Liebe TCGIS Gemeinschaft! / Dear TCGIS community,

During the month of March, TCGIS will host a special exhibit in honor (somewhat early) of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The exhibit, Lest We Forget: A Visual Memoir, focuses on the life of Manfred “Fred” Amram, one of the Minnesota Holocaust survivors featured in last year’s Transfer of Memory exhibit. To the right is a picture of him at that exhibit interacting with TCGIS students. 

We had looked forward to having Fred in our midst again this year, but I am very sorry to share that he passed away on February 12. He would have turned 90 later this year, and with his passing, the world has lost a warm and witty soul, a great storyteller, and a keeper of important memories. TCGIS will host Fred’s wife Sandra at a special event on Thursday, March 16, at 6:30 pm. It will be an opportunity to honor Fred’s life and the lives of those who perished in the Holocaust, as well as to learn more about Fred and Sandra’s artistic collaboration. I warmly invite you to mark your calendar for that event.

Herzlich

Kirsten 

Note: If you don't see the calendar at the end of your Rundbrief, the message has been clipped and you must click "View entire message" to read the entire Rundbrief. Danke!

Please attend the school board meeting next week, March 2nd at 6:30pm, and hear a special performance by the TCGIS Liederkranz choir before the board recognizes teachers and staff with service awards for 3, 5 and 10 years at TCGIS. Following the awards ceremony, there will be a recess with treats provided by school board members. Let us know if you plan to join us in Room 100 with an RSVP. Danke! The meeting agenda is available here. 

The MCAs (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments) are administered state-wide each spring in grades 3-12. Assessments begin in March and go through the beginning of May. You can learn more about MCAs by reading this information from the Minnesota Department of Education. Important Additional Information can be found here.

We will start in March with Reading MCAs:

• Grades 5-8: Early Release Wednesday, March 8th
• Grade 3: March 27th, 28th
• Grade 4: March 29th, 30th

This May, the community will elect three directors to the TCGIS School Board. Based on the current board composition and TCGIS bylaws, directors elected through the upcoming election must include at least one parent and at least one teacher. The third director can be a parent, a teacher, or a community member. Each will be elected to serve a three year term that begins in June. We seek any interested persons, especially those with experience in financial compliance, education, board governance, legal matters, management and leadership, and marketing and development. 

If you are interested in serving or would like to nominate someone to serve, all details and forms are available here. You do not need to be nominated to apply. All nominations and applications are due by April 10.

By serving on the School Board, YOU can help our school, strengthen connections within our community, and make important decisions that affect the future.

Our 3rd annual Lesemarathon is coming up! Here's how students can participate:

• READ & RECORD! (any language counts!) From March 6-20, students track minutes spent reading, being read to, or listening to an audiobook using our minute tracker (tracking sheets will be sent home with students next week, and will also be available online to print).
• SUBMIT your minutes March 19-20th using a Google Form.

Like last year, there will be a school-wide reading minutes challenge from Executive Director Frau Christensen and Principal Zehnpfennig, along with other prizes - more information coming next week!

Our lost and found will be emptied next Thursday, March 2. This is rescheduled from Feb. 23 due to the weather. If your student is missing something, please check the lost and found before then. It is located at the bottom of the stairs by the West entrance (Parking lot). Please remember to label your student(s)' clothing and lunch items. This helps us return items to their owner.

Our spring plant sale is here! Go to Gertens to order. Our school ID is 550. Proceeds will go toward TCGIS PTO. Orders must be completed by 10 PM on Thursday, April 6. Orders will be ready for pick up on May 12 from 3-6 PM at TCGIS.

Maskenball is March 25th - Save the Date and book the sitter! Our theme this year is Hollywood! We can't wait to see how creative you get. Go glam, old school, red carpet, Hollywood punk - whatever you come up with will be amazing! Buy tickets here.

Auction Donation forms are here! Please check them out and let us know if you have any questions. You can email the Auction team at auctiontcgispto@gmail.com. Auction Great Stuff here. Auction Great Gatherings here.

The funds we raise from this and last year's Maskenball will update and reinvigorate our TCGIS playground.

Parents/guardians of elementary students are invited to read a book or share your experience in your student's class throughout the month of February. If interested, please get in touch with your teacher. If you're not sure about a book, your teacher or our library coordinator Frau Zimmerman may have one.

Spring Conference Dates:

• Thursday, March 30th, 4pm-7:30pm: all meetings are in-person (Elementary, Middle School, Special Education)
• Friday, March 31st, 8:10am-3:30pm: all meetings are virtual (Elementary, Middle School, Special Education)

We will send a Constant Contact email with sign-up information on Wednesday, March 1 at 8pm CST (when the window opens); sign-up runs through Wednesday, March 15, 8pm CST. Please contact info@tcgis.org with questions.

The Diversity & Belonging Committee has been researching and writing an Indigenous land acknowledgement, the first sentence of which reads: “We recognize and appreciate that the Twin Cities German Immersion School sits on the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary homelands of the Waȟpékhute Dakota people.” The committee is hosting two presentations to introduce this important work to our TCGIS community, and to provide a forum for discussion. The second talk by TCGIS teacher, Rachael Schlee, is rescheduled for March 9 at 6:30pm.

Rescheduled to Thursday, March 9, 6:30 pm, Room 100 with Zoom option. TCGIS Land Acknowledgement: Dakota Place Names and Origins, A lesson from 6th grade English class. Rachael Schlee has been teaching 6th grade English at TCGIS since 2017. She has licensure and a Masters degree in K-6 education, and enjoys teaching her students the history of the land they live on.

Learn what you can do to help advocate for charter schools this legislative session. The board is hosting a virtual presentation for the TCGIS community on February 27th at 6:30pm. Our presenter, Joey Cienian, serves as the Public Policy & Advocacy Director for the MN Association of Charter Schools. He will describe the legislative priorities for equitable public charter school funding and help us be effective advocates for change. Join the meeting on Zoom.

The Diversity & Belonging Committee is planning a Festival of Cultures to celebrate the diversity of our school by sharing our unique cultures through music, art, storytelling, dance, food, and community. The tentative date and time for this event is Saturday, May 20, 2023 11am-2pm.

Please fill out this short Google Form in order for the planning committee to find out what cultures are represented in the TCGIS community and who would like to share their culture at the event. Volunteers may be parents, guardians, aunts, uncles, grandparents or friends! Thank you for your consideration! If you have any questions, please email keberhard@tcgis.org

This is a friendly reminder that students need to come to school properly dressed for the weather. As the calendar reminds us, winter is not over yet and students need to have the following items: winter hat, gloves, scarf/neck warmer, winter boots, snow pants and a winter jacket. Despite the cold weather, we will be going outside at recess, unless there has been a weather advisory stating that we cannot go outside and wearing a proper winter outfit will help keep students dry and warm. Please remember to LABEL EVERYTHING!

To avoid outbreaks and the spread of contagious illnesses among students and staff please keep your students home if they are sick, even with minor symptoms. If your student doesn’t feel well in the morning, please monitor and rather send to school later in the school day. We strongly recommend testing for COVID-19. Please let us know if you would like to pick up an antigen at home test from the front office.

Board Meeting Thurs., March 2 - 6:30PM, Room 100, Zoom

Governance Meeting Thur., March 9 - 6:30PM, Google Meet

Communication Meeting Tues., March 7 - 12PM; Zoom

Finance & Facilities Meeting Tues., March 7 - 6:30PM; Zoom

Fundraising Meeting Wed., March 8 - 8:30AM; Google Meet

Diversity & Belonging Meeting Tues., March 21 - 4:30PM; Google Meet

Cmte of the Whole Meeting Wed., March 15 - 6:30PM

Board Meeting Thurs., March 23 - 6:30PM, Room 100; Zoom

TCGIS is proud to be hosting the exhibit Lest We

Forget, a touring collection of twenty-four 3D multimedia works of art with short literary

vignettes. Lest We Forget translates the stories of Fred Amram, a child Holocaust survivor, into

visual art.

Fred was born in Hannover in 1933 and escaped Nazi Germany with his parents in 1939. Nearly his entire extended family perished in the Holocaust. The exhibit is comprised of story panels with text by Fred, beginning with his birth and childhood, and including his time as a refugee and growing up in the U.S., accompanied by art created by Fred’s wife, textile and multimedia artist Sandra Brick. The exhibit will be installed in our atrium and accessible to classes and the greater school community throughout the month of March. 

On Thursday, March 16, at 6:30 P.M., the public is invited to hear Ms. Brick speak about Mr. Amram’s life and about their collaboration to tell his story. This free event will be held in the TCGIS school atrium.

Saturday, March 4, 2023

5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Pre-registration is required | $10 per player

Play the world-famous German board game CATAN and compete to win fun prizes! Beginning at 5 p.m., we’ll explain the rules and how to play the game. At 6 p.m., take what you learned and put it into action! Tickets to this family-friendly board game night include one drink and bar snacks. Children 11 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Those 12 and older may be dropped off.

Prefer to play in German? Let us know at registration and we’ll put you at a German-speaking table. We’ll teach some basic German CATAN vocabulary as well!

No previous CATAN or German language is required. All are welcome! Register here.

The board’s Diversity & Belonging committee would like to highlight upcoming events in the Twin Cities as opportunities for intercultural engagement- one our school’s core values. Click here to learn about highlighted events!

February 27: Charter School Advocacy - Virtual Presentation

March 1: Spring Conference Sign-Up opens

March 2: School Board meeting

March 2: Lost & Found emptied

March 6: Lesemarathon (Read-a-thon) begins!

March 9: Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Talks at TCGIS

March 16: Lest We Forget event at TCGIS

March 25: Maskenball & Auction



TCGIS Google Calendar