Maple Grove was a busy place this past week.  I want to send out thanks to our wonderful PAC and Staff Elves who put Holiday Hampers together for our sister school (Nightingale) and to Tecumseh.  Specifically we want to acknowledge our PAC Elves (Angela, Monica, Jeanie, Lisa and Kelly) and our Staff Elves (Ms. Lam, Ms. Watkins, Ms. Peters, Ms. Lincoln, Ms. Garrod, Ms. Adams, and Ms Yeung).  I also want to thank and acknowledge all the staff and students who helped make the Holiday Hampers happen through (donation, support, contribution, contacting and delivery).  

This was a very busy week at school.  We were graced with the presence of the Magee Chamber Choir.  They were amazing!   As one of the top choirs in Canada, under the direction of Mr. Greg Quan, it was an honour to listen to such talented Magee students.  These talented students inspired many of our Maple Grove kids to want to join choir.  It was awesome!!!  Thank you to all the staff, students and parents who worked tirelessly to make the Winter Concert such a success.

Christmas brings family and friends together; it helps us appreciate the love in our lives we can often take for granted.  May the true meaning of the holiday season fill your heart and home with much joy and happiness.
Merry Christmas,
Principal Evans and Vice Principal Smith

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

This is a lovely time of the year to spend with family.  A time to emphasize joy and peace in the world.  While we may be concerned about the secularization and commercialization of this season, it does not take away from the good feelings we all have towards each other and our community.  We remember the good spirit of the season.  The love and care we have for our children, and our desire for joy and peace in the world.

Finally a huge thanks to Ms. Peters for keeping all of us sorted during this insanely busy time of the year and with so many projects on the go.  Thank you Ms. Peters!

FABULOUS WINTER CONCERT

Our students put on wonderful and enjoyable performances at our Winter Concert. Thank you so much to all the teachers who generously gave their time to make this happen.  I was truly proud both of the commitment of the teachers to do something so beneficial for the students, and their ability to encourage students to such high levels of fine behavior and performance.  I was also very proud of our students who performed beautifully, took on various important responsibilities and did all this work with good cheer.  Thank you to the students who decorated the gym and to our Engineering staff  (Mr. Malimban and Mr. Zandro), who put the lights around the stage.  Thank you to Ms. Hales who created our lovely program and worked out all the finite details of the concert.  There are many others who went the extra mile to make this happen.

SANTA VISITS MAPLE GROVE

This morning, after some exciting Christmas singing, a special visitor dropped by Maple Grove to spread some Christmas cheer.  Santa dropped off candy canes for all the students and a gift for Ms. Smith and Mr. Evans (although the gr. 7’s think Mr. Evans is on the naughty list… turns out one of the elves made a clerical error).

Rhythm Resource hits Maple Grove with a Bang!

Daryl Duggins from Rhythm Resource came to Maple Grove and shared all kinds of drumming magic with the school.  Many students got an opportunity to try various drums from around the world.  Daryl is an amazing resource and very exciting and fun.  Thank you to our awesome PAC for making the presentation possible!

Celebration of Learning

The Montessori intermediate classes hosted a First Nations Fair last week. This celebration of learning featured research about indigenous groups all over the world, including ancient cultural practices and more modern issues.

After School Programs

HIGH SCHOOL COLLABORATION

Maple Grove and Magee share many opportunities for students to collaborate with secondary and elementary staff and students.  This week, yet another shining example of that took place at Magee.  Ms. Garrod’s Division 9 class visited Math Department Head, Susana Quan’s classroom (#304).  Ms. Quan led a math lesson and shared a story of the Siksika Nation in connections to number concept/ pattern recognition problem solving.  Additionally, her Math 9/10 Honours students worked with the Grade 2’s to problem solve.  This problem solving lends itself to the Math 10 curriculum as well, allowing them to see how they may solve the problem from an elementary school perspective to using their acquired secondary math curriculum arithmetic sequence concept.  Division 9 then visited Mr. Quan’s Strings Orchestra class to enjoy strings music.  Thank you to Susana and Greg for reaching out to organize and make this happen.  The kids loved it!!!!!

Maple Grove Pac Website (Click to enter)

December 20 – Last Day of Classes for Winter Break

January 6 – School Reopens