BB 03-27-26

BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XVIII, ISSUE 33

March 27, 2026

FROM THE OFFICE

IMPORTANT NOTES:

NC Opportunity Scholarship: It is time to renew your scholarships! Please login to MyPortal and complete the renewal process no later than April 15th!
Austerfield: It’s time to bring in your required extra supplies! 3 boxes of tissue, 3 handsoap pumps, 3 Clorox wipes per student. You can deliver them to either campus – wherever your student is.
Bradford Archers Athletic Vision Meeting: Mon, 4/13 at 6:30 pm
- What: Bradford Academy is hosting an Athletics Vision Night to discuss opportunities for the year(s) ahead.
- Where: First Baptist Church of Mebane (upper campus) sanctuary
- Who: parents of 3rd-6th students, parents with older students are also welcome to attend

LOWER SCHOOL IMPORTANT NOTES:

FROM MRS. MITCHELL: It’s good to be back in the routine. We love your children! Students are happily moving through a new week of material, singing new songs, learning a new game in P.E.; K – 2nd are preparing for Bradford Night 2.0 (04/23). Fourth graders will visit the upper campus on Friday for Quo Vadis Day to learn about upper school campus life. While we are excited for the changes ahead of them, we will miss this class. They have grown in leadership skills this year as the oldest class on campus. All too soon this year will end. Please pray 2 Peter 2:3-11 with us, that we will pursue excellence (arete) in the days and weeks ahead.

UPPER SCHOOL IMPORTANT NOTES:

FROM DR. SMITH: We hit the ground running this week and it looks to be an all-out sprint downhill! Fourth quarter is packed full, so it will be important for students to stay on top of their work and not allow the promise of spring and warmer weather to cause them to lose sight of the duties that they will still need to accomplish. Friday, we are excited to welcome the fourth graders and parents for Quo Vadis!

UPCOMING

NEXT WEEK:

Tues, 3/31: AWAY- Varsity Girls Soccer game
Wed, 4//01: DEADLINE: Order Yearbooks Here
Thurs, 4/02:
- 8:00am – Coffee and Conversation with Mr. Johnston at Traveling Addiction
- AWAY – Varsity girls soccer game
Fri, 04/03: Good Friday – no school

IN THE NEAR FUTURE:

Mon, 04/06: Easter Monday – no school
Tues, 4/07: 5:30 – DC Trip Meeting (9th and 10th grade)
Week of 4/13: Senior Thesis adjudications in the afternoons
Wed, 4/15: DEADLINE – Renew NC Opportunity Scholarships
Fri, 4/17: Senior dinner and trip highlights at Mr. and Mrs. Johnston’s home
Mon, 4/20 – Tues 4/21: Juniors’ trip to Williamsburg
Thurs, 4/23:
- Art class field trip and Shakespeare in the Park – partial 9th, 10th and 11th
- 6:30 – K – 2nd Bradford Night
Fri, 4/24:
- 1st grade Field Trip to Cane Creek
- 5th grade Field Trip to Monticello
Sat, 4/25: Burlington Writer’s Club Award Ceremony
Thurs, 4/30: Bradford Games (7th – 12th). Kickball tournament (5th – 6th)
Fri, 5/1: Teacher work day – no school
Tues, 5/5: 7th CLT testing
Wed, 5/6: 8th CLT testing
Potential – Thurs, 5/7: National Day of Prayer
Fri, 5/8:
- Teacher appreciation day
- Student Council Presidential Elections
Tues, 5/12: Student Council Elections
Tues – Wed, 5/12 – 5/13: 3rd – 6th CLT testing
Tues, 5/19:
- 5:45 Rising 5th and new student: Band meeting
- 7:00 – Sports Award Ceremony (Varsity sports)
Thurs, 5/21:
- Last day of TK
- Upper school Patriotic program and art display
Mon, 5/25: Memorial Day – no school
Wed, 5/27: 11th – 12th Gala
Thurs, 5/28: 10:00 Baccalaureate
Fri, 5/29: LAST day of school
- Noon dismissal
- 7pm – Graduation

FROM THE TEACHER’S DESK

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Grubb and Mrs. Weber)

TK students were eager to return to school this week. Our theme for the week was spring and gardening. Students enjoyed several spring themed activities, books, lessons, and a science experiment where we made a rainbow in a jar. We visited the forest and looked for more signs of spring. Students noticed flowers blooming, lots of trees with new green leaves, and several bugs around the school. A few of our centers included: playing store and paying for items using dimes, creating sentences and counting the words, 2 spring journals, listening to a story and answering questions, making flowers to decorate the classroom. In math this week, students practiced paying for items up to $1.00 using dimes, identified shortest/tallest, and ordered items by length. Students learned lowercase letters g, c, and e this week as well as their capital partners. We read about Jesus and “A Dark Night in the Garden.” Students learned about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane and how Jesus was betrayed and captured. This will lead us into the death and resurrection of Jesus next week as we talk about Easter. Students began learning a new verse, Mark 10:45.

Lower School Art (Mrs. Knight)

3rd

This week in art third graders learned two new art words: symmetry and balance. We worked on completing the symmetrical half of a castle.

4th

Fourth graders worked to complete a project we began weeks ago, a painted ocean scene in the style of Winslow Homer (the artist of last quarter). We called this project “Turbo” Homer as we had to work swiftly to complete it in one class time. We were pleasantly surprised with our success! Lovely ocean scenes!

Lower School P.E. (Mrs. Bennington)

K-4th

Students did a great job in PE this week. Kindergarten and first grade played a wide variety of tag games. Second grade started their kickball unit. Third and fourth grade completed physical assessments in the areas of running, sit-ups, and push ups.

Lower School Music (Mrs. Bennington)

K-4th

Kindergarten through second grade students did a great job working on Bradford Night material. Students are working really hard to memorize all of their songs. Third and fourth grade students did a great job with their recorders. Students are progressing nicely on three note songs. Third and fourth grade students also sang through “It Is Well With My Soul” and began talking about instrument families.

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera and Miss Burdeshaw)

This Week:

Our kindergarten scholars had a great week back from spring break! In math, we learned how to subtract by 3 and 4, how to identify a subtraction pattern, and how to use ten frames to subtract. In phonics, we introduced the phonograms: ng, ar, ck, and ed, and a new reader, Dan of the Den. In history, we learned about the Renaissance and specifically discussed the artist, Leonardo da Vinci. In art, we drew more self portraits. The students were excited to personalize their drawings. In science, we introduced our unit on mammals. The students started working on mammal lapbooks, which feature four animals and a special fun fact about each one. As a reminder, please be working with your child on their memory verses, as we have our upcoming Bible Bee in May.

Memory Work:

Matthew 6:9-13 and review

1st Grade (Mrs. Cantaffa & Mrs. Smith)

This Week:

The students came back to school with wonderful tales of adventure during spring break and excited to take on the academic challenges of the 4th quarter in first grade! We jumped into a full week of new lessons and learning. In math we started, finished, and tested on how to read and make tally charts and picture graphs. In history, we started a new book about the creation of our constitution. We talk often about God’s providence throughout history and it is quite evident in our constitution. The students are learning about Anne Bradstreet, the first American Colonial Poet in their reader, The Bright Night. In science the students studied the Eastern Bluebird and have been impressed by their beauty. Many students share stories of where they have spotted them. The kids tried their hand at an impressionist style of painting in art as they learned about Renoir, our artist of the quarter.

Memory Work:

Psalm 67:1-7

Upcoming:

No School: Friday April 3 (Good Friday) and Monday April 6 (Day after Easter)

2nd Grade (Miss Verroi & Mrs. Eng)

This Week:

We enjoyed hearing of your family’s adventures over spring break! It is amazing to think that we are starting the fourth quarter and also amazing how much the students have learned this year. We have many more adventures this year and will work to finish strong. In history we are still in the New Kingdom of Egypt and learned about Pharaoh Amenhotep IV and his attempt to have the Egyptians worship only one god. This has led to discussions of monotheism and how as Christians we worship one God. Our new book is The Curse of King Tut’s Mummy by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. After working together on many books this year, for this book the students will read and answer the comprehension questions independently. The comprehension questions are a way for the students to use all the grammar skills they have learned this year. In math, the students have been learning to use and create graphical displays to examine, represent, and interpret data. To take advantage of this wonderful spring season, the students are writing a 3-point paragraph entitled “Signs of Spring”. We enjoyed our adventure to the Animal Park on Wednesday this week to culminate our third quarter science unit. It was awesome to see many of the fantastic creatures God has made, and we are thankful that our trip went so smoothly. As we begin our fourth quarter of scientific study we will focus on Earth Science and God’s amazing creation of this earth we live on.

3rd Grade (Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Meredith)

This Week

After a restful spring break, students returned ready to dive back into their work, and we hit the ground running. This week, we reflected on Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, reading aloud from Luke’s account and discussing the significance of His propitiation for the sins of His people. We also explored how the Last Supper has been portrayed throughout art history, comparing the distinct styles and interpretations of Leonardo da Vinci and Jacopo Bassano. In Latin, students enjoyed learning a new chant for prepositions and began incorporating them into their sentences to add greater detail. We concluded the week in music by practicing the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.” Altogether, it was a meaningful week of reflecting on the goodness and mercies of our Lord.

Upcoming:

Psalm 20:7-9

4th Grade (Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Rankin)

Week 1 The Renaissance

This week in 4th-grade we began with an introduction to the Renaissance, a transformative period in European history spanning from the 14th to the 17th centuries. This era was marked by a flourishing of art, science, and intellectual exploration. We focused on the Medici family, whose commitment to the idea that a beautiful city can cultivate a virtuous man led them to fund and support this rich flourishing of art and architecture. In math, we introduced decimals, representing the tenths and hundredths we learned as fractions, now as decimals in our place value system. As we head into the final Quarter, the students are demonstrating increased mastery in Latin, as they learn new pronouns, declensions, and translations with remarkable ease and depth of understanding. Additionally, we took part in Quo Vadis, designed to help students transition to the upper campus by giving them a preview of what to expect in the coming year. We are off to an excellent start this Quarter!

LOGIC SCHOOL

Mrs. Bennington

5th-6th Band

Fifth grade students did a great job this week on songs in Unit 2. Students are doing very well adding in new notes, rhythms, and dynamics to their playing.
Sixth grade students did a great job this week consistently putting together rhythm with beat in their book exercises. Students also did a great job playing songs and rhythms incorporating eighth notes.

7th-8th Band

Seventh and eighth grade students did a great job reviewing material in their method book this week. They focused on making good sounds, playing together, and playing dynamics. Big improvements are continuing to be made. Students are being encouraged to be responsible for their own parts and accountable to the group so that we can be an effective team. Students also did a great job sight reading pieces for the May concert.

Mrs. Johnston

5th – 8th Choirs

We resumed working through sight-reading and rhythm practice. We also started looking at concert music. Remember to mark your calendars for the Patriotic Concert on May 21st at Mebane Presbyterian Church!

Miss Pugsley

5th-8th Girls’ PE

This week we played kickball and captured the flag! The seventh and eighth graders performed a Passion play as part of Medieval Day!

5th Grade (Mrs. LaTour and Miss Johnston loves Duke)

This Week

The students had a wonderful week back! We discussed George Washington’s leadership as we learned about the Winter at Valley Forge and learned more about how spies operated in this time period. In math, we began learning about subtraction with decimals and anticipate our test in the middle of next week. We started our new spelling list and the students have worked hard on these more difficult words! We also began our new book, Treasure Island. The students are very excited to find out what is in the chest and figure out what adventures are going to take place! Please remember to fill out the permission slip and buy tickets for Monticello. Thank you!

Memory Work: 1 Samuel 2:1-2

Upcoming: 04/24- Monticello Field Trip

Mrs. Knight

5th Art

In art this week, most of us worked on some fun cartoon sketching. We varied the expressions on each face and created some very interesting and hilarious characters. Several students continued finishing up their SAR posters. Judging is set for April 9th. We expect judges to choose up to five posters to compete at the county level. On Thursday, we began a resurrection scene watercolor landscape for Easter.

6th Grade (Mrs. McDorman and Miss Pugsley)

6th Reading and Literature

Students continue reading the Hiding Place.

6th Grammar and Writing

Students explored the differences between homonyms, heteronyms, and homophones. They also added two new sentence patterns and can now diagram patterns four and five, including predicate nouns and predicate adjectives.

6th Bible

Students studied the details of the Gospel of Mark, using the Rose Guide to the Gospels.

6th History

Students studied the Great World War and how global alliances, nationalism, and political tensions led to a massive and devastating conflict. They learned about the cost of trench warfare and the impact of new military technologies. The study also helped them see how the war reshaped nations, led to major political changes, and set the stage for future global conflicts.

6th Science

Students created cell projects to demonstrate their understanding of cell structures and functions and to show key organelles and their roles.

6th Logic

Students identified Either/Or fallacies.

Mrs. Crotts

6th Math

Math students whizzed through the second half of Chapter 10 and concluded the week by taking the Chapter 10 test.

Mrs. Wright

6th Latin

It’s wonderful to have the 6th grade Latin classes back in session after spring break! This week, students are continuing their study of Capitulum VIII, with a focus on learning, understanding, and applying the relative pronoun. They have also been introduced to demonstrative pronouns. Each week, students learn and are quizzed on a new chart of Latin pronouns. Both classes have now completed the relative pronoun chart and are currently working with the “this/these” demonstrative pronouns.

Mrs. Palmer

6th Art

Students learned about our new artist of the quarter this week, Pierre Auguste Renoir. We will continue to study this artist throughout the quarter.

Dr. Wright

7th Omnibus

This week in history, we have the three-page timeline of all the Bible/Greek events (this is an art/design project that helps students place events). Final draft is due on Thursday. We will also have another, shorter list of Roman events which students will receive, and which will eventually become a second timeline, but this might wait until next week. In composition, we have a list of vocabulary words from Cincinatus/Julius Caesar. That quiz is on Friday. In literature, the final reflection on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which consists of a series of short written reflections, is due Friday.

Mrs. Frueh

7th Science

We wrapped up our study of the geocentric and heliocentric model with a discussion of the relationship between faith and science through the lens of the life and work of Galileo Galilei.

7th Pre-Algebra

Learning Algebra is like learning a language. Algebra has its own grammar rules, just like we see in English composition. This week we learned the difference between algebraic expressions (which require simplifying and evaluation) and algebraic equations (which require solving). We practiced simplifying algebraic expressions by combining like terms and solving algebraic equations using inverse operations.

Mrs. Palmer

7th Art

Students learned about our new artist of the quarter this week, Pierre Auguste Renoir. We will continue to study this artist throughout the quarter.

Mrs. Wright

7th Latin

It’s wonderful to have the 7th grade Latin classes back in session after spring break! This week, students are continuing their study of Capitulum VIII, with a focus on learning, understanding, and applying the relative pronoun. They have also been introduced to demonstrative pronouns. Each week, students learn and are quizzed on a new chart of Latin pronouns. They have now completed the relative pronoun chart and are currently working with the “this/these” demonstrative pronouns.

7th Logic

The 7th grade Logic students are working on understanding fallacies of induction. They were introduced to the fallacy of sweeping generalization before break and reviewed this at the beginning of the week. The class then moved on to learning about the fallacy of hasty generalization.

Mrs. Wright

8th Latin

It’s wonderful to have the 8th grade Latin classes back in session after spring break! This week, students are continuing their study of Capitulum VIII, with a focus on learning, understanding, and applying the relative pronoun. They have also been introduced to demonstrative pronouns. Each week, students learn and are quizzed on a new chart of Latin pronouns. They have now completed the relative pronoun chart and are currently working with the “this/these” demonstrative pronouns.

Mrs. Frueh

8th Science

Our lessons this week covered the history of atomic models. We were able to see the rapid progression in knowledge from the simplistic Dalton Model of 1803 to the complex Electron Cloud Model of 1926 based on the work of Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrodinger. Today, we’re still uncovering new information about atoms via the field of quantum mechanics.

8th Algebra I

The students were introduced to the concept of polynomials this week. First they learned to name polynomials by their degree and their number of terms. Then they learned how to add and multiply polynomial expressions. We ended the week with a mini-test in order to review a week’s worth of new learning. Next week, we will move on to factoring polynomial expressions.

Mrs. Palmer

8th Art

Students learned about our new artist of the quarter this week, Pierre Auguste Renoir. We will continue to study this artist throughout the quarter.

RHETORIC SCHOOL

From the COLLEGE COUNSELING Office:

9th-12th:

Students are encouraged to think ahead and search for scholarship opportunities…do you have a family member that is challenged with Parkinson’s Disease? There’s a scholarship for that. Are you over 6 feet tall? There’s a scholarship for that. Is someone in your family in the military? There’s a scholarship for that. Are you a farmer’s child?…

Seniors returned from their trip to Rome, Italy, to face down the 4th quarter! They are encouraged to keep pursuing scholarships such as the Couch Oil Scholarship amidst all the to-do’s.

Juniors

Parents are invited to meet, call or email me with elective and college pathway questions: mcrotts@bradfordacademy.org
Students who were interested in taking electives or pursuing the Career & College Promise program at Alamance Community College signed up for the opportunity and may now schedule a phone call with the ACC’s advisor. Classes at ACC are offered free of charge.
Elon University offers rising seniors the opportunity to take select college classes while being dually enrolled in high school through Collegiate Start @ Elon. Bradford offers reimbursement up to $300 for classes that are pre-approved and completed successfully with a grade of C or higher. Elon University dual enrollment
Liberty University offers dual enrollment classes and students may take select college classes with pre-approval and may be reimbursed up to $300 upon successful completion of each course with a grade of C or higher. Liberty University dual enrollment
Grove City College additionally offers dual enrollment opportunities when students receive pre-approval and successfully complete courses. Grove City College dual enrollment

Sophomores & Freshman

10th graders were encouraged to add to their Activity Sheet to build their resumes; include volunteer work, paid jobs, travel, awards, extracurricular classes and camps, etc.

Mrs. Palmer

9th Spanish

We worked through two new verbs this week in the present tense. Students took a vocabulary quiz. Next week students will have a test before we progress further.

Coach Johnston

9th History

Students spent the week taking in and considering how WW1 was begun, fought and ended. Next week we will take a quiz on that material, continue into the 1920s-30s, and complete a WW1 battle reenactment.

Ms. Oldham

9th Rhetoric I

Students are learning about chreias this quarter, so we began those conversations this week.

Dr. Byrd

9th Bible Survey

This week we are finishing up the Old Testament. We have been looking at the books of Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Malachi, and the Chronicles.
It should take all of the fourth quarter to cover the New Testament.

Mrs. Frueh

9th Biology

As part of our genetics unit, we spent time this week learning how to use Punnett squares to evaluate simple dominance in monohybrid and dihybrid genetic crosses, as well as how to evaluate traits with incomplete dominance and co-dominance.

Mrs. Frueh

9th Geometry

Our focus this week was on circles. While there might not seem to be much in common between triangles and circles, we were able to use our trigonometry skills to calculate both the area of sectors and segments within a circle.

Mrs. Crotts

9th Literature

Students concluded Animal Farm and communism discussions on Tuesday. The class then began reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Mrs. Bennington

9th-11th Band

We discussed the Performing Arts Concert and steps we want to take in preparing for our next concert in May. Students are doing an excellent job. We took a break this week from playing and watched the musical, “The Music Man”. This gave us a great opportunity to talk about how music is used in movies.

Mrs. Johnston

9th-11th Choir & Bradford Chorale

We began working on concert music for our May 21st concert and also watched The Music Man.

Dr. James

10th Chemistry

This week we began an introduction to thermodynamics, focusing on phase changes and enthalpy.
Next week we will continue, with discussion of entropy and Gibbs Free Energy.

Mrs. Palmer

10th Spanish

Students practiced with all four tenses/moods we have learned so far this year. We also took a vocabulary quiz. Next week students will take a test.

Mrs. Byrd

10th Algebra II

We concluded our unit on Exponential and Log Functions. Next we will be learning about rational functions.

Mrs. Crotts

10th Literature

10th graders began reading George MacDonald’s Phantastes. They were assigned a word study presentation on the word “shadow.”

Miss Oldham

10th Rhetoric II

Students have been working on their Teeny Tiny Theses. The topics the students have chosen this year are exceptional and I am excited to hear more about them.

Coach Johnston

10th History

Students began the last major book, Josephus’ Jewish War. This book is going to teach us a lot about human nature, family relationships, great building projects and catastrophic sieges. This book further confirms the authenticity of Scripture while also teaching lessons on kings and prophecies. We continued our study of the rise and fall of the Roman Republic while welcoming some 4th grade guests to our class on Friday.

Dr. Smith

10th Historical Theology

Students are looking at the theological substance that emerged from the Protestant Reformation as summarized in the debates between Arminianism, Roman Catholicism and Calvinism. In particular, we are covering what TULIP represents as well as the Five Sola’s of the Reformation.

11th Precalculus

We’ve completed our trigonometry topics for the year. Now we are learning how to solve a system of equations using matrix row operations.

Miss Oldham

11th Literature

Students had Medieval Day this week. Poisons were bought, usurpings and uprisings happened. A fun time had by all!

Mrs. Wright

11th NT Greek

The Greek students translated a portion of John 12 at the beginning of the week. The class was then given an overview of the quarter and introduced to their new chapter and the Greek imperfect tense. The end of the week was spent applying the new concepts of the imperfect.

Mr. Webster

11th History

This week we reviewed some of the material concerning the Black Death. We discussed the mental, political, and social ramifications of the Black Death in the European world.

Dr. Smith

11th-12th Apologetics

Students are concluding James Sire’s book The Universe Next Door and beginning to read Carl Trueman’s book Strange New World.

Coach Johnston

12th History

Students began a very brief overview of WW1 and WW2. Our focus this quarter will be on the cold war, the modern civil rights movement and major events post-9/11.

Ms. Oldham

12th Literature

We began Orwell’s 1984.

12th Rhetoric III

Seniors are looking towards their final defenses in April. The schedule is available on the school calendar and will also be posted in the bulletin. Please be in prayer for them while they prepare.

Mrs. Byrd

12th Calculus

Students are in the final stretch of instruction before the AP exam. We are using integrals to find the area between curves.