Elternbrief, February 28th, 2013

As many of you are starting to think ahead of the beautiful summer months to come, the question of uninterrupted care for your child/ren comes to mind!

Kinderclub offers an 11 week full day program during the hours of 8:00 am - 6:00 pm, that starts on June 10th, 2013 and ends on August 23rd, 2013. Each week will be centered around a fun, highly-interactive theme. Beginners to bilingual campers are welcome, as different activities will be developed according to the children's language skill level. Teachers and children will speak, hear, sing, and create in German while exploring subjects ranging from history and art to science and music! Past Summer's themes included topics such as:

Fun with Sports and Games
Dinosaurs and Volcanoes
Renaissance: Time of Geniuses
German Cooking for Kids
Arts and Crafts
Welcome to Germany
German Safari
Stories and Fairy tales

As weekly themes are currently being finalized, please keep in mind that new instructors with fresh and exciting themes might be added. Complete schedule of weekly themes will be published in the next few weeks. You can check at the GAI website under the following link: http://www.gai-mn.org/classes/sommer.html

NEW THIS YEAR: We are excited to offer all German Language camps (a $140.00/week value for public and non-TCGIS families) at NO extra charge this summer! This is a huge added bonus for being a TCGIS student! We are hoping many of you will take advantage of this exclusive benefit!

Families can chose from many different schedule and payment options, full or part time, as well as occasional drop-in days or weeks. Please see the registration form for all offered schedule option!

Note: We do not offer Summer Kinderclub during July 4th and 5th (Thu/Fri), as well as the last week of Summer Break (Aug. 26-30) due to set up and take down of the classroom, materials and toys and their move from the GAI to the new TCGIS location.

Registrations for the new school year 2013/2014 and "Open House at the TCGIS" will also be facilitated during that week.

Please see the attached registration forms for all families, as well as a sample daily schedule and Frequently Asked Questions for families that are new to the Kinderclub program. Registration forms will also be available at www.tcgis.org/kinderclub.

If your child has been registered with Kinderclub in the past - no additional registration fee is required. If your child is new to the Kinderclub program a $25/child registration fee is required ($15/sibling). The registration deadline for Summer Kinderclub is April 30th, 2013. Registrations received after that date will be accommodated on a space only basis. Early registration is highly encouraged, since it enables us to arrange correct staffing according to expected student numbers. We appreciate your cooperation!

Please don't hesitate to email me with any questions you might have!

More info regarding Summer Kinderclub themes to come soon.

Babett Larimer

It is time for School Board Nominations!!!!!

This year's school board elections will take place on Friday, May 17th. We will be electing three new members to our nine-member board of directors. Application materials are due Friday April 5th.

Please consider forwarding on this information to people you know who might be interested in volunteering for the school in this capacity.

For more information, click here.

For the application, click here.

Upcoming OPEN HOUSES at KINDERSTUBE, German Immersion Preschool

Tuesday, February 26, 4:30-5:30pm

St. Paul location- 301 Summit Avenue

Thursday, February 28, 4:30-5:30pm

Minneapolis location- 106 E Diamond Lake Rd

Join us for our special Fasching/Carnival celebration! All are welcome, and the events are free!

Come dressed up in Fasching costumes
Taste traditional German Krapfen
Enjoy mask making & face painting
Tour our school & explore our classrooms
Learn about language immersion
Meet our teachers
Schedule a visit to see our program in action

6th Annual TCGIS Spring Break in
Grand Maris

March 22-24th and the following week

TCGIS has group rates for private condos with kitchens at http://eastbaysuites.com

Studio: $89/night

One bedroom: $99/night

Two bedroom: $129/weekend night $99/week night

Usually there is a TCGIS potluck one night in the commons area. Families go hiking, skiing at Lutsen, explore Grand Marais, and just relax. For more information please contact Chris Weimholt at john.g.weimholt-2@umn.edu.

Yearbook Updates

Now accepting photos!

The Yearbook class is in full swing working on the 2nd annual yearbook. However, we need more photos to fill it up! If you have any photos from class field trips, school performances, special occasions or candid classroom pics, please share them with us. If you have pictures to submit, please send them to Molly Kalda at mkalda@tcgis.org.

The Yearbook class is holding a contest for the book cover art. All grades are encouraged to submit their artwork to Molly Kalda by March 1st. The yearbook team will be voting on which pictures should be on which cover. First place gets the front cover, and second place gets the back cover. The first place winner will receive a free yearbook! We are also collecting additional pictures for the inside of the book.

Teen Student Seeking Summer Hosts

A couple from Germany are looking for a host family for their son (Sönke,16) who would like to spent the coming summer here in the US. They are looking for a place/family where he could stay from July 7/8th until August 16/17th 2013. Whoever would like to come to Germany in exchange or after this time could stay at their place as long as he/she would like and would be more than welcome. Our friends have hosted foreign students in the past. See attached some information I received from Sönke. Thank you for letting me know if you know anyone or whom we could contact. You might have a student/family who could be interested.

Thank you very much in advance! Let me know if you would like to contact Sönke's family directly. This is also possible.

Kind regards.

Valerie Penners

Medtronic Translations

Intern Host Families Wanted

Fall 2013

TCGIS is searching for families who would like to host interns next fall. We need lots of families to ensure that all of our interns have homes, so write to Nicole Grentz or Darcy Deboer to find out more information if you are interested.

Musicians wanted for Capstone Benefit Event April 21st

On Friday our first 8th grade class left for their Capstone Experience trip to Germany. This trip was made possible partly through generous donations by members of the TCGIS community. We are continuing our efforts to raise money for teacher expenses and needs-based scholarships. One of our fundraising events will be the Capstone Benefit Event on April 21st at the GAI with Kaffee und Kuchen and musical entertainment.

We are looking for musicians in the broader TCGIS community, including family and friends, who would be willing to play at the Capstone Benefit event. We love any kind of music!

Please contact Silvia Oxenham at s.oxenham@yahoo.com by March 15 if you are interested in performing.

If you make music we want to hear from you!

The Capstone Committee

Notice for those picking up and dropping off

Starting tomorrow you will see a "Reserved Parking" sign up on in the spot closest to the school (next to the disability parking). This designated spot is reserved March 1 through April 30 for the winning bidder from the auction and is enforced by honor system. If you didn'twin it, please don't park in there.

Maskenball Update

Thanks to all of those who participated in the auction! Whether you bid or donated, you helped us to raise a record-breaking $17,500! A report of the final net numbers of both the auction and Maskenball will be given at next week's PTO meeting. For more information on the meeting, and to RSVP, go here.

March extended Kinderclub care

Kinderclub will operate on the following NO SCHOOL days from 8am - 6pm:

March 15th, Friday, TCGIS conferences

March 25-29th, Mon-Fri, TCGIS Spring Break

Please use the following link to sign up your child if you need care on any or all of these days.

http://www.doodle.com/yh9rcx7p3u66bzq8

The dead line to sign up for care on the above dates is Monday, March 11th. The polls will close after that day and your family will be billed for the services you requested.

The cost per child, per day is $37.00.

Please note: Our interns that are working for Kinderclub during this Semester will be traveling throughout the country during Spring Break, and therefore will be greatly reducing the number of staff we have available for the Kinderclub hours during Spring Break. Many of our Kinderclub teachers are College students and do not have the same Spring break dates as the TCGIS, and therefore limited availability during day time hours.

This has not been a problem in the past, but in the unfortunate event that student numbers would exceed our teacher - student ratio (due to low numbers of available staff) I will notify parents and we will operate by a first come - first serve basis on the doodle sign up page.

Thank you for your understanding.

Transportation Survey

As we gear up to

move to our new location next year, many of you may be wondering just how you will transport your children to and from the Como Park area each day. Many families currently depend on carpooling to ease the stress of getting to school each day. The facilities committee has created a survey in order to gauge parents' position on carpooling, busing, and other methods of transport from around the Twin Cities to our new location. Please fill out this survey to help our school determine our transportation needs for our future location.

2nd Gr. Mother/Daughter Book Club

The book club will meet Sunday, April 6th from 2-4pm, at Elsa Johnson's home. The book is "Peter and the Starcatchers," by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Krista at monk2miles@comcast.net.

Fourth Graders Read to Feed

Help them raise money for Heifer International

The Fourth Grade English class is participating in the second annual Read to Feed program and we'd like to invite you to help us! Read to Feed is a program of Heifer International that encourages children to be a part of Heifer's mission to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth. Last year our fourth graders raised over $2500!!

Since 1944, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in 40 countries, including the United States, to help families and communities, become more self-reliant.

The Read to Feed program encourages reading skills while teaching students how they can empower families around the world with the gift of livestock. Children are recruiting sponsors for their reading goals from January 7th to March 2nd. At the end of the program, the fourth graders will pool, calculate, and donate the funds to Heifer International to assist families around the world.

If you wish to help us in our efforts, please visit our "Team" page to donate with a credit card or leave a check with Molly at the front desk! Thank you for making a difference in the lives of our students and the lives of countless others!!

Organizer: Michelle Wallace, 3/4 English Teacher

Educating Children for Informed and Active World Citizenship

The Elternbrief is published electronically Thursdays throughout the school-year and on an as-needed basis at other times. Submissions are due by 3 PM on Tuesdays. Content printed at the discretion of the TCGIS administration.