School Update 

To the students and families of MRS, 

With School Conferences approaching on March 19 and 20th, we want to, as clearly as possible, share needed information with our families. 

Kindergarten: There will be no school for students in Kindergarten on March 19th and March 20th. Individual conference bookings will go live on your MyCBE Account on Thursday, March 12th at 8:00am.  

For our kindergarten families, 15-minute school conferences will be offered. These times will include virtual and in-person appointments as we continue to hear that both formats benefit our families.  

Kindergarten - Virtual  

• Mar 19 (1:00pm – 3:30pm)  
• Mar 20 (12:00pm - 1:00pm)  

Kindergarten - In-Person  

• Mar 19 (9:00am – 12:00pm) & (4:30pm – 7:30pm)  
• Mar 20 (8:30am - 11:30am)  

If you have any questions, please call our office at 403-777-6280 or send us an email at mapleridge@cbe.ab.ca   

Grade 1-4: Student-Led Conferences will take place on Thursday, March 19 from 4:30 PM – 7:30 PM and Friday, March 20 from 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM.  

These conferences are structured to be open and flexible in classrooms, where families will wander with their students to discover more about their learning across several disciplines, including literacy, mathematics, and science. These conferences have a flexible nature, and we would like to note the following:    

• each grade will have a window of time for the student led conference (please see table below) 
• there will be multiple families in the classroom at one time   
• teachers will be available to give guidance about the activities in each class  
• we ask that the nature of the conversations center around student learning, rather than a traditional parent-teacher interview  
• ***New this year, there will be a student performance in the gym on Thursday, where students will showcase their science learning from our Trickster residency (please see performance time in the table below) 
• All students are asked to attend for the Thursday evening performance 

Should you have concerns about your child’s progress, always know that you may contact your child’s teacher if you need more time to have a one-on-one parent/teacher meeting. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. 

Maple Ridge Staff 

Upcoming Important Dates 

Trickster Theatre Residency | Mar 16-19 

Maple Ridge is excited to welcome Trickster Theatre to our School from March 16-19 and we are thankful to our Parent Association for making this opportunity possible. 

Trickster Theatre is an artist-in-residency company based in Calgary, Alberta. They tour across Alberta, creating approx. 50+ original shows a year in all kinds of communities based on a theme chosen by the school and developed with the assistance of Trickster. These residencies take place in schools, transforming the gym into a theatre.  

A Trickster Theatre Residency involves the theatre team coming into our school for a week and facilitating staff and students in creating a unique and highly visual theatre. This week of workshops and rehearsals will culminate in a fun and high-energy production. They have been working with schools for over four decades! In that time, they have found that having parent involvement during a residency project greatly enhances the final production. 

There are many ways parents can be involved in a residency – from preparing costumes and making props, to helping the Trickster Team move equipment in and out of the school. 

From March 16-19 Trickster will take over Maple Ridge, and we need your help!  

Stay tuned for a Sign-Up Genius early next week, outlining all the volunteer opportunities.  

iLab Materials Needed 

Thank you for all your donations in the past weeks.  It is greatly appreciated and helps to keep a variety of loose parts, and maker supplies replenished.  If you are willing to donate any of the following materials, please drop them off at the front door (wagon) or send them with your child.    

• Cotton balls, cotton swabs 
• Loose parts - screws, nuts, washers, bolts 
• Small fabric pieces  
• String, ribbon 
• Scraps of fluffy fiberfill or batting 
• Small wood pieces 
• Pipe cleaners 
• Die cut shapes and scraps 
• Paper plates 
• Paper cups in any sizes 
• Tissue papers 
• Chopsticks or disposable wood utensils 
• Tubing 
• Scrap pieces of wire such as twist ties 
• Packing box filler such as crinkle cut paper shred, packing peanuts, etc (please no solid Styrofoam or cardboard molds) 

If you have any questions or think you have something not listed that might be useful to our iLab, please email Ms. Harris at anharris@cbe.ab.ca.    

School Council and Parent Association 

Healthy Hunger - check dates and Friday snack volunteers 

A friendly reminder that fun lunch dates are visible in Healthy Hunger for the remainder of the school year. How can there only be 4 months left?! 

A big thank you to our Friday snack volunteers! If you can help out with May & June dates, we'd really appreciate it! Please find more details and sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805044AA4A92DAAFC1-62492029-friday 

Growing Smiles 

We are excited to bring back Growing Smiles to our MRS families. Order now until April 23rd, 2026, and plants will be available for pick up before May 10th (just in time for Mother’s Day **hint hint**). 

Meet your new School Council and Parent Association representatives on conference night, March 19th! We love hearing from you! Reach us anytime at mapleridgecouncil@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram #followxfollow 

🎵 Notes from the Music Room🎵 

Our room has been filled with singing, moving, creating and playing this week!  

Our listening piece this week was “March of the Torreadors” by Georges Bizet.  Students engaged with this piece by following a melody map where we observed and discussed pattern and form of the music. 

Students have been mesmerized by the gentle folk song “Jenny Jenkins”.  Grade 1 students are learning the melodic pattern and learning to rhyme and sing new verses to the song.  Ask your child to sing a verse of one of the colours!  

Grade 3 students have now learned to make the sweet sounds of B A G on the recorder and are now working towards decoding these notes and rhythms to play new songs.   There are so many things to think about as we try and produce a good tone. Can your child teach you some of these things?  Recorders will go home next week as soon as we touch up a few of our sounds😊. 

Grade 4 students have been working collaboratively in groups to play and sing simple 2 and 3 chord songs on the ukulele.  We celebrated by listening and singing with classmates as they performed for each other.    

🎵🔬 Fun Fact: Did you know… The Black-capped Chickadee changes the number of “dee” notes in its call to warn other birds about danger!