Looking for the perfect gift for your German reader (which may include yourself)?  Wanting to expand your German book collection?  Wishing to raise funds for the TCGIS school library?

Look no further...  The library committee will place your German book order through globalbooks.de, which will waive shipping charges to our school and in addition donate a portion of all orders back to TCGIS!

Not sure what to order? The library committee, with support from our teachers, has compiled a list of recommended children books with suggested grade levels. Also included in the list are dictionaries specifically for elementary school children. For dictionaries, we accept donations and provide scholarships. The order is not limited to the list though.  Any book available through globalbooks.de can be ordered.

Need additional book ideas? Wish to tour the TCGIS library? The library committee will host the following open houses:

Friday, November 19 - 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm, and

Saturday, November 20, - 9:00 am - 12:00 pm,

The last two coincide with the TCGIS PTO 2^nd Annual Craft & Bake Sale. Library volunteers will be available to show you around and may help you with your individual book order.

Order forms are due by November 22 with pre-payment by check (to TCGIS).  We will pool orders at an exchange rate of  1:1.40.

Thanks for supporting the volunteer-run TCGIS library!

Your TCGIS Library Committee

Questions?  Please contact Angela Thomas at athomas10@gmail.com.

It was so great so see so many of you at the Landmark Center on the 7^th for our Martinstag celebration!  I want to give a heartfelt thanks to the following parents and volunteers who worked to prepare materials so that the students could make their lanterns in Art class: Renee Moelders, Jill Ravensborg, Alexandra Weeding, Kami Blackwell Kinney, Ann Mockenhaupt, Kelly Huxmann, Ilona Lange, Amy Steege, and Martha Elliot!  Your work could be seen in the lovely lanterns and glowing faces that day.  Also a big thanks to Ina Elliot, Leslie Watson, Kordula Coleman, and Mickey Jurewicz-Gruenheid for helping the second graders make mosaic stepping stones that will hopefully soon further decorate our wonderful new playground.  Danke!

If you have any questions or concerns about our Art classes, please contact me!

Frau Lenburg           alenburg@tcgis.org

Kindergarten  In Kindergarten we have continued to learn about the four types of art that artists make.  Most recently we learned that a still life (Stillleben) is a picture of "stuff on a table."  This week we will end with abstract (abstrakt) pictures, painting what we hear in a piece of music.  The classes also made lanterns for Martinstag using fall leaves.

First Grade  In first grade, students made animal lanterns to celebrate Martinstag.  We have also spent several weeks working with the Art Element of space, learning some of the "tricks" artists use to show on a flat sheet of paper that things in a landscape are farther away or closer to us.  We painted jungle pictures like Rousseau using these "tricks."

Second Grade  The second graders are continuing their studies of the Elements of Art.  We learned that texture is what something feels like, and finished making collages using real textures.  They also made very nice "Sonne, Mond und Sterne" lanterns for Martinstag.  Next we will be looking at how to show space in a still life drawing.

Third Grade  The third graders created symmetrical pictures or designs for their Martinstag lanterns.  This week they will be finishing up learning about the woven blankets of Navajo, a Native American group in the southwestern United States.  We have analyzed the rug patterns and are creating our own symmetrical rug designs.

Fourth Grade  In fourth grade we have been learning about the German Expressionists and their use of colors to show emotions.  We learned about the backgrounds of some of the Expressionists and what it means to belong to an art movement.  We are finishing up our own expressionistic paintings, using unrealistic colors to convey feelings.

Fifth Grade  In fifth grade recently we have drawn some still life objects and tried adding shadows to them.  We learned that it is sometimes difficult to draw what you see and not what you know is there.  Other challenges students faced were drawing the objects in proportion and making them look three-dimensional using shading.

Sixth Grade In sixth grade we are currently learning about the art of ancient Egypt.  We have done some reading about Egyptian pyramids, jewelry, sculptures and wall paintings.  This week we will be posing for photos like our favorite Egyptian sculptures, and painting our own everyday scenes in the style of the ancient Egyptians.