Today we are spotlighting a stand-out GRACE student at our school!

Kayce’s bubbly personality makes her a favorite among third-grade classmates and teachers alike. She comes to school with a positive attitude, ready to learn and participate in classroom activities. Kayce is truly a joy to be around and brings a bright light to everyone she meets. She is quick with a smile and she has the best collection of earrings!

Thank you for being a great example, Kayce!

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

The Fall 2023 GRACE newsletter is here! Learn how the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program is teaching students about the Mass and God’s love, discover what the middle days elective program is all about, read about how one school is carrying on a 15-year-old tradition at the monthly Mass, and more!

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

The 2023-2024 GRACE Voice of the Customer Survey is now open until December 10th to all GRACE families! You received an email earlier this morning containing the link. We’re excited to hear from you! Thank you for your help.

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Golden Apple Awards! The prestigious Golden Apple Award recognizes exceptional Greater Green Bay teachers. Nominations for teachers and teams of teachers who have made a positive impact will be accepted now through Friday, October 27, at 3 p.m. The nomination forms can be found below:

• English: https://greatergreenbaychamber.typeform.com/to/THLGkS4W
• Spanish: https://greatergreenbaychamber.typeform.com/to/Ccc6IubJ

Please show your support and take some time to nominate our fantastic GRACE teachers!

Further information can be found here.

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

Holy Family Catholic School’s first-ever Fall Fest is in the books! We were delighted by the turnout and it was a joy to see so many happy faces. Your support of Fall Fest and Holy Family Catholic School means the world to us. We are grateful to all of the parents, students, and teachers who volunteered their time to cook, bake, serve, set-up, and clean up after the event. Fall Fest wouldn’t have been possible without support from our community sponsors, some of whom asked to remain anonymous. Fall Fest Chair Tara Collins is already making plans for next year, so stay tuned and follow our Facebook page for more information on upcoming events!

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

STAR Assessments are short tests that provide teachers with personalized learning data for each student. Students may take a STAR test for early literacy, math, or reading. Teachers analyze the data they receive from STAR Assessments to learn what students already know and what they are ready to learn next, to monitor student growth, and to determine which students may need additional help. These tests are research-based and scientifically proven to help teachers guide each student on their unique path to proficiency.

More information can be found here.

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

For the third year, GRACE’s Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLOG) Outreach Program was successfully presented to students and families from Father Allouez Catholic School, Holy Family Catholic School, St. Bernard Catholic School, and St. Thomas More Catholic School. A total of 172 children and adults from 56 families were involved and engaged in a series of workshops this past January through April.

Generously funded by Milwaukee’s Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the OLOG Outreach Program is meant to establish family activities and student programming to help both parents and students understand how to work together on issues of school engagement and academic success while fostering cultural integration. Dr. Jamie Tyrrell, principal of St. Thomas More Catholic School, describes the program this way: “From my perspective, the OLOG Outreach Program is designed with Hispanic families first. We want them to feel like an integral part of our Catholic school system.”

Ninety eight percent of the students who attend St. Thomas More are Spanish speakers, so the program was very beneficial to the school.

“Our staff helped plan the workshops and were presenters,” she said, “We had a large portion of our families attend.”

The OLOG Outreach Program achieves all of their goals in the context of empowering families through faith. The topics of this year’s workshops were Faith at Home, Internet Safety and Mental Health, Importance of Early Childhood Literacy and Preparing for High School and Higher Education. Presented primarily in Spanish, each two-hour session included a prayer, presenters speaking on workshop topics, interactive activities, take-home materials for families to use at home, and refreshments. The presence of vocations was evident as priests celebrated Mass and led prayer with Sisters affiliated with our parishes participating as well. Childcare was provided for younger siblings in order to allow students and their parents to attend. Organizations who contributed their time and talents included the Diocese of Green Bay’s Hispanic Ministry, the Green Bay Police Department, the YMCA, and Casa Alba.

In addition, teachers from participating schools provided their integral support at the workshops. The 2022-23 OLOG Outreach Program Team members were Alejandra Beals, Crystal Blahnik, Gabrielle Calewarts, Kim Desotell, Kay Franz, Dr. Jamie Froh Tyrrell, Jere Kubuske, Karlet Negrete, Lisa Niemuth, and Edgar Zaragoza. This team’s role is to plan the workshop topics and participate in the workshops as well as provide evaluation as to the program’s objectives.

Mrs. Blahnik shared, “Over the course of this year’s workshops, families and students have connected and become friends. This program has facilitated a very strong community of Spanish-speaking families who are engaged with their childrens’ education and equipped with tools to help them raise their children to their full potential.”

Through participation in the GRACE OLOG Outreach Program, families:

• Engage with other families in deepening personal and family faith life.
• Enhance personal knowledge of community resources for the health, safety and well-being of the family unit.
• Learn strategies for maximizing at-home support of student learning.
• Acquire knowledge of technology utilized at their child’s school and how to access key information pertaining to their child’s learning.
• Receive guidance in deciphering standardized test scores and learn how educators use this information to design instruction.
• Connect with GRACE school families to deepen the spirit of community and family friendships.

GRACE will again offer the OLOG Outreach Program during the 2023-24 school year in January through April. Information will be available during the Fall 2023 semester.

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.

This has been a big year for GRACE science curriculum for both students and teachers! The 2022-23 school year marked the introduction of the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) science program for K-5 and the iScience program for grades 6-8. GRACE teachers participated in numerous trainings to prepare for the new programs, especially the cutting edge PLTW program.

What’s new about these programs?

PLTW is a STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program that promotes critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and resiliency – all skills that students will need to be successful in life and future careers. In the past, science classes were teacher-led but in PLTW, students take charge of their own learning, participate in engaging experiments, and experience the science process in real time. In middle school, students started to use the iScience program purchased for the 2022-23 school year. The iScience program uses “Project-Based Learning activities and hands-on investigations that focus on real-world situations.” Sixth grade students will focus on Physical Science, seventh grade will focus on Life Science, and eighth grade will focus on Earth and Space Science. This type of format supports the type of teaching our GRACE middle school teachers have found to be the most successful in setting students up academically for high school and beyond.

What can be expected at home with these new programs?

With PLTW in K-5, science material that comes home will look a lot different! Traditional worksheets are not used in PLTW but rather focus is on critical thinking skills using lab reports. Homework will also not involve simple yes/no or true/false questions. PLTW promotes high-level thinking skills and therefore will include questions that are more open-ended and ask students to provide evidence to support their answers. For example, in a first grade classroom at Holy Family Catholic School, students worked to design their own “ears” after learning about the different ears animals had and how they helped the animal survive. For each part, the students added to their own ear model and were required to provide a reason why that element was added.

iScience includes both a physical textbook copy as well as an online learning portal that students can access at all times. More assignments, classwork, and assigned readings may be done online through this portal compared to past years for science class. The order of science themes (Physical, Life, Earth & Space) remains consistent though and has not changed with the new program. The implementation of both these programs into GRACE classrooms was a huge leap in terms of bringing science education and instructional practices into the 21st century. GRACE is excited to see the impact these new programs have on students and their academic achievement in the years to come.

Holy Family Catholic School is part of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. It is a private Catholic school serving Preschool and Elementary through 8th grade (PK3-8) with open enrollment. Holy Family provides an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually.

The best way to learn more about HFS is to visit! Schedule a tour here.