The IRT tracks COVID cases in this dashboard which will be shared weekly.

TCGIS strongly encourages all students to test weekly for Covid-19 throughout the school year. TCGIS is still determining the feasibility of providing school supported testing. You can access more information about Covid-19 testing here. 

Minnesota and Vault Medical Services have teamed up to offer at-home COVID-19 saliva testing for everyone who lives in Minnesota, with or without symptoms, at no cost. These tests come to your home, you complete them at your house with a supervisor over zoom, and are mailed through UPS. Learn more here.

Please keep your student(s) home if they are feeling sick or show any symptoms.

We have a significant and urgent need for more staff on our food service team this year. Without an additional two food service staff we may need to reduce the number of lunches we can serve from approximately 350 to 250 lunches each day; we simply do not have the human-power to prepare and serve that many students with the current staffing. Hours are part-time: Monday-Friday from 9:30am-2:30 p.m., and the primary tasks are food prep, food service, and clean-up. Please share this Job Description: Food Service Associate with your networks or consider applying yourself. To apply, send resume and cover letter to employment@tcgis.org.

There is a state-wide shortage of subsitute teachers and we are feeling this pinch! If you or someone you know has a substitute or teaching license, we could really use your/their help! Please email Front Office Manager Nicole Sveen to join our subtitute list (nsveen@tcgis.org). Substitutes do not have to speak German.

The adminstration is actively exploring various in-school Covid-19 testing methods. If we are able to insitute one of the methods effectively in our school, we will hire a temporary part-time Testing Coordinator. The job description is on our Careers page and here.

We are eager to take our stduents for neighborhood walks and share photos of active and fun learning with our community. As in past years, we need permission from parents to take classroom walks in the neighborhood, to treat students in emergencies, and to share photos of students. To either give or deny this permission, there are three forms all families must fill out in Infinite Campus:

Please fill out these forms as soon as possible by logging in to your Parent Portal account and selecting the "documents" option from the left-hand menu. Families with multiple students will need to fill out separate forms for each child.

If you have questions or would like more information about setting up or navigating your Infinite Campus account, please contact info@tcgis.org.

Remember to place your order for October 2021! Please log on to our online store website Boonli to place your child's School Lunch/Milk order. Please make sure to check out your cart to successfully place an order. All orders must be submitted by 6pm on Sunday, September 19th. Orders received after the 19th will have a one-week delayed start date. Questions? Please contact us at ordering@tcgis.org.

The waiting is over, the nominations are in. Exhale and please click here to vote for your Parent Council representatives for the 2021/22 school year. To learn more about the individuals on the ballot please check out the nominations list. The new Parent Council will have their first meeting on October 11th with both the old and new representatives. We have some parents planning to rotate off and some parents hoping to stay and we look forward to continuing our momentum as we meet new council members.

The Parent Council met on Monday, 9/13/2020 via Zoom. Click here to read more about what we discussed. As always, if you have anything you’d like the Parent Council to address, please email the PC at parent-council@tcgis.org.

Parents may elect to participate in a voluntary grade-level Family Contact List that is shared and managed by Eltern Kontakte (parent contacts, a.k.a. EKs). This list can be used to set up playdates, send birthday party invitations or connect with other parents in your child(ren)'s class/grade. Parents decide which details to share. Click here to sign up by Sept. 22. After this date, parents will need to contact EKs to add themselves to the list.

MCA Results will be mailed out to families by the end of September.

TCGIS is in need of indoor recess supplies for rainy days when we can't play outside. If you have any unused board games or playing cards that are complete and in good condition, please consider donating them to the school. Some popular hits throughout the years are: UNO, Sorry!, and Connect 4. We could also use some high-appeal Young Adult books for Middle School recesses. Please bring donations to the front office. Vielen Dank!

It’s the beginning of the school year and our “lost and found” is already filling up with clothes and other items (such as water bottles and lunchboxes). The Lost and Found is located at the bottom of the staircase on the West Entrance (by the staff parking lot and Kinderclub check-in/out). We have two requests for families:

A few library reminders:

Throughout the school year the library will be doing special activities and events such as author visits, Dress up like your Favorite Character Day, the Lesemarathon (read-a-thon), and more! Stay up to date by following our TCGIS Library & Enrichment Facebook page. You can email our library coordinator Frau Zimmerman with any questions.

The Middle School is excited to launch a new homework planner this year. A task force of teachers created a new organizing system for our 5th through 8th graders. This planner is housed in a sturdy, plastic folder in your child’s backpack. (Thanks to Herr Tabisz for reusing supplies and supporting our Zero Waste policy.) Pages will be added to the folder every few weeks and it is interactive. Our students will be responsible for adding dates, homework, and long-term planning. All teachers will be utilizing it and creating consistency as we move through the year. There are also two pockets: for homework that is due and homework that is completed. Middle School teachers will be teaching organizational skills and focusing some of our advisory lessons on executive functioning skills to help build this academic responsibility. Ask your child to show you their new planner!

Chromebooks went out last week to all middle schoolers who turned their signed permission slips in. 5th and 6th graders will keep their Chromebooks in carts and grab them every morning and stow them after the last period. They will be the only person to touch their computer. 7th and 8th graders, in a system that is concurrent with the increased responsibility that comes with these grades, get to take theirs home. 7th and 8th graders were issued chargers to go home with these devices. Please help your student create a routine around charging these devices.

With Chromebooks come student emails. Students can email their teachers any questions they may have. We will be teaching our expectations around emails in the next coming weeks. We do not currently allow outside emails to come to our students. We are protecting them from a variety of things by doing this. If you have a need to contact your child, you can always contact the front office.

The Middle School will continue the use of our Learning Management System, Google Classroom. Our 5th-grade teachers have already begun teaching those skills.

Mark your calendars! We will meet on Wednesday, September 29th at 7pm with the 8th graders and families for our first Capstone Meeting of the year. The class of 2022 will begin to plan our travel portion of this virtual exchange. The meeting is virtual. Link will be emailed out again at the beginning of next week.

One of our 5 values at TCGIS is Kindness. Thank you for your ongoing kindness toward the neighbors that live around our school as you drop off and pick up your children.

Car Pick-up Line Reminder: Please refrain from using cell phones in the car drop-off/pick-up line for anything other than "announcing" you are here in Pikmykid. This ensures that our car line keeps moving in a timely manner.

A Friendly Reminder: Please do not park along Como Ave, the street that runs south of our school alongside the new campus addition. Even now in beautiful weather, cars parked on both sides narrow the street down to one lane. Once the weather worsens and snow arrives, this will be of even more critical importance as the city does not consistently plow Como, and it thus becomes essentially a one-lane road. Thank you for parking on the side streets (highlighted below in orange) instead.

Please show kindness to our neighbors by always leaving space for them to access the streets, driveways, alleyways and sidewalks around our great school. Vielen Dank!

There are now 48 families who have opted into using this Google form to participate in the 2021 Carpooling Map.

Interested in exploring carpooling 

to/from school? Fill out this Google form. From now until our bus service returns to 4 bus routes, we will share the link to the unlisted Google map with those who have opted in (through the form).

On the TCGIS FLL Team, students will meet twice a week after school and attend local championship events where they will compete against other teams from around the state. Questions? Email our coach, Riley McArdle, at riley@mcardle.org. Registration is open now via Popsicle.

We are looking for your input as we grow our TCGIS Athletic Program. Which sports would you like to have at TCGIS in the coming months and years? Although the athletic program is only open to middle school students, we would like to hear from elementary school families as they move into our middle school. Please fill out this survey by Friday, September 17.

For more information, please check out our website.

Herr Stephenson is looking for assistant instructors to help with fantasy role playing on Tuesdays as well as wood working on Fridays. Wood working will be held outside, weather permitting. After school activities start the week of October 4th. Contact Herr Stephenson if you are interested. Danke!

We have so many great and exciting coming up for you!

First off - the Fall Plant sale starts TODAY and lasts for one week. There are beautiful wreaths and unique indoor pieces.

Coffee & Create is coming up on October 2nd - join us for coffee, hot chocolate, and treats while painting a beautiful tree. Everyone welcome but space is limited.

Our Fun Run and 5k is back and we're going big! October 9th - You can't miss out on the super cool medal!

Fall Auction is coming, and we need your donations to make it happen! We love this event and delight in seeing everyone's amazing contributions! We're looking for cookies, fudge, knitted items, along with some super cool virtual events. Can't wait to see what you've got! Check out these links for all of the information:

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.

September 16-23: Fall Plant Sale

September 22: Early Release Day (Kinderclub Open)

September 29: Capstone Family Meeting

September 30: September Board Meeting

October 2: PTO Coffee & Create

October 9: Twin Cities Oktoberfest 5K and the TCGIS Fun Run