We want to celebrate their time and efforts with an APPRECIATION BREAKFAST on Friday June 30th from 7:45-9:00 am. If you would like to extend your thanks, please consider donating an item to our event. Please feel free to send along a little note if you wish!

All parents who have volunteered on trips, coaching, at school events, on school council, or in classrooms are invited to join staff for a sip and treat before they start their day in recognition and gratitude for their time supporting our school.

Items that do not require refrigeration can be dropped off any time from 8:00-4:30 on Wednesday June 28th or Thursday June 29th. Hot or cold items can be dropped off at the breakfast. We invite all contributors to also attend the event, enjoy a bite and share some time with staff that morning. PLEASE USE THE FORM BELOW TO INDICATE THAT YOU WILL BE DONATING A SMALL ITEM TO THE EVENT!

Some suggested items:

• bunch of bananas
• carton of juice
• coffee/tea - fresh or pods
• bagels or English muffins
• croissants/pastries/Timbits
• muffins or cookies
• fruit or fruit tray (watermelon, pineapple, grapes, clementines, apples, etc.)
• cheese or meats

Monday, June 26 (Day 4):

• 10:00 Class Play for Parents in room 318

• 12pm-1:30pm Oleschuk Molly McGlynn Splash Pad & Picnic (Middle Block) Parents invited

• Young to Base Splash Pad Rain Date (9:30-2:30)

• Grade 6 Celebration Rehearsal - 3rd block in the Gym

Tuesday, June 27 (Day 5):

• Grade 6 Celebration 12-1:30 in the Gym
• End of Year Celebration - Hurteau - 2:30-3:15PM (Room 129) - Families invited :)
• Toffolon/Silver Molly McGlynn Splash Pad rain date 12:15-1

Wednesday, June 28 (Day 1):

• Term 2 Report Cards go home
• Turcotte/Prescott RAIN DATE Molly McGlynn Splash Pad Middle Block
• Gr.3 12-1 Play Makerspace /Library
• Thompson Molly McGlynn Splash Pad & Picnic (First Block)
• Edmondson/Cassista to Garrison Lanes

Thursday, June 29 (Day 2):

• Last Day of School
• Panter Gr. 2 Year End Picnic in Gazebo

Friday, June 30:

• PA DAY - no school for students

COMING UP:

SUMMER BREAK - BE SAFE MAJORS!

We wanted to thank each family for your support this school year. It has been an absolute pleasure to spend our days with your students and watch each and every one of them grow. Please enjoy your summer together wherever you may be - staying close to home or travelling. We look forward to new adventures in September 2023!

We are in the final stretch with only 4 school days to go. Please note that Friday is a PA day which means no school for students. We hope to see many families for our Volunteer/Staff Appreciation Breakfast on Friday from 7:45-9 am. Thank you in advance for your kind donations (see below for mor information).

Thank you for your continued efforts to avoid picking up your student during recess/nutrition breaks (11:15-11:55 and 1:35-2:15), as well as at the end of the day (3:15-3:35). Last week, the weather was so nice we spent so much time outside. As a result, it takes longer to locate students. Thank you for your patience.

What an amazing turnout for the School Council's Year End Event. A huge thank you to our sponsors, local businesses who provided items for our raffles, our volunteers, magic show, Barrack the Bear, the Kingston Fire Department, and each of our families for attending. Between the food trucks, inflatables, tug of war, volleyball, facepainting, Zumba, dance lessons, and external agencies (i.e., KMFRC and Maltby to name a few), it was a great way to end the year as a community. It was a beautiful day to all come together.

Many of our classes ventured to City Park for National Indigenous People's Day. There were live performers, Sacred Fire, children and youth programming, lacrosse demonstrations, local vendors, and so much more! Our students had a great time taking Kingston's City Transportation or the school bus.

We continued to have our students participate in so many amazing experiences: Kindergarten celebrations by class, primary picnics and trips to splash pads and Fruition Berry Farm, plays and piano recitals for families, a visit to Gould Lake and some canoeing for some of our juniors, and an entire block filled with outdoor play for our Kindergarten and Primary students. A big thank you to our family volunteers for attending and to our staff for organizing these opportunities for our students.

Our Grade 6 students got to visit LaSalle Seconday School and Module Vanier at Kingston Secondary School this week! This helps students transition from elementary school to middle school - such an exciting time! Grade 6 students got to spend time together, and with staff, on a boat cruise celebrating all they have accomplished at Ecole Maple ES. We will be continuing the celebrations, this time with families, on Tuesday, June 27th from 12-1:30 in the gym. Wishing all of our Grade 6 students success at their new schools next year!

On the last day of school, we will be having a school-wide assembly to say farewell to some staff members who are retiring or moving to other school locations, celebrating our Grade 6 students and student leaders (i.e., bus patrollers, yard pals, and lunch monitors), along with some special presentations from our classes. We will be recognizing all of the hard work this year by our staff and students who have made it so successful.

A big thank you to Janet E. Ritchie, local author of Poppy and Her Worry Monster who volunteered her time to read her book to our Grade 1-3 students. We have purchased many copies for our school library and classrooms and learned that worries are okay and can be our friend.

Our Kindergarten and Junior students learned about Fire Safety from Fireman Del from the City of Kingston. Our primary students participated the week before. We learned lots of great tips that helped us for our fire drill this week.

Term 2 report cards will be sent home on Wednesday! Please check with your student for these important documents and reach out to your student's teacher with any questions.

With rain in the forecast this week, please dress accordingly. We will go outside if it is misting or lightly raining for some fresh air in the morning and during recesses!

Please check your child for tick's at the end of each school day! The Kingston and surrounding area have an abundance and some carry Lyme's disease. There are specific tick tools that you can purchase for your student and your pets!

Do you still have a library book at home? Please kindly return it before the end of the school year.

A reminder that we are a nut free and scent free school! Thank you for packing unscented sunscreen and sanitizer with your student.

We remind families that the schoolyard is not accessible during the school day for community use, we have many classes that go outside for learning activities and sporting events, this helps us to better monitor our students on the playground during the school day. We have also closed off two of our spinners on the playground for safety reasons, please do not remove the caution tape until we have them fixed and ready for use again!

Please email maple@limestone.on.ca or notify your student's teacher well in advance if they have an appointment during school hours. Please do not email teachers regarding a student's absence during school hours (i.e., 9:15-3:35).

Please continue to screen your students before school for any symptoms of illness. If you do not pass the screener, please stay home, rest, and get well! Masks help stop the spread of illnesses - they are encouraged but not mandatory.

Signing off for this school year, Majors! Happy summer break!

Mrs. Fox, Ms. Stephen, Mme Panet & The Major Team

It’s hard to believe we are in the last month of the school year. As we move through the weeks of June, one of the many tasks for our staff is building classroom lists for next fall. Creating class lists is a task shared by our entire team of school educators. To this, our committed team spends a significant amount of time throughout the school year getting to know your children and discovering their academic, social, and emotional needs both in and out of the classroom setting. Each year we strive to build the best learning environments for all learners.

The school team considers a wide range of factors including overall number of students in each grade, student learning styles and personalities, academic strengths and needs, peer relationships, learning skills and work habits, and social/ emotional strengths and needs.

All classrooms, whether single grade or combined grade, include students performing at a wide range of achievement levels. We meet the needs within that wide range through differentiated instruction, a focus on developing critical thinking skills, and by implementing modifications and accommodations for various learning needs. In every case, Maple staff put a tremendous amount of thinking, time, and energy into creating responsive classroom learning environments that will support the success of all students.

We have found over the years that families have formed very strong relationships with staff at Maple and have been supportive and respectful of this decision-making process, understanding that we are looking to create the best learning environment for all students. We remind parents that requests for a specific teacher/friend for their child is not recommended as it can sometimes lead inadvertently to a less-than-ideal learning placement for your child. Families are however welcome to communicate directly with your child’s teacher wherein you may offer input around your child's strengths and needs for consideration in his/her class placement for the fall.

• My child does best when they have lots of structure throughout the school day.
• My child does best when they have a close friend or two in the same class.
• My child does best when they have opportunities to work with others in hands-on group activities and learning conversations during the day.

• My child does best when they have opportunities for making personal choices in the day.

Thank you for understanding how challenging it is to create class lists, and for recognizing how hard the Maple staff members work to set up the best possible learning environments for your children each and every year. Class assignment information will be made available to families on the Friday before the Labour Day weekend in September.

We are so excited to announce that we will be fundraising with @Plantables! Get all the plants you need for your garden while supporting our school. We receive 10% of all funds raised.

How It Works:

1. Visit Plantables.ca

2. Pick Your Plants

3. Choose your delivery week

4. Plants are delivered to your door!

Place your plant order using our code Maple23 at www.plantables.ca

Free delivery for orders over $75. Consider ordering with friends or neighbours to get free shipping.

Start shopping now! https://plantables.ca/for/maple23

In support of the City of Kingston’s School Crossing Guard program, the City is hosting two job fairs next week in an effort to hire additional School Crossing Guards for the next school year. If you could kindly share the information below with the families in your school community (including your parent council) to help us promote the events, that would be greatly appreciated!

The City of Kingston is looking for some superheroes that want to give back to our community and help keep Kingston’s school children safe. We’re looking for School Crossing Guards!

With consistent part-time hours, outdoor setting and amazing clients, this is a valuable opportunity to become a super-hero to our littlest citizens.

Join us for an info session to learn more and apply:

Tuesday, June 13th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 701 Division St. (Facebook Event Link) OR

Thursday, June 15th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the INVISTA Centre (Facebook Event Link)

Drop-off and pick-up times at Ecole Maple are busy! We all have a collective responsibility to keep students safe. Families, staff and students all need to work together!

• We ask that families avoid parking close to the intersection by Rose Abby and St. Martha Street and ensure you are coming to a complete stop. When vehicles park too closely to the intersection it impedes visibility for students when trying to cross the road safely, as well as other vehicles.
• Mornings can be hectic as we all prepare for work and school, consider adjusting your departure times to allow for enough time to reduce stress for everyone. Parking a block away and walking to school is a great way to reduce traffic volume and also share a few moments of connection before the day begins.
• Parking in accessible parking spaces is also prohibited unless you have an accessible pass visible in the windshield of your vehicle.
• Playing loud music containing explicit lyrics does not support a healthy environment for our students and staff - please be considerate.
• A friendly reminder that only service dogs are allowed on school property - they must be wearing their proper identification.
• If you see a green flashing light in your rear view mirror, please yield or pull over to the side of the road and let the car/truck pass. These volunteer firefighters are keeping us safe!
  

Our next meetings are:

September 26th, 2023

All meeting are in the library at 6:30 - all are welcome!

Childcare will be provided.

The School Advisory Council (SAC) is a team of parents, community members and school staff volunteers who support and enhance the community and school relationship. The SAC contributes to improving student achievement and well-being and are involved in school fundraising initiatives, enhancing, and supporting school events, hot lunches, parent education, offering support to extra-curricular activities, celebrating the diversity of our community, and much more.

In this survey, we are interested in learning more about your thoughts about the role of SAC and how we can more competently represent the needs of the school community.

School Councils help:

• empower and support parent involvement and engagement in our schools,
• represent and seek parent voice in Ministry and school board consultations,
• increase, facilitate and support communication between parents and the school board,
• provide opportunities for parents to develop useful skills to support their student, and
• act as a resource for parents and school councils on parent engagement and involvement.

School Council goals should represent parent feedback, teacher input and school administration priorities.

This survey is to help us understand different aspects of the guardian/school relationship. Your answers will be used in aggregate, and we will not be evaluating individual responses. As such, please be as honest as possible – there are no right or wrong answers!

LDSB schools and school board use School Messenger to send key messages, alerts, and general communication to families. Winston uses this platform and will continue to use our Ecole Maple Family Update to share school information with families. These newsletters are where we will share school-specific information and highlights of student work and events in the building. This newsletter is sent out via School Messenger and posted on our school Twitter account.

SchoolMessenger App: Download the SchoolMessenger App to stay connected. Use your mobile device to download and install the free SchoolMessenger blue app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, the SchoolMessenger website portal, or from within the LDSB mobile app. *New families will be able to create their account after the first day of attendance.

The first time you use the app, you must select Sign Up to create your account. Please ensure you use the same email address your student’s school has on file. If you do not use that same email address, you will not be able to create an account.

The Ministry of Education has approved the Limestone District School Board’s 2023-2024 School Year Calendar. A print friendly version will soon be available on the LDSB and Ecole Maple Websites.

The following key dates have been approved:
First Day of School: Tuesday, September 5, 2023
Winter Break: December 25, 2023, to January 5, 2024
March Break: March 11, to March 15, 2024
Last Day of School: Thursday, June 27, 2024

The 2022-2023 school year consists of 194 days;
Secondary - 177 instructional days, 7 PA Days and 10 exam days.
Elementary - 187 instructional days and 7 PA Days.

Professional Activity Days - no classes for students:
Monday, Sept. 25, 2023
Friday, Oct. 27, 2023
Friday, Nov. 10, 2023
Friday, Feb. 2, 2024
Friday, April 12, 2024
Friday, May 31, 2024
Friday, June 28, 2024