Holy Family School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Guardians:

I hope this message finds you well and that you are enjoying the early signs of spring! As the school year is coming to an end, our minds and hearts are filled with pride. I am grateful to be a part of such a remarkable community of students, parents & staff. It has been a wonderful year filled with many blessings!

We have so much to look forward to in May. It is filled with many activities, field trips, the Kindergarten Mother’s Day Program, and Sixth-Grade graduation, to name a few. Please read the newsletter for more information and other important dates. You can also refer to our school website for updated school calendars, staff updates, newsletters, etc.

Reflecting on the past school year, we have had many great memories and exciting events to reflect on. We continued many successful traditions such as our book fair, all-school rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplets, monthly Little World Changer assemblies, Caring About People (CAP), Godchild Bowling, Heroes for Hunger, Workathon, Springfest and many more heartfelt memories. Our students enjoyed all of these activities!

Looking ahead, we have some exciting initiatives at HFS for the upcoming year. We will continue implementing Believe and Read, a new reading curriculum based on the Science of Reading. This program will be integrated into the 3rd grade next year, along with specialized coaching for teachers and Academic Interventionists. We have had excellent results with our K - 2 grades thus far! We can’t wait to see continued growth!

We will also implement a new math curriculum for K-6 called Sadlier in the fall. This will replace our current Envisions program. Teachers will receive training in the fall. Several projects related to capital campaign updates and grants will also take place over the summer months. Please see the details below for more information.

For the upcoming school year, teachers who were interested in an open area were given the opportunity to request a different grade level. After teacher discussions and requests, the following teacher moves will be taking place in the 2024-2025 shool year:

• Missy Johnson moving from 3rd grade to 6th grade with new hire, Riley Kampsen
• Annette Feist moving from 6th grade to 5th grade with new hire, Nicole Kortan
• Megan VanHavemaet moving from phy-ed/computer to 3rd grade
• New hire, Macy Hanson for Physical Education/Health

Please go to www.holyfamilysc.org to see some of our staffing updates.

We are also very excited to have 5 staff members who will be offering math and reading tutoring services at Holy Family School for two weeks in both June and August. If you are interested, click the picture below and complete a short survey so that we can plan accordingly. Formal registration and signup information will come at a later date.

Finally, students will be coming home on the last day of school with their report cards indicating their promotion to the next grade. Like last year, full-class rosters will not be sent home with every student on the last day of school. Instead, in early August, teachers will send their “Welcome Back” letter through a JMC communication to their new 2024-2025 families.

I want to express my gratitude to all of our students, families, and staff for their continued dedication and resilience throughout the past months. Your support and cooperation have been invaluable in ensuring a safe and enriching learning environment for everyone. As we dive into our last testing period, please continue to support and encourage your children to do their best when it comes to testing.

Thank you once again for your continued partnership. I look forward to all May has in store for us as we conclude another successful school year. May God bless you and keep you safe and healthy over the summer.

Blessings,

Ms. Otte

Thank you to all those who have donated to our Capital Campaign! Your generosity is allowing us to begin working on some much needed building projects including:

• Locker Installation - first and second grade floor
• Security Upgrade - installation of interior and exterior cameras and key fobs
• Boiler - new burner
• Kitchen - new stove and hood installation

We are still in need of Capital Campaign dollars to complete all of our much-needed building projects. If you want to donate to this campaign, scroll down in this newsletter and click on the button for the donation page. Thank you!

The fun activities for kids to do each day can be found below.

As always, we encourage parents/guardians to be involved in their child(ren)’s education. We encourage parent involvement with parent representation across all grade levels. That said, there are three opportunities for parents to participate in the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). We are looking for parent representation from the following grade levels: Kindergarten, first, and second. The committee meets five (5) times a year and plays a vital role in supporting our school and achieving positive outcomes for students.

We want to extend a special thanks to the parents who have contributed in ways small, large, and unimaginable! Thank you for the vital partnership between home and school. We appreciate all you do daily for our school and our children!

A special thanks to you, the parents who have contributed in ways small, large, and unimaginable! Thank you for the vital partnership between home and school. We appreciate all you do daily for our school and our children!

For taking so much time the past couple of months to help declutter and reorganize several areas within the school building.

Thank you to the following parents who are volunteering to be a part of our Fall Dinner planning committee!

LARKs (Ladies Acts of Random Kindness): Malissa Dold is part of this group, which meets at the beginning of each month. Members donate money to support local businesses and the community. In April, Holy Family School was selected to receive a donation to support structured literacy programming. The funds will support our Believe and Read Curriculum, which is structured literacy based on the Science of Reading. Thank you so much for supporting our reading program!!

Thanks to the support of our parents, volunteers, and community members, Holy Family School truly is a special place. Thank you to the Parent Advisory and Marketing Committee for supporting our students and staff this past year. You are a fantastic group of people, and everything you do is greatly appreciated!

Thank You to all the parents who have brought in treats for the staff at HFS. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

Vacation Bible School for this year's K - 5 students will take place at Centre for Christ.

To sign up for VBS, go to: https://parishesontheprairie.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/32/responses/new

Totus Tuus is open to all students in grades K - 12.
To register for Totus Tuus, go to: https://parishesontheprairie.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/37/responses/new

HFS Endowment Golf Tournament - Friday, June 7

• The annual Holy Family School Endowment Golf Outing will be held on Friday, June 7, 2024, a change from previous years. There will be a shotgun start at the Lynx Golf Course. You can play 9 or 18 holes of golf, along with great prizes and dinner. More information will be coming soon! Come out for fun and camaraderie while supporting Holy Family School.

August/Fall Dinner will be moving to September - Saturday, September 7

• The August Dinner date has been changed to Saturday, September 7, 2024, at Diamond Point. It will be an evening filled with food, fun, and laughter. A comedian will provide entertainment after dinner. More information will follow as the date approaches.

Below are the April Little World Changer Recipients for being cooperative in the month of April.

Back row from left: Karsten Saltmarsh (6), Elizabeth Friedrichs (6), Emma Frank (5) & Joseph Stepan (5)

Middle row from left: Ms. Otte, Linus Dunn (Genesis Enterpreneurship Contest Award Recipient), Holly Hokanson (4), Caleb Herickhoff (4), Jay Wilber (3), Landon Wiese (3)

Front row from left: Greta Rudnicki (2), Nolan Stepan (2), Ellie Bayer (1), Evie Radjenovich (2), Mackenzie Jestus (K) & Elin Nelson (K)

Your children are discussing what being a good citizen is this month in our character lessons. We want them to understand that there are many levels of citizenship from school to the world, but that the ways we identify a good citizen are similar in every situation. Having a good work ethic, being law-abiding and patriotic, and serving others in our communities are the main facets we are covering. We are also pointing out that citizenship is a great and desirable responsibility that can be honored to have in this great country of ours.

Citizenship is defined as the sense of belonging to a community and having the rights and responsibilities that come with it. A United States citizen will have different citizenship rights and responsibilities compared to a member of the classroom. Either way, if you are a citizen, you participate in the activities of the place that you are a citizen of and help it grow and take care of each other. There are five noteworthy characteristics of a good citizen: honesty, compassion, respect, responsibility, and pride.

At Holy Family School, we have learned all of these traits during the school year. Students talk about pride in our country during Veterans Day, complete service projects throughout the year, and learn about good citizens in our community, like police officers, firefighters, and servicemen, to name a few. When we hear good examples from real life, we should use those to help inspire children to be the same.

Another great way to reinforce this character trait with your children is to remind them of our national holiday, July 4th, on which we celebrate our country’s freedom. This helps them associate citizenship with fun and other pleasant activities so that it is not just all hard work and service. Being a good citizen in our school, community, and country is truly an honor and privilege for all of us. When we teach our children to understand and appreciate this we are giving a lifelong gift of appreciation for their own heritage.

CentraCare – Sauk Centre, in partnership with the Sauk Centre Police Department, Sauk Centre Lions and Sauk Centre Legion, are planning their annual Sauk Centre Bike Rodeo event for Kids ages 4-12 and their families. This event is going to take place that the Sauk Centre Arena from 4-6 p.m. May 14.

We are continually updating our school website with important information while also providing you access to our monthly newsletters, school calendars, lunch/breakfast menus, JMC resources and more! To be brought directly to our school website, click the picture above (or go to www.holyfamilysc.org) then click the "Current Families" tab.

NOTE: When viewing the website from a mobile device, you have to click the hamburger menu in the upper left hand corner then click the drop-down arrow next to "Current Families".

To stay informed of everything happening at HFS, follow us on Facebook.

In addition to Facebook, please watch page 3 of the the Sauk Centre Herald every week to read up on spotlight events in the school. We are very thankful to our sponsors for giving us this space in the weekly newspaper.

We are continually updating our school website (www.holyfamilysc.org). Under the "Current Families" tab, a link to the JMC login page has been added along with a page for families to gain access to different resources and FAQ's regarding the JMC Family Portal and the JMC Family App. Please continue to check the website for other updated documents. We appreciate and welcome feedback on how we can offer you more resources in the future through our website. Please do not hesitate to call the school or email admin@holyfamilysc.org with your questions.

Holy Family School is excited to have a new website set up for community members, extended family members, family friends, etc. to make donations to specific causes at Holy Family School. As we have mentioned in previous communications, students will participate in year-long Workathon projects to support our community. If you know someone who may need help with a project or a day brightener out in the community, please let us know. We would be happy to help and add it to our Workathon.

If you or someone you know would like to donate to the Workathon or another cause at Holy Family School, please scan the QR code below, or click the "Donate" button above to be brought to the donation landing page. This page will be updated as we add different causes throughout the school year.

Holy Family School, a fully accredited Catholic school through MNSAA, is open to all kindergarten through sixth-grade students. We currently have 254 students in K-6, two classroom teachers per grade, a music and computer teacher, a librarian, a large support staff, and foster grandparents. Yearly goals and our strategic plan help build a community of faith, knowledge, and service at HFS. Our Parent/Student handbook, formal and informal conferences, and JMC keeps parents updated on our yearly goals. Jesus is the center and purpose of our school. Our mission is to reveal God’s message in our daily life. The school partners with our families, ACC Parishes, and the community to provide a faith-filled environment where students and staff grow spiritually and academically.

Tuition, parish subsidy, donations, and fundraisers help make Holy Family School an option for all families. The generosity and involvement of our families, ACC, and parish members, the commitment of our volunteers, alumni, businesses, and community, and the dedication and care of our staff are felt and appreciated in this unique partnership, which enriches and blesses our students’ lives.

Community education, sports, and special programs are available to all students attending HFS. Special Education services, Title I, Speech, and counseling services are provided in partnership with our local school district. Visit our school to see what HFS has to offer.