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 TCGIS Online Calendar
Upcoming Events:
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Nov. 1 - NO SCHOOL
Nov. 7 - PTO Meeting
Nov. 8 - Saint Martinstag
Nov. 11 - Intern Breakfast (Kdgn. hosts)
Nov. 14 - Give to the Max Day
Nov. 14 - Conferences (afternoon/eve.)
Nov. 15 - NO SCHOOL - Conferences
Nov. 20 - Early-Release Day
Nov. 21 - Board Meeting
Nov. 28 - NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving
Nov. 29 - NO SCHOOL
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| Message from the Director |
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| Videogruß vom Direktor 31. Oktober 2019 |
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Are you ready to Give to the Max?!
Tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 1, we kick off our 2-week fall fundraising campaign in conjunction with Give to the Max Day on November 14.
This year our Annual Fund Campaign goal is $125,000. The Annual Fund is dedicated to funding our Intern Program and teacher and staff professional development. Fundraising efforts take place over the course of the school year, and the fall fundraising drive is focused specifically on our Intern Program.
Your donation help us cover the cost of visas, monthly stipends, lunches and more for our interns. Read more about our fabulous Interns and the wonderful TCGIS families who host them at http://extramiletcgis.org/
2019 Fall Interns
Back Row L-R: Niklas Menzel, Fabrice Abeln, Joel Jungo, Kristina Srb, Eva Lewe, Fabian Stassek.
Front Row L-R: Alisa Piepenschneider, Steven Preshun, Sirah Haller, Tainah Jopp, Pia Tolle, Franziska Lüdecke
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School Board Announcements
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Family Bonfire with the School Board
The school board is hosting a bonfire as a community building and fundraising event through the PTO auction. Join board members for smore's, snacks, playing and hot cider. Sign up to attend through the online auction. The suggested family donation is $10 and the board will also donate $10 for every family that attends! Where: Como Firepits When: Sat. Nov. 9, 3:30-5:30 pm.
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New Communication & Diversity Outreach Committee
The board has voted to create a Communications & Diversity Outreach committee focused on school & community communications and diverse & underrepresented population outreach. Two major tasks will be communication with underrepresented populations about TCGIS and redesigning the school website. Smaller tasks include setting up new communication channels and writing regular pieces for local/social media on TCGIS happenings. Please contact Rich Iwen at
riwen@tcgis.org if you are interested in building our school together on this committee. We will hold our first meeting soon!
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Oct. 30 School Board Meeting Summary
The school board convened yesterday evening. The board gave
special recognition
to select volunteers and staff members and heard a presentation on student assessments from Mike Mullins, the director of teaching and learning. Administration took an action item to schedule a meeting for 5th and 6th grade parents to hear more about the approaches for student success in math. Stay tuned for that meeting to occur in November.
October Board Decisions:
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Discussed and approved the teacher's union contract, effective July 1, 2019- June 30, 2021
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Approved 3 new EA hires (old business from September)
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Discussed and approved the 2018-2019 Annual Report
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Voted to update the board committees to align with the
school goals.
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Established Communication and Diversity Outreach Committee
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Changed the name of Administrative Liaison Committee to Workplace Culture and Innovative Education Committee
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Changed the name of Governance committee to Governance and Leadership Development
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Consolidated Finance and Facilities committees
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Formalized executive committee membership to include the board officers, the staff liaisons, parent liaison, and administrative liaison.
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Fundraising and Development committee-no change
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See the detailed
board committee summary here. Committee volunteers are always welcome! Contact the committee chair for more information.
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Kinderclub Morning Care
Due to the high volume of Kinderclub bookings in November, we are full on some mornings. If you need drop in care, please email Michaela Bromenschenkel at
mbromenschenkel@tcgis.org for information on drop in space availability.
If you have an emergency in the morning and need drop in care, please call
651-492-7106 (the Lobby desk is staffed at 6:30am) to find out if there are drop in spots available that morning. Thank you!
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School Pictures: Photos, Proofs, and Retake Day
Due to the merger of Lifetouch & Shutterfly, student photos & proofs are taking much longer than expected at the Lifetouch lab. As of today, the photos are still "in process" and we do not have an anticipated ship date.
We will reschedule Photo Retake Day as soon as we hear from Lifetouch that photos have been mailed. We will let you know that date as soon as possible!
Thank you for your patience!
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Conferences Sign-up Now Open
Conference Dates:
Thursday, Nov 14 4:30-7pm
Friday, Nov 15 8:10am-3:30pm
All families were sent a Constant Contact email with sign-up information (if you did not receive this email, please email info@tcgis.org).
Elementary School Conferences
The Fall Conference sign-up window runs through Nov 12 at 8pm CT. Prior to conference scheduling, be sure to make a list of all of the teachers you would like to meet with (the scheduler does not provide this) as well as a list of times that you would like to attend.
Middle School Conferences
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New this year*
Conferences for
Middle School families will be
Open Conferences for all
Academic Teachers.
With more students in the Middle School (120-200+ per teacher), there is no perfect way to hold conferences so that every parent can meet with each teacher. Likewise, the Middle School does not expect every student's parent(s) to meet with each teacher. If your student is making progress (and you are comfortable with it), please don't feel obliged to attend conferences. (For more information, please reference the Middle School Update email from Oct. 30).
If you would like to meet with a
Specialist (Art, Drama, Sport, Tech),
you will need to sign-up for a 10 minute conference slot once the sign-up window opens on Tuesday, Oct 29 at 8pm CT.
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Playground Access during Conferences
Kinderclub will be using the playground during parent teacher conferences. To ensure proper supervision for all Kinderclub children, who will be rotating locations between the playground, the school building, and OPC all day,
only those children signed in to Kinderclub will be allowed on the playground from 3:15 - 6:00 pm on Thursday and 8:00 am - 6:00 pm on Friday
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Should your children accompany you to conferences, they must stay with you at all times. They may also wait in front of the classroom during conference time. Please do not leave them unsupervised in the school building or on the playground at any time. Thank you in advance!
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Saint Martin's Day Celebration: Friday, Nov. 8 at 5:00 pm
Please join us for a traditional
St. Martin's Day lantern parade! Students parade singing through the neighborhood around the school with lanterns! Grades K-3 are making lanterns in art class. If students in other grades want to carry lanterns, they will need to bring / make their own. (Just singing and walking is also fine. Lanterns are not a requirement - just fun!) As part of the parade there will be a small reenactment by Middle School Students of the story of St. Martin. After the lantern parade, enjoy treats from the Capstone Bake Sale at Mission OPC (the church across the street).
We would love to have parents / guardians / grandparents / siblings etc. join in the singing! Here are links to slide presentations for the 2 songs we will be singing during the parade. On the first slide of each are links to videos of each song (one with voices and one with just accompaniment). Your student can help you learn the songs.
Please note: All students must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
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National Geographic Bee
The Middle School is proud to announce this year's TCGIS finalists:
5th Grade - Anno Will-Anders
6th Grade - Sylvia Unverzagt
7th Grade - Marshall Wright, Annie Strom, Dylan Bump
8th Grade - John Tuite, Isaac Phillips, Matthias Kreuziger, Liam Delaney
The TCGIS final competition will take place on Thursday, November 21.
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October 29 Mausmünzen Drawing!
The selected students have shown exemplary behavior at TCGIS during the school day and are representing their class and grade level.
Meistermäuse have demonstrated to staff one or more of the following praised traits: Sicherheit (safety), Verantwortung (responsibility), Respekt (respect), and Freundlichkeit (kindness).
KB - Robert; 1C - Sev; 2B - Soren; 3B - Sophia; 4A - Greta
5C - Irene - photo withheld by request; 7B - Annie S.- not available
May they continue to make our school a better place!
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| After School & Extra-curricular Activities |
In the Conference Championship Meet, the TCGIS 7th and 8th grade boys brought home the school's first cross-country trophy. The boys came in first as a team with 27 points, while Lake Country School had 35 points and Yinghua 83 points. (Lowest score wins.) Congrats to the XC team!
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Register
here!
More than 3/4 of our slots have already been filled. If you are interested, please register soon before the uniforms are all gone!
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PTO Updates  |
The PTO Auction is OPEN for bidding!
Don't miss out the chance to snatch up seats at the Hogwarts table, spots in the cookie exchange, or space in backyard yoga. Find your community and strengthen relationships within our awesome school! Check out the great offerings here!
*New this year: Outbidding has changed! Text messages will be sent instead of emails if you have been outbid. If you do not have texting capabilities, please revisit the website to monitor your items! Thank you and happy bidding!*
Please note: there was a misprint of the closing time for the auction in last week's Elternbrief.
The Auction will close at 9:00pm on Saturday, November 2nd.
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Join Us: PTO Meeting Meal and Guest Speaker
When: Thursday November 7
Where: TCGIS Room 100
Agenda:
6:30-6:45 Meal
6:45 Childcare begins
7:00 Guest Speaker Kim Kulhanek on topic of dual language/immersion education
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Staff Appreciation Meal Sign-ups
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Important PTO Dates and Events for 2019-20
Have a look at the
2019-20 PTO Dates to see what great things we have in store this year!
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Local German Cultural Events
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Univ. of St. Thomas Fall Lecture and Reception:
"Good thing you didn't know - the real story of the night the Berlin Wall fell"
Dr. Jeffrey Engel will deliver a lecture he describes this way:
"This is the story of how the Wall opened, and how a massacre such as had just recently occurred in Tiananmen Square was ordered for East Germany, but fate-and a fair bit of luck-intervened. This is the real story of the Cold War's end in Europe, and how close it all came to being more catastrophic than soft velvet."
Monday, November 4, 2019
6pm - Reception including heavy hors d'oevres and open bar
7:15pm - Lecture and Q&A
8:45pm - "Tear Down" of our "Berlin Wall" (Campus Plaza)
Tickets
and more information about the event can be found
here.
The lecture is part of the 2019 "Wunderbar Together" Campus Campaign sponsored by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Washington, D.C. and the University of St. Thomas.
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Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig performing in St. Paul
The Twin Cities was selected for the grand finale concert in the Midwest for the
Gewandhaus Orchester Quintet concert on
November 8, 7:00-8:00pm. The venue will be the United Church of Christ, 900 Summit Avenue, St. Paul.
One of the oldest existing chamber ensembles in the world, the Gewandhaus Woodwind
Quintet was founded in 1896. The Quintet, originating in Leipzig, Germany, has performed
extensively across Germany and abroad. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of
the Berlin Wall, this program features a finale to the year of German-American friendship,
Wunderbar Together.
The new Consul General from Chicago, Wolfgang Mössinger, will give the opening address. All concert attendees are invited to the complimentary wine and cheese reception to follow.
Read more about the event
here
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Eddi Hüneke & Tobi Hebbelmann DUO Concerts
Eddi Hüneke
is a German a-cappella singer, who was in the German a-cappella group,
Wise Guys.
Their songs have been used by many a German teacher, including Waldsee and the
Goethe Institut.
Hüneke will be accompanied by Tobi Hebbelmann, who is a pianist from Cologne.
For tickets: please fill out this form
to the concert!
Note: TCGIS 5th and 7th graders will be attending one of their concerts at Spring Lake Park High School during the school day
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