Hi-lites week of Christmas
Cheers to 2021!
Merry Christmas from Highland Catholic School!
A few things:
1. After Christmas, there will be an email with a link to a Quick Response Form regarding learning plans for the New Year. Thanks for completing this form.
2. January 4-8 will be a week of Distance Learning.
3. January 11th, we will be offering in-person learning to Preschool - 8th. We will continue to offer Distance Learning for K-8 and Subscription Service for Preschoolers.
4. We are tightening up the drop off time. We would like the last group of students to arrive at 8:30 a.m. We have our arrival routines down pat and no longer need that full hour to move students safely into the building. This will allow for more instruction time, too. Students may be dropped off from 7:45-8:25 a.m. Thank you.
5. We will re-send you the new Decision Tree from the MDH. We will move to using the ten day quarantine instead of the 14 day. Please remember if your child is exposed and quarantining with a club or outside activity, they should NOT attend school. Air travel still calls for a ten day quarantine period. Also, if someone in your household is waiting for Covid-19 test results, all students in your household should stay home from school.
6. Highland Catholic School will request the testing materials from the State of MN for volunteer testing of all faculty/staff every other week.
7. Please continue to keep students home if they have a fever or any symptoms of Covid-19. It will make our building healthier.
8. If you are a college graduate and are interested in serving as a substitute teacher at Highland Catholic School in the upcoming months. Please contact Jane Schmidt at j.schmidt@highlandcatholic.org for training information. Thank you.
Our goal is to provide in-person learning as long as it is safe to do so. It is challenging to maintain instruction in-person if a large number of faculty and staff are out of the building quarantining. Let's work together to keep cases out of the building. We welcome any of your suggestions.
Stay well and cheers to a New Year!
Message from our Friends at AgraCulture Kitchen
Hope this message finds you well!
I just wanted to reach out to let you know the promotion that we are currently offering at all of our Agra locations and see if it'd interest any Highland Catholic staff or families. We appreciate take-out is a popular option nowadays and I figured just sending you this quick note may spark some interest. We would love for you to pass this message along to everyone at Hi-C!
Please see below --
Agra Culture Kitchen - December Gift Card Promotion
· Buy $ 100 Gift Card - Receive $ 20 Gift Card for Free
· Buy $ 50 Gift Card - Receive $ 10 Gift Card for Free
**Offer runs through 12/31
Welcoming a new Baby Brother! The Kruegers are happy to snuggle Baby Hawkins just in time for Christmas. Congratulations. | Distance Learning in the North Country We are excited to see our students engaged in school work at the lake! | Time for Physical Education Class Just hit the ice! |
Upcoming Dates
Distance Learning Resumes - Jan. 4th-8th
In-Person School Resumes for Preschool - 8th - January 11th
Kindergarten Virtual Open House Jan. 5th
Highschool Placement Test at HiC Jan. 23rd at 9 a.m.
Catholic Schools Week at the end of the Month

Old Saint Nick Look who popped into a Kindergarten Meet last Friday! | Christmas Spirit Preschool Director Kassy Kenney was decked out for the Holiday Season! | Looking Sharp! Mrs. Susan Kammueller wowed the preschoolers with her Christmas duds. |
Readers Theatre Many of us were treated to a Christmas Readers Theatre produced by our 5th grade Language Arts classes under the direction of Ms. Emily Boyle. I enjoyed hearing two sessions of "The Night Before Christmas," with great delivery. Certainly helped put me in the mood for Christmas! | First Grade Team The First Grade Team had a special drive by event for their wonderful students before the Christmas break. It was a great opportunity to notice missing teeth in those BIG smiles! | One of Santa's Elves This preschool was ready to go to work in Santa's Workshop! |
Readers Theatre
First Grade Team
Toy Drive This group of socially minded 7th graders organized a toy collection for a local school during distance learning. Way to make a difference. | Advent Festival This crew was tasked with hanging family ornaments during our Advent Festival. The decorations were amazing. | Christmas Display Our neighbors enjoyed our trees symbols of everlasting life and joy! |
Toy Drive
Advent Festival
Night Time Glow Just beautiful. We will attempt to return your ornaments after the New Year. Sadly, the wind took a few of them. | Did You Find Yours? It was challenging to find your family's ornament amidst all of the hundreds on the trees. | Mrs Broadnax If you know Mrs. Broadnax, our Enrichment Teacher, you know Boston Terriers are her thing. Her pup Bart would agree. |
Night Time Glow
We will attempt to return your ornaments after the New Year. Sadly, the wind took a few of them.
Did You Find Yours?
Christmas Cheer Mrs. Skold conducted Friday's classes dressed in the spirit of Christmas. Students did an amazing job with distance learning and we will have one more week from Jan. 4-8. And then return to in-person learning on the 11th. | Book FairThe Red Balloon book fair was the biggest sale yet! We bought over $4,100 in books which gives our school a little over $800 in store credit. This is the perfect gift to our classrooms this holiday season. Thank you to all who supported the Book Fair - we hope you enjoy your new reads! |
Christmas Cheer
Students did an amazing job with distance learning and we will have one more week from Jan. 4-8. And then return to in-person learning on the 11th.

News from our Home and School Committee
If you weren't able to attend the recent December 16th Parent Seminar session on kids and social media, then you can still review the information that was discussed! And you can also sign up for the January 14 book club expanding on the technology topic.
Here are links to the discussed videos and presentation points:
1. 47min Video including Q&A "We've Been Sneaking Into Your Brains" by Max Stossel, Head of Education at the Center for Humane Technology.
COVID RELATED MESSAGE (149) Digital Well-Being Guidelines for Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic - YouTube
COORESPONDING RESOURCE LINK: Digital Well-Being Guidelines for Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic (humanetech.com)
2. Learn more about the Wait Until 8th Campaign as highlighted on this segment of The Today Show. Highland Catholic would like to inform parents about the Wait Until 8th pledge as it empowers parents to rally together to delay giving children a smartphone (basic phones ok) until at least 8th grade.
By banding together, pressure felt by kids and parents alike is decreased. If necessary for keeping in touch with your child before 8th grade, basic phones and other gadgets are options. They offer avenues for calls and texts without a data plan.
How does the pledge work? By signing the online pledge, you promise not to give your child a smartphone until at least 8th grade as long as at least 10 families from your child’s grade and school pledge. Once 10 families have pledged, you will be notified that the pledge is in effect! You will receive an email along with the other parents from your grade and school that sign the pledge when the pledge goes into effect. Your information will not be made public on the site. For more information, review the FAQ's here: https://www.waituntil8th.org/faqs
Childhood is too short to spend on a smartphone. Take the pledge today!
3. We hope you will join us for the follow up session on Thursday January 14th at 7pm. Click here for details and to RSVP. We are looking forward to the Book Club Style discussion on Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology by Diana Graber.
Questions? Reach Hi-C Home and School Rep Jordan Quayle at 320-493-4330 or jordanmariequayle@gmail.com