Grades 7-8

Coordinator
Bridget Rao 978 475-0050 x28, brao@staugustineparish.org

Grade 7 & 8 Schedules

Chastity Program Information and Registration Form

Happy New Year!

January has been a busy month for the students not only have they been having their regular lessons but also have been working on several projects.

We have been making sandwiches for the homeless on Monday evenings and designing the most beautiful and encouraging first reconciliation cards for our second grades students who received the sacrament this month

For the first time we became involved with Project  Linus – blanket making for children in hospital and we continued to support the “Birthday in a Box” initiative in Lawrence. Ten children and their friends were able to have a birthday party packed with cupcakes, juice boxes and party favors donated by our 7^th & 8^th grade Sunday students and all the birthday children received personalized cards made in class.

Over the next few weeks there will be more blanket and sandwich making and more Easter and Lenten craft projects! The  7th grade Monday students will lead a Taize Lenten Prayer service for the parish on Monday March 5 and 7^th grade Sunday students will be “hosting” Sunday 9:30 Liturgy on March 11.

In addition to our regular lessons we will be continuing with our safety program – Keeping Children Safe.

Please remember our Chastity program take place on Saturday March 17 here in the Parish Center. More details and a registration form may be found at the top of this page

I have summarized the program below and also included the syllabus for both grades for both days for the year.

Curriculum

The Call to Faith series we use for Grades 7 & 8 and has been especially designed with the young adolescent in mind. This program promotes dynamic, age appropriate faith learning and life application for adolescents and presents the content of the Catholic faith by drawing on Doctrine, Scripture, People of Faith and Catholics Today, the very sources of catholic wisdom.

Grade 7 Call to Faith – Kingdom of God

The seventh grade will learn that the Kingdom of God is a kingdom of peace, justice, and love. Being followers of Christ requires us to share the good news with others and to work towards ending everything that denies the dignity of the human person.

Grade 8 Call to Faith – The Church
This year we focus on the Church, and how every one of us is called to be a disciple of Jesus and join in the tradition of the Church. Evangelization, using personal gifts, salvation, the role of the clergy and being part of the parish community are all discussed

Evaluation

No formal assessment of the students takes place however there is a review at the end of each class that allows us to reinforce the content of the lesson.
Every student – through class discussion and written comments- is given the opportunity to evaluate the program at the end of the year. This allows me to appraise how we teach the faith to this group of students and how effective these methods are.

Social Projects

Young people need to see their faith in action to fully appreciate its value and so there are opportunities throughout the year to work on specific social projects – including making sandwiches for the homeless, blankets for sick children, making placemats for Bread and Roses and Nursing Homes residents and sponsoring birthday parties for children living in the housing projects in Lawrence.

Arts and Crafts

Most lessons involve making crafts, which incorporates another way to teach in the classroom. Some of these crafts go home with the student but others are distributed within the Parish and to outside organizations.

Sunday Liturgy

To encourage our students to worship on a regular basis there will be opportunities for them to lead some of the 9:30 Masses.

Sacraments

Each grade is given the opportunity to participate in the sacrament of reconciliation once during the year.

Prayer & Worship

The students will be introduced to different forms of prayer and will lead the Parish in worship by means of these prayer styles.

Please contact me by phone or e mail if you have any questions.
God Bless
Bridget Rao DRE

Grade 7 & 8 Schedules for 2011-2012

Chastity Program Information

One of the most important gifts we can hand on to our youth is the importance of the virtue of chastity in developing lifelong emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. To that end, the Archdiocese of Boston has launched a chastity education curriculum for Middle School and is developing one for High School.

For Parents

Recognizing that parents are the primary educators of their children in matters of faith and morals, the program begins with a parent information session.

Parent Information Session
Thursday, October 20^th, 7-8pm
Parish Center – St. Michael Parish, North Andover

This information session focuses on the necessity of a chastity curriculum for their children, bringing real life examples into the presentation. It educates parents on the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual consequences and benefits of Catholic teaching regarding chastity, relationships, responsibility and love, it providing parents with the tools to begin these sensitive conversations at home first.  Finally, the information session will offer an overview of the content that will be covered during the student program, including some of the video clips that will be shown.

For Students—Middle School
The second part of the curriculum is the student/teacher section, taught in 7^th and 8^th grade. This is a three hour session which will be taught by a team of curriculum specialists certified by the Archdiocese. The program presents church teaching on love & relationships as the appropriate framework for understanding the gift of human sexuality through age appropriate activities, video clips, presentations, and Q&A.

Registration

The parishes of St. Michael, St. Augustine and St. Robert Bellarmine, are coordinating their efforts on this  program in order to offer additional options and greater flexibility to our families. By completing this registration form, your 7^th and/or 8^th grader may participate in the program at any of the three parishes.

Please return the completed form to: Bridget Rao, DRE, St. Augustine Religious Education, 35 Essex St., Andover, MA 01810

Chastity is a moral virtue … which allows us to give the gift of our very selves to others. … All Catholics are called to chastity whatever their age or state in life, whether single, married or consecrated religious. … Chastity contributes to the psychological and spiritual growth and stability of teens by encouraging temperance, self-mastery and the true integration of the powers of life and love as God intended.