Dear Parent and Guardians,

I spent Tuesday evening with fourteen potential new HCS families. It was exciting to meet them and share the stories our your children and the programs at HCS. Several of the parents mentioned that they had been "invited" by current parents to take a look at our school. I can't thank you enough for getting the word out about this place. Studies have shown that the best marketing effort is a personal invitation. As we work to recruit next year's kindergartners, I would encourage all of you to reach out to a neighbor, colleague, even a Book Club friend, and invite them to visit us at Highland Catholic School.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to for which to be thankful!

Jane Schmidt
Principal

Website Log-in Information
Here is the information you will need to log-onto the current parent side of our new website. Thanks again to Ms. Sairey Gernes and Mrs. Katie Atlas for all of their hard word and vision for our site. I welcome any suggestion or observations. We are trying to put as much information as possible at your fingertips!
username: parent0910
password: abc123

Featured Artists
Congratulations to third grader, Sana Evans, and fifth grader, Phoenix Tschida, whose Young Rembrandt's drawings have been chosen as featured drawings on the YR website this month. You can view their work at http://youngrembrandts.com/emetro-wwis/Gallery.aspx
Sana and Phoenix's work was chosen from hundreds of entries. Nice job!

HCS v. St. Ambrose...Ready, Set, Compute.
This Thursday, 11/19, a group of fifth grade students will be competing in a Math meet at St. Ambrose in Woodbury. The following mathematicians are attending: Bridget Carruth. Abby Becker, Abby Turbenson, Maeve Gimpl, Frances Patt, Danny Bielinski, Tommy Torbert, Parker Reddig and Marko Jurkovich. We will be well represented!

Cat and Dog First Aid
Grades 5-8: Be prepared to help your favorite animal in an emergency. Learn first aid, rescue, breathing and other skills, including how to protect yourself.
Instructor: D. Brock
Course# 5541-F09AA
Location 
St. Anthony Park Elem., 2180 Knapp Street
Date /  Time / Day(s) Sat., Dec 12 8:30a-12:30p
Sessions 1
Fee $50

To register, call the Youth Program Office at Saint Paul Community Education, 651-487-7383.

Share the Sprit
This is a lovely family idea. When you are writing out your Christmas cards this year, please include one to the following:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington D.C. 20307-5001
A thoughtful note of appreciation and Christmas blessings accompanied by a student's artwork would mean a great deal.

Religious Visitors
Sister Jill Underdahl, CSJ, will be sharing about her life as a religious Sister of St. Joseph with the 8th graders as part of a unit on monasticism in 8th grade Religion. Sister Jill is a young, vibrant member of her community who will be taking the time to talk about monasticism in general, her day to day life as a sister, and answering any questions the 8th graders might have for her.

Seminarian Peter Akugudu spent time with our 6th graders this week discussing the liturgical year and the upcoming Advent season.

Extra Innings Alert
Parents interested in using our Extra Innings Schoolcare Program next Wednesday, before Thanksgiving, must register by Friday at 3:00 p.m. Alert: Parents who register will be notified if we fall short of the necessary number of students on Friday afternoon. We hope to have strong numbers to make this available.

Looking for a Little Break?
We are still excepting registration for the annual "Leave it to the Elves" event on Dec. 5th, from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The day includes all kinds of fun and Christmas crafts. Sounds like winner! Contact Jennifer Seger with any questions, j.seger@highlandcatholic.org

Thanks to everyone who purchases SCRIP.
The Home and School Committee has granted the following teacher wishes to be purchased with SCRIP funds. Wish list items include: elmo cameras, CD player, digital cameras, computer speakers, mounted projector, refurbished iPod touch with applications to early reading, writing materials, classroom set of Bibles, Advent booklets, teaching centers, Wordman residency, classroom dictionaries and reference materials. Wow! Christmas has come early. Thanks to all.

During a recent "walk-around," I caught this fine group of first graders hard at work in the Resource Room with Mrs. Carol Broadnax. They were sailing through a great action-packed smartboard game on skip counting!

This recipe is from Angela Messer, winner of the 8-1 Homeroom Bake-Off. You will want to try this one!
Caramel Apple Pizza

Ingredients:
Four cooking apples thinly sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup of sugar
1 c. chopped nuts
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 3oz package of cream cheese/softened (you might want to use a bit more.)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package thawed frozen puff pastry
Caramel Syrup
½ c. plus 2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. corn syrup
2 tbsp. margarine or butter
1 tsp rum extract or vanilla
1/3 c. whipping cream

Heat brown sugar, corn syrup and butter to boiling in 1quart saucepan over med. heat, stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes. Stir constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in whipping cream and vanilla/rum extract. This thickens quickly, use low heat and stir frequently.

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Line two cookie sheets with an edge with foil/parchment
Or use larger pie tins
3. Prepare caramel syrup
4. Toss apples in lemon juice in med bowl
5. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg
6. Beat cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer until fluffy
7. Beat in egg and vanilla on medium speed until blended
8. Roll each sheet of pastry into 10 inch square on lined sheet
9. Cut into 10 inch circle. Place scraps in center and roll into pastry
10. Spread ½ of cream cheese mixture over each pie.
11. Arrange apple slices on circles. Sprinkle with nuts. Drizzle ¼ of caramel syrup over each circle
12. Bake 25-30 minutes or until puffy and golden. Pour remaining syrup over
Pizzas. Serve Hot!