Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! I am so happy to be teaching your children this year. To our new families, welcome! This is where you will find what your children will be learning in Middle School social studies and religion, notices for upcoming tests and quizzes, and any interesting resources I’ve found that might help you brush up on the content we are working on. To our returning families, welcome back! Here are the updates for this (brief) first week of school.
6th Religion
This year in religion, we will be working through the Bible chronologically, starting with Genesis. If you would like to follow along with the Scripture we are studying, I have found that The Bible Recap podcast is a really helpful resource. What’s really interesting about 6th grade religion, is that it ties in with much of what the students will be studying in social studies.
6th Social Studies
In social studies, we will be working our way through ancient world cultures starting with the Prehistoric times in Africa and working our way up through the European Renaissance of the 16th Century. The essential question for this unit is asking how geography affects people’s lives. We will studying how humans migrated because they needed to search for land that would be hospitable and provide for their basic needs.
7th Religion
While the 6th grade religion is chronological, the 7th grade religion curriculum is more thematic, and we will start off with studying who God is and how He shows us who He is through His Word, the Bible. We will be moving back and forth between the Old and New Testaments, so I will post the Scriptures we will be studying each week. Each unit will also tie in a portion of Church history.
7th Social Studies
Seventh grade marks the beginning of a two year study of U.S. history. We will start off with the early cultures and civilizations of North and South America, and then we will pick up where we left off in sixth grade social studies and look at how increased trade between Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as rivalries in Europe, caused Europeans to look for new trade routes and eventually land in North and South America. Much like 6th grade social studies, the essential question for this unit focuses on how geography affects people’s lives, but in a very different context.
8th Religion
In 8th grade religion, the students are once again studying the Bible chronologically, again beginning with Genesis, with an emphasis on how we can apply the teachings of the Bible to our everyday lives. Just as I recommended to our 6th grade parents, The Bible Recap Podcast is a great resource to follow along with what we are doing in class.
8th Social Studies
Eighth grade social studies is our second year of U.S. history, and we are picking up right where we left off in June- the split of North and South over slavery and the Civil War. The essential question for this unit asks the students to think about the circumstances that justify going to war. In addition to studying the battles, we will focus on the human impact of the Civil War.
In Conclusion…
As I stated above, I am so excited to work with all of you this year. If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected].