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Final 2 Weeks for Donating to the 2020 TCGIS Annual Fund and Amazeworks Anti-Racism & Equity Training!
The TCGIS Fiscal Year ends June 30th. To date, we have raised
$94,019 toward our Annual Fund! We are incredibly grateful for our community's generosity during these difficult times. As announced in last week's Elternbrief, we are dedicating
all donations made since mid-May until the end of the fiscal year on June 30th toward expanding anti-racism educator and student training at TCGIS through
AMAZEworks. Our hope and our goal is to raise
$5,000 toward this very worthy cause. These donations include the Sauerkraut Challenge, employee contributions, and family donations. The AMAZEworks training fund has already received
$2,782! Please help us close the gap of
$2,218 before June 30th! Donations can be made
online or sent via check to the school office. Herzlichen Dank im Voraus!
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Support TCGIS every time you shop on Amazon
Did you know you can support TCGIS everytime you order something from Amazon?
AmazonSmile
is a simple and automatic way for you to support a charity of your choice every time you shop, at no cost to you.
TCGIS
recently received a quarterly donation of $202.38
thanks to customers shopping at
smile.amazon.com
. To date, AmazonSmile has donated a total of $1,647.80
to TCGIS.
When you support TCGIS by shopping at
smile.amazon.com
, you can track your impact throughout the year at your
My Impact page
.
AmazonSmile is also available in the Amazon Shopping app on iPhone and Android phones. See how to activate
here
.
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| Message from the Director |
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Direktorgruß von Herrn Anderson
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| Direktorgruß 18. Juni 2020 |
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Summer & COVID-19 Planning Schedule
June 18-July 6: Admin further develops our contingency plan based on MDE guidelines released today.
July 3-10: Office closed
To be scheduled after July 6:
Staff Council, Parent Council, Student Council convene to provide stakeholder input / feedback.
July 6-14: Admin "pre-finalizes" the fall plans in preparation for final MDE guidance
July 15, August 5, August 12, 9am-12pm: Voluntary staff work groups convene to work on fall plan.
Final guidance from MDE on the fall is expected during the week of July 27.
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Planning for the 2020-2021 School Year
TCGIS administrators are working hard to develop an operationally and educationally workable solution for our school community. As this school year comes to a close, we want to share with you our process for planning for the 2020-21 school year.
Currently we are in Stage 2 of the planning process (below). Administrators are working with educators, staff, and school board members to develop solutions for at least three potential scenarios.
Parent and student feedback on distance-learning experiences this year will be collected through the Parent and Student Councils and will help inform the solutions TCGIS administrators and educators develop for next year. Watch for communication from the Parent Council in the coming weeks.
In Stage 3, once plans for next school year are finalized, we will again seek parent and student feedback on the plan through the respective councils.
We appreciate your trust and patience with the process as we work together to "build a school" in such uncertain times.
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Resources for Conversations with Kids on Race, Racism, & Discrimination
AMAZEWorks, which provided guidance and anti-bias training for TCGIS staff earlier this year, is currently offering
free resources
on their website for parents to have conversations with their kids on race, racism, and discrimination.
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TCGIS Car Parade Video
Thanks to all who submitted their photos and videos! We miss you and we hope you have a great summer!
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Free Meals for Kids During Summer
Hunger is one of the most severe roadblocks to the learning process. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is designed to fill that nutrition gap and make sure children can get the nutritious meals they need to achieve!
Looking for a meal site? Use these resources to find an SFSP site near you:
- Download the Free Meals for Kids app provided by Hunger Impact Partners to your phone or device.
- The Free Meals for Kids mobile app will help kids and families in need find and access free meals at hundreds of schools and other sites across Minnesota. It is the central resource for statewide information about schools, school districts and communities offering meals during the pandemic
Coming July 1:
- Call the 2-1-1 Hotline or from cell phones - Twin Cities Metro Area: 651-291-0211, Greater Minnesota: 800-543-7709, TTY: 651-291-8440.
- Call the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-Hungry or 1-877-8-HAMBRE, available from Monday through Friday, 6 a.m.-9 p.m., Central Time.
- Text "Summer Meals" to 97779. Spanish speakers, text "Verano" to 97779.
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Seeking Parent Feedback on Distance Learning
TCGIS administrators are working hard to develop an operationally and educationally workable solution for our school community. Last week we shared with you our process for planning for the 2020-21 school year.
Currently we are in Stage 2 of the planning process (above) and we are ready to collect Parent Feedback. We thank the Parent Council for their leadership and work in developing the
Parent Council Distance Learning Survey, a collaboration between the Parent Council and the Administrative team. Your feedback
will help inform the solutions TCGIS administrators and educators develop for next year.
The Minnesota Department of Education expects to release concrete information by the end of July. Once that happens, we will be able to finalize our planning. We will continue to seek feedback from our councils and are grateful to them for their help.
We appreciate your trust and patience with the process as we work together to "build a school" in such uncertain times.
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Returning Student Registration Begins Now!
Please log in to your children's PowerSchool accounts and fill out annual student registration forms by June 30th. We have revised several of the forms so even if there is no new information, we need you to review the form and, most importantly, even if you change nothing, you must hit the submit button on each form for the information to update in their account. Please review and update the following forms:
B - Student Demographics - review & submit
C - Student Health Information - review & submit
D - Media/Directory Release - update & submit
E - Neighborhood Walk Permission - update & submit
F - Emergency Treatment Authorization - fill out & submit
T - Student Contacts - update & submit
Please also use this opportunity to fill out any forms your child is missing except the S - Change of Address form. Only fill out this form if you have moved.
Thank you so much!
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Parent PowerSchool Report Card Instructions
PowerSchool is open for student and parent access. Please click on
this link to find information on how to view/print your child's report card. Kindergarten report cards were emailed out to parents and guardians earlier this week.
Click here to log in to PowerSchool.
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Health Office Update for 11-Year-Old Students
Current Vaccination Records Needed by August 15!
If your child is 11 years old and/or entering 7th grade next school year, Minnesota State Statute 121A.15 requires your student to have a dose of the Tdap and Meningococcal vaccine to return to school. If you choose to opt out you may file a medical exemption signed by a health care provider or a non-medical exemption signed by a parent/guardian, and notarized (vaccine needs to be specified). Please return completed immunization documentation to TCGIS once available, but not later than August 15th, 2020 via:
- email to info@tcgis.org
- mail to the school:
- 1031 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN 55103; ATTN: Monika Avery
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TCGIS Band Program Information
To all 4th grade families: are you interested in participating in the TCGIS Middle School band program? Click
here to find more information about signing up for band and participating in summer lessons online!
Krista Johnson
Band teacher
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"Welcome to MS Presentation" for Next Year's 5th Grade Families
Greetings current 4th grade families! In light of recent events, we have moved our usual face-to-face presentation online. Please
check out this presentation for information regarding all things Middle School!
Please make sure to take the survey linked on the last slide: a pace to ask your questions and give feedback! At this time, please refrain from asking any COVID-19 related questions, as we are still making plans for what school might look like in the fall.
We are so excited to meet you!
Rachael Schlee, Beate Simon and the MS teaching team
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Library Updates
Free German E-Library
The
eLibrary "Onleihe" is the virtual library of the Goethe-Institut USA. This free service allows you to borrow digital media, such as ebooks, audio and video files, and electronic newspapers and magazines. The library offers around 2500 books for children and young adults. It is very easy to sign up and you can start borrowing books within minutes. by downloading the Onleihe app on AppStore and Play Store.
Summer Library Hours
Thank you for returning all library books to the school! We are planning to offer safe and creative library services to students over the summer once we have the books back on the shelves. Stay tuned for more information coming soon.
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All-School Updates: Important Links
Here are links to useful pages you may wish to bookmark for easy reference:
In case you missed any of the email updates in the last month, find them here:
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School Board Announcements
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Upcoming Committee Meetings
Here are the scheduled upcoming committee meetings. Please contact the committee chair for meeting login details. Meetings will be virtual until further notice.
Meeting ID: 847 2233 3529
Password: 4biqsq
Volunteer Opportunity
The Diversity Committee needs a few volunteers to help create classroom artwork and posters promoting inclusiveness, equity, and diversity. This will be a short online collaboration project some point this summer. We need native-level German speakers to translate language and concepts, and graphic artists to lay out designs. If you are interested, please contact Rich Iwen at riwen@tcgis.org.
Community Garden Update
Additional spots now available for tending the TCGIS community garden! We initially requested two families per week, but there appears to be room for more people to join in the fun! Each week now has three slots available through September. Thank you to all who have already signed up, and hope others can join in! Link to sign up
HERE.
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Community Events: Updates
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GAI: Podcasts & Summer Camps
Registration is open and at this time we plan to offer summer camps as scheduled. To ensure safety and observe social distancing, the number of campers will be limited. Register at
gai-mn.org/Summer-Camp-2020
Hier & There Podcast Live | Thursday, June 11 | 6:30-8 PM
Tune in for the first-ever Hier & There podcast live event streamed on Facebook. Bring the German grammar questions that have always stumped you, hear about others' cultural missteps and "bloopers", and join in some language and culture trivia to win prizes!
Send us your language questions and bloopers: Email the team at
podcast@gai-mn.org or follow @GAIHaus to send us your feedback through Instagram stories!
Sponsor: German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Minnesota Chapter.
Participate in our live event at
www.facebook.com/GAIMN.
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