Your Vote Counts!!!

WaterStone Bank is celebrating 90 years of service to its communities this year. In celebration of it's 90th anniversary, WaterStone Bank in Wauwatosa is hosting a give away in which local charities have the opportunity to compete for a substantial prize. The local charity that receives the most votes from the community will be awarded $30,000. This would be a help to our school's budget.

Please take a few minutes of your precious time and vote for the German Immersion Foundation. We've got some ground to gain, but already our votes are increasing and I know we can reach the top of the list!

To Vote, click on the link here and follow the instructions. Once you receive the green "Success" message, you can simply hit the backspace button and enter your next vote without having to scan the list to find German Immersion Foundation again.
Remember: You can vote as many times as you want! So go all out! We could earn up to $30,000 for our cause!!
Friends, family and neighbors can vote too! Spread the word!
All votes must be in by April 30th.

Extra Strudel!

MGIS Parents: We need your help!!
We have extra Heidi's Braided Strudel from the Spring Fundraiser, and it must be sold by the end of the school year!
Strudels are $12 each and will be available for purchase at Kinderfest. You can buy strudel anytime by contacting Deanna Kruger at mide3ms@aol.com.

Strudel makes a delicious gift!

1st Graders visit Havenwood State Forest

On Thursday May 13th, I had the opportunity to accompany Herr Haase's class to Havenwood State Forest. It was a wet day, but the less than ideal weather did not discourage the children one bit. I started the day in Herr Haase's classroom where I sat and watched the class complete sentences in German. As I myself do not speak German, I watched in amazement as the students interacted with Herr Haase in complete confidence.


As we embarked on our trip to Havenwoods the weather started to break. When we first arrived we split up into two groups. Frau Mattke and Herr Haase's classes started outside with a teacher led hike while Frau Heck and Frau Slightam's classes went in to work with the rangers.

On our teacher hike, I was impressed as Herr Haase handed out a scavenger hunt listing for the children that was entirely in German.
As we walked I had to ask the children what we were looking for next. Something man made, something hard, etc. They had a great time looking for these items all the while trudging through the wet grass.

We walked by a retention pond and saw a muskrat floating along. The kids were truly excited.
The swimming muskrat.

We returned to the visitor center and Herr Haase read a book before lunch. He translated it to German which was impressive. The kids intently listened to the story laughing at things I could not understand.

The class played a game together before we broke off into small groups after lunch. In the game, something gets hidden in a child's hand and another child needs to guess who got the item. It kind of reminded me of heads up 7-up but I could be way off as everything was said in German.

Finally, we broke into smaller groups and went with our ranger for a guided hike. She explained to us in English (yes!) what we were looking for. The ranger was great at engaging the children and pointing out things that would catch their interest.
We turned over logs and played the scat game. This is where you identify what animal left these droppings. Sounds like fun.

A highlight for the children were some of the live animals they were able to see and touch such as this snake and turtle.

All in all a good and tiring day. It is always amazing and encouraging to see how seamlessly the children are able to make the transition between German and English in and out of the classroom. Thanks, Herr Haase for inviting me on this field trip.

Scrip....what is it and how does it help MGIS' PTA? Scrip 101

Still not sure what Scrip is?
Wondering why there's always that table in the front entrance on Friday afternoons with information about gift cards or why so many slips come home reminding you to order Scrip.
Curious about the program but no time to stop and ask after school.
Read on and you too will know why Scrip is known as "The Fundraiser While You Shop".

Scrip's concept is simple, you place an order for cash cards one week and the following week you get the full amount of your money back in the form of cash cards and the retailer gives MGIS' PTA a percentage of the amount you purchased.
For example: You pay for a $20 Boston Store card this week,
next week you get a $20 Boston Store card and
Boston Store gives MGIS' PTA $1.60.

The cards can be used as gifts but also to make your EVERYDAY purchases and each card purchased earns up to $5 for PTA Events like the RIF Book Distribution and St. Nickolaus.

Cards are available for grocery stores, department stores, gas stations and even VISA gift cards, which can be used at doctor office's that allow you to pay for your co-pays with charge cards.


Another great way to use Scrip is to buy gift cards for work items. Do you own your own business and make regular purchases from Home Depot or Office Max? Cash cards are available for each of those stores. Or do you take customers out for lunch? Many restaurants participate in the program.

3 Easy Ways to Order:
1) Send an order and payment in with your child in an envelope labeled: "Scrip"
2)Place an in person order at the Scrip Sales Table on Friday
3)Place an online order at www.shopwithscrip.com and then send a copy of your order with payment in with your child in an envelope labeled "Scrip".
MGIS enrollment code for online orders is 7176D2LD19477.

Order forms can be picked up at the Scrip Sales Table, in the office, or downloaded at the MGIS' website under the PTA tab.

Cash & Carry cards always available at Scrip Table for same day purchases for the following stores:

Chancery, Jose's Blue Sombrero, Kohl’s, Sam’s Club, Sentry, Speedway, SuperAmerica, Visa gift cards, Walgreens, Wal-Mart. (These items must be paid for with cash)

For alternative order pick up options or questions, contact MGIS' Scrip Coordinator, Pam Gende at 414-875-9368 or pbgende@wi.rr.com

Now that you know what Scrip hopefully you'll place an order.

Upcoming order dates are:

November 20th for pick up at December 1st PTA meeting or December 4th from 3:30 - 5:30
December 4th for pick up December 11 from 3:30 -5:30
December 11th for pick up December 18th from 3:30 - 5:30

Grill Fest 2009

Grill Fest has been a family favorite at MGIS for many years. The PTA provides the brats and hot dogs, and the families bring the rest. Grill Fest is a great place to meet parents and teachers.

Lots of teachers at Grill Fest this year!

The teachers got together and organized a kickball game with the kids. No big surprise - Grill Fest was a blast!

German Fest Parade

German Immersion School families joined together to walk in the German Fest parade.

Apple Harvest Party in Room 28

Last week, the children in Herr Haase's class enjoyed a fun Apple Harvest Party.
Heute ist Apfeltag!

 

The room parents arranged for lots of fun crafts and tasty snacks for the celebration.

 

Each of the children had a turn to work with Herr Haase on an apple craft.

 

Frau P. did some awesome face painting, the kids were able to choose between apples or pumpkins :-)

 

The children each made a beaded necklace...

 

and decorated a sugar cookie. YUM!

 

The party ended with Frau W. reading a German book to the students.

Thank you very much to the room parents, Jen and Jospehine, and all the room parents throughout the building who planned such fun fall parties for the children! Danke!

A Book of Your Own

The results tell the story at the Milwaukee German Immersion School (MGIS). Year after year when our students take the WKCE exams their results consistently rank among the better school districts in all of Wisconsin. This is particularly true for the reading results. There are many reasons for these strong results, including:

• Learning in a language-rich environment – where everything, including initial reading instruction, is taught in full German immersion – certainly helps MGIS students appreciate the subtle nuances of language and grammar.

• A dedicated teaching staff also drives these remarkable results year after year. I think you would be hard pressed to find a team of teachers at any school in the state that is more committed to their students than our team at MGIS.

• And of course the parents at MGIS are highly committed to the success of their children. One way that parent commitment is realized is by the strong support MGIS students receive from the PTA sponsorship of three Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) book distributions each school year.

This program is based on a simple idea – having the opportunity to choose their own book will motivate MGIS students to become lifelong readers. I’m sure RIF has done studies to prove this theory with statistics, but as a parent volunteer who has had the opportunity to help coordinate this program at MGIS for two years, I don’t need to see the academic studies to know that it works. All I need to do is see the look on a student’s face as they contemplate which book to choose and then proudly walk out of the library with a brand new book of their own.

At MGIS we take this opportunity to have all 28 classes come to the library to select their book. We also have parent volunteers come to help with the selection process and also to read to each class. While I know it’s only a small portion of the strong test results MGIS students achieve each year, I believe the PTA’s sponsorship for three RIF book distributions every year (and the many parents who volunteer their time to make it possible) is just one of the things that make the journey at MGIS so memorable for our students.

If you are an MGIS parent who would like to volunteer to read to your child's class for 30 minutes or one hour please contact:
Pam at pamcarroll@wi.rr.com or
Bridget at QuiltMom@wi.rr.com
The current RIF book distribution is going on now, October 21st through October 28th.

German Immersion Families Run to German Fest

For the past four years the German Immersion Foundation has sponsored the St. Ben’s 5k Run/Walk to German Fest. This year about 40 family members and staff from the Milwaukee German Immersion School (MGIS) and the Milwaukee School of Languages (MSL) took this sponsorship one step further by organizing a team to participate in the event. Herr Arndt, the physical education teacher at MGIS who organizes a fitness club for students every year, helped promote the event by recruiting fitness club members and their families to be on the German Immersion team.

During the awards ceremony Herr Arndt had an opportunity to share some of the statistics from his fitness club. Over the course of the 2008-2009 school year MGIS fitness club members walked the equivalent of a round trip from Milwaukee to Munich. Given the increasing levels of childhood obesity in the United States, combined with school budget cuts that often result in the elimination of physical education programs at public schools, MGIS is fortunate to have a wonderful teacher like Herr Arndt as our gym teacher. School parents particularly appreciate his extra efforts to promote a lifetime of fitness by getting MGIS students involved in his fitness club. Participating students have the opportunity to walk up to 6 laps around the playground (1.5 miles) at every lunch recess. Over the course of a school year many students log more than 50 miles and a few get close to 100 miles.

The German Immersion Foundation is pleased to be a part of the St. Ben’s Run/Walk to German Fest. St. Ben’s provides 2,000 meals per week to Milwaukee’s homeless population.

“Brother Dave Schwab really runs a wonderful program and we are grateful for the opportunity to support St. Ben’s mission,” said Mike Carroll, President of the German Immersion Foundation. “Every year more and more people participate, which says a lot about the generosity of our community. We’re glad so many families and teachers from the German Immersion program participated this year and we hope to have even more join our team in 2010.”

K5 Program

Last Thursday, all the K5 students assembled in the gym for an end of the year program. Here is a short clip of their singing. Each class sang songs in German and English.
Thank you so much to our K5 teachers, Frau Bay, Frau Braun, Frau Spinti, Frau Stolp, and of course our music teacher, Herr Warren for all their hard work with the kindergarten students! They all did such a wonderful job, and it was very cute (and impressive too) to hear everything our children learned this school year!

4th Grade Field Trip to Stony Hill School

The fourth graders visited Stony Hill Schoolhouse in Ozaukee County on June 8.  They learned what it was like to attend school in the late 1800s.

Stony Hill School is where Flag Day originated.  Bernard Cigrand was the teacher at Stony Hill School, who started Flag Day on June 14, 1885.

 In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson officially declared June 14th as National Flag Day.  The kids enjoyed learning to write with a quill pen.  They also visited Pioneer Village, a living museum from the late 1800s.

The German Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Klaus Scharioth, Visits MGIS

On April 2, 2009 Milwaukee German Immersion School was honored to have the German Ambassador to the United States as a distinguished guest. He spent time observing two classrooms, then each grade level performed songs in the gymnasium. His visit culminated in the presentation of a Duetsche Partnerschule Award to our principal, Dr. Brugger.


Dr. Scharioth spoke about the school and the broadened worldview our children have as a result of their experiences and education at MGIS.


Mayor Barrett was on hand for the Ambassador's visit.


Dr. Brugger listening as the Ambassador describes why MGIS has been selected for the Partnership School distinction. It was exciting for the school to be recognized in this way, and to have Dr. Scharioth as a guest.