Category: General

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.

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

Back in 2018, Holy Cross Catholic School began their green and healthy initiative. Now officially titled the Holy Cross Going Green Program, it is led by a team of innovative and resourceful staff from the school, including Michelle Anderson, Jodi Sullivan, Tara Wildenberg, and principal Kari Peterson.

The plain aims to promote a child’s healthy development and connect learners to the natural and human communities they live in. This will be achieved through a new outdoor classroom which will be utilized each day by the new Abundant Blessings preschool program, led by preschool teacher Jessica DeGroot, in the 2023-24 school year.

Preschool children attending will be encouraged to participate in play-based learning while engaging in the world around them both indoors and out. These children will be connected to nature as they develop their environmental literacy and awareness. The natural surroundings at Holy Cross will provide opportunities for discovery, creative problem solving, and growing in and appreciating God’s creation. This program will follow the Early Learning Outcomes Framework and the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards while integrating the Catholic faith throughout the instruction.

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us 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.

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

GRACE’s Technology Integration Team has successfully rolled out their first “Tech Tote” this year!

Since the inception of our Integration Team in 2020, we have been working toward the goal of providing the tools and training to help our educators successfully teach their students through integration of technology within the classroom. Over the past few years our team researched the best tools to help master our technology standards, secured funding through the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Green Bay to purchase these tools through various grants, created lesson plans and assembled totes.

This year our goal was to plan our strategy to introduce our first tote: Adafruit (coding circuit boards). After sharing an introductory video about Adafruit to teachers, the team scheduled a two-day presentation with every fourth grade class in GRACE. Day one included a discussion about “what is coding”, an introduction to the block coding software.

Students created their first block code so the circuit board would light up and make a siren sound. Day two was a software review, creation of a “lucky wheel” block code and transfer of the code to the actual circuit board. Students were thrilled to see their code work. Teachers learned along with the students and began generating ideas on how to incorporate Adafruit into other subject areas for next year.

The team has also begun to pilot several other tech tools to create additional totes for the 2023-24 school year with other grade levels. These tools include 3D Pens/Printers (Middle School), Spheros (Grades 3 & 5) and Beebots (K-Grade 2).

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

Greetings GRACE Families and Friends,

Over the 12 years that GRACE has existed as a system, we have found ways to become stronger together while continuing to celebrate the uniqueness of each of our communities. As I finish my first year as Superintendent and my seventh year with GRACE, I am amazed at the beauty and uniqueness of each school. Each community comes together in a unique way to serve children, create a Christian community for families, and live our Catholic faith. The gift of serving all our schools allows me to see the beauty and diversity of our Green Bay Catholic community.

In addition to faith and families, GRACE values high-quality education. One way we ensure this is through learning assessment tools. These tools hold us accountable and allow us to respond individually to each student. Our school leaders use the results to plan professional development and make curricular choices. Most importantly, our teachers look at the results of tests and quizzes and use them to adjust how they teach. One standardized assessment that we use is the Fountas and Pinnell Assessment. K-5 teachers administer this assessment by sitting individually with each child and reading with them. This standardized process determines reading levels to help students read and learn with books that fit their skills.

Over the past several years, the Diocese of Green Bay required the use of the NWEA Measures of Academic Progress Assessment (MAP tests). We will be ending the use of this assessment along with the rest of the Diocese of Green Bay and begin using the Star Assessment. The Star Assessment tests reading and math. This tool was selected in part because the tests are short, accurate, and the assessment data is efficiently accessible by our teachers to adjust instruction for each child. This test also better aligns with our Catholic faith in our schools.

This year, one of our biggest curriculum changes was using Project Lead the Way Launch, a hands-on science curriculum discussed elsewhere in this newsletter by our Director of Curriculum, Laura Blicharz. In the program, students begin each unit by learning about an area of science and then using that knowledge to solve problems through hands-on experimentation and design work. In addition to this work, we spent time with our teachers learning about how faith and science are interconnected and how to share these natural connections in the classroom.

GRACE also made great strides in technology this year. We are updating our long-term plans and strategy to remain low-cost and highly effective. This summer, projects are underway to increase the safety and security of our online environment. Our Technology Services Team continues to provide consistent and high-quality service to our teachers and students.

First and foremost, what makes Catholic education different is sharing the very person and love of Jesus with our teachers and students. It is also the way teachers seek to instill traditional Catholic values in our curriculum, handle problems on the playground with Catholic morals, and the way all staff helps each child learn to love one another. Our faith informs the decisions we make with our purchases of books, our Internet security, and every other decision. Most importantly, we point to our faith as the reason we treat students and families with love and respect.

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

Save the date!

GRACE will be hosting our annual Welcome Back Mass on Sunday, September 17! All GRACE families, staff, and parishes are welcome as we join in prayer together at the start of a new academic year. The mass will be taking place at Prince of Peace Catholic Community, 3425 Willow Rd, Green Bay, this year. It will begin at 6 PM with an ice cream social to follow!

We are looking forward to seeing you there! Please contact us if you have any questions.

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

Camp Tekakwitha (Camp Tek for short) is a nearly 100 year old Catholic facility located on Loon Lake in Shawano County, centered around a camper-focused ministry for boys and girls, ages 6 through 18. It is described as an outdoor ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, established to help young people encounter Jesus Christ through prayer, community, and self-discovery amidst the beauty of God’s natural creation. It is devoted to fostering households and communities of discipleship through the mission and ministry of the Catholic Church.

The popular Summer Camp season offers both 3-day (Sunday through Tuesday) and 6-day (Sunday through Friday) sessions, beginning in early June and ending mid-August. From 7:45 AM until 10:00 PM, campers are involved in a myriad of activities and offerings. They include: water activities, such as swimming, boating, canoeing, water skiing and sailing; sports, featuring basketball, archery, horseback riding and hiking; and many other programs, like arts and crafts, nature studies, camping and campfire sessions, and religious programs, along with daily mass.

Camp Tekakwitha’s Vision statement says, “We are missionary disciples striving to lead all people to the Kingdom of God. Camp Tekakwitha will:

• Work to deepen the faith lives of all campers, guests and retreatants
• Serve the unique spiritual development needs of each parish and school within the Diocese
• Work with all Catholic schools in the Diocese to support their curricular needs in a Catholic environment
• Have a concentrated focus on helping youth develop leadership and team-building skills
• Be available to any youth or Diocesan ministry, parish or school, regardless of financial circumstances

“Camp Tek” has GRACE-wide participation. Although attendance is not organized by the schools, some families go each summer, signing up for a camp session during the same week. Some students from St. John the Baptist School traditionally attend Camp Tekakwitha each summer.

One parent shares, “We sent [our child] to Camp Tek to have SO MUCH FUN with his best buds at summer camp! I love that it’s a Catholic camp and know a lot of the staff and know how devout they are. It was an easy decision to return this year! I was really glad the buddies’ moms were on board and we were all on the same page about jumping on sign-up for that specific week as soon as it opened. That week booked up immediately in December. I had heard there were other SJB kids signing up as well.”

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

Catch up on all of the latest GRACE news by checking out the Summer 2023 Newsletter. Read about some of the service projects students participated in, learn how Holy Cross is going green with an outdoor classroom, discover how a STEM-based program is changing how students learn science, and more! Click the button below to start reading.

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

We are pleased to announce that Mrs. Sarah Sharkey has been selected as Interim Principal of Holy Family Catholic School! She will officially start today, August 14, 2023.

You might recognize Mrs. Sharkey, as she most recently served as a the Supportive Consultant for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School. She and her husband have two children that attend GRACE schools and are active parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Community.

Please join us in congratulating Mrs. Sharkey upon her selection as the next Interim Principal at Holy Family Catholic School!

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.

Kids who participate in community service activities gain not only new skills but self-confidence and self-esteem. Guiding and teaching your children to become servant leaders is a great way to encourage a love for Jesus.

The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System consists of nine schools. We focus on the development of each student grounded in our foundation of Catholic faith for grades PK3-10.

Our mission continues to evolve in these unique times as we embrace new technologies, deliver innovative teaching and learning strategies, and hire exceptional faculty and staff dedicated to the vocation of education. Our current GRACE Strategic Plan outlines action steps in the areas of faith, academics, vitality and experience that have assisted us to enjoy enrollment growth over the past five years.

Please know you are always welcome to visit our schools to learn more about our offerings and the culture that makes each of our GRACE schools unique. The rewards of a Catholic education are endless. The gift of a Catholic education prepares your child and will remain with them throughout their life. Learn more about us here.