March 2, 2017

Take a look at current volunteer opportunities! If you are not yet a volunteer, but are interested in becoming one - please email Tina Haarbusch. Vielen Dank!

Administrative Information

Parent Teacher Conferences - March 16 & 17

Coming up quickly are parent teacher conferences! These are from 4:00-7:30pm on Thursday, March 16 and 8:10am-3:30pm on Friday, March 17. The sign up for conferences opens tonight at 7pm. The master password is springhassprung

Before you log in, we suggest that you have the following information:

1. A list of all the teachers you would like to see. The online conference system will not tell you the names of your children's teachers.

2. The times you would like to have conferences. The system will tell you the available slots for all teachers. If the teachers you wish to see are not available, contact them to schedule an alternative time for a conference.

For further information, please find the attached parent letter and parent overview . The website to schedule conferences is here . Please note: you will not be able to sign up until 7pm tonight. The window to sign up for conferences will be open from 7pm tonight until 1pm on March 15.

Upcoming Lockdown Drills

Over the next few months we will be practicing Lockdown drills. According to MN state law and TCGIS ISD 4152 Policy 806 we are required to have 5 lockdown drills. Please click here for more information about our lockdown drills.

Calendar for the 2017-2018 School Year

At its meeting on February 23, 2017, the TCGIS School Board approved the calendar for school year 2017-2018. The calendar was created and presented by Director Ted Anderson, based on previous calendars, along with input from families and staff. To all family members and staff that participated in this input-gathering: DANKE SCHÖN! Curious about the calendar feedback that was gathered? Click here to learn more.

Call for Nominations & Applications for the TCGIS School Board

Find out how you can help our school, connect with our community, impact decisions and change. The work we do helps ensure that our school is able to provide a meaningful experience for our students.

We will elect THREE board members this year to serve three year terms. We are seeking any interested person (parent, teacher or community member), especially those with experience in board governance, financial compliance, marketing and development, legal matters or education.

If you are interested in serving or would like to nominate someone to serve details and forms are attached in the links below. You do not need to be nominated to apply.

If you have questions or want to talk to a current board member further about the role, responsibilities and expectations, feel free to contact any of the current Board members.

Important Dates

April 14: All nominations and applications due by 4:45 pm

Mid-May (TBD): Meet the Candidates Forum

May 15-19: Board elections, drop off all ballots by 4:45 pm on Friday, May 19.

Call for Nominations (detailed version)

Nomination Form

Application Form

Board Elections FAQ 2017 (including detailed timeline)

TCGIS Plant Sale: March 2 - 24

Buy beautiful plants or plant gift cards while helping TCGIS! We are excited to announce the TCGIS Plant Sale, which runs March 2-24. Choose from an array of lovely hanging baskets and planters, or Gertens gift cards. All proceeds will go toward supporting the school. There are a variety of plants available from Green Earth Growers, a local greenhouse producing high quality products with an emphasis on sustainability. The plants are reasonably priced and the proceeds will help the school fulfill its unique educational mission, through things like funding the internship program or purchasing German language materials.

There are several varieties of hanging baskets and planters. The baskets are $25 and the planters are $30. Gertens gift cards are available for $25 each. There are several ways to order: (1) Drop off your completed order form and a check made out to TCGIS in the front office; (2) Complete your order through Squared Up; OR (3) Use your account in Order Lunches.

Orders are due by March 24 and plant pickup days are May 9 and May 10, just in time for Mother's Day. Questions? Email Christine Burbach at christineburbach@hotmail.com.

MCA Information

April not only brings longer days, but also Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) testing season in Minnesota public schools! Students in grades 3 - 8 take the the math & reading test; students in 5th & 8th also take a science test. Please find all of the useful MCA Testing Information in this memo.

If you have any questions not addressed here, please feel free to contact Michelle Wallace at mwallace@tcgis.org or 651-492-7016 x 304.

Congratulations to our Mausmünzen Winners!

Congratulations to Tavian Long in 1b, Evelyn Price in 2a, and Saffy Rindelaub in 8b for their responsible behavior in the lunchroom and hallways! Keep up the good work!

Meet Our Interns

Finally all of our interns are here! We have interns from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Italy. Click here to read more about them. We hope you join us at our next Kaffeeklatsch on March 24 to meet them!

TCGIS Sommercamp

Summer is just around the corner! Why not make some plans to speak German while having fun learning in one of our summer language camps geared to incoming 3rd - 8th-graders?

Click here for details for TCGIS Sommercamp 2017. One-week camps will be offered July 10 - 28, 2017, and r egistration will open next week on Monday, March 6. All March registrations will receive a discounted rate. Don't miss out!

Registration for GAI camps for younger children (K-3) is also now available ! Check out their offerings here.

Books for Africa

For the next two weeks (March 6-17) class 7B will be collecting books and funds for the local charity Books for Africa. Students from our class will be reading to elementary classes during this time to help raise awareness for the fundraiser. Books cost 50 cents to ship so we will be collecting monetary donations as well. Collection boxes for books and money will be located in the office!

Books must:

have been printed in 2002 or later
be written in English or French
not have a focus on violence or war

For more information please click here. Thanks from 7b!

Send in Photos for the Yearbook

The Yearbook study group is looking for photos for school-wide photos for this year's yearbook! The photography and design teams would like to have them to potentially include in our publication. Please send your photos to lbrask@tcgis.org.

Vielen Dank!

Frau Louise Brask, Herr Malcom Yates, und das Mitglied der Jahrbuch AG

Week
3 of the 5-Week De-clutter challenge

This week tackle your living/family room. Now's your chance to get rid of that hodge-podge of knickknacks, books, toys, and games that have been piling up on your shelves for ages (for some of us for many ages). Go through the room and find at least 3 items to send to the PTO Rummage Sale. Yay, you're more than half way through the challenge! Now give yourself the Grand Prize... a sigh of relief and a moment to put your feet up and enjoy the beauty of those organized shelves!

Last Day Girl Scout Cookie Booth

Thank you to everyone who has supported TCGIS Girl Scout Troop #57317 by purchasing at our cookie booths. The money we earn helps support our troop of nearly 90 girls in grades K-5 with learning opportunities and activities that support our community. Our last cookie booth will be Friday , 3:30-5:30 . We have all flavors to restock your cupboards for the coming year. We hope to see you there!

GAI

GAI Announcements

The GAI's Annual Pork Roast and Sauerkraut Dinner

Saturday, March 25 - $15 for Adults, $12 for Seniors, $6 for Children

1st Seating 3:30pm-5:00pm, Open/Walk-up Seating: 5:00pm-6:00pm

2nd Seating 6:30pm-8:00pm

Come celebrate one of our longest standing traditions, our annual Pork Roast & Sauerkraut Dinner! Enjoy family-sized portions of pork and as much of our secret-recipe sauerkraut as you can eat. You'll want to break out your Dirndl and Lederhosen for this event, especially while sipping a Pils and being serenaded by accordion aficionado, Dale Grove. Plus, enjoy perusing the vendors and partner organizations on the second floor before or after your meal. Click here to reserve your tickets.

PTO

PTO Announcements

Click here to find out more about these upcoming events:

PTO retreat, TCGIS, March 11
PTO meeting featuring a presentation on internet safety from the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, March 14
Pizza Night at Davanni's Roseville, March 21
Kaffeefklatsch, March 24
PTO Rummage Sale, April 8