February 16, 2017

Take a look at current volunteer opportunities! If you are not yet a volunteer, but are interested in becoming one - please email Tina Haarbusch. Vielen Dank!

Administrative Information

Important Info for Carnival of Cultures

Carnival of Cultures is a week away and we are looking forward to seeing many of you and celebrating the students' hard work. We have put together a series of logistical information for parents below. For those who are new to the TCGIS community, Carnival of Cultures is our annual school-wide performing arts celebration. All families are welcome to attend one or both parts of the program, which brings together mixtures of performance cultures from around the world and across time.

4:30 until approx. 6:15 - Capstone Cafe open in the cafeteria.

*Please visit the Capstone Cafe before the show and during intermission for some tasty treats and help fund the 7th grade trip next year to Germany!

4:45 (K-2) or 5:45 (3-8)

Please bring your child to his/her homeroom classroom and drop off your child with his/her teacher. There will not be enough room in the classroom for all students and their parents, so your are welcome to take a seat in the Aula.

After 4:55 (and 5:55), the indoor entrance to the Aula will be for students only. Audience members are encouraged to use the south doors that go directly into the Aula (at the top of the outside stairs), but after 4:55 (and 5:55), ALL audience members must enter through those doors.

When the performance is over, please remain in your seat. Elementary students will be dismissed class by class, and parents will be subsequently asked to stand to meet their student. This should be a very smooth process if everyone remains in his/her spot. If your student is going home with someone other than you, please make sure to inform your student AND your student's teacher.

*Reminder that you are responsible for your students except for the time period when they are with their classes in the classroom before the performance, and during the performance. TCGIS is not providing any childcare. For everyone's safety, please know where your children are at all times and insure that they are exhibiting appropriate behavior.

Call for Nominations & Applications for the TCGIS School Board

Find out how you can help our school, connect with our community, impact decisions and change. The work we do helps ensure that our school is able to provide a meaningful experience for our students.

We will elect four board members (from the TCGIS parent community) this year to serve three year terms . We are seeking any interested person, especially those with experience in board governance, financial compliance, marketing and development, legal matters or education.

If you are interested in serving or would like to nominate someone to serve details and forms are attached in the links below. You do not need to be nominated to apply.

If you have questions or want to talk to a current board member further about the role, responsibilities and expectations, feel free to contact any of the current Board members.

Important Dates

April 14: All nominations and applications due by 4:45 pm

Mid-May (TBD): Meet the Candidates Forum

May 15-19: Board elections, drop off all ballots by 4:45 pm on Friday, May 19.

Call for Nominations (detailed version)

Nomination Form

Application Form

Board Elections FAQ 2017 (including detailed timeline)

Looking for Middle School Ski Day Chaperones

The middle school will be heading to Afton Alps on

March 1 for a day of hitting the slopes! If you are interested in being a parent chaperone, please fill out the form here. Please sign up by February 23 if you are interested in helping out. All students were given permission slips and information on Wednesday, February 15, and should have brought these home. Please read that information should you have any questions.

March OrderWindow for Bus, Kinderclub and Lunch/Milk is CLOSING on Friday 02/17

Reminder: Our March order window for Bus, Kinderclub, Lunch & Milk is currently open. Please log onto our online store now and place your child's orders . All orders are due by midnight on Friday, February 17 .

Congrats to our Mausmünzen Winners!

We celebrated our students being Safe, Respectful and Responsible by having two drawings: one for elementary school and one for middle school.

Congratulations to Camryn Nagel in 7b for walking slowly in the hallway, Joe Weimholt in 4c for speaking German quietly in the hallway, and Persephone Waling in 1a for holding the door for others and picking up in the lunchroom.

We hope you have heard about Mausmünzen from your students, but if you would like more information feel free to look over the presentation students were shown.

Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants

Several middle school students participated in a video streaming event with Emily Calandrelli put on by Exploring by the Seat of your Pants. Emily is correspondent on the upcoming Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World and is the host of Fox's Xploration Outer Space . We had a full room and learned a lot about space exploration!

Get Rid of Your Unwanted Wood!

Do you have a pile of scrap wood and lumber cluttering up your basement or garage? Do you want children to turn it into works of art? Then bring it to school and donate it to the wood working after school activity. It has come to Herr Stephenson's attention that not everyone knows of this valuable service to declutter your domicile. Just bring it to school, preferably by the stairs on the Como side, and email [email protected] to arrange for pick up. Danke!

Join the 5-Week Declutter Challenge

Clutter in your house getting you down? The PTO Rummage Sale can help! This week's challenge area is the kitchen. Go through your kitchen cupboards, counters, and drawers and find at least 4 (or more!) items to donate to the sale. Items can be dropped off in the atrium during school hours. Everyone who participates wins the Grand Prize: a pat on the back and a bucket of self congratulations!

This week we are also looking for two volunteers to help promote the rummage sale at Carnival of Cultures on February 22. For more information, contact Christine Ustun at [email protected].

Girl Scout Cookies Are Here!

TCGIS Girl Scout Troop #57317 will be selling cookies in the atrium from 3:30-5:30 today, Feb. 16, Tuesday, Feb. 21, and Friday, Feb. 24. Get your favorites and support the 85 girls in grades K-5 who are TCGIS Girl Scouts.

Send Us Your Yearbook Photos

The Yearbook study group is looking for photos for the 2016-2017 yearbook! The photography and design teams would like to have them to potentially include in our publication. Please send your photos to [email protected].

Vielen Dank!

-Frau Louise Brask, Herr Malcom Yates, und das Mitglied der Jahrbuch AG

Call for Old Android Phones

Do you have an old Android phone you no longer need? Please consider donating it to TCGIS for middle school students to use with App Inventor. Jesse Whitney and I will wipe your old phone (factory reset) and students will use it for trying out the apps they create. Just have your child bring the phone to the office. Please attach your name to the phone somehow with a post-it or masking tape in case we have trouble reseting it. Chargers are appreciated but we'll take phones without them, too.

Box Top Submission Time!

The Box Tops submission deadline this year is February 24. Please don't let them expire! Send them to school so they can be counted in this years total. Each Box Top is worth 10 cents and they really add up -- last year we collected $2000.00!

Literacy Corner

Literacy is...

...the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute using printed, written, aural and visual materials.

ROUND FOUR of our 5-6 weeks literacy interventions in grades K-4/5 will start on February 21 (Minis, Mäuschen, Häschen, Bärchen, Löwen). Round three of first grade math literacy will start on February 21 as well (Pippi Longstocking Group).

GAI

GAI Announcements

Resource & Information Fair: Sprechen - Studieren - Arbeiten

Friday, February 24, 3pm-7pm

Free and Open to the Public

In partnership with the Goethe Institut, the GAI is hosting the first comprehensive German language resource and information fair in the Twin Cities: Sprechen - Studieren - Arbeiten. If you are a student, parent, or individual who is interested in secondary German language education, studying at a German speaking university, or working for a global business, this is the perfect way to start gathering the resources you need. Connect with universities and professionals, and enjoy presentations from several key organizations about the resources they offer, including the Goethe Institut, Baden-Württemberg International, Carleton College, 8 Hours & Change, the GACC-MN, and more! This event is free and run open house style.

PTO

PTO Announcements

Click here to find out more about these upcoming events:

PTO retreat, TCGIS, March 11
PTO meeting featuring a presentation on internet safety from the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, March 14
Kaffeefklatsch, March 24
PTO Rummage Sale, April 8

German Community Opportunities

Looking for a summer camp for your child? Send them to Waldsee, a German language village in Bemidji, MN, to continue their German immersion through the summer! Waldsee is one of fifteen Concordia Language Villages. There are programs for kids of all ages, as well as for the whole family! Click here to read about the various programs that Waldsee has to offer.

There are also plenty of scholarship opportunities. Deadlines are quickly approaching so don't wait! If you have any questions about the program, contact [email protected]. Der Sommer kommt - sei dabei!