Last Hi-lites of the year!  It's been a great one!

Dear Parent and Guardians,

It amazes me that we are closing out this school year.  It has been an outstanding year.  I have seen tremendous growth in our students and we are launching a fabulous group of 8^th graders.  I want to thank everyone for their continued support of our parish school.  We could not do our work without the help of our school families.  We make a great team!

On a personal note, I want to thank you for your continued prayers for my health.  I can't tell you how great it is to feel good again.  I know it sounds "goofy" to say this, but I love coming to school everyday...except perhaps when it is 90 degrees!

Have a wonderful summer.  Stop in and visit anytime. 

See you at the closing prayer service on Wedneday at 2:00 p.m.

Jane Schmidt
Principal

A Little Note from Archbishop Neinstedt

Dear Jane,

I am grateful to you for your recent note of May 14, 2010, and the gift of the CD just published by your Catholic school choir.

I, too, am looking forward to my school visit on October 13. I very much look forward to hearing the choir in person.

With every good wish for a successful end of the academic year, I remain

Cordially yours in Christ
The Most Reverend John C. Neinstedt

Fond Farewell

We wish our 8^th graders success on the new leg of their educational journey.  Our graduates will be attending the Academy of Holy Angels, Cretin-Derham Hall, Highland Senior High, Convent of the Visitation and Sibley High School.  At first blush, it appears that 92% of our graduates will be enrolled in an upper level Spanish course as freshmen.  The other 8% have indicated they will begin a new foreign language as part of the coursework.  I would like to congratulate them on their success in the language placement exams.

 New Friends in Knoxville

Our Destination Imagination Team is competing today in Knoxville at 11:30 a.m.  The girls have been busy meeting our competitors from around the world and exchanging pins.  We know they are making us proud with both their creativity and positive energy!

Garden Club News

Watch for fresh radishes and lettuce from our HCS garden at the end-of-the-year picnic.  Yes, the Garden Club is already harvesting produce.  (Some of us don't even have our seeds in the ground yet.)

We would love to plant some rhubarb in our garden.  If you can spare a bit, please give the office a call, or send it to school.  Mmmm....just thinking about a little jam.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 7^th.  The new farmer's market in Highland Park will be sponsored by the HCS Garden Club on that date.  We will feature some of our produce and be ambassadors for the market.  Hope to see many of our families there.

The kinders have just hatched dozens of Painted Lady Butterflies, which will be released in the garden today.  It is an amazing lesson to see the transformations right before your eyes!

The fifth graders enjoyed a Scavenger Hunt in the garden under the direction of coordinator, Sandy Gross.  They used the information on seed packets to locate all sorts of treasures.  Many of the grades have been spending time outside learning the wonders of the garden.  We can't quite remember what it was like without this resource.

I hope you will stroll by the garden all summer.  Help yourself to a cherry tomato or a snip of herbs.

Real Math

First graders raided their toy boxes and brought treasure to the Great First Grade Garage Sale.  Items were all tagged for sale and the children each had an envelope of "pretend" money to spend on "new" treasures.  Transactions involved counting change and managing your budget. The students were assisted by lovely 7^th grade cashiers.

Upcoming Events:

Registration Packets are due.  Thanks for filling out all of those colorful forms.

Friday              Last Day for 8^th graders

Tuesday           Graduation Breakfast 8 a.m., Mass 7 p.m., followed by Reception

Wednesday      Out-of-Uniform for Everyone!

                        Last Day of School

                        Closing Prayer Service at 2 p.m.

                        Students will be dismissed from classrooms at 2:50 p.m.

                        Picnic at Hillcrest Park 5-7 p.m.

Enjoy Summer!

Tuition Contracts are due by June 15^th.  If you use ACH (and we love it if you do), please indicate on the back of the contract if we are to continue using the same bank information that we had used this year.  Thanks.

 

Hi-lites week of May 20, 2010

Lunch News!   Hot Lunch ends on Friday, May 29^th.

The HIVE closes on Friday, May 29^th.  Your child will have to bring a lunch (made at home) for both Tuesday, June 1^st and Wed., June 2^nd.

PUT A GIANT NOTE ON THE REFRIGERATOR! 

Thanks to our wonderful lunch volunteers.  It's been a great year.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I recently attended a Theology Day sponsored by St. John's University.  The topic was excellence in ministry and what makes an excellent parish.  It was intriguing.  Fr. Paul and I were scribbling notes like mad. 

One theme that continues to circle in my thoughts is this notion of "A Radical Welcome."  To truly be a place of excellence, people must continually look for ways to make space for new members.  So we are charged to constantly make a space at the table, create space in our various committees and groups, make effort after effort to invite new people to our community.  We can get very comfortable being with the old familiar group, but the Holy Spirit can empower us to break circles and show interest in other people.  I have always found Highland Catholic School to be a very welcoming place.  It is exciting to think about how much more welcoming we can be!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the End-of-the-Year Picnic.  What a perfect setting to practice a radical welcome!

Jane Schmidt
Principal

Extra Innings will close at 5 p.m. on the last day of school, June 2^nd.  That way our staff and all students will be able to enjoy the fun at the end-of-the-year picnic!

More Summer Fun

Highland Catholic School has 32 season passes to Como Town left after our Swing event to sell for $30 each.  The pass is good for admission to Como Town for the entire 2010 season. Quite a value if you enjoy Como Zoo with your family.  Please send a check to school made out to Highland Catholic with Como Town pass in the memo line.

Interested in Helping? Interested in Being Out-of-Uniform on Tuesday?

LCCC will be hosting Families Moving Forward the week of July 11^th.  It is always a challenge to have the goodies needed to make lunches for the families.  HCS Students who bring lunch box items on Tuesday, May 25^th, may be out of uniform for the day.  We are hoping for all of those

pre-packaged items like pudding,  crackers, fruit roll-ups, etc.  Thanks for helping.

Helpful Eyeballs

Remember to call the Non-emergency number for the Saint Paul Police Department if you see skateboards or people loitering on our church and school grounds. The phone number is 291-1111.

Honoring our Veterans on Memorial Day

Recently some of our fifth graders wrote letters of appreciation to veterans in our parish community.  Here are two heart-felt replies to those students from the vets.

To the Principal of Highland Catholic School,

I recently received a very thoughtful and touching note from a fifth grader, Abigail, thanking me for my military service.  It was such a surprise and is so meaningful for Memorial Day.  I am very proud of my service in the U.S. Army.

Please pass on my thanks to Abigail.  Thank you also for starting this project.

Sincerely,

Karla Wagner

Major (Retired)

U.S. Army

My Dear Will,

I can hardly express my gratitude for your nice commendation on my service to our country.  I was pleased and honored to be called to serve and go where I was sent and do as I was told, and return to my home in good health and life a long and comfortable life.

Thanks for your concern,

Sincerely,

Bob McLean

Win a Night out of the Kitchen

Watch for the raffle tickets coming home to support our global Destination Imagination Team.  Tickets are being sold now and until the picnic concludes at 7 p.m., when the winners will be announced.  Tickets are $1/each or 6/$5.  Prizes include: a $25 certificate to Louisiana Café (Great Breakfast) and 8 Chipotle Meals (2 burritos/guacamole/chips/two fountain drinks).

Our winning D.I. Team leaves for Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday the 25^th.  They will compete on Thursday and Friday.  You can watch the awards streaming live at www.globalfinals.org  Good luck!

Fore!

Fifth grader, Parker Reddig, represented HCS in the CAA golf tournament on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day for golf, and Parker shot an impressive 32!

The Beatles, Doors, Jefferson Airplane...

Correction:  Last week's Hi-lites listed the wrong era of music for the Family Feud event in Performing Arts on Tuesday, May 25^th.  Students will compete against parents'/teachers' knowledge of music from the 60's.

New Sacristans

We would like to acknowledge and thank our new sacristans for school masses for the 2010-11 school year:  Allisa Ellingson, Erin Gallagher, E.J. Peris and Joe Evans.  They were chosen for their leadership and responsibility.  Thank you.

Music in the Air

The Highland Catholic School Beginning Band invites everyone to a very short concert on Wednesday, May 26^th, at 10:15 a.m. in the school cafeteria.  Thanks to Director Mrs. Buffy Larson and the students for their hard work this year.

Special Thanks from Team Drew

Tony and I just wanted to send a personal thank you to all the families that donated to CCRF and Team Drew.  We are deeply touched and humbled by your generosity.  All our spare change totaled just shy of $1000, pushing Team Drew over their goal.  We appreciate all the donations, prayers and friendship you have provided to our entire family, as we continue on Drew's path to be cancer free.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!  

Tony, Heidi, Jack & Drew

PS. Watch the blog at the end of June for a video of Team Drew in action: http://www.drewgiuliani.blogspot.com/.

Alumni News

• I hope you read the great article on alum, Erica Dombro, a junior on Highland Park Senior High's track team. She is ready to once again break records as the Class AA state champion in the 400. I remember her being fast in kindergarten.

A Lovely Legend

From Izzy Griffin's first grade animal report:  An old British story tries to explain why the Robin has a red breast.  The story has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the Robin, then only brown in color, flew to Jesus' side and sang into his ear, to comfort him in his pain.  The blood from his wounds stained the Robin's breast, and now all Robins have the mark of Christ's blood upon them.  (You can find other animal reports on the first grade blog.)

Tuition is all due at this time.  Thanks for your attention to this.

Dates to Remember

Sunday, May 23          Choir/Band Concert in cafeteria 4 p.m.

Tuesday, May 25        Bring Lunchbox Items and Come out of Uniform

                                    Family Feud

                                    State Cakes for Lunch

                                    Kindergarten Potluck

Friday, May 28           Last Day for our 8^th Graders  L

Monday, May 31        Memorial Day - No School

Tuesday, June 1          Graduation Breakfast, Mass and Reception

                                    Fourth Grade River Trip

Wednesday, June 2     Last Day!  Field Day fun in morning for Grades K-4

                                    Prayer Service at 2 p.m. Students will be dismissed from classrooms.

                                    Please join us!

                                    Extra Innings closes at 5 p.m.

                                    End-of-the-year Picnic 5-7 p.m.

Take Me out to the Ball Game

Several HCS parents have expressed an interest in earning additional money toward their school tuition by working at the concession stands at Target Field, Xcel Arena and the University of Minnesota's new stadium.  We have information about this program, The Pioneer Foundation for the Performing Arts, in the school office.  Please contact Peggy Gernes for application forms.  We have an inside connection too, as Rob Petersen's (our phy.ed. teacher) mother is the creator and director of this program.  Check it out!

Responsive Classroom

I have witnessed so many wonderful Morning Meetings during my "walk-arounds" each day in the building.  I asked fourth grader, Shea O'Rourke to share his perceptions with Hi-lites.

Room 1 Morning Meeting

by Shea OʼRourke

Every morning we start our day by reading our morning message from Mrs. Diffatte, and do whatever the message tells us to do that day. Sometimes we write something, or write our names, or draw something special for someoneʼs birthday. Then we are excused from our desks to bring our chairs into the cafeteria, where we form a circle and start our morning meeting. Lately we have been doing our morning meeting outside because itʼs been so nice out.

There are three things we do at our meetings: the greeting, share, and activity. For greeting we mostly greet each other with some special way to say hello. One fun way we greet each other is do a dance type greeting or cheer, where we all say, "1,2,3,4, Come on (studentʼs name), hit the floor. Weʼre so glad youʼre here today. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" While we do that the person goes into the middle can dance around or act goofy, or do whatever they want to do.

After the greeting, we do share. We share stuff about ourselves with the rest of the class, like about our families, what we did on vacation, what we ate for breakfast, where we are going on summer vacation, or sometimes we share just one word. Sometimes we do joke share. We get to know a lot about each other during share.

After share we do our activity. That is most peopleʼs favorite part of morning meeting. For activity we play fun games or do other activities. One of my favorite games is North- South-East-West, which is also like 4 Corners. One person is in the middle and closes his eyes and counts to 10, while everybody else runs to 4 sides in the cafeteria. Then the person in the middle calls one of the sides, and that side is out of the game. We play until only one person is left. It is a very fun game.

Morning meeting is one of my favorite parts of the day.

Art Displays

You may want to stop into school to see the beautiful three-dimensional work that is on display in the cafeteria.  The presentation features weaving, masks, clay figures and other student pieces.  I would like to thank HCS art teachers, Jeanne Engel and Alice Stahlman, for their excellent work this year.  Look for the self-portraits of our graduating eighth graders on display in the hallway of LCCC.  The likenesses are so amazing.  It makes me miss them already!

HCS Choir CD

The new choir CD is lovely.  I have been enjoying it during my commute and frankly, I no longer care how long I sit in traffic.  The students' voices are as clear as a bell!  I couldn't resist putting one of the CDs into the mail for Archbishop Neinstedt.  He will hear them in person on October 13^th.  If you are interested in owning a copy, please send $20 to the school office.  You will be glad you did!

Hi-lites week of May 13^th, 2010

Dear Parents and Guardians,

A week of rain can test the soul of even the most experienced teacher-too many days of inside recess!  We are praying for a spot of sunshine.

These are busy times as we end the school year.  At the same time we are also gearing up for the start of a new one.  Thanks to the success of Swing 2010, the hard work of Bill Elmquist, our Business Administrator and the advice of LCCC Finance Chair, Jim Kleinberg, I have submitted a 2010-11 budget to Fr. Paul Feela for his approval.  I anticipate having all of the information for our new tuition contracts by next week.

This is not the timetable that we would like to have for setting tuition, but there are many factors involved, particularly establishing the parish subsidy for the support of Highland Catholic School.  These are hard times and I appreciate the hard work and visioning of the leadership at LCCC in providing the same level of support for our school as in years past.

Please look for contracts to come home next week and it would be great to have them signed and in hand before that fabulous end-of-the-year picnic.

Jane Schmidt
Principal

Schools Unite for Good Health!

Tomorrow, Friday morning, our second grade teachers, Judy Litecky and Molly Nelson will be leading our school representatives on the second annual "Relay Walk" to promote health and fitness at area schools.  Students from Highland Elementary and Middle School will be handing off the baton to our students:  Michael Tipping, Mimi Lynch, George Brenzel, Alyssa Ellingson, Nathan Rowley, Georgia Nelson, Patrick Rosemark and Austin Sheperd.

The HCS crew will carry the baton straight down Kenneth to Horace Mann Elementary School.  If you are in the neighborhood, be sure to honk and wave in encouragement.  Thanks to our Physical Education teacher, Rob Petersen, for organizing this healthy effort.

Picnic Fun on the Horizon

Don't miss the annual End-of-the-Year Picnic at Hillcrest Park on Wednesday, June 2^nd from 5-7 p.m.  Our wonderful Home and School will provide a delicious hotdog/brat meal with all of the fixings for only $2/kid and $3/adult.  The inflatable has been ordered and our prayers are for sunny weather.  Come and visit with students, teachers, and other parents as we celebrate the end of a wonderful school year.

 Tuition Payments

At this time, all tuition is due.  Please give this your immediate attention. 

VBS College Staff Needed!

Are you a college student? Do you like working with kids and praising God? Are you looking for a bit of extra cash? Have we got the plan for you!!  We are currently looking to hire 3 more college staff to help us run the Vacation Bible School program this summer. You would need to be available to help with training dates (June 8, 10, 12, & 15), prep work (June 14-18), and VBS week (June 21-25). If you are interested in being considered for a college staff position, please contact Lindsey Swanson, at 651.699/1378 x3008 by Friday, May 28 at Noon!

Lunch News

Please submit all payments for outstanding lunches by Friday, May 21^st.  We want to close out those accounts.  Also, any balance remaining on a student HIVE card will be carried forward to next fall.  Eighth graders spend those cards down!

And about next year, we will be offering larger denominations ($20 and $50 amounts) for hive cards and encourage "family" cards to be used among siblings, rather than individual ones.  (This should help the line go a little quicker!)  Also, because that line is sometimes lengthy, we are asking that your kids bring money (& checks) for new cards to the office, rather than the lunchroom.  The card will be ready for them in the lunchroom that day.  We LOVE that HIVE.

Here are some of those important reminders for this time of the year:

1.  Spring Picture orders are due in the office by Friday, May 14th
2.  Please pay any outstanding hot lunch / tuition accounts.
3.  Please RSVP if you are coming to the Spring Band / Choir concert on May 23rd.
4.  Please return all Extra Innings forms for next year, and especially, summer registrations.We need those numbers are in order to order T-shirts and plan field trips.
5.  All Library Books are due back by May 21^st.  Look under those beds.

Date Night??

There is still room in the Babysitting Night being sponsored by Destination Imagination at Highland Catholic.  You can enjoy a night out while leaving your pre-school-fifth grade children for their own evening of fun in the Hi-C gym.

We have loads of fun activities planned--guaranteed to tire them out!

 The date is this Friday, May 14th from 6:30-10 PM

Cost is $15 per child or $25 per family. 

For  more information, contact Carol Broadnax at c.broadnax@highlandcatholic.org

Financial Aid

Families in need of tuition assistance for the upcoming school year are required to complete a TADS application.  Directions for this online application are available from Peggy Gernes in the school office.  Those applications need to be submitted before June 1^st.  Thank you.

 Solo Festival

Congratulations and good luck to our 6^th graders, who are performing in the Band Solo Festival tomorrow.  Our musical participants are Jackie Radford, Sam Carlen, Emily Kinne, and Kate Grumbles.  A judge will be here to grade their musicianship.

Upcoming Dates:

Friday, May 14^th         -Egg Drop on Kenneth Lawn - approximately 1:00 p.m.

                                    -7^th Graders leave for Concordia Language Camp

Saturday, May 15^th      - Ramsey County Garden Club Plant Sale in our cafeteria

Monday, May 17^th      -8^th Graders leave for their camping trip

                                    -Parent Support Group, for Parents with Children with Learning Differences

                                     7 p.m. in School Library All are welcome.

                                    -8^th graders essays for Home and School Scholarships are due

Tuesday, May 18^th      -Fr. Paul celebrates Mass with 8^th grade campers

                                    -School Patrol Picnic

Wednesday, May 19^th -All School Mass at Noon   Please join us for this last Mass of this school year.  The kinders will be leading our celebration.

Thursday, May 20^th     -Third grade to Gibbs Farm

                                    -Group of 6^th graders visit Dead Sea Scrolls

Friday, May 21^st          -Fifth Graders visit Minnesota History Center

Sunday, May 23^rd       -Choir and Band Concert in HCS cafeteria - Please R.S.V.P. to school Tuesday, May 25^th  -Seventh Graders challenge parents and faculty in knowledge of music of the 60's, 70's and 80's - Rock on!

                                    -Kindergarten Potluck in Cafeteria

Friday, May 28^th         -Last Day for 8^th Graders

Monday, May 31^st       -Memorial Day-No School

Tuesday, June 1^st         -Graduation Breakfast and rehearsal

                                    -Graduation Mass at 7 p.m. followed by reception in Community Room

Wednesday, June 2^nd   -Last day of the 2009-10 school year

                                    -Prayer service at 2 p.m.

                                    -Students will be dismissed from classrooms at 2:50 p.m.

                                    -Picnic from 5-7 p.m. at Hillcrest

Thursday, June 3^rd      -Faculy Inservice Day

                                    -SUMMER!

Report cards for all grades will be mailed out during the second week of June.  Class assignments for next year will be in the mail in August.  We do have new students joining us in many grades.  Please let me know if you would be willing to host a play date for a new student to meet some classmates during the summer months.  Send me a note at j.schmidt@highlandcatholic.org  Thanks.