BB 05-11-2023

 

BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XV, ISSUE 34

MAY 11, 2023

 

FROM THE OFFICE

2023 Bradford Games was a huge success!!  Thank you to the many volunteers who helped it go smoothly.  The Lord has given us an incredible community – teachers, parents, students.  Seniors mowed the back field and helped with set up.  Teachers created fun and challenging competitions.  Parents organized the amazing obstacle course, manned the first aid tent, helped with judging and running stations, donated snacks and pizza, helped with clean up.  It was a privilege to watch the students strive and challenge themselves, to compete with intensity and handle wins and losses with grace.  It’s yet another training ground for developing the character we long to see each student manifest.

SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATIONS:  We will soon be opening the camps up to the public, so please go ahead and reserve your spots this week!  

VBS:  For those who want to send their young students to Vacation Bible School, there is one sponsored by Grace Reformed Baptist Church (where lower school campus is located) the week of July 17th.  You can register your kids here.  (This is a different link than the one I sent last week, but either will work.)  

 

UPCOMING  

NEXT WEEK:  

  • Week of 5/15 and 5/22:  Senior Thesis presentations
  • Tues, 5/16: 7p, Rising 5th/6th grade band meeting, upper school campus
  • Thurs, 5/18:  
    • 9th grade field trip to NC Museum of Art
    • 12th grade field trip to ASU

 

IN THE NEAR FUTURE:  This list keeps getting shorter!

  • Tues, 5/16: 7p, Rising 5th/6th grade band meeting, upper school campus
  • Thurs, 5/18:  
    • 9th grade field trip to NC Museum of Art
    • 12th grade field trip to ASU
  • Week of 5/15 and 5/22:  Senior Thesis presentations
  • Tues, 5/23:  7:00 pm, Spring Concert and Art display (upper school)  *Rising 5th and 6th graders are encouraged to attend!*
  • Thurs, 5/25: 
    • 10:30 – TK ceremony – auditorium
    • 7:00 Patriotic Program (3rd – 5th grades)
  • Mon, 5/29:  Memorial Day, no school
  • Wed, 5/31:  Verse Bee (lower school), Jr/Sr Gala (evening)
  • Thurs, 6/1:  Baccalaureate, upper school, 9a.m.
  • Fri, 6/2:  Last day of school – noon dismissal for all students, Graduation (7:00 pm)

 

FROM THE TEACHER’S DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Hicks and Mrs. Grubb)

TK had a busy week preparing for our performance on our last day of school, celebrating mom’s, and releasing more butterflies. These are just a few highlights from the week! We also worked on lowercase letters p and q as well as reviewed their capital partners. In math, we graphed pets that we have or would like to have, practiced finding numbers on a number line, and played bingo using numbers 11-30. We also continued playing war. This is a great game to play at home with your child. Next week we will teach the students to play dominoes. Since we finished reading the Jesus Storybook Bible last week, this week we reviewed some favorite stories from the year. Lastly, we celebrated all of our many acts of kindness throughout the year with a party. Students worked all year to fill the jar of joy by showing love to others so we celebrated on Thursday with extra outside activities and popsicles. 

Lower School P.E. (Mrs. Bennington)

K – 5th

  • Students rotated through several stations today in preparation for Field Day. Students had a great time bowling, playing cornhole, and learning how to do a routine with Chinese jump ropes. 

Lower School Music (Mrs. Bennington)

K-2nd 
  • Kindergarten, First and Second grade students worked on the first four verses of  “It Is Well With My Soul”. Students also enjoyed reading and singing hymns from the church hymnals. 
3rd
  • Third grade  worked  on singing the  first and fourth verses of, “My Country Tis Of Thee”, the first verse and fourth verse of the “Amazing Grace”, and the first verse of the “Star Spangled Banner ”. All of these pieces will need to be memorized for the Patriotic Program on May 25th. 
4th-5th
  • Students did a great job working the entire “My Country Tis of Thee” on their recorders. Students also worked on singing the first and fourth verse of “My Country Tis of Thee”, the first verse of “Amazing Grace”, and the first verse of the “Star Spangled Banner”.  All of these pieces will need to be memorized for the Patriotic Program on May 25th. 

Lower School Art (Mrs. Palmer)

3rd 
  • This week students worked on finishing their perspective drawings.  We added detail and finalized our drawings with color.
4th
  • Students did not have art this week due to a teacher workday. 
5th
  • Students did not have art this week due to a teacher workday. 

Kindergarten (Miss Burdeshaw and Mrs. Rivera)

This Week:

Our kindergarten scholars enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather this week! In math, we learned about identifying different temperatures, reading a thermometer to the nearest ten degrees, subtracting half of a double, identifying events as certain, likely, or impossible, drawing a picture to solve a problem, and using a table to solve a problem. In spelling and phonics, we did another review word list and started a new “I Can Read!” book. We have also been coloring  body systems in our combined art and science classes. 

Memory Work:

John 1:1 and review

 

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

This Week:

We have been blessed with several beautiful days to get outside and learn. This is a perfect opportunity to practice memory verse, spelling words and to read outside in God’s creation. We also took some time to bird watch and take a closer look at the nature around us. In Science we are learning about the last bird of the year, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. In History we are finishing up our book on Benjamin West and Gramalkin and have enjoyed the adventures they have taken together.  In grammar we are working on the total sentence using nouns, verbs and adjectives and reviewing all of these concepts.  We are continuing to read the adventures of Toad and Frog in reading and love to act out what we have read. In math we are mastering our addition and subtraction facts, and adding to our multiplication facts. We play BINGO games using facts and we have scavenger hunts to find parallel, vertical, horizontal and oblique lines. In art we drew flowers free hand using overlapping techniques and painted the flowers with watercolors.  It amazes me how much the students have grown this year in their reading and writing skills. First grade is the best!

 Memory Work: 
  • Review all memory verses. 
  • Review subtraction facts and multiplication facts
Upcoming:
  • Class Verse Bee May 30
  • School Verse Bee May 31

2nd Grade (Mrs. Hedgecock & Mrs. Eng)

This Week:

If God offered to give you one thing you asked of Him, what would it be? This week, we learned that King Solomon asked for wisdom, and it was granted to him, along with wealth and long life. We also learned that toward the end of his life, Solomon turned from God and worshiped the gods of his foreign wives. Solomon reminds us of the blessing of obeying and submitting to God, as well as the curse of disobeying and turning from God. To that end, we are continuing to hold fast to God’s Word through daily review of this year’s memory verses. Thank you for working with your children at home in this endeavor. In math, we learned the multiplication algorithm, identified functions, simplified expressions, and worked with tenths. We began our last official chapter in Latin and finally found out what happened to Franklin and Simeon. In grammar, we will be focusing on some concepts that need extra review: plural nouns, possessive nouns, irregular verbs, and the 1-1-1 rule. We will also continue to classify sentences. In literature, we started our last novel of the year, Little House in the Big Woods. This is a wonderful book to close out our year in reading because it is written at a very appropriate reading level for second graders. Students are getting lots of practice in fluency and are showing how much they have improved this year.

Memory Work: 
  • X6 Tables – assessment next week
  • We finished our Hebrews passage this week and will be reviewing all verses.

 

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

This Week
  • We have finished another successful week of learning in third grade! In history, we made it to 286 A.D., the split of the Roman Empire by Diocletian. He had the wisdom to understand that ruling an empire that large required the need for clear communication, and since they lacked that he split the empire into two parts, East and West. However, Diocletion also refused to give God the glory and instead decided to establish himself as a god, requiring everyone to worship him. Since Christians refused to worship anyone but the one true God, this caused some of the worst persecution against them. Shortly after Diocletion, Constantine came to rule and ended the persecution of Christians with the Edict of Milan. In math, students continue to find square roots, divide money amounts, and add fractions with common denominators. We are almost finished with our Latin study and created several compound words using prepositions and verbs.  We are busy preparing for the Patriotic Programs coming up in just a few short weeks. I hope you will join us!
Memory Work: 
  • Study second quarter verses
Upcoming:
  • Class Verse Bee May 30
  • School Verse Bee May 31 

4th Grade (Mrs. Burtram and Mrs. Lawson) 

This Week
  •  We had a wonderful week learning about John Knox and his joy of preaching and sharing the Reformation in England and Scotland.  We completed a toothpick marshmallow building project in Science and enjoyed our edible ramps, friction creations, and mix of small machines to create mouse traps.  We reviewed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Verb Tenses in Latin with new vocabulary and completed our study of The Lion Witch and Wardrobe.  We are looking forward to beginning TheDangerous Journey next week.  We finished the week completing many assessments and Nature Study. 

5th Grade (Mrs. Owens) 

This Week

This week our main focus has been on our research paper.  The students have finished gathering their notes and now we are forming our outline.  We will use the outline to help write the body paragraphs of our paper.  We are continuing to read through Treasure Island while also studying different pirates.  This week our students have also been working on learning the states and their capitals.  

Memory Work:
  • Proverbs 27:17 & Proverbs 17:17 (this week)
  • Proverbs 15:16-17 (next week)

 

LOGIC SCHOOL

 

Mrs. Bennington

6th-8th Band
  • Students spent a lot of time this week learning new notes, learning how to count and play dotted rhythms, how to count and play eighth note rhythms, how to apply key signatures to music, and how to correctly play dynamic contracts in regards to crescendos and decrescendos, and how to start balancing their sound. Students applied all of these concepts to their Spring Concert Music. In preparation for the Spring Concert on May 23rd, students will be having an after school rehearsal this Thursday 5/18 from 3:15-4:30 pm in the band room. Students should have brought home a note about this rehearsal. Please make every effort to attend this rehearsal. I am so proud of the progress that these students have made and I am really looking forward to showing you their progress at the Spring Concert. 

 

Mrs. Sarah Johnston

6th-8th Choir

We sight-read graduation music this week and also continued to work through concert music. The students are doing very well with their music, and it was exciting to see them sight-read so well – a sign of all the work we put in at the beginning of the semester paying off. As we only have one rehearsal this week, please do not neglect your music over the weekend, recognizing we are only two weeks away from the concert. Please also make sure you have marked your calendars for May 23rd (Fine Arts Night) and June 2nd (graduation)!

To parents of rising 5th and 6th graders, I would highly recommend bringing your students to the Fine Arts Night (May 23rd) if your student is expressing interest in any of the arts. It will be a good opportunity for them to see what they have to look forward to!

Mr. Davis

6th -8th Boys’ PE
  • This week the boys played Pumpkin Patch at Walker Field. 

Miss Stevenson

6th-8th Girls’ PE
  • Basketball was the sport of choice for this week.
6th Reading and Literature
  • We are continuing to work our way through Around the World in 80 Days. Philias Fogg, et al are currently on a steamer from New York to Liverpool.
6th Grammar and Writing
  • Due to the CLT, Bradford Games, and the teacher work day, we took this week off Grammar and Writing.
6th Bible
  • We read through the book of Ephesians this week.
6th History
  • This week in History we watched a documentary about the Berlin Wall.
6th Science
  • Due to the CLT, Bradford Games, and the teacher work day, we took this week off Science.
6th Logic
  • Due to the CLT, Bradford Games, and the teacher work day, we took this week off Latin

Mrs. Frueh

6th Grade Math
  • After a week off of math due to standardized testing, the students jumped right back into some tricky new concepts, including simplifying algebraic expressions, evaluating angles around a transversal, and finding measures of semicircles, arcs, and sectors. We are just dipping our toes into the waters of these concepts. We’ll take a much deeper dive into these topics next year in pre-algebra.

Mrs. Palmer 

6th Art
  • Students began working on clay flower sculptures.  We talked about how to use the medium, effective methods for piecing separate parts together, and how to create texture.  Next up: adding on color and glaze!

Miss Windes

6th Grade Latin
  • No Latin this week because of testing and Bradford Games! 

 

Mrs. Crotts

7th Grammar and Writing
  •  Students shared examples of grammatical errors they had spotted while out and about.  For example, a restaurant’s menu that offered “foundational” drinks.  Grammar skills were put to use polishing a persuasive in-class essay on “How to Persuade Your Teacher to…”
7th Grade Omnibus
  • Students conquered the Ancient Greek map quiz. After polishing in-class essays, students were introduced to the final assignment–a “mini” research paper on the life of C.S. Lewis.  They were given questions to answer from biographical articles.  They will learn about correctly citing sources.  Next week they will use the answers to these questions and expound in 3 paragraphs.  We will also listen to or watch Lewis’  The Last Battle to wrap up the year.
7th Logic
  •  Meeting only once this week due to teacher workday, we borrowed our one class time this week to edit in-class essays.

Mrs. Frueh

7th Grade Science
  • We’re ending the fourth quarter with our final astronomy research project. This week the students chose topics and started the research process. We discussed the difference between a reliable scholarly source and an unreliable source (including sources whose main purpose is to entertain rather than inform). Research projects will be presented in the last 2 weeks of school. 
7th Grade Pre-Algebra
  • We took a few days off of math this week in order to devote our math time to the science research project. We will finish off our last few math lessons next week.

Mrs. Palmer 

7th Art
  • Students worked on revisiting one of our former artists of the quarter that we have studied this year.  They were tasked with writing a paragraph based on their knowledge of the artist and one of that artist’s famous works of art.  

Miss Windes

7th Grade Latin
  • This week we reviewed last week’s test and started the next chapter on irregular verbs.

Miss Windes

8th Grade Omnibus
  • History: In history this week we learned about changes in the church and the East/West Schism, and began learning about the cultural world of the fourteenth century. 
  • Literature: We have been learning from the wisdom of Athanasius this week as we read On the Incarnation; the students have had great discussions about such questions as why did Jesus have to become a man? Why did he have to die? Why specifically did he die on the cross? Why was three days an appropriate time for him to be dead before the resurrection? How does our interaction with death change because of his death? Feel free to continue these discussions at home!
  • Composition: Students are doing a fantastic job with their Macbeth literary analysis essays! In this essay, they are combining their own thoughts and analysis with supporting evidence from the play. 
8th Grade Latin
  • We just had one Latin class this week, but we are moving into our final chapter of the year (and perhaps of their Latin career!) We are learning a few more irregular verbs and how to make negative commands, a new set of vocabulary, and more comparisons. They will choose a fairy tale or myth to translate as their final project of Latin

Mrs. Frueh

8th Grade Science
  • We wrapped up our study of the periodic table this week with a unit exam. The students are now well-prepared for future chemistry classes as they have a thorough understanding of the organization of the periodic table and the groups of elements classified within it.
8th Grade Algebra I
  • We did not have class this week due to the CLT. In time that we did have together, we explored the crossover between algebra and chemistry with an exploration of the ideal gas law. We learned the difference between a directly proportional relationship and an inversely proportional relationship.

Mrs. Palmer 

8th Art
  • Students worked on revisiting one of our former artists of the quarter that we have studied this year.  They were tasked with writing a paragraph based on their knowledge of the artist and one of that artist’s famous works of art.  

Mr. Davis

8th Logic
  • This week the students learned about detecting fallacies in logic. 

RHETORIC SCHOOL

From COLLEGE COUNSELING Office:

Career Afternoon:

  • We had a wonderful Career Afternoon last Friday afternoon! Students had the opportunity to speak to Bradford parents (and a few other guests) in a variety of careers. Parents, this is a great opportunity to have conversations with your students about their thoughts, ideas, and interests regarding the future! You can follow up on the Career Afternoon with discussions of what they enjoyed, what they are thinking about, and what questions they still have. The internet is also full of resources for learning about a variety of careers! 
  • For juniors and seniors, this is also a great time to think about following up with a career presenter if they would like. Several of the presenters offered for the students to shadow them for a day or two, and now would be a great time to set something up with one of the presenters or someone else they know for over the summer! 

Juniors: You all should have received an email regarding junior family meeting opportunities. I would love to sit down with students and parents I haven’t talked to about preparing for senior year and how I can be of help to you all! 

Mrs. Palmer 

9th Spanish 
  • Students spent time this week reviewing past concepts from the year.  We reviewed past vocabulary, tenses, subject pronouns and various other grammatical concepts.  Students have an end of year Spanish-speaking country project due the week of May 17th/19th. 

Dr. James

9th Geometry
  • This week we began an introduction to trigonometry.  Remember there is no school on Friday.
  • Next week we will continue learning the basics of trigonometry

Mrs. Hicks

9th Biology
  • Students are diligently working on their endangered species projects that are due on Tuesday, May 16th. I’m looking forward to see all their hard work!

 

Mr. Crotts

9th Logic
  • We are nearing the end of our Propositional Logic studies and are learning how to simplify logic circuits so that we eliminate unnecessary or additional gates.

Dr. Smith

9th Theology
  • Students are learning about theological development during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are learning about two contrasting streams of development–one hostile to true Christianity and one faithful to it. They are learning about the development of Modern Biblical Criticism in the late 17th and throughout the 18th century that treated the Bible assuming from the outset that the God of Scripture doesn’t exist. Such criticism functioned with deistic and pantheistic presuppositions.   

Mrs. Crotts

9th Grade Literature
  • 9th graders polished in-class essays comparing and contrasting the character, Santiago, in The Old Man and the Sea and Jesus Christ.  After discussing what was going on in America at the time Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in the 1960’s–the Civil Rights movement, and also how the author’s father’s experiences in his life likely influenced the writing, the class then proceeded to read Lee’s story. (15 chapters need to be read by the beginning of next week.)  Next week they will spend a brief time researching mockingbirds and the symbolism that appears in the story.

Coach Johnston

9th History
  • Students completed a quiz that covered how WW2 began, the participating countries/leaders, America’s neutral policies and the attack on Pearl harbor. With the remainder of it time this week we focused on the events occurring in the European theater of operations. On Monday we will cover the final events leading up to VE-Day and begin our final section covering the major events of the Pacific.

 

Mrs. Byrd

10th Algebra II
  • Students took a cumulative assessment on second semester material this week.  We also learned how to compute some basic statistics – mean, median, mode, range, and standard deviation.

Dr. Byrd

10th Bible Survey
  • This week we have had the joy of studying the book of Philippians. We saw the background to the formation of this church in Acts 16. We saw how deeply Paul loved this congregation and how deeply they loved him. We reviewed several key themes of the book-imitation of Christ, unity, God’s commitment to making us more like Himself. Furthermore, we looked at the theme of prayer and of God’s provisions in chapter 4. 

Mrs. Crotts

10th Grade Literature
  • Students began reading a book their class missed in years past–Animal Farm.  Goals in reading this work include discussing allegory, capitalism, communism, revolution, hopelessness, Hope!  They will be tasked with writing a  “character sketch” and designing a “plot map.”

Dr. James

10th Chemistry
  • This week we began a study of acid-base chemistry, including various ways of describing acids and bases from their mechanism of action. 
  • Next week we will continue with acids and bases, and the students will learn how pH is calculated.

Coach Johnston

10th History
  • Students have nearly finished our material on the Roman Republic. We are continuing to read and discuss Josephus’ Jewish War. We have begun to review for the final exam through small review quizzes.
10th PE
  • Students enjoyed a break from PE in order to observe the ninth grade art mock trial on Tuesday before participating in Bradford’s Highland Games on Thursday.

Miss Oldham

10th Rhetoric I
  • Students worked on their Teeny Tiny Theses this week. 

Mrs. Palmer 

10th Spanish
  • Students spent time this week reviewing past concepts from the year.  We reviewed past vocabulary, tenses and various other grammatical concepts.  Students have an end of year cultural pamphlet project due the week of May 17th/19th. 

Mrs. Byrd

11th Physics
  •  We spent the week preparing for and taking a second semester cumulative test.  We also spent a bit of time learning about earth’s magnetic field as part of our study of magnetism.
11th Precalculus
  • Our topic for the week was arithmetic and geometric sequences and series.  We learned to distinguish between the two, to come up with nth term formulas, as well as calculate partial and infinite sums.

Dr. James

11th Geography
  • This week we continued our focus on Asia.
  • Next week we will transition from Asia to learning about the world at large. 

Miss Oldham

11th Grade Literature
  • We began the satirical novel Don Quixote and are laughing along with Cervantes. 

Dr. Smith

11th NT Greek
  • We enjoyed our lunch together at the Greek restaurant, Castles, and they are continuing to translate 1 John.

Mr. Webster

11th Grade History
  • This week we finished our unit on the Italian Renaissance. The students will take their unit test this week. 

Mrs. Byrd

12th Calculus
  • Students completed the AP exam on Monday.  Now we are reviewing in preparation for the CLEP exam.

Mrs. Hicks

12th Anatomy
  • We continued our unit on The Immune and Lymphatic System this week.
  • Permission slips for the field trip on May 18th to Appalachian State have been sent home. Please send them back as soon as possible!

Coach Johnston

12th History
  • This week had a lot of disruptions between testing, preparing for games and having a work day…so the seniors took a break from their regular WW2 unit material (they’ve covered how the war began and how it was won in Europe), in order to spend a day and a half tackling the topic of the effectiveness and the ethics of dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The students were introduced to more factors on both sides of the argument than are commonly used in the debate so they were forced to account for new material as they considered war time decisions and their effects.

Miss Oldham

12th Grade Literature
  • Students continued to discuss 1984 and turned in their independent book study on Wednesday. The end is sight! 
12th Grade Shakespeare Elective
  • Students turned in their final projects this week. 
12th Rhetoric II
  • Thesis defenses begin on Monday. Please keep the students in your prayers and ask that the Lord grant them peace when they are defending the work they have done this year.