👋🏻 Hello, Highlands Families!
September 8, 2025
25-26 Theme: Better Together
Hawk Night Flight - Color Run: September 11th @ 5:30
Cultural Night: October 9th @ 5:30
SMSD Portrait of a Graduate
✏️ This week, we kicked off September with our All School Mindful Moment and focus on Respect. Our 6th grade Mindful Moment committee did an awesome job planning and facilitating this assembly!
✅ Check out the PTA quarterly Newsletter HERE!
Go Hawks!
Laura LaHue, Principal
🗓️ Upcoming Dates:
September 11th: Hawk Night Flight - Color Run @ 5:30
September 12th: 🚫 No School: Teacher Professional Learning
October 9th: 🌏 Cultural Night @ Crestview Elementary
October 10th: 🚫 No School: End of 1st Quarter
October 16: 👥 Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00
October 17th: 🚫 No School - Parent/Teacher Conferences
October 24th: 🎡 Carnival @ 5:00-7:00
October 31st: 🎃 Halloween Parade @ 2:00; Class Parties directly after
November 3rd: 🚫 No School - Teacher Professional Learning
⏰ Daily Arrival & Dismissal:
Drop-off starts at 7:50 (stay on playground until 8:00 - inside MPR if inclement weather)
Enter classrooms at 8:00
Starting bell at 8:10
Breakfast starts at 7:50
Dismissal starts at 3:10
Hawk Night Flight (Color Run)
2025 COLOR RUN ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th
Click HERE to learn more!
🗓️ PTA General Meeting on September 3rd @ 6:00 @ Highlands Library
Come learn about instructional priorities this year, as well as information about getting involved in the PTA!
💡BIST Parenting Classes (Virtual)
💡 What is BIST? At Highlands, we teach students that it is never okay to be hurtful or disruptive. BIST is a schoolwide program designed to help students develop positive behavior skills, manage emotions, and improve learning environments.
BIST offers strategies to support students in achieving the goals for life:
I can make good choices even if I am mad.
I can be okay even if others are not okay.
I can do something even if I don't want to (or if it's hard).
Through BIST, students and teachers share a common language of both grace and accountability - clear expectations and positive reinforcement.
👥 As part of ongoing support for families, BIST offers a series of classes for parents and guardians (FREE!). These training sessions are designed to provide ways you can support your child’s developing academic and behavior skills, as well as increase consistency between home and school.
BIST Virtual Parenting Series
5:45 PM - 6:00 PM Enter Zoom Waiting Room
6:00 PM – 6:45 PM Informational Session
6:45 PM – 7:00 PM Questions and Answers
September 18th: “Just One Thing at a Time: Taking on tasks that seem overwhelming & addressing “perceived” helplessness
September 25th: “Why is the Truth So Hard?: Rebuilding trust when our children lie
October 2nd: “We All Live Here; We All Help Here: Teaching ownership, responsibility & pride through “helping out” around the house
These classes are designed to:
• Create consistency between school and home
• Provide language for adults to use when redirecting children
• Share ways to problem solve to increase your child’s success
• Increase generosity and kindness in your children
• Bring a sense of calm to your home
Please join us for any or all three sessions!
To register (deadline to register is Friday, September 12th)
Go to http://BIST.org
Click Log In on the home screen.
If you already created a username by previously enrolling in a BIST class, just log in on this screen.
If you have never registered for a BIST class, enter your information (Name, Email, and a Password). This will register you on the website, but not for the class.
At the top of the page, use the dropdown menu called “Classes.” Click “Training Calendar.”
Select the class you wish to attend (Parenting with BIST). Click “Register” under your preferred class.
Fill out the required questions and click “Register.”
On the checkout screen, complete the billing details even though this is a free class.
Click “Place Order.” The Order Details page is your confirmation of registration.
You will receive an email containing the Zoom link for the training sessions on Wednesday, September 17th.
If you have not received an email containing the Zoom link by noon on September 18th, please contact our office at bist@cornerstonesofcare.org for assistance.
Hispanic Heritage Month: 9/15-10/15
September is National School Attendance Awareness Month!
Highlands Attendance WIG: Maintain the percentage of students chronically absent below 5% (24-25 = 4.5%)
💡 Did You Know?
Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year. Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school.
Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.
By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.
Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That’s just two days a month and that’s known as chronic absence.
🏆 Character Champs of the Week
Respect: I can see value in all people and things and treat them with care.
Week #1
🎙️ Shawnee Mission Mic'd Up Podcast
🎙️Season 3 Episode 2 “Welcome to the NEW Tomahawk Elementary”
“The Tigers are in the building! Tomahawk Elementary School is brand new but the traditions live on. We're exploring the history, legacy, and tradition that make the Tomahawk community so special while celebrating the new learning spaces.”
🚗 👟 🚲 🛴
Arrival & Dismissal Procedure