The Maple Glen Gazette

Maple Glen families,

• Big shout out to our new PTO board and all the parents and room parents who attended our PTO meeting last night! It was such a great turnout and we are super grateful for all that our PTO does to support our staff and students!
• Please see the new a la carte options for the cafeteria starting next week.
• NO School on Monday - Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Go ROCKS!
Mary Beth Fischer

Hello families!

Safety Snippet

Next week we will have our first ALICE drill. On Tuesday, teachers will spend some time during our morning circle-up talking about the drill and expectations. We focus on the students’ job, which is to stop, look, and listen. This allows the adult to give them directives of what to do next. Our drill will be later in the week, so we have time to connect with individual students and have a little more time to talk with our kindergarten classes, since this is a new drill for them. I know this drill can make some feel nervous, but we continue to stress that it is just practice, so we know what to do in case of an emergency (just like all of our drills).

As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to me!

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Libby Baud

Assistant Principal

317-896-4700 Ext 17012

Miss Garcia and Mrs. Newman will continue to support our new students in 1st through 4th grades. One of the ways we’re fostering connection is by hosting New Student Lunches throughout September. All new students are welcome to join! If you would like us to connect with your child specifically at Maple Glen, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Thank you!
Nicole Newman and Xiu Garcia

NewmanN@wws.k12.in.us and GarciaX@wws.k12.in.us

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

Parents/guardians,

Having good vision is very important to the success of a child's education. Indiana code IC 20-34-3-12 requires all public schools conduct a near and far vision acuity screening for all students in grades Kindergarten, third, fifth and eighth grade as well as students suspected of having difficulty seeing.

If your child already has glasses or contact lenses to help them see near or far please help them remember to bring these to school on the day of testing. They will be screened with their corrective lenses.

For students in kindergarten and first grade the school is required to use a licensed eye professional. If your student needs additional vision testing a note will be sent home.

This school year 2024-2025 we will be completing vision screenings during the month of September, on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th. This will include all Kindergarten, and 3rd grade students, as well as students that are new to the school in first, second and fourth grade as well as anyone that the teacher/parent feels an eye screening would be beneficial.

Dr. Busby will be here to complete the mandated vision screenings for our Kindergarten students on Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Jeannie Langenkamp RN

Maple Glen Elementary

School Nurse

Your child has the opportunity for a free after school help session called Helping Hands. This program is designed to help your child with his/her homework and/or specific skills in which he/she may need extra practice. Westfield High School student volunteers will be working with your child once a week, on Tuesdays. If you think your child would benefit from this program, fill out this google form by Monday, September 2nd. Only 31 students will be selected for the first trimester. There will be a drawing if more than 31 students apply. Students who are not chosen for the first trimester will have a spot for the next trimester.

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

The cafeteria will start selling snacks, juice, and ice cream for grades 1-4 starting Tuesday, September 3rd.

Ice Cream $1.25

Juicy Juice $0.75

Fruit Roll Up $0.75

Rice Krispy Treat $0.50

Second Entree $2.30 (3rd and 4th grade only)

Please speak with your child about these options and whether you would like them to have snack options. If they don't have the funds in their account, they will not be able to purchase an extra time. You also have the ability to restrict these options on your child's account. To do so, login to LunchTime and you'll select "restrict items".

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 allow 5 visitors per grade level lunch. Please use one slot per person signing up. Due to limited space, visitors will be sitting with their child(ren) at their classroom tables. You have the option of bringing in a home packed lunch or purchasing a lunch at school. No fast food will be allowed at this time. Lunch menus can be found here.

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.

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