Andrew Monkemeyer

CLASS ACTIVITIES
Teaching Social Studies, Physical Education, and our Christian faith is so important to my teaching ministry. Within these areas we use many activities involving technology. In Social Studies, we will make videos, podcasts, and experience virtual reality to experience the history of our world! In Physical Education, we have heart monitors to teach the students how to best keep their heart rate up to be healthy and physically fit! In our Christian faith class, we perform service projects and study Bible stories to enhance and share our faith with others!

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
As a Social Studies and Physical Education teacher for 6th-8th grades my first objective is to share the love of God and model what He teaches through His Son, Jesus Christ. Throughout all areas of my teaching, Christ must be the foundation of all I do. Through this foundation, I will teach my students to develop academically, socially and emotionally. Each of these will be taught through educating my students to create new ideas, work together, grow through failure, overcome challenges, speak publicly, show effort in their work, and strive to do the best to their abilities. 

MISSION STATEMENT
My mission as a Social Studies and Physical Education teacher, along with coach and athletic director is to teach Christ as our Savior. I have dedicated my life to God and to serving children he has placed in my care. I strive to educate children by showing love, working hard, and building relationships, so my students seek to be life-long learners.

WHY YOU WANTED TO BECOME A TEACHER
First, to have the opportunity to teach faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Second, I have a passion for helping children and teaching them how fantastic learning is! Third, I absolutely love history. It teaches us so much and. through it, can give us a guide into the future. Last, I enjoy incorporating technology into the classroom!  

HOBBIES/INTERESTS
Chicago sports (especially the Cubs), learning about History, traveling to historic locations, running and exercising, and celebrating Christmas! 

Lorraine Ibe

CLASS ACTIVITIES
From the very young to the almost graduating, technology classes find us mastering mouse control; developing keyboarding skills; setting formulas in spreadsheets; assembling presentations; focusing on page layout design; studying tags and HTML coding; creating original animations; engaging in multi-media production; training in programming; constructing mechanisms with VEX kits; modeling in 3D; designing apps; and solving real world problems with robotics.

MISSION STATEMENT

“Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger.” Philippians 1:21a 

As long as God gives me life, my mission is to reflect God’s love to others; to value and grow the gifts I have been given; to mature in knowledge and wisdom; and to live a life of excellence in both witness and service to humankind. All to the glory of God!

WHY YOU WANTED TO BECOME A TEACHER
I kind of fought the idea actually, but God kept leading. Now, I find it to be a most rewarding profession.

HOBBIES/INTEREST
Any activity that involves being outside and/or doing things with my family.

Carlie Kaufmann

CLASS ACTIVITIES
In seventh grade religion, we complete two service projects determined by the students. In sixth grade math, we have a “Hometown Bakery” where students form bakeries based on economic principles and actually bake the goods and sell them with play money.Seventh grade math will create an air structure by using plastic sheeting, fans, geometric skills, and a lot of duct tape! Eighth grade algebra will participate in the Stock Market Game with $100,000 virtual funds.

All science classes participate in at least one lab per chapter. Sixth grade students will learn the difference between sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock by making a model, growing rock candy crystals, and heating and smashing Rice Krispie treats, respectively. There are many dissections in seventh grade science -- frogs, sheep eyes, and so on. One of the favorites is a Crime Scene Investigation in eighth grade that includes fingerprinting, blood typing, chromatography, and more.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
If you can see it and touch it, you can learn it!

MISSION STATEMENT
My mission as your child's teacher is to provide a Christ-centered education that will prepare them to become lifelong learners.

WHY YOU WANTED TO BECOME A TEACHER

As a child, I loved playing “school” and finding ways to make difficult concepts more simple. One of my favorite things in the world is to see the face of a student when they finally “get it.”

HOBBIES/INTERESTS
I love spending time with my family!

Ellen Rytter

CLASS ACTIVITIES
Junior High literature is packed full of awesome novels from “Hatchet” to “To Kill A Mockingbird”. We dig into poetry and drama as well, finishing our eighth-grade year with a drama production. In English we spend a great deal of time learning to write. We look at correct sentence structure, the fundamentals of grammar, revising and so much more.

MISSION STATEMENT
To be an example of Christ's love.  To encourage and foster growth in students' faith lives.  To provide a safe, cooperative environment where students can academically flourish and develop into life long learners, productive citizens, and confident servers of God.

WHY YOU WANTED TO BECOME A TEACHER
I was called by the Holy Spirit.

HOBBIES/INTERESTS
reading, traveling