6th Grade:
This quarter we will continue to study the lives and times of Moses, Aaron, Miriam and Joshua... continuing Old Testament saga of our Fathers and Mothers in faith, we pick up the story 2nd quarter at the point where the Chosen People prepare to enter the Promised Land. Your sixth grader will learn from the age old story of the Exodus that God not only wanted to free the Israelites from slavery, but that he wants to free us from different forms of being enslaved....and to be free for a celebratory relationship with him.
The Chosen People are led into the Promised Land by Joshua....a thoroughly heroic character who had complete faith in God. The students see Joshua as he is, a man who is very in tune with God ....His motto might be, "When going into new situations, take God with you or follow God in." Your student will enjoy learing about this legendary hero who sees God as his strength and is single-minded in his devotion to him.
After an energetic study of Joshua and his relationship with God we will move on to an examination of the age of the Judges, specifically Deborah. She is a reminder that it is God that chooses to speak through people even when cultural norms (Old Testament norms) usually assign these roles to men. Deborah is, for your daughters, a good example of a wise, balanced and faith-filled woman.
Gideon's life will be explored next. Gideon tests God's will but his relationship with God empowers us to face the difficulties in life with certainty.
Time permitting we will move on to an examination of the stories of Samson, Ruth, Naomi and Samuel the boy Prophet. These wonderful biblical figures were each gifted with a beautiful call from God and were important parts of the Old Testament story, moving the Israelites from the era of Judges to a kingdom.
Prayer will be an important part of our time together. We will use Lectio Divina and forms of simple meditation to heighten your child's relationship with God.
7th Grade: The Story of Jesus
We are well into Unit One - "The Mystery of the Incarnation" and are exploring the Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth and early life. They are giving us clues to his true identity as the Son of God. These stories are helping us to understand the holiness to which we are all called as God's Children.
Jesus was born into and grew up in a family....this fact will help your seventh grader to understand that they themselves share many human experiences with Jesus. As we explore Jesus' life your student will soon learn that it was not always Christmas for this family ...Life was hard in Jesus' Palestine...his family faced homelessness and probably lived a subsistence lifestyle.
We will study several events in Jesus' life from the perspective of current international law in order to reflect more deeply on the story of his early years.
Though our young students may not be thinking daily about their Baptism we will learn again this quarter that we all have a special character because of it [Baptism] and that it has given us the strength to resist temptation and avoid sin. We will spend time talking about our "true selves" and hopefully these discussions will provide the students with the tools to reject those voices that would cause them to doubt God's care for them and reiterate the fact that because of God's love and his promise of eternal life they would be very foolish indeed to want to serve others so willingly..
Unit Two explores the meaning of the Kingdom and helps us understand that, as servants of the Kingdom, we are all called to spread the Gospel by living the values of God's kingdom.
In Unit Three the students will learn how we are called to be Christlike and how we grow to be like Christ through the Eucharist, which gives us nourishment, and through his healing which gives us strength.
8th Grade: The Story of Our Church
Church History will be the focus of our studies during the 1st and 2nd Quarter.
Unit One in our text introduces us to the characteristics of the early apostolic Church through a study of the Acts of the Apostles. We will study the lives of the Apostles, the early Sacraments, with particular emphasis on the Sacraments of Intitiation. We will delve into worship in the early Church and explore the concept that now in the 21st century as in the early Church of the 1st century, no one ministry (or minister) is ever more important than another...and that Unity is a basic and fundamental characteristic of the Roman Church.
We began our preparation for Confirmation last year and will continue weaving the catechesis of the Sacrament in and out of our study of Church History using material written by Pope Benedict XVI and edited for use with our 8th graders. This quarter your child will become very familiar with The Twelve Apostles who were called personally by Jesus. They will learn who they were, what they did and what spiritual and personal traits made them individually important to the mission of Jesus. As a class, during this first quarter, we will explore the lives of Clement of Rome, Augustine of Hippo, Priscilla and Aquila, Stephen the Protomartyr, Ignatius of Antioch and many, many others.We will learn about them as real people who followed the teachings of Jesus, no matter what the cost, and study in detail the particular Gift of the Spirit each of them exemplified.
This will be a very busy year for your student...there will be many, many reading assignments ... all designed to move your 8th grader toward a solid understanding of the rich history of our Church. They will learn how important it is for them to be witnesses of the Faith, no matter what the cost, by learning how others did so. It is important that they know that it is their responsibility as confirmed Catholics to follow in the footsteps of those holy men and women who have proceeded us. Our 8th grade students at SGM are an important link in a 2,000 year old chain....and a very crucial link at that !! They are the future of our Church.