Halloween Parade at Maple Dale!

We will be having our parade tomorrow, Thursday, October 29th, from 2:30-3:15 on the large playground at Maple Dale. Please sign in on the clip boards at the entrance to the playground. If you plan to take your child home with you after the parade, we ask that you sign them out in the classroom.

It looks like great weather tomorrow, but could be a bit windy. Please help your child plan for some layers with their costume.

Also, Please consider parking at the Presbyterian Church on Zig Zag Road to help with the overflow of parking, or carpool if you can.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow for this annual special event!

School Safety at Maple Dale

A Note from Mr. Brooks and Mrs. Reinke about School Safety at Maple Dale

In the past two weeks, several schools in our area and others across Ohio and Northern Kentucky have reported receiving phone call threats from an unknown person. In each instance, the caller warns the school personnel of a bomb on school property. The voice is automated, and the call has proved difficult to trace. Local law enforcement officials are working closely with the FBI to identify this person(s) and bring them to justice. We have been involved in a briefing with our local police and district leaders to learn the most current information and to understand the protocols for this situation.

Understandably, this is an upsetting situation and we are writing to let you know that we have a clear plan in place for evacuation of the students at Maple Dale should we receive one of these calls. We have a building emergency response team that has been trained on our emergency response plan. All staff have been briefed on the plan as well and we have held some drills thus far to simulate a “lock-down” or fire emergency.

In the next week, we will hold an evacuation drill of our building. Our “rally” location, Edwin H. Greene Intermediate School,  is away from the Maple Dale campus and in walking distance. We have decided to do this practice to ensure that we can evacuate all students and staff in a safe manner. On the day of the drill, we will send home a Blackboard Connect message to all parents to let them know that the drill took place.

Our goal is not to alarm your children. So, we may use the fire alarm system and ask that the teachers lead their classes to our neighboring school as they leave the Maple Dale Building. Once we have established that we have been successful, we will move back to Maple Dale.

In the case of a real phone issued threat, we would evacuate and stay at EHG until the police have cleared our school of the threat. Again, we have a clear plan in place for parent notification, transportation and additional safety measures.

Please contact us if you have any concerns or questions. Your children and their well-being is our highest priority.

Ron and Ann Marie

Milers Incentives

Milers is an optional healthy alternative offered during recess on Wednesdays. Students can choose to participate by doing laps around the blacktop. They earn tokens for their individual achievements. 

To decrease the team competitiveness and pressure to participate we have decided to eliminate the grade/ class competition. Therefore there will not be  popsicle parties for the top classes. The Top boy/girl in each grade will still be recognized for their accomplishment with their names on a banner in the gym. 

Click here for a complete list of miler incentives.

COSI on Wheels is Coming to Maple Dale!

   

On November 13th, COSI on Wheels will be coming to Maple Dale. This year's program is Current Conditions, and the kids will be learning all about the weather! We have many volunteer opportunities available, and we need your help to run this program! This is a great opportunity to interact with your child! You can use the following link to the sign-up genius to get more information about the day and to sign up to help during one of the sessions. The class schedule is also included so you can coordinate your volunteer time with your child's class. If you have any questions please contact Courtney Simon at courtmichelle@gmail.com. 

 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4aa4a922a1f94-cosi

Winton Hills Academy – Our Sister School

We will be collecting items next week (November 2-6) for Winton Hills Academy.  Please drop off items in the box labeled “Winton Hills” in Maple Dale’s lobby.

Needed items:

• Your unwanted Halloween candy, small toys (like items in Happy Meals), stickers that teachers can use as incentives.
• Your outgrown hats, coats, gloves, mittens, socks.
• New underwear (the school nurse keeps this on hand).
• Extra school supplies that you are not using.

WALK-A-THON

WALK-A-THON is just around the corner and it’s time to collect those pledges!  When you do, remind sponsors that ALL donations go straight to Maple Dale (to purchase playground & gym equipment and to update technology). Please return collection envelopes (with cash and checks) by October 22. We can also accept online credit cards payments this year – just go to the PTO transaction center at http://mdpto.3dcartstores.com. 

Thank you for supporting our students and our school!

 

Shoe Collection

Don't forget to bring in your gently used adult and kid shoes for the FreeStore Food Bank in downtown Cincinnati. A collection bin is located in the cafeteria (left of the stage) We have already filled 2 bins but need more to achieve our goal of 300 pairs! Final day for donating is Friday October 23rd. 

 

THANK YOU!!!!

A giant round of applause to Anne Berg for spending hours meticulously compiling our wonderful Directory!  Thank you Anne for all your hard work on this big project!!!

Thank you to Tiesha Frazier for all your work finding sponsors and determining order quantities for our Assembly T-Shirts!

Blanche Michitti gets a big thanks for handling our Spirit Wear sales this year!  Spirit wear orders are being distributed this week.

Thanks to Martha France for helping organize another great year for the language program!

Thank you to Stephanie Pontis for organizing parents to help with the Recycling Rangers program this year!

Thanks to our Milers organizers, Diane VanderBrink, Rachel Namaky, and Alpa Sawnani, for organizing another great year of milers!

Thanks to Vanessa Shafer for organizing volunteers to help with this year's Vision and Hearing Screening!

Thanks to Amy Jordan for again organizing the Stars of the Week program volunteers!

Thanks to Suzanne Brown for again organizing the Library voluneers this year!

Thanks to Nicole Gandolfo who coordinated the School Supplies that were distributed at the beginning of the year!

A BIG THANK YOU to Everyone who volunteers at our school to help make it such a great place for our kids!!!!

WALK-A-THON

 

WALK-A-THON is just around the corner and it’s time to collect those pledges!  When you do, remind sponsors that ALL donations go straight to Maple Dale (to purchase playground & gym equipment and to update technology). Please return collection envelopes (with cash and checks) by October 22. We can also accept online credit cards payments this year – just go to the PTO transaction center at http://mdpto.3dcartstores.com. 

Thank you for supporting our students and our school!

 

GEAR events

Please check out the two upcoming GEAR events, plus mark your calendar for the upcoming events listed below:

 

• Oct 10-  Books Worms Adventure - Book Club for Grades k-2
• Oct 11- Road Trip to OAGC (Ohio Association for Gifted Children) in Columbus for parents
• Oct 24- Sycamore Society Adventure - Book Club for Grades 3-6
• Oct 27- Sycamore STEAM Showcase at High School (appropriate for parents of all aged children), 6:30-8:30 pm
• Oct 30- First Lego League Table Runs at Blue Ash Elementary (open to all), drop by anytime 3-7pm
• Nov 8- Family Game Day at Blue Ash Rec Center (everyone in your family!), 1-3pm
• Nov 20- Coffee and Conversation, Mrs. Sloan will be talking about the Media Centers in our schools, (appropriate for parents of all aged children), 9:30am

Please contact mathur.anjali@gmail.com for more information.

Final request for vision & hearing screen volunteers this week

The vision and hearing screens will take place week of October 12-16th for Preschool, K, Grade 1 and Grade 3 .  No experience needed. Training is provided. This is an easy and fun volunteer opportunity.  If interested please sign up via the Signup genius link below.  For questions, please contact Vanessa Shafer at vdwilhelmus@yahoo.com

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c4bafac23a20-maple

National School Bus Safety Week

Parents, Please click the link below to learn more about school transportation safety! 

http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Finance-and-Funding/School-Transportation/School-Transportation-Safety/National-School-Bus-Safety-Week/2008-Revised-Na-Sa-Wk-Flyer.pdf.aspx

PTO Meeting Thursday Evening!

 

Bill Fritz, Sycamore District Director of Technology and Chris Gutermuth, Instructional Technology Facilitator Supervisor, will be speaking at this week's PTO meeting.  This meeting will be held at 7:00pm at Maple Dale on Thursday 10/8/2015.  Babysitting is available free of charge.  Come and get some insight into our district's "Blended Learning"  and "One-to-One" initiatives.  This presentation will include the current and future state of district technology as well as the shift in teaching practices and strategies.   This will be followed by a brief PTO meeting updating you on recent activities, along with a "State of the School" address by Mr. Brooks.

 

Vision & hearing screen help still needed for 10/13 & 10/16 - Please volunteer if you can

The vision and hearing screens will take place week of October 12-16th for Preschool, K, Grade 1 and Grade 3 .  No experience needed. Training is provided. This is an easy and fun volunteer opportunity.  If interested please sign up via the Signup genius link below.  For questions, please contact Vanessa Shafer at vdwilhelmus@yahoo.com

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c4bafac23a20-maple

Maple Dale School Calendar at a glance

Maple Dale's School Calendar at a glance, just click this link!

Maple Dale School T-Shirts

 

After careful consideration, there has been a change to our school T-shirt process. Students will no longer receive their own t-shirt as they did in years past. Instead, each classroom will be allotted a set of shirts to use at the teachers discretion for class field trips and other school events. Students will be given a t-shirt to use at the beginning of the day and will return it at the end of the day to be used again the next time they are needed.  It is our hope that by implementing this new process we will be able to save on additional costs and resources as well as extend the life of the shirts for several years.

 

If you are interested in helping to support your students classroom by laundering the shirts after they are used. Please feel free to reach out to your Homeroom parent and offer your assistance.

 

For questions, please contact Tiesha Frazier at tiesha6@yahoo.com.

Maple Dale at Aviator Flight Fest

The Wellness Committee would like to give a SHOUT OUT to all the Maple Dale parents and students that came out on this wet, cold morning to support the Junior High School and run the Aviator Flight Fest! 

• Marshall and Iris Carman, Michael and Andrew Jordan, Tanya Henry, Christina Coletta, Lynn Schuetz, Joanne Suh, Brian Banke, Emily Lemmons - and the cheerleaders Lisa Skinner and Carolyn Minton. 

*Apologies if I missed anyone! 

Diane VanderBrink