TCGIS Rückblick - October in Review  
Issue: 1         
Month in Review: October   
What's a
Rückblick?
 
Rückblick is directly translated as flashback or review. Every month we will be releasing a
Rückblick of the past few weeks, highlighting various activities, celebrations, or unique opportunities that TCGIS students have taken part in.



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Timberwolves Read to Achieve Program

This is the 14th season of the Minnesota Timberwolves FastBreak Foundation Read to Achieve Starting 5 Program. Over the past 13 seasons, students from over 1,500 schools in Minnesota have read almost 14 million pages through this program. This year, TCGIS decided to give it a try!

Students who read 500 or more pages in school or at home between October 23rd and November 20th will be rewarded with a Timberwolves pack; including a bookmark, poster, Timberwolves prize and a buy-one-get-one ticket offer to a Wolves game during the 2015-2016 season.
  
Magic Flute Visiting Artist & Performance

This month, all TCGIS 5-8 graders went to see the Magic Flute with the Minnesota Opera. Prior to their field trip, visiting artist Alisa Magallón from the MN Opera offered our middle school students a wonderful introduction into the world of opera as an artistic form. Alisa also discussed the specifics of Mozart's opera "Magic Flute" and the unique production that the middle school was going to see.

Martinstag Celebration

It is now for 10 years in a row that our school participated in St. Martin's Day Celebration at the Landmark Center. We performed songs, dances and scenes that were related to St. Martin and lanterns.

As a culmination of the event we kindled our lanterns and followed St. Martin that was riding on his horse. In the Rice Park our 7th and 8th graders performed the most iconic St. Martin scene: sharing of the cape.

This year we counted about 150 young artist that were involved in the performance. Special thanks to all participating artists: TCGIS Band & Krista Johnson, Elizabeth Tobias (flute), Herbert Enge lmayer (piano) and Vienna Community Arts, Jon Dahl, our 2nd, 4th and 5th graders, and both Blu menkranz Jr. and Sr. A huge thanks to Valentin Solachau for his hard work in organizing this event!
Also thank you to all staff and community members for their contribution: Amy Lenburg, who heroically prepared a huge amount of lanterns, 2nd grade teachers for supervising their classes at the event, TCGIS office for putting together a TCGIS stand, and of course, our parent volunteers!  
Girls Excel in Math
On November 7th Frau Sanford and Frau Morrissey met a group of 5th and 6th grade girls at the University of Minnesota for the GEMs program (Girls Excel in Math). Students will meet 4 times over the school year at the U of M to explore ideas in Geometry, such as Origami, Tesselations, and Euclidean Solids. The girls' work is extended in the student life program with Frau Morrissey on Wednesdays. So far they have experimented with building structures.
Realschule Borghorst Visit

Our German students from Borghorst visited earlier this month, and what a wonderful time we all had! Click here to see their Tumblr from their two weeks here. During their exchange at TCGIS, the students visited Herr Bier's 3c class and our third graders conducted interviews.
 
Halloween Parade and Flashmob
It was another spooky and successful Halloween celebration this year at TCGIS! Missed out on the fun? Check out our awesome video of the parade and flashmob here. Special thanks to Tanja Schmitt and Danny Grünauer for their hard work with the choreography and teaching of the dance, and to Jesse Whitney and Esther Neu for their wonderful filming and editing skills.
 
Kinderclub macht Spaß!

October was a fun month for Kinderclub! Special seasonal activities included painting mini pumpkins and making homemade applesauce. We had our first venture to Chatsworth Park on Early Release Wednesday, enjoying the beautiful autumn weather. KC Jr. students played "Ships Across the Ocean" and Fußball, while KC Sr. students played amerikanisches Fußball. With a few months of school under our belts, KC staff and students are now into the swing of our new choice-based program structure. Keep your eyes on the TCGIS Facebook page for the unveiling of our new program logo in November! 
Kindergarten Pumpkin Carving

Every year the Kindergarten classes head to the cafeteria to carve pumpkins! Thanks to all of the parent volunteers who came to help. An additional thanks to some of our middle school students who came to help as well. After the pumpkins were carved and hands were washed, the Kindergarteners helped decorate our school by lining the pumpkins outside of our Van Slyke entrance! What a way to start our Halloween celebration! 
  
A Successful Soccer Season

This fall TCGIS had our first official sports team! Herr Prater coached both a 5/6 and 7/8 team, which included TCGIS and Great River students. A huge thank you to Coach Prater for dedicating his time and energy four nights of the week to both soccer teams, and to parents for supporting our teams!