January 2020


Principal’s Message:

Happy New Year! I hope that you have been enjoying a wonderful winter break with family and friends. We are excited to welcome our students back to school on Monday, January 6th.

As students prepare for a great start to 2020, please review our Maple Grove personal technology reminders. We are very fortunate to have access to many devices here at our school for student use. If a student does choose to bring their technology to school, it is expected that they leave the device in his/her backpack or locker at all times, unless otherwise directed by the teacher. Devices are not to be used at break time or the hallways. As discussed with our students, Maple Grove school is not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged technology.

In order to assist us in implementing our expectations, we thank our parent community for supporting the following:

  • Providing calculators that can be used in Math class as needed
  • Communicating through text with your child/children before or after the school day, directing all calls to the office for emergency messages to be relayed as need
  • Reminding your child/children to keep their device in their locker/backpacks
  • Reviewing appropriate uses of technology and social media, while personally reviewing and monitoring their online activity outside of school hours

Thank you for your ongoing support of our students success at Maple Grove. We are looking forward to another tremendous month ahead.

Best regards,

Principal M. McKenzie Wells


Inclement Weather:

That time of year is upon us again. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the HDSB’s Inclement Weather Policy. The policy can be found on www.hdsb.ca by clicking on the Parent Information tab or you can refer to the Maple Grove website to read the policy. Please ensure your child is always dressed appropriately to go outside. The threshold to stay inside during cold weather is -20C, with wind chill.


Bussing Delays and Cancellations:

Just a reminder to all families whose students are eligible for bus transportation to and from school that you are able to receive e-mail notifications if your child's bus is scheduled to be late. With the winter weather, the likelihood of a bus not running properly increases, and delays can happen. To sign up for these notifications, please visit haltonbus.ca


Kindergarten Registration:

For children born in 2015 or 2016, we will be accepting registrations for September 2020 in January. Parents are reminded to register at their existing home school. To determine your home school, please visit the HDSB School Locator. JK/SK Kindergarten registration application will begin Monday, January 13th for the 2020/2021 school year. Our hours for registration are 9:45 am to 3:00 pm.

To register for Fall 2020, Junior Kindergarten children must be 4 years old by December 31, 2020, and Senior Kindergarten children must be 5 years old by December 31, 2020. Please drop by the school to fill out/pick up registration forms and be sure to bring the following original documents when you come:

  • Proof of child’s age: birth certificate/passport/baptismal/faith record
  • Proof of child’s citizenship: birth certificate or passport, Record of Landing (IMM 1000) or Permanent Resident Card
  • Proof of address (any two of the following documents): lease or deed, car registration, utility bill, residential telephone bill, moving bill, property tax bill, bank statement, credit card statement, correspondence with a government agency

Registration forms can be picked up at the office, or printed off the HDSB website. Please ensure that your child is registered by Tuesday, February 1, 2019. If you have neighbours who have school-aged children, we ask that you let them know of these timelines to help us prepare our staffing for the following year. More information about Kindergarten Registration can be found here.


A Message from School Council:

The second School Council meeting of the year took place on December 2nd. We approved a budget request of $14,000 to replace 30 end-of-service Chrome books with new ones. And we will be looking to order extra iPads in the new year.

Discussions continue to determine how to best spend the funds raised last year for upgrading the playground. We agreed to send a survey out to parents, teachers and students to solicit input. So please look for that in your inbox. Based on the responses, we will determine next steps at our next meeting - Feb 3rd, 2020.

Finally, if you or a team would like to lead or co-lead the Spring Fair in June or the Dance-A-Thon in November 2020, please contact mgps.parentcouncil@gmail.com. We are looking to place leaders into these positions.

We also would like to warmly wish Mrs. Dixon a happy retirement. Her send off on Friday showed what an impact she had on our students, staff, and parents. She will be missed.

Have a wonderful festive season. Thank you for all your support, resources and contributions this year. Because of this support and involvement our school community grows stronger each year.

  • Shahan Farooq - Communication Lead
  • Alison Hodd and Gertrude Vanderpol-Lim - Co-Chairs
  • Maplegrove School Council


Days of Significance:

  • Jan. 7 Christmas - Eastern (Christianity)
  • Jan. 25 Lunar New Year (Buddhism)


Spirit Days:

  • January 30 Maple Grove Spirit Day/Sports Jersey Day


HDSB Code of Conduct:

  • The HDSB Code of Conduct is on our Maple Grove Website. Our Maple Grove Code of Conduct is also on our Website in both English and Mandarin.


Oral Health Dental Screening:

  • Our Oral Health Dental Screening is Scheduled for Tues. January 7th and Wed. January 8th.
  • A registered dental hygienist from the Halton Region Health Department will be at Maple Grove to look at our student's teeth in JK/SK, Grades 2, 4 & 7.
  • If you DO NOT want your child to have a dental screening, or you have other children in the school and would like them screened, please contact Halton Health. They need your child's first and last name, date of birth, name of school and grade level.
  • Oral Health Program, 1151 Bronte Road, OAKVILLE L6M 3L1
  • email: accesshalton@halton.ca
  • Call: 311


Screenagers - The Movie:

Come learn more about the research on living in the digital age with children and teenagers, and how to balance screen time with screen-free time. We invite all parents and guardians to join us on Wednesday, January 22nd from 7-8:30pm in the Maple Grove Gym for “Screenagers.” Babysitting will be provided free of charge for children ages 6-10. Students aged 11 and up are welcome to watch the movie with their parents.


Family Skate:

Mark your calendars for Saturday January 18th at 6-7:30 p.m! Our School Council is hosting a Family Skate at Maple Grove Arena. You are invited to come with your family to enjoy a free skate. All participants must wear a helmet to be allowed on the ice. Rentals will be available: Skates - $6.22, Helmets - $3.11, Combo - $7.35

Please email our Council Volunteer Coordinator at vfbarbuto@hotmail.com by Friday January 10th, 2020 if you will require rentals.

We look forward to another great community event put on by our Council!


Science:

Congratulations to the students who competed in the fall Vex IQ Tournament at Falgarwood PS. Our five teams designed and built robots to the new Vex IQ game, ‘Squared Away’. All five teams did extremely well and continued to get better throughout the course of the tournament. Teams should be proud of their collaboration skills and perseverance to solve problems on the go. Some teams even started to get their autonomous programming to work! Congratulations.


English as a Second Language:

Did you know that Mrs. Hamel -our ESL Teacher, has a website? On her website are resources and tools for parents and students. It can be on the Staff Contact page under Mrs. Hamel’s name or here:

https://sites.google.com/hdsb.ca/maplegroveesl/home


Library:

The Forest of Reading is back in January! It is Canada's largest recreational reading program. This initiative of the Ontario Library Association (OLA) offers reading programs to encourage a love of reading in people of all ages. The Forest helps celebrate Canadian books, publishers, authors and illustrators. More than 270,000 readers participate annually from their school and/or public library. All Canadians are invited to participate via their local public library, school library, or individually.

The Forest of Reading Award Programs are where children and young adults pick the winner! Readers choose a program that they would like to be a part of, usually based on their age or grade, and simply begin reading! They can read all ten of the titles, or pick and choose to read only the ones they are interested in. Participants are encouraged to read at least five of the ten titles to be eligible to vote in April. This program aims to encourage a genuine and life-long love of reading among readers of all ages.

This year, Maple Grove will offer the following clubs:

  • Red Maple - Grades 7 & 8
  • Silver Birch - Grades 3-6 and
  • Blue Spruce - JK - Grade 2 (will be done in class)
  • Listen for announcements for the club to begin in January.