École Maple ES Family Update

• Monday, September 9th - Soccer Tryouts @ 11:15 for grade 4-6
• Tuesday, September 10th - Soccer Tryouts @ 11:15 for grade 4-6
• Wednesday, September 11th - Soccer Tryouts @ 11:15 for grade 4-6

• Thursday, September 12th -
• Friday, September 13th - It's Red Friday!

We encourage you to wear RED and/or Majors wear on Fridays in support of our many military connections. A big welcome to our military families who are new to École Maple Elementary School this year!

Our first week is in the book!

We all had a great time coming back to Maple and seeing many friendly faces, both returning and new students! It's always fun to see how much students have grown (in height and maturity) over the summer months!

Students have enjoyed using the climber that was moved from our Kindergarten yard to the main yard. During instructional time Kindergarten classes have been able to bring classes out to enjoy this new space and sand pit area.

Our murals were installed in the week before school and are a wonderful addition to the playground. Students noticed that their ideas were incorporated into the designs and the LaSalle students did a fantastic job of designing messages and images that represented the things students said mattered to them at Maple. This was a collaborative effort with amazing results!

Our new portables are ready for occupancy! These classrooms spaces are new, bright and have been outfitted with the newest technology in the form of large interactive screens for classroom instruction. Students in Mme Cawthorne and Mme Gilroy's classes will be starting in these spaces on Monday!

In Limestone, students in grades 1-6 are not permitted to use Cell Phones during the school day, including recess/nutrition breaks. Student who bring cell phones to school will be required to keep them out of sight. If you need to communicate with your child please contact the office to have a message passed along.

Check out our Spirit Wear and Mabel's Labels links to purchase school clothing or labels to keep track of your students' items at school. These links do help with fundraising for special events as a percentage of funds raised will go back to Maple.

We are looking forward to our first full week here at Maple ES, and our educators have been working hard to establish classroom routines, getting to know students and creating positive learning communities!

A couple of reminders from the previous newsletter:

Friendly Reminders:

School property:

• is peanut-free/nut-free
• is scent-free
• welcomes service dogs only
• has accessible parking spots by permit only
• is reserved for staff and student use only between 9:00 am and 3:35 pm

We are looking forward to another fun filled week!

Mrs. Fox, Mme Tiiu, M. Derbyshire, and the entire Maple Team!

It's that time of year! School Council elections for executive positions are coming up very soon! The first School Council Meeting of the 2024-2025 school year is on Tuesday, September 24th at 6:30pm in the Maker Space. All parents/guardians are welcome!

Please use the link below or newsletter button to volunteer or submit SAC nominations. If you are nominating someone, please ensure they are up for the position and have agreed to your nomination. The person you nominate must be available to be present at the meeting. Your nomination does not count as a vote; you must be present to vote. Nominations are due by 11 am on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. You can connect with our Maple SAC to ask questions via email: ecolemaplecouncil@gmail.com

Positions for election are:

Chair

Represents, works with and provides support to all school community and council committee chairs. This person works closely with the school principal, school staff and parents to enrich the education of all students. Additionally, they preside over and conduct monthly council meetings, set agendas and schedule meetings (in consultation with the Principal). The chair promotes discussion amongst council members and the community, receives and reports on correspondence sent and received by council. Acts as coordinator between the school board and council. Receives documentation from board and keeps council advised of board decisions, activities etc. Supports programs, initiatives and activities led by other council members and contributes to the monthly council newsletter.

Vice Chair

Presides at meetings in the absence of the chair or upon the incumbent’s inability to serve. Responsible for overseeing all sponsored events and programs.

Treasurer

Works with the council and coordinators in developing an operating budget, keeps a full and accurate account of receipts and expenditures and serves as the liaison with the LDSB. Additional responsibilities include depositing/disbursing funds on behalf of the council, review of monthly financial statements, and the preparation & filing of all necessary financial reports, where applicable.

Secretary

Attends scheduled council meetings, records, maintains and distributes minutes of meetings, keeps non-financial records of council.

Indigenous Representative

This member acts as an advisor and offers Indigenous perspective to School Council discussions and events.

Fundraising Coordinator

Plans, manages fundraising activities of council. Works closely with treasurer and often works with a subcommittee.

Event & Volunteer Coordinator

Plans and organizes events for the school community. Often works with a subcommittee.

Communication Coordinator

Uses the council Canva account to provide SAC communication to the Maple community.

Divisional Representatives

1-2 representatives for each division; Kinder, Primary and Junior.

Other Possible Members

This could include Inclusive Education Coordinator, Staff Appreciation Coordinator, etc.

More information about School Councils, including a toolkit of information, can be found on the Limestone District School Board website at: https://www.limestone.on.ca/school-council

Everyone who is part of our Maple family is welcome to attend any of our meetings this year. Meeting dates will be shared out after the September 24rd meeting.

Nomination and Volunteer Form

Overview

Classes should begin with phones put away.

Students Grade 7 and above may not use cellphones or other mobiles devices during class time without the explicit permission of their teacher.

Students Grade 6 and below may not use cellphones or other mobile devices at school during the school day without the permission of a teacher.

This supports student achievement and well-being by:

• keeping students focused on learning by removing distractions
• promoting mental health

For more information, please see the Government of Ontario Web site:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/cellphones-and-other-mobile-devices-schools

Our school gardener, Madame Louise and the school garden club need your help! The Learning Garden is in need of some improvements. We would like to ask our school community for any expertise in landscaping to help us with improving the Learning Garden. If you could consult on this project regarding , please reach out to Madame Louise (adamlouise@limestone.on.ca).

In collaboration with the City of Kingston and KFL&A, Ecole Maple is excited to offer an opportunity for families to access established meet up locations for their student (s) who are walking from the neighbourhood indicated on the meet up location map. Families may decide to walk with the group, or set up a network where this could be scheduled with other families in the neighbourhood. At the end of the school day, students can also access the meet up location at the Gazebo for their walk home. As indicated, there is the advantage of increased safety when traveling in numbers as well as an opportunity to make friends and build community.

All students have been placed into a tentative classroom organization. All classes and staffing are tentative until at least the second week of September. This means that the class and teacher your child starts out with on the first day of school may not be the same class/teacher in mid-September. Should there be a reorganization of staff and students, information will be shared with families. Classes and staff changes take place based on actual enrollment, which is sometimes different from the projected enrollment that staffing is based on in the spring. Student and family moves impact how many students are at Maple Elementary. We will do our best to minimize disruption to student learning and will take direction from the LDSB should changes be required. Changes may be needed if classes are too small or too large, based on Ministry of Education class size requirements, which are mandated from the province.

Currently, we are experiencing increased enrollment and registration. As such, we may start the year with some large classes. Once school starts, these class numbers will be reviewed by a central committee of the LDSB to determine what, if any, changes need to be made. Any reorganization will happen after the second week of school. Families are encouraged to speak to children about the potential for change. As adults, we have the opportunity to model healthy emotions and mindsets around change, helping students to work through the emotions that may arise as an important life skill.

Thanks to all Maple students and families, in advance, for your understanding and flexibility as we determine class sizes and placements.

• Little Tykes (or similar) houses
• Step 2 (or similar) climber playset/slide
• Large plastic toy animals/dinosaurs
• Trucks/cars
• Child size brooms
• Child size shovels
• Pots
• Pans
• PVC pipes cut in half
• Balls
• Bubbles
• Chalk
• Zip ties
• Bungee cords
• Sand pits
• Child sized picnic tables
• Child sized plastic chairs

Late Arrival:

If your child is late for school, please come to the front door and ring the bell to speak with a staff member. Parents will need to wait outside until staff arrive to sign your child in and welcome them inside school. We will make sure that young students get to their classrooms safely.

Early Dismissal:

If you are picking up your student early, please ring the bell on either front door to speak with someone in the main office. Early pick up should be avoided if at all possible, this is a busy time of day and there can be delays. Between 3:20-3:35, families picking up their student(s) will be asked to wait for the dismissal bell.

9:00-9:15 am - Arrival (Kindergarten Yard & Main Yard Supervised)

9:15-11:15 - 120 mins of learning

11:15-11:35 - Recess & Nutrition Breaks

• Primary students eating / Junior students outside
• Kindergarten Outside: Hanlan/Matheson, Toffolon/Sweet-Young, Scott/Bond, Trueman/Sauve-Leroux

11:35-11:55 - Recess & Nutrition Breaks

• Junior students eating / Primary students outside
• Kindergarten Outside: Turcotte/Prescott, McNaughton/Pottier, Hein/Melbourne, Hurteau

11:55-1:35 - 100 mins of learning

1:35-1:55 - Recess & Nutrition Breaks

• Primary students eating / Junior students outside
• Kindergarten Outside: Hanlan/Matheson, Toffolon/Sweet-Young, Scott/Bond, Trueman/Sauve-Leroux

1:55-2:15 - Recess & Nutrition Breaks

• Junior students eating / Primary students outside
• Kindergarten Outside: Turcotte/Prescott, McNaughton/Pottier, Hein/Melbourne, Hurteau

2:15-3:35 - 80 mins of learning

3:35 pm - Dismissal (if you arrive late, after 3:35 pm, your student(s) will be taken to the office to call home

When you join SchoolMessenger, you will be able to:

• receive imporant information from LDSB
• join classrooms and extra-curricular groups
• report a student's absence (same day and in advance)

Reporting A Student's Absence:

The new student absence reporting system will let you use a mobile app, a website, or an interactive toll-free phone number to report an absence in advance. These options are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Future absences can be reported at any time.

If your student is marked absent and the absence hasn’t been reported in advance, our new SafeArrival system will attempt to reach the student’s priority contact by telephone to confirm the absence. If our system is unable to reach the designated contacts, school office staff will follow up.

Email: maple@limestone.on.ca
Website: www.maple.limestone.on.ca
Location: 529 St. Martha Street, Kingston, ON
Phone: 613-650-5478
Twitter: @Maple_LDSB