New Family Resource Page

Tonight is our virtual New Families Welcome Night! 

We are glad you are here! Here you can access information about TCGIS procedures in advance of the Welcome Night event.

Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 6:30-7:30 PM
Zoom links:
The event will begin with a welcome from Herr White, and then he and the teachers will share information about our Kindergarten program. At 7:00, the front office team will share a brief presentation and answer questions about lunch, before/after-school care, arrival and dismissal, and more. To close out the evening, Herr White will answer questions from families in grades 1-4.

TCGIS's Bücherei (library) will be open this summer!

Check out books this summer at the TCGIS library! We have over 7,000 books in German as well as German magazines, audiobooks, and bilingual English/German beginner books.

Summer library hours are every Monday 8-12pm from June 21-August 9, except for the week of July 5-9.

Sign up here for a 30-minute time slot using your first and last name in the comments section with your chosen date/time. Each time slot is limited to 3 families (max 5 people per family). Masks are required.

Get to know the school through the TCGIS Community Garden!

​The TCGIS Community Garden is a 14.5’ by 17.5’plot at the D10 Como Community Garden near the State Fairgrounds. TCGIS families sign up for slots throughout the summer to do light gardening duties like pulling weeds, watering plants, and donating our harvest to the Keystone Midway food shelf.

New in 2021: We have reserved slots each week for incoming Kindergarten and 1st Grade families so you can spend time in the garden and get to know other TCGIS families. 

It's easy, it's fun, and the food we grow helps families in need. We hope you will sign up to join us this summer. The time commitment is very minimal and works in your schedule, it's great for gardeners of all levels, and kids are welcome and encouraged to participate (they are great at watering and harvesting!). Sign up here and send any questions to Lisa Linnell, Vice Chair of the School Board, at llinnell@tcgis.org.

FRONT OFFICE 

The Front Office team is excited to welcome you to TCGIS! Below are brief informational presentations about school logistics. The office team will include some of this information in their presentation on the 25th, as well as questions submitted through the RSVP form and during the event.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (K-4)

TCGIS's Dean of Elementary School, Michael White, and part of our Kindergarten team will be in attendance during the Welcome Night event. They will present information tailored to the questions submitted through the RSVP form and during the event. The content will be relevant to families with children entering both Kindergarten and grades 1-4. We can't wait to see you on the 25th!

MIDDLE SCHOOL (5-8)

Families who are joining the TCGIS Middle School are welcome to attend the New Family Welcome Night as well, though the program will be geared toward families joining in grades K-4. The Dean of Middle School, Elizabeth Zehnpfennig, will reach out to new middle school families directly to arrange individual introductions to TCGIS. Feel free to take a look at our Pädagogisches Konzept (Pedagogical Concept) page to see what school looks like at TCGIS!

Our middle school program is taught entirely in German with the exceptions of English, Math, and Spanish. If your student is joining our school as a middle schooler who does not yet speak German, we highly recommend your student participate in our 2-week language intensive course to ensure their academic success. This course will be offered in August, free-of-charge, but donations toward the cost of the instructor are deeply appreciated. More information about registering for this course will be provided in the coming months.

In the meantime, please visit our German Enrichment page for resources on German language learning over the summer. More structured options for learning German online over the summer include courses through the Goethe Institut and the Waldsee Concordia Language Village, as well as summer camps offered by the Germanic American Institute. Language-learning apps like Duolingo are also a good way to get started. In order to take the most advantage of our 2-week summer intensive program in August, students should aim for having at least an A1 (beginner-level) proficiency by then.