Dear Mustang Families,
The Holiday Craft Fair is quickly approaching! Mark your calendars for December 7th from 9am- 3pm. This is an annual event not only for our school, but our community and we can’t wait to have everyone come out and experience our vendors, bake sale, cookie decorating with Santa, kid entrepreneurs, and so much more! Thank you to our awesome student and school councils who are making it the most fantastic event! Below are some important ways that you can help support our greatest fundraiser of the year!
Bake sale forms: A second letter is coming out on Friday, Nov. 22nd to encourage more families to bake for our bake sale! Thanks to those who have already agreed to make items for our bake sale.
Silent auction baskets: Each classroom donates items for a theme so a basket can be made for our silent auction. Student council members will be around to collect items on Thursday, Nov. 28th. Additional items will be collected on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd. The letter about the themes has been sent to all of our families.
Book Fair: Our Scholastic Book Fair is in full swing as of the Monday the 25th of November and will be open during interviews. Our kindergartens stood outside and welcomed the truck today in excitement. It was very cute.
Lost & Found: Please check out our lost and found from now until when you are in for interviews. Anything that is not claimed by the 1st week of December will be bagged and donated to make space for the Craft Fair. More information about how to sign up for interviews is below too.
Popcorn Sales: Beginn next week, Tuesday the 26th and Thursday the 28th and will continue every Tuesday and Thursday until school holidays. $2.00 per bag - multiple flavours! The profits are going towards grade 8 graduation and a possible year end trip.
Important Dates:
-November 21st: Extra School Council Meeting for Holiday Craft fair 6pm
-November 22nd: Superintendent Visit
-November 25th: Book Fair opens at PMPS
-November 26th: Fire Prevention: Landry and Hickey (information coming home)
-November 27th: Dairy Farmer Presentations ( K- Grade 3) (information coming home)
-November 27th: Ministry of Education visit to recognize our progress on math
-November 28th: Fire Prevention: Fendley & Westlake (information coming home )
-November 28th, 2024, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM: Orangeville District Secondary School (ODSS) will be hosting its Grade 8 Information Night
-November 28th: Interview evening 3-7pm (more information to come)
-November 29th: PD Day, interviews 830am-230pm - no school for students
-December 7th 9am-3pm: 28th Annual Holiday Craft Fair 9am-3pm. This is our school’s biggest fundraiser and there promises to be something for every member of the family to love at this fair! Please save the date and be sure to attend.
Upcoming Spirit Days November & December:
Friday Nov. 22nd - favourite fantasy character or character
Thursday, Nov. 28th - comfy cozy day (no slippers)
Friday, Dec. 6th - backwards or inside out clothing day
Friday, Dec. 13th - Dress as your favourite Disney, cartoon, or movie character
Monday. Dec. 16th - Silver and gold (Posada Navidenas - Mexican Christmas begins today)
Tuesday, Dec. 17th - Dress as a reindeer or snowman or your favourite holiday character
Wednesday, Dec. 18th - Festive hat and socks day
Thursday. Dec. 19th - Blue silver white (Hanukkah)
Fri. Dec. 20th - Red and Green day OR red, green, black day (Kwanzaa which begins on Dec. 26th)
From Continuing Education: Give the gift of guitar this year! Wednesday, January 8-March 26 6:30-7:30pm ODSS
REGISTER AT: www.learning4you.ca
This exciting course will begin to teach your child the basics of guitar playing . They will run a few chords which will become songs . By the end of the 8 lessons , your child will have a basic understanding of guitar and how fun it i s ! Own guitar necessary ONLY $56 which i s $7 per class ! AMAZING VALUE! Introduction to Guitar ages 8-12
Reminders:
A note from the School Council: We are looking for volunteers! Now that we have held our last formal meeting of 2024, we are fully focused on the upcoming Holiday Craft Fair, and we need as many helping hands as possible! The School Council is getting together in the school library on Thursday, November 21st, at 6pm, to make all final arrangements for the Craft Fair. If you are interested in helping out, we would love to have you join us! We are also getting together on the evening of Monday, December 2nd at 5pm to assemble all the items we have collected for the Silent Auction, which is part of the Holiday Craft Fair. If you are interested in helping us with this, please meet us in the library that evening. If we have plenty of volunteers, we can finish all the auction baskets that night! Thank you so much for your support. We will resume regular, monthly School Council meetings on Thursday, February 6th, 2025! All are welcome to attend.
Professional Activity Day Description: November 29, 2024
Information for Elementary Parents/Guardians Date: November 29, 2024 Length: Full Day Elementary Topics: Parent/Teacher Interviews
Stay Connected: Our NEW Princess Margaret website is: https://uppergranddsbon.sites.thrillshare.ca/o/pmps. Our Twitter/ X page is: @margaret_ps . Our school council also has a Facebook page and an Instagram page: @princessmargaretps. Make sure your UGDSB mobile app is up to date! Download the new mobile app - it’s everything Upper Grand in your pocket. For the latest updates, please sign up for notifications! Download for Android https://aptg.ca/V7pmln Download for iPhone https://aptg.ca/370LCh . Staying connected during the school year is key. I, along with a volunteer work hard to update our social media pages and school website each week.
New Breakfast Program at PMPS: Our new Breakfast Program started this week! We are now providing breakfast to students who are hungry and do not have access to breakfast at home on ALL Weekday mornings, from 8am-8:25am, in the school library. NO sign up is required. Students will simply come into the front of the school and enter the library at 8:00am. Parents are welcome to escort them in and drop them off. Please do your best to arrive early so that your child has enough time to eat comfortably. We have volunteers helping the children to get their breakfast and sit at the tables to eat together. Breakfast food options may include: cereal, bagels, fruit, and yogurt. We also have orange juice and milk to drink. We would love to offer this program to students every weekday morning. Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who are making this happen! We have the beset community members!
Parent/Guardian Teacher Interviews: Progress reports were shared with families on November 13th. I would like to invite all parents/ guardians in for an interview. Please read the following to learn more about interviews.
If parents/caregivers are using the link in the letter it is not loading. Please use this link instead: webapp.ugdsb.on.ca/pti/appointment/ .If you use the link below, it is working. This link was sent home in previous emails as well. I can’t explain why the link works in the email and typing it in does not. Sorry about that.
Online Signup for Parent-Teacher Interviews
The window to sign-up for an interview begins November 15th 8:30am and closes November 26th at 4pm. Please sign up for a parent-teacher meeting between these dates. Interview times are available either Thursday, November 28th from 3:00 - 7:00 PM and November 29th from 8:30 AM - 2:30PM. If a teacher is not available on the 28th, they will communicate alternate dates and times with you.
To sign up for a meeting:
1) Go to : www.ugdsb.on.ca/pti or use the UGConnect App - Parents
2) Enter your child’s OEN number (the OEN is on the progress report at the top) then their date of birth.
3) Select the teacher, day and time slot for your meeting
Important:
Once you have signed up for an interview, it will be assumed that a parent/guardian will be participating in person. Please email the teacher if a phone call is your preference. You may receive a call from the School/Unknown Caller.
If you need assistance, please contact Mrs. Mckenzie, our office coordinator at 519-941-3731 ext 221. Our staff look forward to meeting with you and talking about your child’s progress.
Cracker Donations: Thank you for your generosity so far! We are still in need of boxes of crackers! We are asking for students to bring in a box of crackers to help our snack program. Boxes can be brought to the front office to be fed to Snacker the Cracker monster. Thank you for all your support towards our snack program where we eat to fuel our minds. Any questions, ask myself or Mrs. Mckenzie.! Thank you to everyone who has donated so far!
Community Recognition Board: We are #MargaretProud. If your child has done something wonderful in our community or accomplished a big goal, please send in a picture and a short note and/or a clipping from the newspaper or online site to me, Mrs. PapaV. We have a board celebrating our amazing PMPS students across from the gym.
Milk Sales: Student Council continues to sell milk, Monday to Friday 1st break only for $1.25. Milk sale profits support our Student Council.
Parent Resources:
Dufferin Parent Support Network: Please check out https://www.dpsn.ca/ for free parenting workshops. The Dufferin Parenting Support Network is a great organization of parents supporting parents.
DCAFS Behaviour Solutions: DCAFS offers a wide range of services designed to meet the unique needs of each child and family. They believe that every child deserves the chance to reach their full potential, and they are committed to helping them do just that. If you're looking for support for your family within a safe and welcoming community, look no further than DCAFS! Please see the link for some different workshops and events: https://behavioursolutions.dcafs.on.ca/events/
We have a great day of learning on Friday planned. I hope everyone has a great weekend after our learning on Friday.
Andrea Papavasiliou, Principal