Der Elternbrief
ISSUE 459 / JUNE 10, 2021

Tomorrow: Location change for Director Anderson's Farewell Event
The Board of Directors is hosting an open house farewell event tomorrow for Herr Anderson! We will now be in the TCGIS cafeteria due to forecasted rain. Please join us from 3:30-6:00pm for Nelson's Ice Cream, playtime, and to say Auf Wiedersehen and best wishes to Ted. We hope you can be there to celebrate Ted and his 5-year tenure at TCGIS. Please RSVP HERE so we know how many people to plan for! Masks after school hours are optional but recommended if not vaccinated.
Incident Response Team (IRT) Updates
What is the Incident Reponse Team (IRT)? This team meets regularly to review data and makes decisions about changes to the learning model. IRT Members are: Ted Anderson, Executive Director; Julie Alkatout, TCGIS Board Chair; Ashley Weston Miller, Dir. of HR and Operations; Monika Avery, Health Services Associate.
According to Governor Walz's announcement from May 6th, because the youngest Minnesotans are not yet eligible for the vaccine, the Safe Learning Plan for schools will continue until the end of the school year to protect students, teachers, and staff in schools.
MDH Minnesota Youth Vaccine Team asks for your support
As of June 1st, 142,369 youth aged 12-17 have been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine in the state of Minnesota. This number represents 32.8% of Minnesota’s estimated population for this age range. There are a lot of youth out there who have engaged with the vaccine and the Minnesota Youth Vaccine Team wants to hear from them!
As part of the outreach strategy to young Minnesotans (and the overarching effort to get to a 70% vaccination rate), they have developed a COVID-19 Vaccine Youth Survey.  This survey will be open for responses until June 11.
The goal is to capture the experience kids and teens have had with the vaccine so that The Youth Vaccine Team may develop vaccine resources that speak directly to this age group. Essentially having kids help the Minnesota Youth Vaccine Team speak to kids. The survey will, also, help to support young people in their efforts to engage directly with their peers about the COVID-19 vaccine.
COVID-19 Vaccine Available for Youth 12 and Older
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for people age 12-15. This means all Minnesotans who are age 12 years or older are eligible to get vaccinated as recommended by the CDC. There is no cost for the vaccine. Please find more information on the TCGIS website IRT update.
Please keep your students home when they are sick. If any member of your family tests positive for Covid-19 please contact Monika Avery and/or Ashley Weston Miller and info@tcgis.org to review the MDH Decision Tree. Please inform us as soon as possible. We monitor emails every day including weekends and holidays to ensure informing concerned parties duly to give them time to make necessary arrangements.
School News & Updates
Note: If you don't see the calendar at the end of your Elternbrief, the message has been clipped and you must click "View entire message" to see the full Elternbrief. Danke!
Wed. June 16: Last Day of School is EARLY RELEASE and In-Person!
Our last day of school is a half day (12:45 all school dismissal) and will be in-person! Students will be going to Como Park for our end-of-the year picnic.

Distance learning students: Please drop your kids off with their teachers and pick them up in the same location after their lunch slot (A hot dog lunch will be provided or your student can bring their lunch). Please also bring a water bottle.

Schedule
K-2 Play: 9-10:20
K-2 Lunch: 10:20-11:00
3-4 Play: 10:00-11:00
3-4 Lunch: 11:00-11:40
5-8 Play: 10:40-11:40
5-8 Lunch 11:40-12:20

  • The 1st 30 minutes of play should be in the open green space.
  • The 2nd 30 minutes of play groups should move closer to the lunch area for music/temp tattoos, and more free play.
Powerschool Report Card Instructions
Grades have now been stored for spring semester. Please click on this link to find information on how to view/print your child's report card. Kindergarten report cards will be emailed out to parents.
TCGIS is moving from Power School to Infinite Campus
TCGIS is in the process of converting Student Information Systems from PowerSchool to Infinite Campus. This change will be complete by the start of next school year and we are incredibly excited about the improvements it will bring. Here is a sneak peek of the parent and student functionality. Keep your eyes open for updates in August.
Parent Satisfaction Survey Closes June 15
We invite all TCGIS parents to take the annual Parent Satisfaction Survey. The survey was developed through collaboration between the Executive Director and the Parent Council. Survey results are part of our annual evaluation by our authorizer, the University of St. Thomas, and can play an important role for all levels of school decision making. The survey will be open until June 15th. Look for a report on survey results this summer!

DANKE FÜR EURE HILFE!
Lost & Found: Items will be donated after June 16
Remaining “lost and found” items will be donated after June 16th (last day of school). Please look for missing clothes/water bottles, etc. at the bottom of the stairs at the West Entrance.
Can you help us surpass our Annual Fund goal?!
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, we are only $2000 shy of our $103,000 annual fundraising goal! Herzlichen Dank!

To recognize all the tremendous efforts of the TCGIS community this school year, we invite all families to help us “plant” a Garden of Gratitude on the windows of our new cafeteria. Over 80 flowers have been 'planted' as of today! Here’s how you can participate:

  1. Make a gift of ANY AMOUNT to the TCGIS Annual Fund in honor of one or more person(s) whose efforts or accomplishments you would like to celebrate. Be sure to note who you are honoring on the giving page or in the memo of your check.
  2. Once your gift is received, a large paper flower for each person your donation honors will be displayed within our Garden of Gratitude. Please note: gift amounts will NOT be noted on the flowers.

If you make a recurring montly donation, and you would like your June donation to be made in honor of specific people, please email Katharina (kschirg@tcgis.org). Vielen Dank!
Last Call: Bus Planning for 2021/22
Interested in Busing for 2021-22 School Year?
If you are interested in TCGIS Busing for your student(s) for the 2021-22 school year, please complete this Busing Survey to help us determine our bus routes. Survey closes on June 11.

Please note: Bus stops are COMMUNITY STOPS, not neighborhood stops. We have 4 buses that bus city-wide so we are unable to accommodate requests that are based on home addresses.

Interested in Carpooling next year? Remember the ZuVon website!
Due to Covid-19, the carpool-connection tool found on our ZuVon site, was not available to TCGIS families. If you are interested in carpooling for next school year, the carpool tool will be available in August at which time families who fill out the carpool Google Form will be able to connect with one another to plan. Please note: TCGIS offers the carpool resource for families to connect but does not plan or arrange carpools.
2021/22 Kinderclub Registration Survey
If you are interested in enrolling your student(s) in Kinderclub for the 2021-22 school year, please complete THIS SURVEY. This is NOT the Kinderclub Registration; we will be sending that out at a later date. This survey helps us plan for appropriate staffing for the 2021-22 school year. Thank you!
Last Call for a Yearbook!
Didn't order a yearbook online? Still want one? Yearbooks can be purchased in the office for $30. Checks should be made out to TCGIS.  
5th Grade Earth Day Challenge Results
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From May 7th to May 28th, the 5th graders participated in an Every Day is Earth Challenge in Science class. The goal was for the three 5th grade classes to accumulate 10,000 points between them by doing various Earth Friendly tasks. Examples of the tasks were turning lights off, taking shorter showers, doing garage collections in their neighborhoods, planting a garden/tree, walking/biking rather than driving, reusing recycled materials, eating a vegetarian meal, packing a waste-free lunch, using reusable bags, etc., etc..

Congratulations to the 5th graders for accumulating a whopping 24,703 points!  To give some context, that is the equivalent to almost 50,000 pieces of garbage being picked up or almost 25,000 lights being turned off.  BRAVO!!
TCGIS Brand Refresh: Share your Insights!
Next school year a sub-committee of the board Communications Committee will lead a refresh of the TCGIS brand. It has been 5-6 years since the last brand evolution, and, having moved through our construction project and a pandemic in our 15th year, the time is right.

We are eager to hear from students, staff, and families what kinds of words and imagery each group of stakeholders associates with our school. Parents/Guardians: please share your perspective in this very brief, 3-question survey. We will send staff and students their respective surveys separately.

Thank you in advance for your input!
The Branding Sub-Committee
Summer Library Check-Out
Come check out books this summer at the TCGIS library! Summer library hours are every Monday 8-12pm from June 21-August 9, except for the week of July 5-9.

Sign up here for a 30-minute time slot to visit inside our library! Each time slot is limited to 3 families (max 5 people per family). Masks are required.
TCGIS Soccer Clinic
Your friendly TCGIS Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and the Twin Cities Soccer Academy are teaming up to bring you:

TCGIS Soccer Clinic
Featuring Coach Swen Anderson from Stuttgart, Germany
Saturday July 17th, 9am until noon at Como Park. 
Register here.    

Follow TCGIS PTO on Facebook for our all of our awesome events. Have an amazing summer!
Wir sehen uns! Fun TCGIS Summer Gatherings
There are numerous opportunities to have fun together this summer with your fellow TCGIS community members! Tomorrow we will send home this flyer with in-person students; we will email it to our distance learning families and have copies on the materials-pick-up table as well!
Our TCGIS Meistermäuse winners!
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).
L to R: Frau Getaz, Raina (6), Sophia (4), Theo (2), Henrik (K), Finn (7)
Health Office Updates
Return of Medication
If your student had medication in his/her health file during this school year, Mariah Schoonover and school health service associate Monika Avery will have the medication available for pick up by parents on the last day of school. Students are not allowed to transport medications to or from school. 

Wednesday, June 16th (last day of school) 12pm to 2 pm
West entrance by the parking lot
In case of a line please keep a safe distance of 6 feet. If the student’s medication is not picked up it will be disposed of appropriately. If you have any questions, please contact Monika Avery.
Health records and vaccination records needed: Kindergarten and 12-Year-old students/7th grade
Our school must follow Minnesota regulations for certain health requirements. You will receive more information about this in the coming weeks, but please already familiarize yourself with our school and state policies (Minnesota State Statute 121A.15) to ensure that your child can attend school in August. You will need to work with your pediatrician to complete the forms carefully and completely. All forms can be found on our website. Please send to one of the following:
  • via email
  • U.S. mail to school (1031 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN 55103) ATTN: Monika Avery
Student Medication Authorization for 2021-22
If your student(s) will need to take medication in the 2020-21 school year, 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.
Please note: School staff can only provide medication to students with a completed 2021-22 Medication Authorization Form on file!
School Board Announcements
Family Affinity Groups: Mark your calendars!
The LGBTQ2S+ affinity group is putting on a get-together at Como park on Wednesday, June 23 from 5-7 pm. We will be between the playground area and the mini-golf. Families should bring their own dinner, but we will provide ice cream and cake! All TCGIS students and families are welcome.

Family affinity groups are intended for TCGIS parents/guardians who identify with the affinity group, or whose children identify with the affinity group, and for those who are supporters and allies. The intention is to provide a supportive forum for affinity group members to foster relationships, discuss experiences unique to their families, to uplift and empower their voices.

LGBTQ2S+ affinity group: June 23, 5:00-7pm. Como Park!
Modern Families affinity group (Co-parents, Step-Parents, Single Parents):  August 11, 6:30pm
Volunteers needed for the TCGIS community garden!
The TCGIS Community Garden is a small plot at the D10 Como Community Garden near the State Fairgrounds. TCGIS community members sign up for week-long slots throughout the summer to do light gardening like pulling weeds, watering plants, and donating our harvest to the Keystone Midway food shelf. With slots for three families per week, it is light work for all involved. We are especially in need of volunteers for the week of July 4.

The time commitment is very minimal and flexible to your schedule, it's great for gardeners of all levels, and kids will have fun watering and harvesting. Sign up through this link.
Want more specifics? Please email Lisa Linnell for a brief info packet.
Upcoming Meetings
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!

Cmte of the Whole: Tues., June 15, 6:30 PM; board@tcgis.org
Finance Cmte: Tues., June 22, 6:30 PM; finance-committee@tcgis.org
June Board Meeting: Thurs., June 24, 6:30 PM; board@tcgis.org
Community News & Events
Deutsche Tage this weekend at the GAI
Lift your beer steins—Deutsche Tage is back! Make your Prost with a selection of four Paulaner beers on tap or with a grapefruit or NA Radler. Black Forest Inn will serve up delicious Bratwurst and German sides, with desserts by Ruhland's Strudel Haus. A variety of live musicians and dancers will entertain you all weekend.

Saturday, June 12 | noon – 9 PM and Sunday, June 13 | 11 AM–5 PM
Online registration is no longer required. Admission is free. Adults 21 and over may buy wristbands for $5 to purchase beer and wine at the bar. Please bring your ID. More info at gaimn.org.
Kinderstube is hiring!
Wir stellen ein! Kinderstube German Immersion Preschool is looking for a summer or long-term preschool teacher. For details, email Kinderstube Director Babett Larimer.
Link to job posting here.
Summer Activities
Summer Teen Intensiv for ages 14-18 at the GAI
This advanced full-day camp experience is for teens with level B1 German skills or graduates of TCGIS. We will dive into an important current topic in this week-long camp: Multiculturalism—what does racism looks like in Germany and how do young people deal with this topic?
June 21–25: Multikulti? Multiculturalism and Racism in Germany 
Register here.
German Language Camps at the GAI
The GAI is offering a variety of half-day summer camps including German for Beginners. After-care is available! More info here.
Summer Music Lessons with Vienna Arts
Vienna Community Arts will continue to provide music lessons throughout the summer for new and continuing students.  Please contact us at infoviennarts@gmail.com for more information.
Student Enrichment
German Tutors for TCGIS Students
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.
CALENDAR
June 11: Farewell event for Director Anderson
June 12 & 13: Deutsche Tage at the GAI
June 13: 8th Grade Graduation, 1pm
June 16: Last day of school (in person, early release)
June 23: LGBTQ2S+ affinity group at Como Park
July 17: TCGIS Soccer Clinic
August 10: TCGIS Alumni Picnic