destination for the hike was the falls nearby.
This trip brings students together and is a great way to experience nature. The hike was only three miles round trip and was shorter compared to other years. Students hiked up a trail to a massive waterfall with a commanding view of Holland Lake. Kids ate packed lunches by the falls and went down to the lake, where they swam for half an hour. Then, we had to go back to the school in time to be picked up by our parents.
There were some stunning views from all over the trip. At the top, students explored the area around the falls and took gorgeous pictures. When asked, Stryker, an 8th grade student said, “I loved the bonding time and the swimming at the end.” The entire middle school enjoyed this trip.
The annual Swan River School cook-off
By Tristan, 6th grade
Swan River School has been doing the Cook-off for many years now, and the students have cooked many masterpieces. The Monday- Wednesday -Friday Cook-off took place on September 28th, and the Tuesday-Thursday took place on October 6th . During this Cook-off, the students in Outdoor Education had to cook over an open fire. Mr. Gaiser made these students start their fires and maintain them while they cook food.
Mr. Gaiser makes this event possible because he thinks the students needed to learn how to cook over an open fire. The students found cooking over an open fire as a fun and enjoyable activity. Mr.Gaiser thinks, “The Cook-off went really well this year, and the kids needed less assistance with their fires than the previous year.” He also says, "The funnest part of the cook off was watching six fires going and six groups of kids cooking over the fire.”
This year’s winners of the Tuesday-Thursday Outdoor Ed Cook-off included, Lucy from 6th, Ceiley from 7th, Halldi from 7th, and Ivy from 7th grades. The winners of the Monday- Wednesday- Friday Outdoor Ed Cook-off included Harli from 8th, and Nevi from 8th grade. The winners of both Cook-offs received a massive bag of Hi- Chews from Mr. Gaiser as an award for their great cooking skills.