BB 02-07-2020

The BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XII , ISSUE 18

FEBRUARY 7TH, 2020

 

FROM THE OFFICE

Two big upcoming events:

Continuous Enrollment Agreements:  Deadline is 2/15. We will start awarding seats to new applicants the very next week.  If your agreement is not complete and we have a student ready to take your spot, we will contact you and you will have 24 hours to complete the agreement.  

Parenting Conference:  We urge all Bradford parents to consider attending this Parenting Conference.  It will be worth your time, without a doubt!

UPCOMING

NEXT WEEK:

  • Mon, 2/10:
    • HS Girls’ basketball game – SENIOR NIGHT! – 4:00 at MACC
    • HS Boys’ basketball game – away – 7:30 pm
    • Quo Vadis?  7:00 pm at DTC (for 5th – 6th grade parents)
  • Thurs, 2/13:  Scrooby Service Project:  to Hawfields Nursing Home, 3:30 – 4:30
  • Fri, 2/14:  TEACHER WORKDAY, No school for students.  
  • Sat, 2/15:  DEADLINE: CONTINUOUS ENROLLMENT AGREEMENT  

IN THE NEAR FUTURE:

 

  • Mon, 2/17:  President’s day, NO SCHOOL,  Hot lunch order forms will be emailed to you
  • Fri, 2/21 – Sat, 2/22:  PARENTING CONFERENCE
  • Mon, 2/24:  DEADLINE: Hot lunch order form
  • Fri, 2/28:  
    • Hot lunch (pizza)
    • Reading Day (Dr. Seuss day) – more details to come!
  • Fri, 3/6:  OPEN HOUSE  
  • Fri, 3/13:  
    • TK – Grandparents’ Day
    • End of 3rd Quarter
  • Mon, 3/16 – Fri, 3/20:  SPRING BREAK!!
  • Fri, JUNE 5TH:  Bradford Academy’s 1st Graduation Ceremony!  **Be on the lookout for information on how to secure tickets!**

 

FROM THE TEACHER’S DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Grubb)

Bible
  • This week we learned how much Jesus loves little children.  We explored the story from Matthew 19. Jesus used the example of the hearts of children, so trusting and full of love, as a reminder to the disciples that it is not works and good deeds that make Jesus love us more.  He already loves us the most. We are to trust and love Him demonstrated through obedience and worship.  
Theme Adventure
  • This week was a fun week in science!  TK has been learning how germs are spread and how they cause illness.  As you can imagine we have talked about how important it is to keep hands away from faces and reminded the children how to wash hands thoroughly.  This week we put hand washing to the test by applying lotion on our hands that contained “germs”. The germs were actually a glow-in-the-dark paint that had been infused into the lotion.  Children washed their hands after applying the lotion. With the use of a blacklight TK students were able to see how many germs remain on their hands! 
Literacy
  • This week TK students continued to match lowercase letters to their capital partners.  
  • TK students continue to work on mastery of diagonal lines by writing the letters A, R, K, and a triangle. Next week we will learn to draw a diamond. 
  • TK students are being challenged to differentiate between finding letters and finding sounds.  This is an exciting time for building skills of reading readiness.  
Math
  •  TK students enjoyed using a balance.  This week we learned to make the balance level by comparing weights of classroom toys to the number of counting bears.  We were able to sort the toys from lightest to heaviest. 
  • TK students are also learning to count on.  By rolling 2 dot cubes we are able to learn how to add 2 numbers together.  We will continue this skill in the months to come. The students are eager to play games with dice! 

 

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera & Mrs. McDorman)

This Week
  • This week our kindergarten scholars continued to tackle doubles plus one addition facts. Please help your student review their fact cards, especially the doubles plus one. First, they determine if the numbers are friends on the number line. (Are they next to each other?) Second, identify the smaller number and double it. Third, add one to the answer. Your student should be able to quickly review their fact cards and show mastery of those facts on their fact assessments. In P.E., students practiced ball control and footwork exercises. Our quarterly artist is Thomas Cole. He was an English-born American artist who founded the Hudson River School. Cole’s Hudson River School was known for realistic and detailed portrayal of American landscape and wilderness. Our students enjoyed recreating View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm.  
Music 
  • Our lesson this week was about the grand staff. We learned about how the grand staff connects together the treble and bass clef, as well as the music alphabet that we learned about in the past few weeks. After our lesson, we enjoyed singing our hymns of love! 
 
Memory Work:
  • Romans 11:33-36

 

1st Grade (Mrs. Campbell & Mrs. Morgan)

This Week
  • First graders were excited to experiment with static electricity this week during our study of Benjamin Franklin.  The kids burst into laughter as they watched each student’s hair stand up straight while a balloon was being rubbed on it.  We also did an experiment with oil and water and discussed some of Franklin’s other inventions (ask your kids about Franklin’s bathtub!), along with recognizing the important role he played in convincing the French to come to the aid of the colonists in their fight for independence.  Next week we will study the thirteen original colonies and learn more about the writing of the Constitution. In math, we learned how to create a number line and locate points on it, make polygons on a geoboard, and a special trick for adding three or more single-digit numbers.
Music 
  • Our lesson this week was about the grand staff. We learned about how the grand staff connects together the treble and bass clef, as well as the music alphabet that we learned about in the past few weeks. After our lesson, we enjoyed singing our hymns of love! 
P.E.
  •  No P.E. this week
Memory Work:  
  • James 1:19,20

 

2nd Grade (Mrs. Jones)

This Week
  • Second grade has had a wonderful week learning all about the mummification process. They each created a sarcophagus, death mask, canopic jar and an eye of Horus patch to use during Friday’s Mummification Day. On Friday, each student mummified a baby doll including removing the important organs, stuffing the doll with salt and then wrapping it in linen. They got to wear the mask of the Egyptian god Anubis during the whole process. Afterwards, the class marched their sarcophagus in a death parade. Ask your child what their favorite part of the process was. In reading we read a book called Senefer. Senefer is based on the true story of a boy in ancient Egypt who earned the privilege of going to scribe school. When he grew up he helped build incredible temples and monuments for the pharaoh. Ask your child why going to school was considered a privilege in Egypt.
Music 
  • Our lesson this week was about understanding and identifying the differences in even and uneven, and long and short rhythmic patterns. After watching an informative video, the students participated in an exercise where the teacher clapped a rhythm, and they raised their hands to identify whether it was long, short, even, or uneven. Then, we enjoyed singing our hymns of love!
Memory Work: 
  • Hebrews 11:1-10

 

3rd Grade (Mrs. Garner)

This Week
  • Math was full this week of exciting lessons. In one lesson, we learned to estimate and find the weight using grams with food items. In another lesson, we discovered the differences between Fahrenheit and Celsius through various standards of temperature (ie: boiling/freezing points, body temperature, and room temperature). During our math morning meeting, we have also enjoyed the roller coaster of a “checking” account, with its withdrawals and deposits. Every morning the students are eager to find out if we are writing another check or getting paid! Finding those sums and differences are really starting to matter to them. Latin was also full of exciting, new material. We learned our future tense endings and worked more on parsing and translating our verbs. The students were also given their Libellus de Historia, Latin History Reader. We will be using these in class in tandem with our History cards. 
Music 
  • This week we began a short series of lessons in which we will learn about the history of the different styles of music from different periods. We focused on the Renaissance and the Baroque Period for this lesson. At the end of the series, the students will review,  listen to some of the music from each historical period again , and be asked to identify what period the piece is from.  
Memory Work:
  • Psalm 19: 1-10 ( Next week, adding verses 11 and 12) 
Upcoming:
  • 2/12- Spelling Test on List 21 and Grammar Chapter 12 Test A
  • 2/13- Latin Chapter 20 Test  and Grammar Chapter 12 Test B
  • 2/19- “Julius Caesar” History Test and Spelling Test

 

4th Grade (Mrs. Hamilton) 

This Week
  • In Literature, we said a tearful goodbye to C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Students learned much about character development, descriptive language, and plot elements while reading this wonderful book. In Writing, students began reviewing the basics of a five-paragraph essay in preparation for their research reports, while in Grammar, students continued editing for punctuation, capitalization, and clarity. In History students learned about The Great Papal Schism. After the scandalous Avignon papacy, the Christian world was ready for a change. This week’s card highlighted the effects of human fallibility and the absolute necessity of a radical change in the church. 
Science
  • Students are extremely excited to be learning about the topography of the earth. They continued learning about major mountain ranges, plateaus, and ridges, and noted them on their own maps. Students also learned about the dangers of mountain climbing. 
  • Geography test on Thursday, February 20: Continents, Oceans, Mountain ranges, Seas, Canyons, Plateaus, and Highlands. 
Music
  •  This week we began a short series of lessons in which we will learn about the history of the different styles of music from different periods. We focused on the Renaissance and the Baroque Period for this lesson. At the end of the series, the students will review,  listen to some of the music from each historical period again , and be asked to identify what period the piece is from. Finally, we practiced our recorders. We learned the fingering for C#, and chose, “The Drunken Sailor,” or, “The Can-Can,” for homework.
Memory Work:
  • Matthew 5:13-16

 

5th Grade (Ms. Windes) 

This Week
  • Students are making great progress through Duel in the Wilderness, reading about Washington’s frustrations and successes as he traveled through the wilderness towards the French forts to deliver a message from the British. We are learning alongside the young Washington about leadership, humility, and perseverance. In math, we continue working with fractions as well as reviewing units of capacity, learning how to find the area of a triangle, and how to use a constant factor to solve ratio problems. For the first time for Bradford, in March the students will be taking the National Latin Exam, an exam that is given to Latin scholars across the United States. We are brushing up on the Roman culture, history, and mythology that the students learned in third grade as we continue to polish all of our Latin skills! 
Music 
  • This week we began a short series of lessons in which we will learn about the history of the different styles of music from different periods. We focused on the Renaissance and the Baroque Period for this lesson. At the end of the series, the students will review,  listen to some of the music from each historical period again , and be asked to identify what period the piece is from.  
Memory Work:
  • Philippians 2:10-11
  • Review of Greco/Roman gods song
  • Area of a Triangle song
Upcoming:
    • Tuesday, 2/11: Math test 
    • Wednesday, 2/12: Latin ch. 21 test

 

  • No history or spelling test next week due to a short week. 

 

6th Grade (Mrs. Garrett) 

This Week
  • The class is beginning Jack London’s The Call of the Wild and looking carefully at the various themes that the author brings forth. The class also took assessments in grammar, logic, literature, and history. The students learned about those desiring to rebuild after the Civil War, despite many devious characters, working diligently against all odds to end slavery and its poisoned waters in the emerging nation of America.  The class also learned how to use a concordance, a Bible commentary, and other resources to study the various words in the Bible. Finally, our great scientists drew hypotheses, and then carried out experiments to determine where the most bacteria might be found. The bacterial colonies grew in the heated incubator on agar petri dishes. 
Music 
  • This week we began a short series of lessons in which we will learn about the history of the different styles of music from different periods. We focused on the Renaissance and the Baroque Period for this lesson. At the end of the series, the students will review,  listen to some of the music from each historical period again , and be asked to identify what period the piece is from. 
Memory Work:
  • 1815 History Song, I John 1-3:1
Upcoming:
  • 2/11: Math Test, 2/13: History Test

 

LOGIC & RHETORIC SCHOOL

 

Mrs. Byrd

Calculus
  • Following a test this week, we are learning how to use differentiation to solve optimization problems.
Precalculus
  • We are concluding our study of basic trig with some applications involving triangles and periodic motion.  Next we will begin a unit on probability.
Geometry
  • Our study of triangle proofs wrapped up with a test on Monday.  We are now extending these proof techniques to a special case, right triangles. 

Dr. Byrd

10th Bible Survey
  • This week we began studying the wisdom literature with the book of Proverbs. We also had a test on Job-Esther. Students are also working on their book analysis project due at the end of the quarter. 
  • I also wanted to say thank you to the parents of the tenth grade class and our room mom for the kind Christmas gift. I am looking forward to reading the biography of Robert Moffat. 

Mrs. Dovan

10th Rhetoric I
  • In tenth grade students peer edited Refutation speeches and they will present these next week.  We also are doing a study in figures of speech (schemes and tropes). We began this study by identifying 25 figures in JFK’s 1961 inaugural address.
12th Rhetoric II
  • This week the students met with me individually to discuss the progress on their thesis (more conferences to come next week). Thesis outlines are due next Thursday and then we begin drafting! Vocab test next Tuesday.

Mrs. Frueh

7th Grade Science:
  • We are wrapping up our student presentations this week as part of our Students-As-Teachers project. All the students have done an impressive job researching, writing, and presenting on their topics!
8th Grade Science:
  • The students put their periodic table skills to the test this week. First, they worked in groups to decipher an “alien” periodic table, using clues on physical and chemical properties, reactivity, and valence electrons to determine the identity of each element. Also, they took a unit assessment on all the various element groups of the periodic table.

 

Mr. Hamilton

9th History
  • We had a great time this week discussing the transformation of the American West, focusing on native resistance, the move from mining to big business, the agricultural revolution, and the rise and fall of the cattle industry.
9th Literature
  • We are finally on Pride and Prejudice! This week was spent discussing background to the novel, including information about the author, England around the time of 1800, issues with the landed gentry class, and much else.
9th Theology
  • We spent this week discussing the regulative principle, the Sabbath commandment, and marriage.
10th History
  • Our Thucydides projects are coming along nicely! Students are greatly enjoying this opportunity to put their filmmaking skills to use.
10th Literature
  • We continued our journey through Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics this week, with each student presenting a virtue discussed in greater detail by Aristotle. 
11th Philosophy/Apologetics
  • This week in apologetics we reviewed the basic elements of the Christian worldview.
12th History
  • The rise of nationalism in Europe was our focus this week.
12th Literature
  • After a discussion of the merits of Emily Dickinson’s poetry, we moved on to Walt Whitman, often considered the first truly American poet.

 

Dr. James

10th Chemistry
  • This week we discussed various gas laws, such as Boyle’s Law and Charles’s Law.
  • Next week we will continue our discussion of gases, including reactions in the gas phase. 

 

Miss Oldham

8th Grade Omnibus
  • We have wrapped up Macbeth and are picking back up with Tolkien’s adventure with The Two Towers. The students have a history research paper that they’re continuing to work on, so ask them about their person! 
11th Grade Literature
  • We are finishing up The Faerie Queene and will begin with Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy. 
11th Grade History
  • We are continuing A Distant Mirror where we are looking at the parallels of the Middle Ages and today. 
7th Latin
  • We are continuing Latin Alive Book 1 and are going to begin a translation project after Winter Break. 
8th Latin
  • We are continuing Latin Alive Book 2, which is mostly review, but we are adding more endings and more vocabulary. 

 

Mrs. Palmer 

7th Art
  • This week we continued on with our watercolor studies.  Students are finding that watercolor isn’t as easy as it would seem!  They are getting it, however, and next week we will do one more small study before going to our watercolor final.
8th Art
  • This week we continued on with our oil pastel studies.  They will soon finish these up. After their small studies they will do an oil pastel Lord of the Rings final!
9th Spanish 
  •  This week we review for our Chapter 4 test.  This included stem changing verbs, irregular “yo” form verbs, and plenty of vocabulary.  Next week we will begin a new chapter.
10th/11th Spanish
  • This week we continued working on preterite and imperfect.  We learned more body/health vocabulary and put it into practice through writing and speaking this week.

Mr. Palmer

7th Pre-Algebra
  • This week I missed the first few days due to sickness. Students worked on lessons from the book that correspond to their test. Their test is today, Friday. 
8th Algebra I
  • This week I missed the first few days due to sickness. Students worked on lessons from the book that correspond to their test. Their test is today, Friday.
10th Algebra II
  • This week we worked with gas law problems and understanding the quadratic formula.
9th Intermediate Logic
  • This week we worked with the rules of replacement. 
12th Systematic Theology
  • This week we studied the Old Covenant and compared it  to the New Covenant.

Ms. Hutchison

7th Grade Forum
  • We talked about the fruit of “kindness” this week in Forum and are thinking of ways that we can speak life-giving words to one another.  Our next recitation will be Psalm 117:2.

 

7th Grade Omnibus
  • History:  Our history adventures are leading us to a study of early Greek history and the history of the peoples around the Mediterranean Sea during the five centuries before Christ.  Students began their reading of Herodotus’ Histories.  Herodotus is considered the “Father of History” because he wrote one of the first comprehensive histories of various people groups and attempted to provide an objective account of events and civilizations.
  • Literature:  Our literature unit on Homer’s Odyssey concluded today with a unit test on the book.  We have enjoyed beginning our read-throughs for our spring production of this story.  Stay tuned for more details.  I think it will be a fun play to produce and to watch.
9th Grade Biology
  • General Biology students continued their study of cell division by learning about  the processes of mitosis and meiosis.
Honors Biology
  • Honors Biology students are beginning a unit on the Cell Cycle and Cell Division.  We have learned about mitosis and meiosis and the regulation system which God has designed to keep the division of healthy cells in check.  Those students wishing to take the AP Biology Exam on May 11 should register online with College Board and make payment by February 26.  Checks for the amount of $101.50 should be made payable to Bradford Academy.