What We're Reading - January 2021

Happy New Year!

As we kick off the new year, we have compiled a new edition of our "What we're reading..." Blog. As always, we hope that you enjoy this variety of articles that we have found to be inspiring, thought-provoking or intriguing, and that these pieces continue to help to shape ongoing conversations. We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below as you read these!

Thank you for your continued partnership, and for engaging with us! Please feel free to share a link in the comments to email us any time!

Classical Education: A Literary Education

Classical education is often described from its ends. Many proponents of classical education discuss these goals in terms of the "transcendentals": truth, goodness, and beauty. While these discussions, because they are often attended by certain Aristolelian notions about existence and knowledge, are frequently problematic from the point of view of Lutheran theology, I would like to set these aside for now (although this is a subject worthy of future discussion) and discuss classical education from another perspective: its means. For all of the West's recorded history, the means of education in the liberal arts, with the exception of music and gymnastics which require the practice of non-discursive skills, has been orality and literacy. That is to say that students have learned via talking, listening, reading, and writing; not all that different from our three R's: reading, writing, and arithmetic. What makes education "classical" is its relationship to the Classics, those written works deemed worthy of handing over from generation to generation. Reading, therefore, is a most indispensable means, a sine qua non, for a classical education. A classical education is by definition a literary education.

What We're Reading - December 2020

Happy New (Church) Year! Although November 30th marked the first day of Trimester 2, Sunday, November 29, marked a more important day in our life together at Immanuel. The Season of Advent, meaning "coming" in Latin, is upon us. Advent wreaths can be found in each classroom helping mark this time of waiting to celebrate the birth of Christ, and our waiting for the final coming of our Jesus, who will bring us into His kingdom.

Integral to the life of Immanuel students is the annual cycle of remembering events in the life of Jesus and marking time with unique celebrations. We give thanks for these intentional rhythms and the opportunity to be united with Christians from times past and in the future. Be sure to ask your child about our Advent traditions and look for a small book that came home today (one per family) called, A Simple Explanation of the Church Year. Here you will find short descriptions of major seasons and festivals of the Church Year along with suggestions for incorporating Church Year traditions into your family life.

If you're looking for Advent resources, these may be helpful:

The Family Read-Aloud Advent Calendar

Latin Advent Calendar

November was a busy time, and we are thankful for the many ways our community showed love and service towards our neighbor. As we expanded our traditional “Day of Service” to a month-long effort from our entire school community to showing love for our neighbors through acts of service, we partnered with Christ House in Old Town to collect food to prepare 50 Thanksgiving Meal Kits, collected hundreds o pounds of food in a month-long food drive, and shared love and service to our neighbors all month long in and out of school. It brought us great joy to see the many ways our students and families participated in these activities.

Once again, we’re sharing our "What we're reading..." Blog , with what we hope is a variety of inspiring, thought-provoking or intriguing materials. It is our hope that these pieces continue to help to shape our ongoing conversation about how we create and build our culture together at home and at school. We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below as you read these!

Thank you for your continued partnership, and for engaging with us in these ongoing conversations and for sharing items you have read that may be inspiring to others in our ILS community! Please feel free to share a link in the comments to email us any time!

Meet Us Monday: Mrs. Whitney Work, Director of Advancement

We are continuing our Meet Us Monday Blog series to introduce you to our outstanding ILS teachers and staff. Check in each week to meet or better get to know one of our new or returning faculty members.

Today, we invite you go get to know another member of our ILS Administrative Team, Mrs. Whitney Work, with her recent “Meet Us Monday” interview.

Mrs. Work has been a part of the Immanuel community for 11 years as a parent to a 2020 ILS graduate, and she is now in her 6th year serving as our Director of Advancement.

Meet Us Monday: Miss Gabriel Fickenscher, Manager of Operations

We are continuing our Meet Us Monday Blog series to introduce you to our outstanding ILS teachers and staff. Check in each week to meet or better get to know one of our new or returning faculty members.

Today, we invite you go get to know ILS Manager of Operations, Miss Gabriel Fickenscher, with her recent “Meet Us Monday” interview.

This is Miss Fickenscher’s third year at ILS In addition to likely being the first person you speak with if you call the school, she handles all aspects of the day-to-day business operations of the school.

What We're Reading - November 2020

As temperatures have turned fall-like, we have also passed the mid-term of the first trimester of the year. It was so wonderful to have the opportunity to meet with parents to discuss how we are working together to support your children during our first Parent-Teacher Conferences, and we also loved welcoming parents virtually for our first Lower School Showcase of the year. It remains a blessing that we are able to continue to hold many of these events and traditions that are so much a part of life together at ILS, even if we have to adjust and adapt this year.

Looking ahead to November, we have so many things we are looking forward to sharing together with students and families. We’ll be again hosting our Veterans Day “Salute to Veterans,” and we look forward to sharing the stories of many of our family members and friends who have served or continue to serve our nation in our armed forces. We’ll also be expanding our traditional “Day of Service” to a month-long effort from our entire school community to showing love for our neighbors through acts of service. We are partnering with Christ House in Old Town to collect for Thanksgiving Meal Kits, running a month-long food drive, and sharing love and service to our neighbors all month long in and out of school. We hope that all of our ILS families will join us in participating in these activities!

Once again, we’re sharing our "What we're reading..." Blog series, with what we hope is a variety of inspiring, thought-provoking or intriguing materials. It is our hope that these pieces continue to help to shape our ongoing conversation about how we create and build our culture together at home and at school. We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below as you read these!

Thank you for your continued partnership, and for engaging with us in these ongoing conversations and for sharing items you have read that may be inspiring to others in our ILS community! Please feel free to share a link in the comments to email us any time!

Meet Us Monday: Miss Rebecca Hobbs, Lower School Lead Teacher, 4th Grade Teacher

We are continuing our Meet Us Monday Blog series to introduce you to our outstanding ILS teachers and staff. Check in each week to meet or better get to know one of our new or returning faculty members.

Today, we invite you go get to know ILS Lower School Lead Teacher, Miss Rebecca Hobbs, with her recent “Meet Us Monday” interview.

Miss Hobbs is in her second year teaching 4th grade at Immanuel and her first year serving as ILS Lower School Lead Teacher.

Meet Us Monday: Mr. Matthew Braun, 6th & 7th Grade Logic Teacher

Our Meet Us Monday Blog series continues, introducing you to our outstanding ILS teachers and staff. Check in each week to meet or better get to know one of our new or returning faculty members.

Today, we invite you go get to know another member of our ILS Upper School faculty, Mr. Matthew Braun, in his recent interview.

Mr. Braun has been volunteering at ILS in various capacities for the past 10 years. Last year he taught Upper School Logic for half of the year, and this year he is his first full year of teaching 6th and 7th grade Logic.

Meet Us Monday: Pastor Noah Rogness, Associate Pastor

We are continuing our Meet Us Monday Blog series to introduce you to our outstanding ILS teachers and staff. Check in each week to meet or better get to know one of our new or returning faculty members.

Today, we invite you go get to know Immanuel’s Associate Pastor, Pastor Noah Rogness, with his recent “Meet Us Monday” interview.

Pastor Rogness and his family have been back as a part of the Immanuel community for the past two years due to Pastor’s military service, and he was recently installed as the new associate pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church on September 12th, 2020. His roles at Immanuel Lutheran Church are split between the church and school. He serves the congregation as their associate pastor, and he also teaches theology to our 4th and 7th grade students.

Meet Us Monday: Ms. Katherine Kramer, Assistant Headmaster

As the 2020-2021 school year begins, we’re continuing our Meet Us Monday Blog series to introduce you to our outstanding ILS teachers and staff. Check in each week to meet or better get to know one of our new or returning faculty members.

Today, we invite you go get to know ILS Assistant Headmaster, Ms. Katherine Kramer, with her recent “Meet Us Monday” interview.

Ms. Kramer is beginning her 11th year of service at ILS, having joined the faculty in 2010. She now serves as Assistant Headmaster, similar to an Academic and Student Dean.