Buy TCGIS
Spiritwear
from our
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 TCGIS Online Calendar
Upcoming Events:
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Sept. 21 - Oktoberfest Fun Run / Walk
Sept. 25 - Capstone Exchange Begins
Sept. 26 - Board Meeting, Room 100
Sept. 27 - No School
Oct. 1 - Middle School Info Night
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| Message from the Director |
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Watch today's Videogruß (video greeting) from Ted and learn more about what we've been up to this week and some a fun community event coming up on Saturday!
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Schönes Wochenende: Have a great weekend! |
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School Board Announcements
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Openings for New Students in Grades 2, 4, 5 and 6
Please reach out to your network and help the school find German-speaking 4th, 5th and 6th graders, and families with 2nd graders who may or may not speak German. This is a great opportunity to grow our school community and for new German-speaking students to join TCGIS for middle school.
Perhaps you know a family who recently moved to the Twin Cities, or families who applied to TCGIS in the past but didn't make it off the waitlist? Feel free to share the post from our TCGIS Facebook page
with them and families in your network
.
Interested families should contact the Front Office at info@tcgis.org for more information. Thanks for your support!
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TCGIS Community Meeting Follow-up and Thank you!
EIN GROSSES DANKE SCHÖN to our 25+ parents who made it to our community meeting Monday night to discuss the current school year. School safety, construction, PE plans and our current cafeteria situation were the subjects of the Q & A.
You can read the meeting minutes here.
Special thanks to guests from our own St. Paul Police Department, the FBI, RJM Construction and our project manager Tensquare. Attending parents asked great quest
ions!
On the topic of safety,
see this message from the MN Department of Public Safety regarding their recent visit to TCGIS.
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TCGIS Needs You
TCGIS believes in the power of German immersion to develop interculturally aware and empathetic students and to build vibrant relationships in German and non-German environments. Now more than ever, we need the support of our community as we continue to advance our mission.
We are the only public German immersion school in the U.S., and the only German immersion school in the state of Minnesota. We do fantastic things with about 40% less funding than traditional public schools, which is why we need your financial support to help us advance our mission with the quality instruction we provide to our students.
Your donations to the TCGIS General Fund help us:
- Attract and retain teachers fluent in German who are critical to our school's mission and harder to find than teachers who only speak English. It's essential that we retain all of our talented teachers and staff, without whom we could not teach our children.
- Ensure our fantastic Intern Program is sustainable. Interns provide our students and teachers with access to native speakers of German and an additional teaching resource in the classroom. It also incurs costs for visa processing, daily lunches, a monthly living stipend and more.
- Purchase the essential German language books and learning materials necessary for our Immersion curriculum which cost more to procure from Germany.
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Three easy ways to support the TCGIS General Fund
... and sport your school spirit in the community as well!
- Select "Twin Cities German Immersion School" as your charity of choice when you order from AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com); Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to TCGIS. This is so easy to do!
- Purchase a yard sign, a car magnet or the book Achtung Baby from TCGIS, online or in the front office; payment by credit card, cash, and checks accepted.
- Donate to the General Fund anytime via the TCGIS Square shop.
Herzlichen Dank! Thank you!
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Lunch & Kinderclub Order Window Closes Sept. 22
Don't forget to place your order for
October!
Please log on to our online website
Boonli
to place your child's Kinderclub and School Lunch/Milk order.
Please make sure to check out your cart to successfully place an order.
All orders must be submitted by midnight on Sunday, September 22.
For any questions regarding Boonli,
our online store website (e.g. forgotten username/password, payment questions, etc.), please contact us at
ordering@tcgis.org.
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Picture Day is October 3: seeking Parent Volunteers
Parent volunteers will receive $35 off of a picture package of their choice! We are looking for two volunteers for the following shifts: 8:30am-11:30am and 11:30am-2:30pm.
Interested in helping out? Please email Nicole Sveen (
nsveen@tcgis.org
).
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Parent Information Night for Grades 5-8
Middle School Families: mark your calendars for Tuesday, October 1st, 6:00-8:00pm!
As stated in the Middle School update earlier this month, this night was originally intended for grades 5-7 parents but due to strong interest of our 8th grade families,
we are now inviting all middle school families to attend.
Our 8th grade teacher team will be prepared with information about 8th grade curriculum and open for questions. Thanks to all our TCGIS families for your engagement!
The purpose of this event is to give parents and teachers the chance to get to know each other and also to provide insight about class content and expectations/procedures in your child's classes. After an introduction from Herr Anderson, you will follow your child's Monday
schedule
and you will visit each class for about 10 minutes. More information and schedules will be sent via email in the Middle School update next week.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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FAST Screening Begins Next Week
Our FAST fall universal screening process is right around the corner! FAST screening for all students will begin on September 23rd and will continue until October 4th.
Universal screening is an important part of our multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) framework at TCGIS. It allows us to identify those students who are on-track to meet grade-level standards in reading and math, and also to identify those students who may need some additional support to meet grade-level goals by the end of the year.
Students in every grade level will participate in at least one assessment so that we can learn more about their current skills and knowledge. A brief summary, by grade level, can be found here.
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Collecting Empty Oatmeal and Cereal Boxes for Art
Frau Lenburg is collecting empty round oatmeal and cereal boxes. They will be used in a few weeks for the K-3rd graders to make lanterns for our school Martinstag celebration (look for more information in the coming weeks). Boxes can be brought to the office or to Frau Lenburg in the art room. Danke!
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Transportation Survey for all TCGIS Families
In our efforts to improve transportation to/from school for all families, TCGIS seeks your input.
Ellen Thomson, parent of a 6th grader at TCGIS and web/UX designer at Metro Transit, has created
a short survey
that will help create a better picture of transportation needs and challenges within the TCGIS community. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for participating!
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Reminder for Walking Pick-up Families
Please park south of school (on Chatsworth, Oxford, Argyle, Jessamine) and use the new walkway from Como Avenue, east of the construction site fence, to meet your child(ren) on the playground near the Main Entrance where teachers bring all walking pick-up students.
Please
refrain from parking anywhere along Van Slyke and walking through the car pick-up line with your child. The foot-traffic on Van Slyke impedes the curbside pick-up process and creates a safety hazard for parents and students.
Thank you!
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MCA Scores
Scores for last year's
3rd graders and 8th graders (current 4th and 9th graders) will be mailed home over the next few weeks. Parents may also pick them up in the office.
Scores for current 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders may be picked up by a parent in the front office during office hours,
except for 2:45-3:30 when the front office is busy with dismissal and unable to distribute them. Parents may also pick-up scores at the Middle School Curriculum Night on Tuesday, October 1.
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Kinderclub and After-School Activity Families:
Please update PikMyKid
The front office and dismissal duty staff ask you to please keep your child's dismissal mode up-to-date with any changes, especially when your child has Kinderclub or an after-school program like cross-country or an after-school activity.
Kinderclub and Boonli are separate entities from our PikMyKid dismissal platform and we need you to delegate those changes as they come up or set a recurring change if you know their schedule in advance. Please contact contact
info@tcgis.org
or
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Capstone Volunteers help keep GAI Oktoberfest "Green"
Vielen Dank to TCGIS 8th graders and their parents who volunteered on the TCGIS Green Team at the St. Paul Oktoberfest at Schmidt Brewery last weekend!
The Green Team helps keep the festival clean and green by helping pick up and sort trash and recycling. The GAI makes a donation to the Capstone program based on the hours that TCGIS families volunteer, and it's a great way for the TCGIS school community to support the GAI.
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First PBIS Mausmünzen Drawing of 2019-20
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 TCGIS traits: Sicherheit (safety), Verantwortung (responsibility), Respekt (respect) und Freundlichkeit (kindness).
Congratulations!
KA - Amelia,
1A - Juliane,
2C - Sven,
3C - Eloise,
4C - Carys,
5C - Noé,
8A - Cordelia
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| After School & Extra-curricular Activities |
Fall After-School Activity Registration is Closed
Please remember to set a recurring change in PikMyKid until December 20th for the days your child has an after-school activity during the fall session. Thank you!
Registration for the Winter Session opens December 5th.
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| Ways to be involved and support TCGIS |
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2019-20 Parent Council Elections: voting now open
Parent Council elections begin today and will run until Sept. 29 via Google Form ballot. Learn more about the Nominees by clicking on the grade listed on
this document and reading the Nominees' introductions. Then
click here to vote.
Four homerooms do not have any nominations:
3B, 6B, 7A and 8B. Parents with a child in these classes may write in a candidate on the ballot, if they wish; the Parent Council will follow-up with any write-in candidates after voting has concluded.
Each FAMILY has ONE vote PER child, so if you have more than one child, one parent may vote in each child's class.
For example:
- Families with ONE child: parents must decide which one (1) parent will vote this election
- Families with MORE than one child: both parents may participate by voting in separate homerooms (e.g. Parent A votes in KA and Parent B votes in 4C), or ONE parent may vote in BOTH (or ALL) homerooms.
Vote here! And thank you for participating in this year's Parent Council election!
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Special Education Advisory Committee Picnic Monday
Please join the SEAC for our annual back-to-school picnic! Whether your child receives special education services, or you have questions about services, or just want to be involved, we would love to have you join us for this picnic. We will meet on Monday at 6:00 PM at the Como Park playground and picnic tables. Bring your own dinner and we will provide Smore's fixings. Please RSVP to Jessica chastek (
rubyrya@gmail.com
)
.
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Helping Our New International Staff
We wish to say a huge
thank you to all of the families who have donated their time and furnishings to help many of our new staff settle into their new homes here in MN. You have made such a difference!
We are reaching out to our community again because there are two areas where we could really use help in supporting our staff.
Do you know anyone who is selling a reliable car for $5000 or less? After so much diligent searching, one of our new staff is still struggling to find a reliable car to purchase, and this really inhibits their ability to explore the Twin Cities and settle in. Please share any leads with Tina Haarbusch (thaarbusch@tcgis.org).
Are you able to help our international teachers obtain car insurance at a reasonable price? Car insurance is an expense that is extremely costly for international staff because they do not have a driving history here in the U.S. and therefore pay
significantly higher premiums, sometimes as high as $2000/year. This can be a major obstacle to living and working here in the U.S. If you may be able to help or connect us with someone who can help, please email Tina Haarbusch
(thaarbusch@tcgis.org).
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Herzlichen Dank! (Heartfelt thanks!)
Thank you, parents of 3rd and 4th graders, for providing delicious meals for our Intern Breakfast and Staff Appreciation Lunch this week! Staff and Interns really valued the time to eat and socialize together, enjoying the tasty dishes you provided.
Herzlichen Dank!
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Volunteer as an Elternkontakt (EK) for your child's class
Elternkontakte (parent contacts) are volunteers who provide an additional communication channel between the teacher / school and the parents in their homeroom/class. This is a fun volunteer position that can be done remotely in small bits of time since it primarily consists of communicating via email.
Specifically we are still recruiting EKs for
5C, 6A, 6C, 7A, 8A and 8B.
If you're interested in volunteering as an Elternkontakt for your child's homeroom this coming year, please email Katharina Schirg (
kschirg@tcgis.org).
Herzlichen Dank!
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Oktoberfest Fun Run and Walk: This Saturday!
Join us this Saturday, September 21st at Como Lake Pavillion!
Registration is now open for the Oktoberfest Fun Run and Walk.
Last year, we had over 300 participants and had a wonderful time. There will be live music again this year and an Oktoberfest celebration afterwards at Half Time Rec.
Sign up here and use the code "Back2School" to save $3 off per person! Invite your friends and family and feel free to share the code with them! Follow updates
here
.
We are so thankful for the volunteers that helped make the event a success last year! We'd love to have some help again this year at the event. Please visit this link to sign up for a volunteer slot. We greatly appreciate your help.
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Box Tops for Education
Got Box Tops? We are collecting Box Tops for Education and there is a collection bucket in the main office. Please send in what you have, preferably in bags of 25 or 50, but any amount is wonderful. The Box Tops program is starting to phase out the clip-able coupons and is going digital. After you download the app and set TCGIS as your school, just scan your receipt and the school will get your Box Top credit. Please continue to clip the clip-able coupons, and if you see the Box Top digital label all you need to do is scan the receipt.
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Save the Date: Plant Sale Coming Soon
Fall plant sale will be coming up soon! Keep your eyes out for an email with details when the plant sale is live.
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Call for Fall Auction and Maskenball Items
We are now accepting submissions and donations for Auction & Maskenball!
Are you a small business owner? Artist or creative type with something to donate? Services to offer our TCGIS families? Would you like to host a Great Gathering (wine night, progressive dinner, neighborhood potluck etc)? Be creative!
Email your ideas to:
tcgispto@gmail.com
Want to help with this year's Auction? We need you! Drop us a note.
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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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News from the GAI  |
German Classes for Adults, Teens and Children
We offer classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced students. Daytime and evening options are available.
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