Welcome to Middle School Religion

Mrs. Barbara Manley
I've lived Lake View since I was six years old! My family belonged to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, and I attended Pinehurst Elementary School and Frontier Middle School before graduating from Immaculata Academy. I graduated from Buffalo State College with a dual B.S. in Ex.Ed/El.Ed, and then married a Lake View boy I'd known since I was seven!. We lived in Houston,Texas for eight years, where our son was born, and where I taught in a public junior high school. After returning to the Buffalo area, our daughter was born, and I began teaching the Third Grade at Southtowns Catholic School. I moved up to Fourth Grade, and later Seventh Grade, before accepting the position of Director of Religious Education at OLPH in 1998. Since stepping into that position, I've  earned a Master of the Arts in Pastoral Ministry from Christ the King Seminary. Since  2009,  I've been teaching Middle School Religion classes  at Southtowns, a school of which I am proud to be a part!

Recent News

September 14, 2017
I'm happy to report that everyone in all Grades 5-8 is adjusting to classroom routines well, and that we've begun "real" work in class.
ALL GRADES
-Students have been reviewing what's in the Bible, since we'll be using the Bible several times each week. There will be a quiz next Thursday, September 21 on this material.
-Each week the students will be copying a Bible verse into their journals and working to memorize it.
-GRADES 5 AND 6 students will be bringing home "Tic-Tac-Toe" project information this week. The "Tic-Tac-Toe" projects are independent learning assignments that will give students the opportunity to learn about topics related to what we're studying in class, at their own speed and in a variety of formats. Each student has to complete three of the projects on the sheet by November 20 (Think: one per month). Projects can be brought to school and shared as they are completed. Each assignment will be worth 20 points toward the student's grade for the trimester.
-GRADE 7 will begin discussing the Gospels next week. We'll be learning how the 4 Gospels are similar and different. Our first activity and assignment will be to develop a Gospel narrative (using stories from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) to address a particular audience. We'll also be discussing how to view the Gospel from historical,literary, and spiritual perspectives.
-GRADE 8 students are working on "making churches". Afterward, the students will be discussing the various meanings of the word "church" as we begin our study of how the Christian Church began and developed over time.
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