The Maple Grove
Branch
Ensuring Each Leaf Can Learn to Fly on Its Own!
Doug Barry, PrincipalPhone: 987-3363
tendance: 987-2748
Diann Williamson, Assistant Principal
West Des Moines, IA 50266
November 2, 2012 Attendance Line : (515) 987-2748 Fax: (515) 987-3903
DATES TO REMEMBER
11/10-16 Parent Teacher Conferences & Book Fair
11/14 1:40 Early Dismissal – Professional Development
11/19PTO Meeting
11/21-11/23NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving break
11/281:40 Early Dismissal- Professional Development
12/121:40 Early Dismissal-Professional Development
12/22- 1/1NO SCHOOL- Winter Break
1/91:40 Early Dismissal – Professional Development
1/21NO SCHOOL – Teacher Work Day
1/231:40 Early Dismissal – Professional Development
Maple Grove Elementary Phone Numbers
MAIN NUMBER…….987-3363BEYOND THE BELL……987-2778
FAX NUMBER…….987-3909NURSE’S OFFICE…….987-2754
LUNCH CLERK…….987-2769FIRST STUDENT…….515-992-3740
Maple Grove Elementary needs your help! Please consider volunteering once or twice a week in our lunchroom this year! We have changed our sign-up process. Please find our new calendar and information at
EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!
On the Maple Grove homepage!!
We encourage all families to tune into the District website, and visit the Maple Grove homepage. Please bookmark this important page, as much useful information will be posted on this site. You can view the District calendar, as well as the Maple Grove calendar by narrowing your search to include only items involving Maple Grove Elementary. You can even search items by category (fundraising, fine arts, academics, etc). We are excited about the new way of sharing important information. You may visit our webpage here to visit our important NEWS and EVENTS.
Waukee Introduces eBackpack
eBackpack is a blog site that hosts school sponsored and non-profit information flyers. eBackpack is accessible from the Waukee School District homepage or by visiting
And now a brief note from our School Nurse, Mrs. Kary Sprague…
In the event that a student returns to school after an illness, and needs to stay indoors for recess, parents are asked to provide a written note from their health care provider. This note needs to outline why they need to be inside and what physical education modifications need to be made.
We will complete vision screenings this winter season. We are looking for parent volunteers to help escort children to/from their classrooms. Please e-mail me at if you are able to volunteer.
If a medication is to be administered at school, a school form must be filled out and signed by the parent/guardian. The form must accompany the medication in its ORIGINAL container. Parents should bring their child’s medication to school rather than send it with their child in his/her book bag. Please do not send medication with your child without letting the teacher or nurse know. Medication at the elementary school level needs to be administered by the nurse or other trained school employee.
We have a new Health Information blog on the Maple Grove website. This blog site will host health alerts and information about head lice, whooping cough and other communicable diseases. As the school year progresses, more important health related information will be added to this site.
This is a district wide site, meaning you will only need to go to one place to find the health information you need to know no matter which building your child is in. You also have to opportunity to subscribe to the blog if you wish to receive an email when a new health alert is published.
The new Health Information Blog will provide up-to-date, timely and accurate WCSD health news to parents. To view the blog please visit
As always, we are always in need of clothes in all sizes. We especially need sock, shoes, long pants, and underwear!
Kary Sprague, RN
TIDBITS FROM THE OFFICE…
The PowerSchool parent portal will be closed through Friday, November 9th. This will allow your child's teacher access to complete individual student progress reports for upcoming conferences. Your access to the progress report section on PowerSchool will reopen at 4:00pm on Friday, November 9th allowing you to view and print.
Your student involved conference will occur at its scheduled time between November 10th and November 16th. Please take a moment to view your child’s progress report prior to your conference.
Annual Parent Survey- Between now and the end of conference week (Nov 16), we ask parents to take time to complete our annual MGE Parent Survey. We appreciate your feedback and have used the feedback in the past two years to help us better serve you, your child and our community. I look forward to sharing the results with our parents on our website later this winter. To access the survey, please start here:
The book fair will be held in the Maple Grove Media Center on the following dates & times:
Monday, November 12th from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Tuesday, November 13th from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Wednesday, November 14th from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Thursday, November 15th from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm
The book fair will also be open from 8:30 am through open library time (9:05 am) Monday (12th) through Thursday (15th) morning.
Shop the online fair from Nov. 4 to Nov. 24 at Orders ship free to school. The proceeds go direct to Maple Grove media Center.
Your child will get to preview the book fair and will bring home a ‘wish list’. Bring your child’s wish list when you come to shop OR you may send a check (payable to Maple Grove PTO) for the total amount on the wish list (or for the amount of books you wish to buy). There is no tax. Wish list orders will be filled during the day and returned to the students in their classroom.
During our book fair, we invite you to help build our classroom libraries by purchasing a book and donating it to your child’s class through the Classroom Wish List Program. Visit the Classroom Wish List board in the media center during the fair to browse teacher requests.
Thank you for supporting the continued growth of maple Grove Media center materials via your book fair purchases
Maple Grove Fine Arts Nights
November 29th – 3rd grade, 6:30 pm at the HS
December 11th- 1st grade, 6 and 7 pm, at MGE
January 29th – 2nd grade, 6:30 pm at the HS
February 18 – Band Solos, 3:40 – 7pm, at MGE
February 19 – 4th grade, 6:30 pm, at the HS
April 16th – Kindergarten, 6 and 7pm, at MGE
May 13th – 5th grade general music, Chorus, and
band!! 6pm at the HS
Help the Waukee Band and Vocal Music Program!!
Your donations of clean cans and bottles help the Waukee Band and Vocal Music Boosters raise money. Bring your Iowa $.05 refund aluminum cans and plastic/glass bottles to the CAN SHACK located in the Waukee FAREWAY parking lot. This is a joint effort between Band and Vocal Music to help students raise funds for tips, fees, and expenses these growing programs incur. Funds raised help support grades K-12. Drop them off at your convenience. The SHACK widow is always open!
Waukee Parent–Teacher Organization
Student Directory Form 2012-2013
PTO Directory Sales have started.
The PTO Student Directory is a helpful tool that provides contact information for fellow students, schools and other communitymembers. The directory is made available for personal use by school district families and staff and is not intended for businesssolicitations. To be included in the directory, you must complete the form online by NOVEMBER 11TH. The cost this year is $10.00 per book. Allinformation received will not be edited and will appear in the book as entered online. Visit the following link to enter information and order directories.
Payments will be accepted through Paypal.
***NEW THIS YEAR***
- Listings will be by child’s LAST name. If you have children in your home with different last names, they will be separate listings.
- Parent 2 information needs to be filled out ONLY if there are children that reside between two residences.
- A national, secure server will now support the data entry system. Data information will be private and will not be accessible online.
Entering your family information without purchasing a book is an option.
If you have questions, please email:
Maple Grove PTO News...
** Fundraising pick up will be on Thursday, November 15th, from 3:30-7:30 in the gym. If you can not pick up your items please find a friend to pick them up for you. Cookie dough will spoil if it is not picked up and we do not have access to freezers at the school. Thank you for your understanding!!
** A HUGE thanks to all the families that supported Bingo for Books last week. It was a great night for Maple Grove families. A special thanks to Trina Rudicil, Abby Smull and Kelly Deimerly for their hard work in planning the event. Thanks also to the teachers and staff that helped as well. We couldn’t have done it without you!!
** Maple Grove Apparel order forms will be coming home soon. Orders and money are due Nov 16th. Orders will go home the week of Dec 10th. There will also be samples available to try on in the office starting next week.
** Please mark your calendars and plan to attend our next meeting on November 19th at 7:00 in the Media Center. We hope to see you there!!!
** Any questions, please contact Allison Hamling at or Eric Barlow at
Please check out our blog for minutes from the meetings and general PTO information.
Bingo for Books
We had a great turnout to our Bingo For Books event on Oct. 26th. It was a wonderful success, thank you to everyone who came to join the fun! And a giant thank you to the PTO for their organizing efforts!