Sensational Seventh Grade: “It is hard to imagine we are already into December of the school year,” said Mrs. Natasha Pickett, OMPH School’s Seventh Grade homeroom teacher. The Seventh Graders have been working hard in their Integrated Language Arts class, learning about Plot, Setting, and Characters, as well as Topic & Theme. Before their Christmas break, the students will be reading the play A Christmas Carol to identify the major themes of the story. They always enjoy having different speaking parts! The Seventh Graders help to organize the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) program at the school, and they decided to bring the Mission Cart back this school year. Each month, two students take turns manning the cart, and this helps to enforce responsibility. So far this school year, the Seventh Graders have sat with Kindergarten and Preschool at Mass, helped Mrs. Hartman set up for events at the school, stuffed bulletins, as well as run other MCA activities. “This group of students are always willing to lend a helping hand,” Mrs. Pickett added.
Extraordinary Eighth Grade: The Eighth Grade has been working on their National History Day projects, focusing on this year’s theme of “Frontiers in History,” while diving into in-depth research skills in addition to analyzing types of resources. “This is a fun and exhilarating challenge for our students to not only expand and broaden their knowledge of a particular topic of their choosing, but also an opportunity to experience various levels of competition,” explained Eighth Grade homeroom and Social Studies teacher Miss Caitlin Peters. The students have also been forming a deeper connection within their faith journeys to prepare for Confirmation. They have weekly sessions led by Deacon Jim, with whom they enjoy conversation, discussion of their prayer lives, and their relationship with God. “An added benefit to this time of religious contemplation is that the students will achieve a more profound and richer understanding of the Catholic faith,” said Miss Peters.