The Maple Glen Gazette

Maple Glen families,

What a beautiful week we've had! The weather, the friends, the routines, and starting to dive into our learning has been such a joy to watch. I want to thank all of you who were able to attend your child's meet the teacher night. Research shows us that a strong connection between home and school is powerful for student learning. We appreciate you!

Events Next Week:

• No Cook Night - All day tomorrow (Saturday) at Penn Station
• Picture Day - Tuesday
• First PTO Meeting - Thursday at 6:30pm

In partnership,

Mary Beth Fischer

Dear families,

This year I will continue to offer small skill-based groups for our students. Group counseling is an excellent way for children to learn new skills, develop self-confidence, become more aware of others’ views, practice new behaviors, and better understand how to deal with problems life presents. Groups will be based on skills that have been identified as a need, such as coping skills for anxiety, friendship skills, resilience, and regulation.

The first group I will offer is called F.I.S.H. for K-4 students who are coping with Families In Separate Homes. This group is geared towards students whose families have recently gone through a separation or divorce. We will discuss feelings related to family changes as well as connecting with others who have had similar experiences. The groups will run for 6-8 sessions, each lasting about 20 minutes during the school day at a time that works best for the teachers and students. If you would like your child(ren) to participate, please fill out this FISH Google Form by August 30th. Fill out one form per child.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Thank you,

Nicole Newman

NewmanN@wws.k12.in.us

We are happy to announce that we will continue to offer food support again this year for families who can benefit from this assistance with the Nutrition Club! Through the Nutrition Club, our goal is to help feed our kiddos on the weekends when school breakfast and lunch is not available. We are so thankful to Open Doors of Westfield and Merciful HELP in Carmel for helping make this happen.

At the end of each week, your child will receive a small sack of food in his or her backpack. The sack will have two small breakfast meals, two small lunch meals, as well as a couple of snacks and drinks. All foods are shelf-stable, which means they do not need to be refrigerated. Examples of items are cereal, granola bars, macaroni and cheese, spaghettios, dried fruit and crackers.

The food is collected and distributed by Merciful HELP and Open Doors. If you have a concern about allergies or the quality of a product, please remove the item from the sack and contact me. We will do everything we can to assist you.

If you would like your child(ren) to participate in the Nutrition Club, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM. If your child(ren) participated last year, they are already on the list! If you do NOT want your child(ren) to participate this year again, please let me know.

We look forward to having your child participate in the program! If you have any questions or choose to no longer participate, please contact me at 317-896-4700 ext 17006 or NewmanN@wws.k12.in.us.

Thank you,

Nicole Newman

School Counselor

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 prior to 9:30am.

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

Grades K, 2, 3 will follow the Gold Schedule

Grades 1, 4 will follow the Green Schedule

3rd Graders will be able to get seconds at lunch.

If you would like to restrict your child from purchasing seconds, you can do that through Lunchtime.

We can't wait to welcome lunch visitors this year! Watch this space for a Sign Up Genius link in next week's newsletter!

We'll welcome visitors after Labor Day. Please note that dates with school events will not be available on the sign-up.

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 Suany Mariona Miranda, at (317) 867-8000 or via email at marionamirandas@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.

Talking Points Messaging Service

Westfield Washington Schools is now using TalkingPoints 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.

The WHS softball team is hosting their 2nd annual skills camp for 3rd-6th graders. Please check out the flyer for more information. Link to register is below.

https://westfieldsoftballcamp.com

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