Highlands Highlights

1/29 Family Service Night 6pm - 7:30pm at Highlands

February - I Love to Read Month!

2/4 Parenting with Less Conflict *see details below

2/7 PTO Cake-off at St. Patrick's Church 11am - 1pm

2/7 Highlands Heritage Night 6pm - 8pm at Highlands

2/8 Bookfair at Edina Barnes and Noble 9am - 11am

2/11 PTO Executive Meeting 1:30pm - 3:15pm

2/12 PTO Meeting and Townhall 6pm - 7pm

2/14 School Spirit Day - Dress like your favorite character

2/17 Presidents Day Holiday - No School

2/18 Teacher Professional Development Day - No Students

2/22 Family Camp Read A Lot 1-4pm

2/24 - 2/26 Deep Portage Camp - Deb & Wally

2/25 Bandstravaganza 6pm Southview Middle School

For more Highlands dates, please Go to the Highlands website at: https://highlands.edinaschools.org/

The Service Fair is tonight! We still need new/used hats, gloves, socks, shoes, and boots. Please join us and bring donations to the Fair!

Parenting with Less Conflict

Parents and caregivers: do you experience conflicts with your child around devices, homework, meals and bedtimes? Do you feel that you work harder at solving these problems than your child does? Come learn new ways of being together that help your child develop the self-discipline to make good choices without relying on extrinsic rewards and punishments.

Instructor Dan Baier (former Highlands Elementary teacher) taught grades 1-3 for 24 years in Edina Public Schools. He is a certified Trainer in Restitution Self-Discipline. He has done training for educators in Canada, Iceland, Dominican Republic, Cambodia and Malaysia.

Tuesday, Feb 4 | 6:30-8:00pm | South View Middle School -Dragseth Auditorium

$10

Learn more and register here.

Highlands has a new leopard gecko in the office! Her name is Luna. She lived at Normandale for a while and then with Nurse Anne, until she moved in to our Highlands office. We already love having her here and we hope that you are able to stop to see her when you visit.

We invite you to sign up to help feed Luna, if you are able to. She likes a variety of mealworms and small crickets (the large crickets are too big for her.) She will need a bag of crickets or a container of mealworms every week. Sign up to feed Luna is here. Thank you!

Please take a minute to update Infinite Campus to include any adult who might be picking up your child/ren from school. This could include neighbors or relatives who live out of your home. This is especially important when considering potential Early Releases. For directions to update Infinite Campus, go to the Parent Portal website.

West Suburban Summer School (WSSS) offers summer classes to students entering grades 2-12 in the fall of the upcoming school year. WSSS offers a wide variety of classes for students who demonstrate an interest/passion about a topic, and are comfortable moving at a faster pace or pursuing a topic in depth. WSSS is an excellent opportunity for students and families who seek enrichment classes throughout the summer.

Classes are fee-based and designed to challenge the unique abilities of talented students. If the fee structure prohibits your child from participating, please reach out to WSSS for reduced fee options.

More information and registration can be found at www.district287.org/wsss

Timeline

• FEBRUARY 12, 2025: PREVIEW WSSS Course Catalog

• FEBRUARY 13, 2025: COURSE REQUEST PERIOD opens

• FEBRUARY 21, 2025: COURSE REQUEST PERIOD closes at 11:59 p.m.

• FEBRUARY 26, 2025: MEMBERS notified of course enrollment(s)

• FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 4, 2025: Review, accept, request changes, pay, or drop courses without penalty

• MARCH 4, 2025: Payment due by 11:59 p.m.

A district specific code is required to register. Please reach out to one of the Highlands Talent Development teachers for the code.

Erica Wattson
erica.wattson@edinaschools.org

Kristen Brovold
kristen.brovold@edinaschools.org

Please have your students check the lost and found! Thank you for labeling items so they can easily be returned to their owners. It helps to keep the lost items to a minimum. We will be donating the unclaimed items more frequently throughout the year to keep it more manageable.

5th grade enrollments are rolled according to neighborhood schools. Families will need to complete an intra district transfer to move outside of their neighborhood middle school within Edina Public Schools. Families have been emailed this information by the EPS Enrollment Office but should contact Jen Christ at 952-848-4805 with questions.

Should the District call for an Early Release this winter, the plan is to send your child/ren home as they normally would for that particular day.

• If your child/ren normally rides the bus on the particular day, they will be sent home on the bus.

• If your child/ren normally goes to Kids Club, an Enrichment Class, QueTal or A2D on the particular day, the plan is for the child/ren to be picked up.

We recognize plans might change on the day of an early release. If an early release occurs, you will receive an email communication from Dr. Rieckenberg with a link to a Google Form to complete if your child/ren’s plans change from their usual end-of-day routine. Completing the Google Form:

(1) eliminates confusion for the child/ren;

(2) allows for efficiency and effectiveness in communication; and

(3) reduces phone calls into Highlands to keep main lines open.

Highlands Heritage Ambassador Registration is OPEN!

Register Now - https://forms.gle/cYxo3rK59ATTSZL98

Note: All display boards will be provided by us.

Become the voice of your culture/country by showcasing fun facts, unique cultural traditions, architectural marvels, cuisine, etc. through an educational, creative, interactive, visual display board. Interact with students and parents, share snacks, and help raise multicultural awareness in our community.

Talent Show @ Heritage Night

If you or your child/children would like to showcase their talent by singing a song, playing a musical instrument, reciting poetry or performing a dance (solo or group) during Heritage Night celebrations, kindly click on the link to register:

Register Now - https://tinyurl.com/37hz25x

In general, the following information is intended to help decide when a student should stay home:

• If a student has had a fever of 100 degrees or more, the student should stay home for 24 hours after the temperature returns to normal without fever-reducing medication such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

• If a student vomited or had diarrhea, the student should stay home until 24 hours after the last episode.

• If a student has had any rash that may be disease-related or the cause is unknown, check with your healthcare provider before sending the student to school.

• If a student is ill, please call the school daily to report the illness.

Thank you for keeping our students and staff healthy.

More information regarding Health Services can be found on the Edina Schools website at Health and Wellness for more information.

The Health office needs to be restocked with gently used elastic waist pants. Boys and girls in all sizes are needed, but we are especially need girls and boys xsmall (5/6), small (7/8), and medium (9/10) sizes.

Come to the February 12th PTO Town Hall Meeting and learn from Highlands Staff on math instruction, how our students are learning math concepts, what the difference is between concrete - representational - abstract and more! Learn some games you can play at home with your child/ren. Keep watching for more details, but for now, save the date and time (6pm-7pm).

Save the Date for Family Camp read a lot on Saturday, February 22nd from 1-4pm. Tickets will go on sale next month and a limited number of t-shirts and book bags will be available for sale at the event.

DONATIONS NEEDED!

We need your help to make the Family Service Fair a success!

The following items may be delivered or dropped off in the Highlands office from 1/13-1/28:

· Cold weather gear: hats, mittens/gloves, socks, shoes, boots – items can be new or used (benefits Oyate Kinipi)

· Pet supplies: food/water dishes, cat/dog toys, dog harnesses/leashes – items can be new or used (benefits The Bond Between)

You may also donate via Venmo to Liz Signorelli (@Elizabeth-Signorelli, 952-237-8492). And we need volunteers! Opportunities will be posted on Membership Toolkit soon (or contact Liz at elsignorelli@gmail.com).

Main Office Line: 952-848-4500

Attendance Line: 952-848-4502

Website: https://highlands.edinaschools.org/
Location: 5505 Doncaster Way, Edina, MN 55436
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HLHappenings

Tech and Infinite Campus Help: The Help Desk is available to answer media and technology related questions from 7am -4pm. For live assistance, please call 952-848-4915