Dear Mustang Families,
I am sending this week’s update a little earlier in the week as I want to remind all families of parent/teacher interviews on Thursday evening and all day on Friday. A reminder that Friday is a PD day and there is no school for students.
It’s getting busy here as we prepare for our 28th annual Holiday Craft Fair. This is the School Council’s biggest fundraiser of the year! We are hopeful that all of our families can come on Saturday, December 7th, 2024 from 9am to 3pm and experience it! Thank you for your support (e.g., the items for classroom baskets, silent auction items, baked goods…) and to our wonderful intermediate students. We also need to acknowledge the efforts of our wonderful School Council, Student Council, and Mrs. Mikulik who make this whole event possible!
Important Reminder:Professional Activity Day Description: November 29, 2024
Information for Elementary Parents/Guardians Date: November 29, 2024 Length: Full Day Elementary Topics: Parent/Teacher Interviews
Important Dates:
-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
-November 29th: PD Day, interviews 830am-230pm - no school for students
-December 3rd, 2024: k-8 ODSS Concert Band comes to play for our students from 11am-1125am in our gym to promote music in secondary
-December 4th, 2024: Junior and Intermediate volleyball tournament at PMPS hosted by Mr. Navarro
-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.
-December 11th, 2024: Semi Formal lunch Intermediates (more details to follow from intermediate teachers)
-December 18th, 2024: Carolling & volunteer recognition at PMPS 9am-10am
-December 19th, 2024: Kindergarten holiday celebration (more details to follow)
-December 20th, 2024: Carolling, attendance recognition, and club/class performances 9am-10am
Upcoming Spirit Days November & December:
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)
Reminders:
Holiday Craft Fair: 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!
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.
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! We are 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.
Other Reminders:
Book Fair: Our Scholastic Book Fair is in full swing as of the Monday the 25th of November and will be open during interview evening and on the PD day.
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.
Grade ⅞ Popcorn Sales: 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.
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: 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 best community members!
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 planned on Thursday. Please remember that Friday is a PD Day (no school for students while parents/caregivers have interviews with teachers). We’ll see everyone back on Monday at 830am.
Andrea Papavasiliou, Principal