BB 08-20-2021

 BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XIV, ISSUE 4

AUGUST 20, 2021

 

FROM THE OFFICE

  • EDUCATE and TADS:   
    • Please log in to EDUCATE and set up your communication preferences, if you have not done so already.  With hurricane season upon us, we do not want you to miss important notices from the school. 
    • How to sync:  I am including NEW instructions with the email since I know several of you have had difficulties.
  • Drop off:  Kudos to the kids for quick releases from the cars in the morning!  Everyone is doing great.  If your child is struggling with seat belts or gathering all of their things, just be willing to pull forward and to the side so the line can keep moving (and off of 3rd St.)  With a little practice, they will get it!
  • Local public schools begin on Monday, so please be aware of increased traffic along 3rd Street and make adjustments.  
  • Health Reminders
    • If your child has any symptoms, please take extra precautions to observe them at home instead of sending them on to school and waiting for a phone call.
    • While 24 hours, symptom-free is our protocol for returning to school, until we get over this hump, we recommend exercising a bit more caution and keeping the child home a little bit longer to make sure they are truly well.
    • Allergy-related symptoms need to be brought under control so your child will not be sent home from school.  A doctor’s note would be helpful if this is an ongoing issue for your child.

UPCOMING

NEXT WEEK:

  • Tuesday, 8/24:
    • JV and V:  Volleyball game @ Carolina Mustangs
    • Soccer @ Lee Christian
  • Wednesday, 8/25:
    • XC meet @ Lake Cammack
  • Friday, 8/26:
    • Volleyball and Soccer games @ ACS

IN THE NEAR FUTURE:

  • Mon, 9/6:  Labor Day, no school

 

FROM THE TEACHER’S DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Grubb)

Bible
  •   This week we began learning Ecclesiastes 9:10.  The students are in a brand new environment with much to explore and learn.  We will honor God by giving everything our best! 
Theme Adventure
  •  This week we explored the school and campus.  Next week we will explore the forest and use our adventure boots! 
Literacy
  •  TK students have been playing games that will help them learn their teachers’ names and fellow students.  
  • Students learned and practiced proper greetings.  This includes using the right hand to extend to shake hands, making eye contact, smiling, and greeting others.  
  • We read many books this week about loving others by being a good friend and we learned from the first school experiences of various characters. 
Math
  •  TK students learned to sky write the numbers 1-4 
  • Students enjoyed exploring  pattern blocks and teddy bears.  These will be used the entire year as math manipulatives 

Lower School P.E. (Mr. Davis)

K – 5th
  • This week in PE, the students learned the expectations of the school year, along with the grading system. After that brief instruction, the students worked on basic soccer skills. Soccer will be the sport that the students will play for the first quarter. 

Lower School Music  (Mrs. Bennington)

K – 5th
  • Students learned about and practiced the routines and expectations for the music classroom. Students also learned about the importance of warming up their bodies and their voices to prepare to sing. We worked on the piece “Deep and Wide” so students could comfortably start practicing proper vocal technique. Fun was had by all when we started adding in the body motions and leaving out words for this piece. We then started working on and reviewing the school song, “Non Nobis”. 

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera & Mrs. Lopes)

This Week
  • Our class began first grade Saxon math with a review of proper strokes for the numbers 0-9. Ask your student to recite our clever number rhymes as they practice writing their numbers. In phonics we introduced the letters: a,b,c,d, g, and o. Students have enjoyed practicing their letter sounds by  playing Around The World. In history we introduced the timeline and a hand motion for Creation, heard the account of Creation from Genesis 1, and started assembling our creation magnets. Our young scholars learned a song in science that teaches what was created on each day. This was also our first week of music, which the students really enjoyed!
Memory Work:
  • Proverbs 1:7

 

1st Grade (Mrs. Morgan & Mr. Law)

This Week
  •  Our 1st Grade students have been knocking it out of the park with getting back into the routine of school, remembering how to navigate the classroom, homework, and all the things that make Bradford special. We have been reviewing things in math, including adding doubles, telling time by the hour, and remembering all the days of the week. In phonics, we are reviewing sounds and sounding out words in order to decode them. In penmanship, we are going over our lowercase letters. The boys and girls have been asking, “When are we going to learn capital letters?” In history, we are taking a look at symbols of America, including the US flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, and the Liberty Bell. Finally, in science, we have been learning about the classification of living things, with special attention to the beautiful birds God made.
Memory Work:  
  • 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Upcoming:
  • Noun Jingle, Classification Song

 

2nd Grade (Mrs. Jones & Mrs. Batten)

This Week
  • This week, we began talking about digits in Math and working with place values of tens and ones. Students continued to review time, patterns, and measuring this week as well. In History, we began our first lesson learning all about how God created all things in a specific order! See if your child can tell you what was created on each of the seven days of creation. In Reading, we finished up our level 1 reader, Danny and the Dinosaur, and began our level 2 reader, Mouse Soup. Students have loved hearing the stories the mouse is telling to get away from the weasel. Ask your child if they remember any of the four stories that the mouse tells! We have been reviewing lots of items in both Spelling and Grammar, and are working our way into learning all of the multi letter phonograms. See if your child can remember any of the few we learned this week!
Memory Work: 
  • Proverbs 1:7 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

 

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

This Week
  • Third grade dove into the world of the Greeks and the Trojans. After reading the first three chapters in The Trojan Horse, students began forming opinions on what really  caused the Greeks to go to war. Was it because the Trojans took Helen, their beloved queen, or was it because they were tired of paying tolls to cross the Aegean Sea? They also wanted to know why the Trojans  would be foolish enough to accept the strange parting gift of a  large wooden horse from their enemies, especially after being at war for so long!  In math, we collected data using  a survey and  organized the information into  a bar graph so that we could decipher it easily. We tested the best strategies for determining all the possible combinations for a given set of numbers, and looked for patterns as we worked. Using a KWO, students retold a piece of expository writing in their own words using only their KWO’s. Curious to know what a KWO is? Just ask! Each day your students dig deeper into God’s words, such as 1 Corinthians 14:40, and discover just  how orderly this magnificent world in which we live really is. Rest up, we have a wonderful year ahead!
Memory Work:
  • 1 Corinthians 10:31
Upcoming:
  • 8/27-Test Mycenaean Culture; Test Latin Chapter 2; Grammar Test, Math Test, Spelling Test
  • 8/27 Show and Tell

 

4th Grade (Mrs. Burtram) 

This Week
  •  We have completed a wonderful week.  In English we reviewed our songs and applied our knowledge to our understanding of grammar.  We learned about the dictionary and how to build vocabulary.  Our Latin class was filled with new vocabulary and a detailed lesson on how to parse  a verb and use our verb tense chart.  We are continuing our study of The Door in the Wall  in Literature and enjoying our character study using thinking tools to discover character qualities.  We are continuing our study of story elements and creating a reading journal.  Math has been very busy as we are learning new vocabulary, practicing speed drills with addition and reviewing multiplication.  We are learning new songs in geography and beginning our tour of Europe.  Next week we will visit Norway!  The nine elements of art have been introduced with a memory song and the students applied their understanding to their own drawings.  St. Augustine is our first person to meet in History and we have completed map work and listened to readings about his life.  We ended the week with Nature Study outside sharing the biography of John James Audubon and sang a song about him.  We have drawn in nature and created labels for vascular plants and added specimens to our Nature Study notebook.
Science
  •  Botany and Nature Study is our focus this quarter.  The students have learned about taxonomy and completed a hands-on activity to understand classification using our shoes!  We are creating a notebook with new vocabulary and taxonomy and why Latin is important when studying Science.  We ended the week completing an experiment with how nonvascular plants absorb water without a vascular system.
Memory Work:
  • 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3
Upcoming:
  • Barbarian Invasion Project- Information will be sent home on Monday.

 

5th Grade (Mrs. Erdt) 

This Week
  •  What a great first week together! We began journaling, learned how to plot a story, began our first history card,  and learned a new song for the body systems. 
  • Nota Bene:  We are still waiting for our Latin curriculum to be delivered.  Apparently, the publisher is having trouble filling the orders.  We will keep you posted, but we are easily filling the time with other exciting content.
Memory Work:
  • Rom.12:1-3
Upcoming:
  • Next week we will begin reading The Hobbit! 

 

LOGIC & RHETORIC SCHOOL

Mr. Batten

6th Language Arts
  • Students began reading the Sign of the Beaver and discussed how it must feel to be left in the wilderness for seven weeks at age 13. 
6th History
  • We kicked off our history cards by discussing the Monroe Doctrine. Students learned what it was, why it was written, and got to see which nations controlled North and Central America in 1823. 
7th Grade Omnibus
  • History- Students began learning about Ancient Mesopotamian culture through discussions of patriarchy, polytheistic religions, and by studying a map of the area. 
  • Literature- We read through the book of Genesis to familiarize ourselves with the happenings of the creation narrative through Joseph. 
  • Bible- After reading Genesis we talked about various aspects of God’s character that we see in Genesis. Students should know what it means that God is sovereign, merciful, and covenantal. 
7th Logic
  • We reviewed Francis Bacon’s Four Idols and discussed how we see them used in everyday logic before diving into fallacies once more. 
8th Logic
  • We learned how to define terms through Genus and Species and discussed intension and extension. 

Mrs. Byrd

Physics
  • After an overview of where physics fits into the whole scheme of science we’re learning how to identify and use significant figures.  We are also diving into scalars, vectors, and basic kinematics.
Precalculus
  • This week we’ve begun an introductory study of functions beginning with the most basic function – a line.  We’re also learning some new function notation and operations.
Calculus 
  • We started with a quick look at the sorts of problems that calculus was invented to solve and then began to take a closer look at the foundational concept of calculus – the limit.

Dr. Byrd

10th Bible Survey
  • We are off to a great start in the Bible Survey class. Our topics have been around the functions of the Bible and general facts about the Bible. We have also been studying the role of the Holy Spirit in giving us the Scriptures and His role in  our lives. Next week we will begin with the book of Genesis. Lord willing, we will be in Revelation in May. 
  • Memory verse: Joshua 1:8-9

Mr. Davis

6th -10th PE
  • This week the students listened to brief instructions concerning the expectations for the coming school year. The students learned about the grading system for PE as well as their responsibilities. After that instruction, the students worked on basic soccer skills. Soccer will be the focus of our PE curriculum for the first quarter.  

Mrs. Fairchild

9th Grade Advanced Art
  • Our first class included reviewing expectations for the school year and discussing upcoming projects.  The students also played King of the Throne.  Ask your student about Mona Lisa’s eyebrows.  Their answers might surprise you. 

Mrs. Frueh

6th Grade Math:
  • We’ve started off the year with a review of basic arithmetic, place value, and geometry. The students are learning how to become strong independent thinkers and mathematicians, how to use their resources to solve problems, and how to grade their own work for self-assessment. 
6th Grade Science:
  • We began our year with a review of the scientific method. The students are also being introduced to the Cornell note-taking method, which is helping them to become organized note-takers.
7th Grade Math:
  • We’ve started off the year with a review of basic arithmetic, place value, and working with decimal numbers. The students are learning how to become strong independent thinkers and mathematicians, how to use their resources to solve problems, and how to grade their own work for self-assessment.
7th Grade Science:
  • We began our year with a review of the scientific method. We are applying our knowledge of the scientific method to design our own experiment where we will test how bean plants germinate in various soils.
8th Grade Algebra:
  • We’ve started off the year with a review of fractions and geometry. The students are learning how to become strong independent thinkers and mathematicians, how to use their resources to solve problems, and how to grade their own work for self-assessment.
8th Grade Science:
  •  The students were excited to start our year with a study of the difference between physical and chemical changes and properties. We investigated this topic with an exciting electrolysis experiment that left the students eager for more scientific inquiry to come.
9th Grade Biology:
  •  After using our IST week to learn the applications of Google Sheets for data analysis, we used our time this week to discuss our summer reading book: Darwin on Trial. The students brought great insights and critiques to the discussion! We also began our formal study of biology by answering the question: What is life?

Mr. Hamilton 

9th Historical Theology
  • We have begun our course with a look at the importance of creeds and confessions, as well as why some Christians object to them.
9th History
  • Our first unit of history covers the Renaissance.
9th Literature
  • Students are starting off the year in literature with a creative project on Pilgrim’s Progress.
10th History
  • We have begun our class with a look at the emergence of human history.
10th Literature
  • Our first unit covers Job and the problem of evil.
11th Philosophy/Apologetics
  • This week we took a look at what philosophy is, why it is important, the difference between certain styles of philosophy, and why Christians should study it.

Mrs. Hamilton

6th Music
  • In music history, students explored music from antiquity through the middle ages. Students listened to and learned about an array of ancient and medieval musical instruments, as well as notation, genres, and performance practice of music during that time period. After a brief overview of music in the Renaissance and an introduction to polyphony next week, students will be ready to embark on an in-depth study of music in the common practice period. 
  • In music theory, 6th graders are in the middle of an intensive study of notation in treble and bass clefs, which will enable them to begin performance practice on piano in just a few short weeks. Students seem to be greatly enjoying acquiring (or reviewing!) the skill of reading music. 
7th and 8th Grade Music
  • In music history, students began the overview of the Romantic period with the study of the music of Franz Schubert. In music theory, students completed an intensive review of music notation. Next week, we are excited to inaugurate our very first piano lab at Bradford, where students will be able to practice and continue exploring the art of the piano both independently and in ensembles. 
Music History Elective (Baroque to Modern)
  • We had an incredibly rich start to our music history course by completing a very broad but useful overview of music from antiquity to the common practice period. Students have begun to understand and learn the language of music and musicians, and were exposed to a wonderfully varied musical repertoire spanning thousands of years. We also learned about (and listened to) the predecessors of modern instruments, as well as the progression of musical notation, and have even begun learning the skill of reading music. Much of our time was occupied with the rise of polyphony, various aspects of which will continue to be meticulously studied and discussed next week, when we begin our study of the mid-Baroque period with Purcell and Vivaldi, paving the way for our study of Bach.

Dr. James

10th Chemistry
  • We have begun this school year with an introduction to chemistry and a discussion of matter.
  • Next week we will conclude the introduction, and the students will take their first test on Friday Aug 27.

Miss Oldham

12th Grade Literature
  • We have begun our college level course with Milton’s Paradise Lost. 
12th Grade History
  • We are looking at colonization in the 16th century and how the United States was founded. 
11th Grade Literature
  • We began the year by looking at how the structure of poetry, and literature texts in general, glorify God. There is a great YouTube video on Google Classroom for your students to share with you. 
11th Grade History
  • We have started to discuss the cyclical nature of the Medieval time period. 
10th Rhetoric I
  • Students have their first speeches due next week. 
12th Rhetoric II
  • Students are working on nailing down theses topics and mentors. I will be emailing parents a schedule of dates soon, so be on the lookout for those. 

Mrs. Palmer 

6th Art
  • This week we learned about the artist of the quarter, Raphael.  We worked on shading and blending. 
7th Art
  • This week we learned about the artist of the quarter, Raphael.  We worked on shading and blending. 
8th Art
  • This week we learned about the artist of the quarter, Raphael.  We worked on shading and blending. 
9th Spanish 
  • This week we worked through our syllabus and began introductory vocabulary. 
10th Spanish
  • This week we worked through our syllabus and reviewed past vocabulary as well as added some new vocabulary. 

Mr. Palmer

Finance
  • This week we spent a lot of time talking about the history of debt and the importance of having a financial plan.
Logic
  • This week we began our journey into Intermediate logic and understanding what propositional logic is.
Geometry
  • This week we learned what sets are and how to use the operations for sets.
10th Algebra II
  • This week we reviewed the rules for exponents.
11th / 12th NT Greek
  • This week we began learning about Koine Greek and the alphabet.

Miss Windes

8th Grade Omnibus
  • History: In history this week we began with a review of the late Roman republic and the early empire as the backdrop for what we are reading in literature. 
  • Literature: We began Eusebius’ The Church History,  the first history to be written about the church which details the apostles, the leaders, martyrdoms, from Christ’s time until the early 300s. 
  • Composition: For composition we began the ever charming classic, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. After reviewing the first fundamentals, we wrote a practice paragraph and edited according to the fundamentals learned so far.
6th Grade LOGIC
  • We began our year discussing some of the most essential elements of a healthy debate and seeking truth – listening well and honestly considering both sides of the argument. 
6th Grade LATIN
  • In sixth grade, we learned how to make flashcards, began learning our new set of vocabulary, and reviewed the basics of verbs. 
7th Grade LATIN
  • In seventh grade, we learned how to make flashcards, began learning our new set of vocabulary, and reviewed the present system of verbs. 
8th Grade LATIN
  • In eighth grade, we learned how to make flashcards, began learning our new set of vocabulary, did a practice translation, and began learning how to use personal pronouns.