The Maple Glen Gazette

Dear Maple Glen Families -

Mother Nature certainly required us all to adjust our game plan this week! Thank you for your flexibility and patience as we navigated eLearning days and two-hour delays. Deadlines for student work from the past three days have been extended to Monday, February 2, 2026.

Due to colder temperatures, we have seen an increase in our morning car drop-off line. To help alleviate wait times, keep traffic moving on 171st Street, and limit the amount of time staff members are outside in the cold, we may redirect traffic to the kindergarten car line in the front of the building. If directed, please turn and drop off your child at the front entrance.

Please watch for staff members who will be assisting with traffic flow and student safety. If you arrive after 7:50 a.m., please park and walk your child into the building.

Dance Marathon at Maple Glen has raised over $2000 for Riley Children's Hospital! We are so proud of their hard work and commitment to helping others. The final donation amount will be shared on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Tiffany Buzan

We are gearing up for our favorite day of the year: Global School Play Day!!! It is February 6th this year, and we are starting to teach our students all about the importance of play!

You can read all about GSPD here and listen to a watch/listen to a TED Talk about it here!

Why do we play? Because PLAY…..

• Boosts Creativity — When children create make-believe games, they use their imaginations and develop abstract thinking.

• Teaches Social Skills — Playing together, children learn how to get along with others. They develop empathy while learning to negotiate and compromise.

• Develops Critical Thinking Skills — During unstructured play, children take risks, make mistakes, and learn important problem-solving skills.

• Promotes Emotional Health — Free play reduces anxiety and stress in children, allows them to sleep better, and improves overall emotional health.

• Fosters Independence — Children learn to make decisions, follow their own interests, and gain self-confidence.

• Improves Physical Fitness — Playing actively helps children improve gross motor skills and build healthy bodies.

Giving our students unstructured play time allows them to practice executive functioning skills, such as planning and problem solving.

It’s unstructured - but we still have a few rules!!

• Each child may bring one toy. They don’t HAVE to - but they can bring one (1) toy that fits in a backpack. Students may also bring a pack of paper or craft activity. Please mark your child’s name on the toy. Your child is responsible for his/her toy.

• To make it a successful day for your child, we please ask that these toys/items STAY HOME:

• No devices! Nothing with a battery!

• No stuffed animals - we love stuffies but they get lost easily and are tough to play with together.

• No Pokemon cards

• Due to allergies and contamination concerns, Play Dough is not allowed. Thank you for your understanding!

• Special Areas will be an “X” day, which means no specials on this day.

• Try to wear your grade level color:
  

Kdg - Green

1st - White

2nd - Blue

3rd - Black

4th - Orange

• Please see the attached infographic for more guidelines!

**Please note - we will be unable to accommodate lunch guests and volunteers on this day due to our adjusted schedule. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding!**

Keep an eye out for more information each week! Thank you for your support at home!

Dear families,

Our school is partnering with the Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse and Suicide to provide ChildHelp Speak Up Be Safe™ presentations. This program teaches students how to recognize unsafe situations, resist harm, and report to a safe adult.

To help families learn more, please visit the Parent Resource Website: Parent and Caregiver Resources

The site includes:

• A brief overview of the program

• Age-appropriate safety concepts

• Tips for talking to your child about personal safety

Our students will participate in a presentation by a trained facilitator will present research-based, age-appropriate lessons to help children learn the skills to prevent or interrupt cycles of neglect and child abuse – physical, emotional and sexual - as mandated by Indiana state law.

Please see the PARENT OPT OUT LETTER here for more information as well as the form to sign and send in if you do not want your child to participate. Please return the letters to me by Feb. 19th.

Thank you,

Nicole Newman

Counselor

Dear Parents,

Valentine’s Day is approaching so I just wanted to give you a friendly reminder about our Food and Wellness Program. All of our parties at Maple Glen are Food Free due to the amount of students with severe food allergies. Please do not send any candy attached to your student’s Valentine’s Day cards. Also, do not send any food or treats to school to be passed out for Valentine’s Day with your student.

Remember there are a lot of fun non edible items that can be brought in with your child’s Valentine’s Day cards. (Pencils, stickers, erasers etc.) Many of these items can be purchased at Target, Walmart, Meijer’s, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. Thanks for all of your help and cooperation. Our main objective is to keep our students healthy and safe; and still have fun!

Jeannie Langenkamp RN

School Nurse Maple Glen

Click here to Sponsor the Carnival!

If your child will be absent or late - Please call the attendance line and leave a message (317) 896-4700 ext 17001, or email mgesattendance@wws.k12.in.us

Please do this even if you let your child's classroom teacher know about the absence. This will ensure that our attendance secretary receives the information.

If you have a dismissal change, please let the front office know by 1:00pm. This gives the office enough time to notify your child is where they’re supposed to be at the end of the day! Please DO NOT leave dismissal changes on the attendance line.

To notify the front office of a dismissal change, call (317) 896-4700 ext 17011, or email:

mgesattendance@wws.k12.in.us

We are opening up the opportunity for family members to join their child/children for lunch! For student safety and to accommodate our limited cafeteria seating, we are allowing our families to visit once a trimester. To be prepared for our guests and to check the Safe Visitor Registration of incoming visitors (this is required for every visitor) please make sure you register 24 hours in advance.

We do have a few procedures in place to make sure everyone is safe and lunch flows smoothly.

Tables will be set up on the NORTH side of the cafeteria for you and your child.

1. Please only bring food for your child and your child only.

2. Please refrain from posting picture of other children on social media.

3. To ensure space, lunch tables are reserved for you and your child only.

A new application must be completed each school year. The Application for Free or Reduced Meals and Other Benefits is now available on-line by clicking the button below. You can also come to the Administration Building between the hours of 7 am - 4 pm to complete an application on-line. Please feel free to contact Stacy Luedke, at (317) 867-8000 or email at luedkes@wws.k12.in.us.

In an effort to constantly improve and enhance school safety, we use a visitor management system at all nine WWS schools. This comprehensive system will enhance our school entrance security and better ensure that every visitor to our schools is permitted and authorized to be in our school buildings.

Background checks are good for four years at any school in the district. These background checks will cost $12.95 and can be acquired via the link below.

Westfield Washington Schools usesTalkingPoints to communicate with families! TalkingPoints allows for seamless multilingual two-way communication between teachers and families. Families can choose to receive messages via SMS text messaging or through the free FAMILIES | TalkingPoints mobile app for Apple or Android.

This platform has enhanced translation capabilities, so families can receive and send messages in their preferred language. Additional tools like speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and closed captioned videos make this program accessible to all of our Westfield families.

The most important thing you can do to ensure you are receiving messages from your child’s teacher is to make sure your contact information for the “Father” and “Mother” fields in PowerSchool is correct. When a teacher sends out a message, TalkingPoints will automatically use those two phone numbers. If you’d like to add additional contacts, please reach out to your child’s teachers.

Website: mge.wws.k12.in.us
Location: 17171 Ditch Road, Westfield, IN, USA
Phone: 317-896-4700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Maple-Glen-Elementary-153896671714866/
Twitter: @shakeleaves