Schedules

We are so excited to move into the final details of the trip- our personalized DC schedules!   Each student has a hand out to create their "First Draft" of their schedule.   They need to look at the group activities, their own project location, and the special tours they have signed up for as they brainstorm all of the other sites they would like to visit.  Students should be looking at these two documents:

• DC Schedule First Draft (See e-mail for link.  This document includes a list of which students have submitted info for special tours)
• Daily Activity Options

Students need to get a parent signature on their rough draft by Tuesday, April 4th.  We will meet with students on Tuesday so students can enter their choices into our Google Form which will then be funneled into our Master Schedule.  Please note the following scheduling details.

Whole Group Activities :

• Monday: Dinner at hostel

• Tuesday: Orioles baseball game, dinner at stadium

• Wednesday @ Noon: Photo with Senator Leahy on the Capitol Steps!  Rep Welch and Senator Sanders are hoping to attend, too.

• Wednesday: Dinner at hostel

• Thursday: Dinner at Bucca di Beppo @ 4:30

No-Cost Ticketed Items- Each of the following sites requires special attention before signing up:

• Pentagon Tour: Thursday @12:00 pm  (only for students who previously submitted information for tour)

• White House Tour: We will know the date and time 2-3 weeks beforehand and will need to adjust schedules accordingly (only for students who previously submitted information for tour)

• National Archives, Library of Congress and Capitol Tour: We have tickets for each (See DC Schedule First Draft for time and dates).  Anyone can sign up for these but priority will be given to those who expressed interest on "Special Tours Survey."

• National Museum of African American History and Culture: The group tours requests are still backlogged by 30,000 groups.  We will need to try the "Same-Day Online" pass system unless we hear otherwise.  Tickets are available for the day starting at 6:30 am.

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Same-day pass system.  Tickets are available for the day starting at 6:00 am.

• US Bureau of Printing and Engraving: The Ticket Booth, located at Raoul Wallenburg Place (formerly 15th ST, SW), opens at 8:00 a.m. and closes when all tickets have been distributed for the day.

Entrance Fees Required- Students and chaperones need to bring additional funds if they are interested in the following:

• Newseum (Adults $25, Youth $25)
• International Spy Museum (Adults $22, Youth $15)

Projects

• 8th Graders should have an interview scheduled, connected to their project
• All students should have a site on their schedule connected to their project

Of course, the rest of the sites at DC are ticket-free and no-cost so this leaves so many wonderful options (Daily Activity Options)!!  The personalized schedule takes planning but makes the trip so much more engaging (and fun) for both students and chaperones.

Latest Updates

Hello DC Parents,

Thank you to all who were able to attend the parent meeting last week.  We will meet again in May to review final details.  In the meantime: 

• All Parents- Please complete this quick DC Parent Survey.  We are collecting cell phone numbers and confirming details about group events.  If you already provided details about baseball, dinner, busses or hostels at the parent meeting you do not need to do so again.  Simply add the applicable cell phone numbers.
  

• Click here for last week's DC Slideshow if to see what we shared in kiva.  We added the most up-to-date itinerary.
  

• March 25th- Fun Night: Hopefully our last fundraiser!  We still need a lot of help!! Please sign-up for a job here.
  

• 8th Graders should be securing an interview in DC, connected to their 8th Grade Challenge
  

• All students should be up to date with their Research Due Dates
  
• We are uploading links to the above documents on our blog

Enjoy the storm,

Amy and Kevin

Pentagon Tour

If your son or daughter signed up for the Pentagon Tour, please complete the form linked here.  This information is required when we make the reservation.  Thank you.

Basket Raffle Fun Night- Saturday, March 25th

Saturday, March 25th we will be hosting our final Fundraising Fun Night in conjunction with the Big Basket Raffle. We hope this will be a very successful fundraiser for Swift House. We need volunteers to help facilitate a fun evening for the K - 4 kids.

Click here to see the sign-up form. Please take a look at the many areas in which you and your student can volunteer & donate items. Add your name(s) in the designated spot to sign on. We could not pull this off without the wonderful support from all Swift families. Thank You!!

Special Interests Survey

Special tours are arranged through Senator Leahy's office long ahead of our arrival in Washington DC.  May of these tours require personal information, such as social security numbers, to be collected ahead of time.

Other tours require timed tickets which we can reserve 90 days in advance.  We will reserve the proper number of tickets based on the responses to this survey.

Please answer the questions below so that we will know whose personal information we need to collect for the trip to DC this coming June.

Click here to see the survey.

Student Work Expectations

Assignment Details

Students attending the trip are part of a Washington DC Google classroom.  See our DC Project Deadlines for specific assignments.  The first assignment is to determine a focus question that connects to one of the many sites we can visit in DC.

Activity and Research Options

There are so many places to visit in DC.  The "Daily Activities Slide Show" provides a list to start with.  We have encouraged students to look at the websites for specific museums and sites to see which exhibits will be available in June.

Parent Meeting

Wednesday, March 8th @ 6:30 PM

Swift House Kiva

Agenda: 

• Trip Planning 
• Chaperone Details
• Logistics Details
• Fundraising update
• Any Parent/Chaperone Questions