The winter that never seemed to end may be finally releasing its grasp on us!  With this brings drama productions, Iowa Testing, trips to Washington DC, Confirmation, First Communions and many other wonderful things!

Our 6th grade will be creating an Athenian Agora for their Greek Job Fair the first week of May.  Our 7th grade having completed their trip through the Middle Ages through Kingdom tasks and Castle construction  move on to the Renaissance!

The 8th grade begins their final trimester as St. Thomas More Cardinals. We are proud of them on the occasion of their Confirmation and pray that their fun and learning filled trip to Washington DC  be a safe one!  We continue to study the modern era of American History in class and look forward to apply that to our experiences in DC.  

Enjoy!  Now is the greatest time of our lives.  Thank God for all that we have been given and worry none for what we have not.  May spring awaken in you your new self as we all fully experience the resurrection of our lord, Jesus Christ.

ATD

 Dear Families,

As our calendar year winds down, it seems everything is speeding up! Academically, we are in full gear in all classes!  Eighth grade is approaching the turn of the century in American History and industrialization.  The Seventh grade is exploring the Byzantine Empire while the Sixth grade is in Early India answering questions like:  how does geography affect people's lives and how does religion affect culture?

Equally as important, we are experiencing Advent together.  We are preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ.  Tomorrow we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary.  Mary, who with peace, gentleness and calm, accepted God's plan for her, as we all should do.  What a joy to experience all of this together!  To learn, and love, and strive to be better everyday in our wonderful community.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas.  I thank you for letting me teach and care for your children.  I am blessed beyond measure and I wish each and everyone of  you the joys of the season and that you truly feel the coming of Christ and the love of God every moment of every day!

Merry Christmas!

Mrs. Amy Dugan

Please check out the photo album entitled "Vietnam Memorial and Traveling Tribute' located under Album on the lower right portion of this page. Again, we are so grateful that we were able to take our Jr. High to this wonderful memorial. Each student approached the wall with a name in their hand. This was a soldier that they adopted to find on the wall. Some were family, some family friends and some strangers, but like Hunter (grade 7) said, " When I found his name for one minute I felt like he was there with me. I didn't know him but then I kind of felt like I did!" It was a meaningful, beautiful fall afternoon that we will always remember!

We are very excited this week to be planning a field trip to the Union Township Park to see the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, including an 80% scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  This tribute recognizes those who have served and paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country by recognizing American wars and conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the present Global War on Terror. For more information please visit the website,http://www.avtt.org/ and visit the tribute!  The link below is for the students to use to locate a local name to physically find on the wall. You can also use this to locate information about the lost or missing from other wars.  Honor, Respect, Remember.  Freedom isn't free, our lost are never forgotten.

Welcome to our new website!  It is very exciting to have so many options to share our classroom with all of you!  

We have gotten off to a great start this school year!  Sixth graders are getting acclimated to Jr. High and are learning to think like historians, geographers, cartographers and explorers!  Seventh graders are picking up where they left off and beginning their study of the Roman Empire.  Both sixth and seventh graders are honing their social studies skills through our new Simple Solutions daily work. Our Eighth grade is beginning their second year of American History with a review of the Constitution and then by studying the Civil War.  

Many exciting things ahead for all of us! Check back often for updates and enjoy exploring our new website!

ATD