ISSUE 470/ September 23, 2021 |
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Greetings from the Exeutive Director |
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Liebe TCGIS Gemeinschaft! / Dear TCGIS community,
I hope this finds you and your families enjoying the turn toward fall weather. We are enjoying our days with your children—their return to our classrooms, watching them with familiar friends and teachers and getting to know new ones, and hearing their budding or reignited German vocabularies. Thank you for your support every day in helping them be prepared to learn.
I want to thank our teachers for their curriculum nights that have happened and are coming up and to thank you all for attending as you have been or will be able. I also encourage you to engage with your children’s teachers throughout the year and to talk with your kids on a daily basis to get to know not just the academic content but also the classroom culture and small daily rituals that shape their school days. Our teachers and EAs work hard to create beautiful, colorful, rich, and comforting learning environments.
I acknowledge that we are still facing various Covid-related challenges. Thank you for all you are doing to help keep your kids and by extension our school community safe. Look for a brief survey this week soliciting input on our quarantine policy. We also anticipate being able to announce details of on-site testing very soon.
Schönes Wochenende / Have a wonderful weekend,
Kirsten Christensen
Executive Director
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Incident Response Team (IRT) |
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The IRT tracks COVID cases in this dashboard which will be shared weekly. |
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COVID-19 Confirmed Case: Quarantine & Information Procedure |
Consistent with Recommendations for Handling a Confirmed Case of COVID-19, any known positive Covid-19 case with potential for exposure onsite will be communicated to all known close-contacts, all faculty and staff, and the entire school community. Depending on the grade level or specific cases, we might quarantine close contacts or a whole classroom.
TCGIS will send out an email to concerned families with details about date of exposure, length of quarantine and other information followed up with a phone call. Depending on when we are informed about a positive result and the details, we call as early as possible. To give families the most time for necessary arrangements, that might include evenings and weekends.
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Routine Testing and Vaccinations Keep Kids in School |
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.
Consider Using FREE Vault At-Home Tests through the State
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.
How youth 12+ and families can get their free shot:
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Use the state’s Vaccine Locator Map to find a local vaccine.
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Check for vaccine appointments using the Vaccine Finder. Parents can search for appointments by vaccine type (e.g., Pfizer).
- Parents can contact their primary health care provider or a local pharmacy.
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Traveling during COVID-19 Pandemic |
As the Delta Variant continues to spread throughout the country, we ask that any unvaccinated individual traveling out of state or country provide a negative PCR or Molecular Covid-19 test before returning to school. We highly suggest using the Community Vault Testing sites as their turn-around-time is currently averaging 24 hours. |
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Keep Sick Kids Home this School Year |
Please keep your student(s) home if they are feeling sick or show any symptoms.
Please check for the following symptoms every morning:
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More common symptoms are one or more of these: fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher; new cough or a cough that gets worse; difficulty/hard time breathing; and new loss of taste or smell.
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Less common symptoms are two or more of these: sore throat; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; chills; muscle pain; extreme fatigue/feeling very tired; new severe/very bad headache; and new nasal congestion/stuffy or runny nose
Together we can help keep our school healthy and safe!
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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 see the full email. Danke!
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Reminder: September Board Meeting rescheduled to the 30th
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The TCGIS Board of Directors has rescheduled its September Board meeting from tonight to September 30th at 6:30 pm, as previously communicated via email. |
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Parents: we (still) need your help! |
Food Service Team Members
We have a significant and urgent need for more staff on our food service team this year. We are still in need of one additional food service staff member to join our team! Without this help, 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.
Substitute Teachers
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.
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Please Fill Out the Digital Equity Survey |
As part of TCGIS’s state reporting this year, we need all families to complete the Digital Equity Survey for their household. Paper forms are available in the front office. This data will be used by the state to implement effective digital inclusion strategies to address disparities impacting students and families. Thank you for helping us provide complete, accurate information to MDE!
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Grades K-1: Changes to Walking Pick-up Dismissal |
Starting on Monday, September 27, students in Kindergarten and 1st grade who are delegated to Walking Pick-Up will walk with a supervisor to the ping-pong table on the playground and will wait there to be dismissed to a guardian or older sibling. To pick up your child, speak to the supervising staff member and they will cross off your child from their list. Thank you for helping us make dismissal more orderly for our youngest students!
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Donations and Volunteers Needed for Martinstag Lanterns!
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Martinstag is returning to TCGIS! Frau Lenburg needs your empty cereal boxes and round oatmeal containers so that the K-3rd grade students can make lanterns in art class in October. Please have your students bring them to the art room or the office. Also, if you are interested in a take-home cutting project, volunteers are needed in the coming weeks to prepare the boxes- please email Frau Lenburg if you can help. Look for more details about our Martinstag celebration in the Rundbrief soon! |
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Time-sensitive: Permission Forms in Infinite Campus |
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:
- Emergency Treatment Authorization
- Media & Directory Release
- Neighborhood Walk Permission
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.
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Host a TCGIS Intern next Semester |
We are seeking host families for 9 interns currently planning to join our school in January 2022! If you are interested in hosting an intern from January-June, or learning more about hosting, we invite you to read the Host Family FAQs and then join us for a virtual Info Meeting:
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Zoom link (also in the Google Public Calendar event)
Interested families are encouraged to fill out this brief interest form which also provides space to share specific questions in advance so we can answer them in person at the meeting on Oct. 12.
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Share what you love about the language & culture of German-speaking countries with our community
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We will be celebrating our Woche der TCGIS Einheit / Week of TCGIS Unity from Oct. 3-9. As we did last year, we'll be sharing what our community loves about the German language and German, Austrian and Swiss culture with the entire community during this fun spirit week. We invite you to share what you love about the language, food, geography and culture of the German-speaking countries with our community in this Google Doc. Vielen Dank!
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Parent Council Election 2021/22: Time to VOTE! |
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.
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MCA Results: 4th-8th Graders |
MCA Results will be mailed out to families by the end of September. |
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Middle School Curriculum Night: Oct. 6, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
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We invite all Middle School Families to a Middle School Curriculum night to learn more about the curriculum topics for grades 5-8. We are building a landing page for this night that will have links to a teacher's specific curriculum and our family curriculum maps. The night will include a quick introduction to the courses and then time for our families to ask questions of our teachers, our subject-matter experts.
Our MS Curriculum Night is Wednesday, October 6th, from 6:30-8:00 p.m.. We will run a similar format to this year's open house and have each grade meet together on Zoom for 20 minutes. Our schedule is as follows:
5th Grade: 6:30-6:50 p.m.
6th Grade: 6:55-7:15 p.m.
7th Grade: 7:20-7:40 p.m.
8th Grade: 7:40-8:00 p.m.
Please save the date! Next week we'll send a form to submit questions in advance and the Zoom link.
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MS Celebrate Diversity Buchgespräche (Book Talks)
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The first TCGIS Celebrate Diversity Buchgespräche will be on Oct. 29 & Nov. 3 during middle school advisory periods, 10-10:30AM. These are two separate book talks for MS students to read and/or listen to works from BIPOC/LGBTQ+ authors. This includes essays, poetry, books, etc. Students who sign up to read will be sharing at only one of the book talks.
You can find more info here. If your student would like to share or listen, please sign up in the library or use this form. You can email our library coordinator Frau Zimmerman with any questions.
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Arrival & Dismissal Reminders |
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Kindness in the Car Line and in the Neighborhood |
Confused about which street is Van Slyke and which is Como? Executive Director Christensen created a brief video to better illustrate and clarify expectations for picking up kids by car after school. |
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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!
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Carpool and Transit Tools for TCGIS Families |
There are now 48 families who have opted into using this Google form to participate in the 2021 Carpooling Map.
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).
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After-School Opportunities |
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Register Now for After-School Enrichment Classes |
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Registration is now OPEN for the fall session of Enrichment Classes! The fall session will run from October 4th to December 17th. The registration deadline is September 29th at 12:00 pm.
Registration is via the online platform Popsicle. If you do not already have a Popsicle account, you will need to make one. All information is on the Enrichment Classes webpage, or feel free to email Natalie Kaplan with any questions.
Through Popsicle, you will be able to register your children for classes and pay for them all online. You will be able to view dates, locations, and instructors for all classes as well as a calendar view of your children's schedule. When the class is full, it will close automatically.
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School Board Announcements |
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BIPOC Family Affinity Group Gathering |
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The TCGIS Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) family affinity group will meet on Monday, October 4th from 5 to 7pm at the Como Firepits. This event is especially intended to welcome new BIPOC families to our school community. All TCGIS families are welcome to attend. This is a potluck event; please bring a dish to share and bring your own reusable plates and cutlery to support our school’s zero waste initiative. Please RSVP here! This is hosted by Board Chair Alkatout and Executive Director Christensen. The group last met in June and here is what one family had to say: “Thank you very much for organizing the BIPOC meetup. We had a great time! Not only did it reinforce the relationships [our kids] had with some of the students there, we also believe it helped provide them with a base they could use to form strong but proud connections in the larger TCGIS community. A strong BIPOC community is a direct contributor to a strong TCGIS community. I hope we have more BIPOC meetups and that they're even more expanded.”
-Awet and Wondi Tesfayesus
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What are Family Affinity Groups? |
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Family affinity groups are supportive forums for our school families to foster relationships, discuss experiences unique to their families, and to uplift and empower their voices. Current TCGIS affinity groups include LGBTQA+, BIPOC and Modern families (for step/single parent families). Email the Diversity & Belonging committee diversity@tcgis.org to request more information. |
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Upcoming Board & Committee Meetings |
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Please see our new board committee flyer which summarizes the TCGIS board committees and their charters. All are welcome to attend board and committee meetings! Board meetings and Committee of the Whole meetings will be held in-person at TCGIS in the Flex Room, with the opportunity for the community to attend via Zoom. Committee meetings will continue via Zoom to make them easier to attend. Zoom information for each committee can be found on the public school calendar and are linked below.
Cmte of the Whole: Room 100 & Zoom, Wed., Oct. 13, 6:30 PM; board@tcgis.org
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PTO Updates: Plant Sale Starts TODAY! |
There are so many great things coming up!
There are just a few days left to order your winter and holiday plants! The Fall Plant sale lasts until Sept. 26th.
Coffee & Create is coming up on Oct. 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 almost here! Oct. 9th - Don't miss out on the this great community event - run, walk, roll - whatever you do to get over the finish line!
The 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:
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German Storyteller Event at the GAI
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Saturday, October 16, 2021
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Nicholas Pawlowski is a storyteller, born of an Austrian mother and Polish father. Join us as he tells the story Vom Wunderschimmel (The Wonder Horse), from a collection of old fairy tales edited by the Austrian storyteller Helmut Wittmann. The story is brought to life through interactive dance, drawing and discussion. The event is geared toward families with children ages 5–12, but all ages are welcome!
NOTE: This event will be held outside and will be cancelled in case of rain or inclement weather.
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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. |
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September 16-23: Fall Plant Sale
September 24: No school (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
October 18-22: Fall Break
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