Please see the new IRT webpage for the COVID symptom decision tree and other important reminders and announcements covered in previous Elternbrief: www.tcgis.org/irt-updates-covid.

You can find this page at the top of the Family Resources drop-down menu on the homepage, and listed at the top of the All Resources page.

The IRT will host a virtual Kaffeeklatsch on Friday, Feb. 19 at 4:00 PM for families. This is an opportunity to ask questions, and may be especially helpful for Middle School families with questions concerning the recent IRT announcement and/or returning to school. Join the Kaffeeklatsch via Zoom (Meeting ID: 297 392 5895, Passcode: TCGIS).

In reaching this decision, your IRT reviewed COVID case rates and trends in TCGIS counties and researched the plans of other local districts and charter schools. In addition, we met with local Public Health experts where we evaluated their recommendations and evaluated TCGIS’s mitigations. You can read the full announcement in this email from the IRT sent yestereday (Wednesday, Feb. 17).

To help prevent COVID-19 transmission, we offer optional on-site COVID testing for TCGIS staff every 2 weeks. We strongly encourage families to proactively test children for COVID before learning onsite, and every two weeks after that, even when symptom-free. The MDH web page is a great resource for testing options. 

If you choose to travel, your family will be expected to follow the CDC recommendations of testing and quarantining for 7 days if your test is negative. The CDC recommends testing 3-5 days after travel to limit the chance of a false negative. If a family member’s test comes back positive, you will be expected to follow the isolation guidelines in the decision tree. Please also note, our teachers will not be expected to provide additional work or asynchronous work during your recommended quarantine period. Your students absence will be considered excused.

For more tips and things to consider when traveling, see CDC: Travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Applications are due by 4:00 p.m. on Feb. 22. The lottery will be held on March 3, 2021. Please spread the word and encourage your friends and neighbors with children in grades K-8 to join our community. You can share this flyer or this link to our pre-recorded Virtual Tour. Vielen Dank!

If you have a Kindergartner joining an older sibling at TCGIS next year, click here to submit their application. (Current students do not need to apply each year.)

Car drop-off and pick-up is available to families whose children can get into/out of the car independently. (If your child(ren) need assistance or more time, please use walking drop-off / pick-up.) Students may only exit / enter the car within the loading zone directly in front of our building. Please resist pulling in ahead of someone in the loading zone, even if you see an opening ahead; the entire line will move up once the cars in the zone have finished (un-)loading. As you wait, please avoid blocking streets, driveways or alleys along Van Slyke.  Click here for a diagram of drop-off/pick-up locations and procedures.

Students in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd received new green cards with this info this week; today we are sending home new green cards with 3rd and 4th graders who have Van Slyke car pick-up as their dismissal mode in PikMyKid.

If your student(s) rides the bus to school, please arrive at the bus stop 5 minutes before the scheduled departure. Bus drivers are not expected to wait past the scheduled pick-up time. Vielen Dank!

TCGIS still pays for full school buses even though Covid distancing requirements, coupled with many families in Distance Learning, has reduced buses to running 4 days a week with fewer students. Please consider donating to offset these costs if your child(ren) use the bus, or if they would in a normal year. 

Click here to sign up for a recurring bus donation. Even if you don’t use busing services, you can make a donation to help offset these busing costs in Boonli. Thank you for your ongoing support of TCGIS!

With the return of in-person instruction, we are updating our busing registration to reflect all families who would like to use busing for the remainder of the school year.

If your student is already registered for busing in 20/21, you do not need to regsiter again or re-submit the forms listed below if you have done so already.

To determine which community bus stop will work best for your family, please view the Busing Handbook.

Busing Behavior Agreement

Please remember to update your PikMyKid dismissal app in advance of in-person learning resuming. If you need to change your default mode, set pickup mode changes, assign Kinderclub, etc, please make sure this is completed before your child returns to in-person school so we have a smooth dismissal. Thank you!

If your child is in middle school and does NOT ride the bus, you do NOT need to use PikMyKid. If your child is in middle school and DOES ride the bus, please delegate them accordingly in PikMyKid. Contact the Front Office with any questions.

Remember to place your order for March 2021 (including Take Home Meal kits for Distance Learning days, asynchronous Wednesdays)! Please log on to our online store website  Boonli  to place your child's School Lunch and Milk order. Please make sure to check out your cart to successfully place an order.  All orders must be submitted by midnight on Sunday, 02/21/2021. Orders received after 2/21 will have a delayed start date of 3/8/2021.

Questions? Please contact us at ordering@tcgis.org

P-EBT benefit amounts for each child will be calculated based on the school’s learning model each month and free/reduced price meal data submitted to MDE by their school. All students approved for free/reduced lunches will receive P-EBT benefits retroactive to September 2020 for the months they meet the learning model requirements (majority of school days spent in hybrid, distance learning each month). The first round of benefits will be issued in late March 2021.

Please fill out the attached application for Educational Benefits 20/21 as quickly as possible so we can determine your eligibility. It is not too late to apply and we will upload eligible students' data monthly with MDE.

If you have any questions, please contact Alex Weeding at aweeding@tcgis.org.

ADSIS interventions are part of our multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) at TCGIS to help students who may need some additional support stay on-track to meet grade-level goals. The school ADSIS team will reach out to students who qualify for this support. Our next cycle of ADSIS interventions will start in March. If you haven’t met our ADSIS team yet, you can learn more about them here.

Would you like to check out library materials? Fill out this form to get new materials for next week!

Story Time is every Wednesday at 2:45pm. Follow this link to tune in on February 24! (Zoom passcode: 040736). See our full story time schedule here.

4th-8th grade students are invited to read and/or listen to works from African American or African-German authors. This includes essays, poetry, books, etc in German OR English. ***This is not only those who would like to read. In fact, it is just as essential to listen as it is to present!****

This is not a book report but rather sharing a short text from a book, poem, essay, etc. that has somehow impacted you. Please send me an email to sign-up, letting me know your book, author, and the page numbers you’d like to read.  We do have some books in German in our library, so please contact me if you'd like to check one out!  

Scheduled materials pick-up on Friday will no longer take place. If your student(s) is/are in distance learning and have materials to pick up, your teacher(s) will let you know and place them on the materials pick-up table, located outside of the main office. You're welcome to pick up materials there during school hours.

If your child(ren) will be attending in-person learning, and will need medication during the school day, please be sure to:

If you have questions or need to make alternate arrangements to drop off completed forms and/or medication, please contact our Health Service Associate, Monika Avery at mavery@tcgis.org.  

Summer Camp Registration is now open. All families must use a Popsicle account to book Summer Camps; if you don't have one yet, you can sign up here.

Booking options are available for Before Care, Camp and Aftercare each week, if you only need 1 or 2 options. If you plan to utilize all 3 options (all day care), please book your Camp and add the full week before and aftercare for a $50 discount. Interested families who qualify for free and reduced lunch: please email Michaela Bromenschenkel for a discount.

For more information and how to sign up please read our TCGIS Sommercamp Family Handbook. For additional questions, please email Michaela Bromenschenkel.

Kinderclub is currently looking to add another cohort for after school care and needs more staff for the 3:00pm-6:00pm shift. Please view the job description for more info. If you are looking for a part time position or know of someone who is, please share the job description and/or email Michaela Bromenschenkel.

We are seeking a part-time (15 hours per week) Food Service Associate for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. This position will help prepare getting the meals ready to be delivered to the classrooms where students eat their meals. A full job description for this position is available here. 

Anyone interested in applying for this position should send a letter of interest and a current resume to Ashley Weston-Miller (employment@tcgis.org). 

Where can you find a magic show, concert and puppet party all in one? The Twin Cities German Immersion School Variety Show!

This event is free and open to family and friends of the TCGIS community, but you must register in advance. Once you've signed up, we'll send you a special link to view the show. Click here to learn more: https://one.bidpal.net/varietyshow2021

Our Parent Council and Diversity & Belonging Committee are working together to launch Family Affinity Groups to expand our school’s capacity to build a community of belonging. These groups will provide a resource to families in groups that are currently underrepresented in our TCGIS community, as well as support our TCGIS Statement of Equity, Diversity & Belonging. 

We are eager to have you there! If you’d like to join or establish a group, please contact Megan Dayton (mdayton@tcgis.org) and we will set up the first meeting at a time that works best for those interested.

All TCGIS students, parents, staff and neighbors are invited to participate in our TCGIS Snow Art Contest 2021!

Here are the details for participation and submission.

These subcommittees currently need volunteers: Curriculum advisory, Wellness, Zero-waste, TCGIS Alumni, Community building, Eastside Gallery Mural planning, Playground improvement planning, School interior design (German immersion areas), Recruiting, Parents of BIPOC children affinity group, and LGBTQ+ family affinity group.  

Volunteers make initiatives happen and build sustainable projects and processes for the long-term benefit of our school. If you are interested in joining a committee or subcommittee or have questions, please contact the chair of the committee. Find who to contact and more details in this summary of board committees.

Consider running for the TCGIS school board! Applications continue to be open until Friday, April 12th. The Board represents the entire TCGIS community, and individuals from traditionally underrepresented groups such as BIPOC, LGBTQ, and families with neurodiversity are especially encouraged to apply.

Click here to learn more about the timeline, the nominating and application process, how to connect with a current board member, and to access the forms.

The School Board is publicly recognizing and celebrating TCGIS colleagues with multiple years of service at the February 25 board meeting. To celebrate the contributions and dedication of TCGIS educators and staff, the Board will present awards to commemorate milestones of 3, 5, and 15 years of service!

All honorees, all staff, parents and students are invited to attend the beginning of the Board meeting for this recognition of TCGIS colleagues.

We also invite you to congratulate the honorees with a personal written message on this form by February 19. All well wishes from colleagues and families will be shared with honorees at the February 25 Board meeting. Please feel free to sign one, several, or all! And please sign your name at the end of your comments. Thank you for helping us celebrate these incredible milestones!

Please email the committee email addresses listed below for each meeting’s login details. You can find links to the new committee charters here. All are welcome to join committee meetings!

Finance Cmte: Tues. Feb. 23, 6:30 PM; finance-committee@tcgis.org

February Board Meeting: Thurs. Feb. 25, 6:30 PM; board@tcgis.org

Kinderstube in Minneapolis has morning and full-day openings, and St. Paul has limited part-time openings for the remainder of the current school year. Please email preschool@gai-mn.org for more information!

If you will have a Kindergartner or a NEW student joining us next year, click here to fill out the 21/22 application for them or mail a paper application. The enrollment window is open now until the deadline on February 22, 2021. Siblings of currently-attending TCGIS students receive sibling preference for enrollment; for more information about TCGIS' enrollment process, please visit our enrollment webpage. Please direct any questions to Clarissa Herman at enrollment@tcgis.org

TCGIS has built a list of local university/college students interested in virtual private tutoring in German for TCGIS students. We update this Google spreadsheet of tutors regularly. Learn more here.

Feb. 18 & 19: Grades 6-8 No Instruction (Tea. Prep)

Feb. 18: 8th grade Capstone Info-Abend

Feb. 25: February School Board Meeting

Mar. 1: Grades 6-8 return to in-person learning

Mar. 7: 7th grade Capstone Info-Abend

Mar. 9: Conferences 4:30-7:00 pm

Mar. 12: Conferences 8:10am-3:30pm