Lots going on to update you on:

Goal-setting Conferences: Nov 4^th and 5^th   Teachers are looking forward to time to meet with you during the upcoming conference times.   There's an important change from conferences in the past.   We would like students in grades 1 - 6 to accompany their parents to conferences. 

Students  in Grades 1 - 6 will be involved in naming their strengths and accomplishments of the year as well as identifying goals to work towards. If either the parent or the teacher have concerns you'd prefer to speak about without the child present, you may request a short time alone either during the conference or at another time. Being present at parent teacher conferences is an important opportunity to both take ownership of one's own successes and to be accountable for one's actions. 

 Kindergarten conferences will be conducted between parent and teacher only.  Parents are welcome to bring Kindergartners along and the can work or play quietly in the room during the conference.

Oct 29^th  Festivities  Classrooms are busily preparing for hosting students from other classes in their Fall Harvest/Halloween Open House this October 29^th.  One exciting element of this event is that it comes from student leadership.  The 6^th grade class wrote to me and to the teachers suggesting that they would like an opportunity for kids across grade levels to participate in an all school event. We cultivate our next generations's leaders by listening to their suggestions and supporting them in making them a reality. Thanks for the inspiration, 6^th grade.  Thanks to the parents and teachers helping them to make it happen.   Our new Performing Arts program will also have its debut as 5^th and 6^th graders share their Totentanz.

St. Martin's Tag Commemorations The Germanic-American Institute, Twin Cities German Immersion School, and Landmark Center will again partner to co-produce the St. Paul celebration of Martinstag. Event includes lantern making workshop, singing, a horse-led lantern parade around Rice Park and a short play of the St. Martin story. The event begins at 4:00 with the parade and performance beginning at 5:30. The Performance will feature our 2^nd graders though all are invited to sing and carry lanterns.  The younger children have made lanterns at school. If you want to get the flavor, but can't make it Sunday there will be a preview/rehearsal at school at 2:15 just prior to Parent Teacher conferences here in the basement. There will be no live horse at school, however. 

Dress for Fall  We'll do recess outside unless it's raining hard. Please make sure that you're children come dressed warmly and with appropriate footgear for playing outside in the cool weather and light drizzle. If precipitation threatens to get children wet, we will keep them inside. 

German government agrees to send us a teacher!   This teacher, while working here, would be paid directly through the German government. Although we are still working out details of timelines and logistics we are excited about the potential of this program. This comes as a direct result of a visit past year from officials of the German government who were very impressed with our school and ready to invest in stabilizing and strengthening our program. 

At this time we would like to cultivate a pool of teacher applicants with a particular focus on staffing our Middle School. If you have connections to German teachers and would like to encourage a friend or a relative to apply, please contact me directly to get information on applying through the Zentralstelle fuer Auslandsschulwesen (ZfA).

The funding of a teacher is an addition to a series of benefits that we get through being a Partnerschule as commemorated by a plaque in our front office.  Each year the German government makes a donation that pays the equivalent of about half of one teacher salary. In addition they purchase textbooks for us each spring.

The ZfA also occasionally sponsors academic opportunities particularly crafted for German Immersion students. This year's 5^th and 6^th graders are invited to participate in a contest of poster presentations on the topic of "German in My Neighborhood."  The ZfA will sponsor the travel costs  for two students and a chaperone to attend the regional competition in Chicago on December 4^th and 5^th  that brings together students from German Immersion Schools in the Midwest. 5^th and 6^th grade parents will be receiving additional information about this. 

The next formal step of our relationship with the German government will occur on November 8^th when we will host a visit from Dr. Emminger, the manager of German Schools in North America as well as from Herr Wilhelm, our regional coordinator of German schools. 

Charter School Leadership Academy  Site Administrative Manager, Linda Michel and I both have the good fortune to be participating in a Leadership Academy, a year long professional development opportunity sponsored by the State of Minnesota and the Center for School Change.  This week the Academy hosts a visit to highly successful charter schools in the Houston area and an opportunity to meet with their educational leaders.  We are grateful for the opportunity and look forward to bringing back what we learn.  We won't be there to greet you on Thursday and Friday, but will be available by email.   The front office staff will be able to direct you to people to answer questions that may arise while we are away.

Thanks for all you do to support your children and the school,