BB 10-16-20

 BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XIII, ISSUE 8

OCTOBER 16, 2020

 

FROM THE OFFICE

UPCOMING

 

  • COVID UPDATE:  We are thankful that the Lord has protected us from COVID so far.  We are continuing to stay vigilant in our procedures, and most importantly in prayer.  Now that we are in Phase 3, teachers may be contacting you for parent volunteer opportunities (with COVID protocols in place).
  • EXTRA SUPPLIES:  Plymouth – it’s your turn to bring in disinfecting wipes and tissues!  (We do not need any more paper towels.)  
  • DRESS UNIFORM REMINDERS for 2nd and 3rd quarters:  
    • Girls:  
      • K – 5th grades:  add the black cardigan sweater
      • 6th – 10th grades:  add the red cardigan sweater
      • 9th – 12th grades:  add black tights
    • Boys:
      • K – 8th grades:  add black sweater vest
      • 9th – 10th grades:  add the black, long sleeve v-neck sweater

 

NEXT WEEK:

  • Tuesday, 10/20:  XC Meet at Union Grove
  • Thursday, 10/22:  TK – 5th SCHOOL PICTURES  **full dress uniform with sweater
  • Friday, 10/23:  6th – 12th SCHOOL PICTURES  **full dress uniform with sweater
  • Saturday, 10/24:  XC State Champs

 

IN THE NEAR FUTURE:

  • October 30th – Greek Olympics House Competition – Please contact Mrs. Mitchell (emitchell@bradfordacademy.org) if you would be willing to run an outside station during the morning.   ***Students should wear a polo or t-shirt in their house colors (see below) with PE shorts or their school uniform shorts.  (If cold, they may wear the PE sweatpants or black sweatpants – girls, no leggings!!)  
    • Austerfield:  black
    • Leiden:  red
    • Plymouth:  white
    • Scrooby:  gray
  • November 5th:  OPEN HOUSE for new parents – please help spread the word!
  • November 11th:  Veteran’s Day, no school
  • November 25 – 27th:Thanksgiving Break, 
  • December 1st:  APPLICATIONS OPEN for 21/22

FROM THE TEACHER’S DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Grubb)

Theme Adventure
  •  This week we had TK Camp Promise!  On Thursday we spent the day outside and had class in a tent.  This event brings much joy each year.  We explored the Academy campus and created glowing constellations on the ceiling of the tent.  The students enjoyed roasting marshmallows and hotdogs over an open fire.  Mr. Davis visited with his guitar and the kids had fun singing the songs they have learned so far this year.   The subjects, lessons, books, poems, and songs we experienced this week all complemented one another.  Be sure to ask your child to recite Hey Diddle Diddle for you this weekend!  We look forward to next week as we will be creating special binoculars that will help us view our world and books in a whole new way! 

 

Lower School P.E. (Mr. Davis)

K – 5th

  • This week the students worked on speed and endurance drills with running and ladder drills. This has been in preparation for the Greek Olympics! 

 

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera & Mrs. McDorman)

This Week
  •  We have started out second quarter strong! Kindergarten read their first book, Pan and the Mad Man. We finished the first 26 phonograms, and introduced the loop letters in cursive. After spending several weeks during the first quarter experimenting with primary colors, students completed their very own study of color modeled after Kandisnky’s famous circles. In math, students launched rockets into the air after counting down from 10.  Ask them to get their rocket ready! In the Biblical account of Joseph, we read how he was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and rose to become vizier, the second most powerful man in Egypt next to Pharaoh. God used Joseph to preserve Jacob’s family who were to become Israel. In Science, we began our unit on trees. Students will learn to identify the parts of the tree and examine their leaves to help them locate the various trees at our school.
Memory Work:
  • Review of first quarter verses and Genesis 1:1

 

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

This Week
  • Mr. Law and Mrs. Morgan’s 1st graders have been having a tremendous  first week back from their fall break! In math, we have been continuing work on addition and subtraction fact families. We have also been brushing up on counting money and using tally marks to keep track of things. We have a special activity planned for the end of the week where the students will find out how many seeds are in a pumpkin. In reading, we have begun work in a new primer, The Grand Cat. This is a story about a Dutch boy who finds out something new and surprising about an old cat that lived by his family’s windmill. In history, the students have made their own “Native American Shaker” to make music like the Powhatan Tribe of Virginia, where Pocahontas lived. We are also excited about our upcoming U.S. State project, in which each student will make a diorama featuring a special state of their choice. In science, the students have just finished up a “Classification of Animals” booklet with examples of the different classes of vertebrates (along with a few invertebrates, too). 
Memory Work:  
  • Isaiah 40:8
Upcoming:
  • U.S. State Project

 

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

This Week
  • Second grade is really getting into our current book, The Boxcar Children. They especially loved pretending to go to a garbage dump themselves to help outfit their own boxcar. They did this by hunting through a pile of old magazines (our garbage dump) and cutting out the treasures they found in them.  They had to search pretty hard to find useful things that were just the right size for their boxcar.  Ask your child which items were the hardest to find. In history, we continued learning about life in Ancient Egypt. This week we studied the First Intermediate Period where the students learned about a civil war and how hard that made life for the Egyptians. Very little progress was made during this period compared to the previous one. Ask your child why. We are at the very beginning stages of learning about fractions in math. I would encourage you to let your child help you bake something in the kitchen. Allow them to measure and pour ingredients to help them visualize the difference between 1 cup, ½ cup and ¼ cup. If they understand it, then move on to adding ¼ + ¼ to see that it is equal to ½. 
Memory Work: 
  • Matthew 6:19-21
Upcoming:
  • 10-30 Greek Olympics (Let me know if your student wants help finding a poem to recite.)

 

3rd Grade (Mrs. Garner)

This Week
  • Making our Greek armor and beginning our new book, “Black Ships Before Troy,” was quite the highlight of our first week back. We also gained a new student which added to our class’ enthusiasm. The students have done a great job welcoming our newest addition and showing her the love of Christ. This week we have added to our knowledge of Grammar by learning and identifying prepositions, objects of prepositions, and prepositional phrases. In Latin, we saw how our learning of classification of English sentences now aide us in labeling our Latin sentences. This week, we began to translate simple Latin sentences by looking at the endings of the subject nouns and verbs. Our History card  even talked about how Latin was the spoken language of one of the first citizens of Rome, the Latins! We love how our classical curriculum is beautifully integrated together! 
Memory Work:
  • Matthew 6:25
Upcoming:
  • 10/22- Math Tests
  • 10/23- Spelling List M-5 Test, Latin Chapter 8 Test, History “Greece Colonized, Democracy Begins” Test

 

4th Grade (Mrs. Burtram) 

This Week
  •  The fourth grade students returned to Bradford this week ready to learn.  We had an opportunity to share about our fall break with journal writing and sharing aloud.  We spent time in history learning about keyword outlines as we discussed Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, and Charlemagne.  We enjoyed singing songs about prepositions and creating our own phrases to create humorous sentences.  Latin was a large focus for the week as we are translating nous, pronouns, and verbs to create sentences.  It is a joy to see the students’ grammar knowledge being used as a tool to unlock Latin.  Students have enjoyed reading Rolf and the Viking Bow.  This challenging piece of literature has made for many engaging book discussions.
Science
  • We are starting a new unit this quarter studying Chemistry.  We have learned about God’s creation of matter and how God has created what is visible and invisible.  We will be digging deeper into matter looking at volume and mass as well as focusing on atoms and molecules in the coming weeks.  
Memory Work:
  • 1 Corinthians 13: 11-13
  • Psalm 23: 1-3
Upcoming:
  • We are planning a density experiment next Friday and need water bottles to make Lava Lamps.  If you could send your child with a water bottle with the wrapper removed for their experiment that would be helpful.
  • We are planning and gathering poems for our poem project.  Information for the project and how to to select a poem are on our Google Classroom

 

5th Grade (Ms. Vogus) 

This Week
  • We have had a wonderful first week back! We started practicing for our play for Hobbit Day. The students  have had a lot of fun learning their lines. We have also started learning about Plymouth Plantation. The kids read through the Mayflower Compact and are able to talk about the document’s purpose.  In writing the students  are working on a compare and contrast essay.  Lastly, in math we learned how to use protractors to measure and create angles. I am looking forward to another great week! 
Memory Work:
  • Romans 12:1-17
Upcoming:
  • Romans 12: 18-20
  • Burlington Writing Contest

 

LOGIC & RHETORIC SCHOOL

Mr. Batten

Language Arts
  • We began reading The Adventures of Dancing Men, a Sherlock Holmes story. It has an abundance of challenging vocabulary, so we took our time getting through the story. We discussed whether Sherlock should have been held responsible for the death of Hilton. 
History
  • We discussed the War with Mexico, how it impacted America leading to the Civil War, and had a quiz on the Alamo, Westward Expansion, and the War with Mexico. 
Science
  • We began our study of cells through looking at Organ Hierarchy to understand how many small things make up larger parts of the world around us. 
6th Logic
  • We began our unit on identifying fallacies which make assumptions, and started much longer debates in order to practice what we have learned so far. We’ve found that though we can identify fallacies, it is very challenging not to use them in debate. 
7th Logic
  • We talked about the snob appeal fallacy and appeal to chronological snobbery. In addition, we discussed why debates are frivolous to have if we cannot agree upon definitions before beginning. This will prevent us from arguing endlessly to no avail. 
8th Logic
  • We continued our work on the square of opposition, learning how each piece of the square relates to one another. In addition, we are working to take our debates to the next level by thinking about all sides of the argument.
Upcoming:
  • We are continuing to work on memorizing 1 John, and should finish chapter 2 shortly! Our next writing unit will focus on creative writing after our first two essays were persuasive in nature. 

 

Mrs. Byrd

Physics
  • Our study of adding vectors graphically and algebraically concluded with a test on Friday.  Our next unit will focus on using vectors in two dimensional motion situations.
Precalculus
  • We are learning how to locate roots of polynomial functions.  This involves using synthetic division, graphs, and other algebraic techniques to compile, test, and narrow the list of possibilities.
Geometry 
  • This week we reviewed real number properties, segment measure, and  finding the midpoint of a segment.

 

Dr. Byrd

10th Bible Survey
  • This week we have been blessed by the story of Naomi and Ruth. God has taught us that He is working through even hard trials to accomplish His purposes. We hope to finish the book of  I Samuel too. 
  • Verse Memory: I Samuel 12:24 – “Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.”

 

Mr. Davis

6-8th PE
  • This week the students worked on speed and strength training drills. 
10th Advanced P.E.
  • This week the students worked on strength training and speed drills. 

 

Mrs. Fairchild

9th Grade Advanced Art
  • Our students are beginning a new watercolor project and will by copying some great works by Winslow Homer.

 

Mrs. Frueh

7th Grade Science:
  • We’ve started our study of earthquakes & volcanoes. This week’s focus was on the three types of seismic waves produced by earthquakes: p-waves, s-waves, and surface waves. Next week, we will learn how to use trilateration to determine the epicenter of an earthquake using real seismic wave data.
8th Grade Science:
  • This week we studied the three Gas Laws relating the pressure, temperature, and volume of a gas. The students are becoming adept at manipulating the equations for Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law, and Amontons’ Law to solve for an unknown variable.

 

Mr. Hamilton

9th Logic
  •  This week we are studying the use of truth tables to determine validity.
9th Historic Theology
  • We are now in Chapter Five, where we learn that despite the Nicene Creed, Christianity was still divided over how to properly understand the person of Jesus.
10th History
  • Our unit of study this week focused on the Hebrews and their unique role in the formation of Western Civilization.
10th Literature
  • This week in Plato’s Republic we are reading about Socrates’ vision of the true philosopher and the ideal ruler.
11th Philosophy/Apologetics
  • We took a look at the five “proofs” of Thomas Aquinas this week.
12th History
  • Our focus this week was on the Industrial Revolution and its effects.
12th Literature
  • We are presently reading Emma by Jane Austen, an intriguing study of a spoiled female character’s journey to self-knowledge and maturity.

 

Mrs. Hamilton

Logic School Music
  • In music history, we focused on the life, major works, and influence on posterity of Venecian composer of the late Baroque Antonio Vivaldi. Students also learned about emerging musical forms, such as the three-movement concerto, the solo sonata, ritornello form, and the concept of program music. We continued working on our ensemble pieces in our performance class, while in theory we began learning the keys of C, G, and D major, as well as scale degrees. 
Music History Elective (Baroque to Modern)
  • Before enjoying the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011 production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, students took a brief detour into the world of music theory, focusing on music notation, dynamics, and tempo. Next week: Beethoven. 

 

Ms. Hutchison

7th Grade Omnibus
  • History:  Seventh graders are starting the second quarter off with enthusiasm and their minds engaged!  We have begun our study of the second half of the book of Exodus, and are making some good connections between the First Passover celebrated by the Israelites and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, which occurred also at Passover season.  Students have worked on adding to their personal timelines, and are learning about the many other groups of people who lived at the same time as the Exodus.  God’s people were headed out to claim a land that belonged to other, more powerful nations.  This is fun stuff!  We are also beginning to learn about God’s design for the Tabernacle, which he instructed Moses to build.  Stay tuned for exciting news coming soon about a Tabernacle Project, due near the end of the quarter.
  • Literature:  In Literature, 7th graders began reading the Code of Hammurabi this week.  Hammurabi was the 6th king of the First Babylonian Dynasty, and ruled in Babylon in the 18th century BC.  He was a contemporary of the Biblical patriarch Jacob, and his sons.  He is best known for his excellent leadership and his Code of Laws, which were a highly sophisticated set of laws and consequences for the people of ancient Mesopotamia. It has been interesting to compare and contrast Hammurabi’s Code with the Mosaic Law, which the students are examining in their study of Exodus.
  • Bible:  Students completed a final recitation of a large portion on 2 Timothy, chapter 1.  This quarter we will move on to chapter 2, and consider the challenge offered to us in this section of the book: to stand firm, be strong in grace, and to be a workman who does not need to be ashamed, but one who correctly handles the Word of truth.  This week, students also learned about our Bradford Mentor/ Mentee program, and learned how to benefit from the relationships with older students at Bradford.
9th Grade Biology
  • Our Biology students have been working hard on developing group presentations on the four phyla in the subkingdom Protozoa.  Each group did an amazing job presenting their topics.  We will continue our study of Kingdom Protista by taking a brief look at Subkingdom Algae, before testing on this kingdom next week.

 

Dr. James

10th Chemistry
  • This week we began a deeper discussion of the arrangement of the periodic table and what can be learned from the periodic table.
  • Next week we will discuss periodic trends in families of elements.

 

Miss Oldham

9th Grade Literature
  • We wrapped up Of Plymouth Plantation and begin to look at the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers. 
9th Grade History
  • We have continued with looking at the past and comparing it with today.
11th Grade Literature
  • We have begun our unit on Shakespeare with Othello. The students are working on looking at how Shakespeare uses words to draw pictures of characters and their personalities. 
11th Grade History
  • We have continued with looking at the past and comparing it with today.
10th Rhetoric I
  • We continued to work on the rhetorical appeals and how to use them effectively. We competed with one another in the use of logos, as well as presented memorized poems. 
12th Rhetoric II
  • We have continued to work with outside sources to narrow down topics and issues for the thesis. 

 

Mrs. Palmer 

6th Art
  • This week we learned about our artist of the quarter, Diego Velazquez. We studied his well known painting, Las Meninas, and learned about the meaning behind it. We also had an introductory watercolor demonstration. 
7th Art
  • This week we learned about our artist of the quarter, Diego Velazquez. We studied his well known painting, Las Meninas, and learned about the meaning behind it. We also had an introductory charcoal demonstration. 
8th Art
  • This week we learned about our artist of the quarter, Diego Velazquez. We studied his well known painting, Las Meninas, and learned about the meaning behind it. We also had a charcoal demonstration.
9th Spanish 
  • This week we learned a lot of new vocabulary. We learned question words and how to form questions in Spanish. Additionally, we focused in on the verb “estar” and how/when to use it. 
10th Spanish
  • This week we talked thoroughly through the confusing “P” verbs in Spanish. Students have a quiz on these next Tuesday. We worked hard on the imperfect tense and new vocabulary as well. 

 

Mr. Palmer

6th Math
  • This week we took the first two days to review the material from last quarter and then we took a test.
7th Pre-Algebra
  • This week we worked with fractions and graphs. There will be a test next week.
8th Algebra I
  • This week we worked with the distributive property and how to create algebraic expressions from word problems. There will be a test next week.
10th Algebra II
  • This week we worked with monomial and trinomial factoring then reviewed for a test this week.
11th / 12th NT Greek
  • This week we took a vocabulary quiz and began learning how to recognize and translate adjectives in Greek.

 

Miss Windes

8th Grade Omnibus
  • History: We discussed the fall of Rome this week; students read and watched a variety of sources with different ideas about what caused Rome to fall apart, and then we had an excellent discussion about the merits of various theories.
  • Literature: We have come to the end of Beowulf. Some incredible workmanship was done on a wide range of projects including models of Heorot, recitations in Old English, dramatic interpretations of scenes, and presentations comparing Beowulf to The Hobbit. 
  • Composition: This week we spent time exploring and practicing the difference between summary and analysis; we are pushing towards thinking more deeply as we work on writing a poetry analysis.  
6th Grade LATIN
  • We continue to practice using masculine and neuter 2nd declension nouns in sentences as well as using the dative case for indirect objects. Students will have a chapter 5 and 6 test next Tuesday, October 20!
7th Grade LATIN
  • Seventh graders have been working on 3rd conjugation verbs in present, imperfect, and future tense. 3rd conjugation exceptions are tricky, but the students are doing a great job working towards mastering them! 
8th Grade LATIN
  • The eighth grade students have been learning 4th declension and place expressions as well as their new set of chapter 28 vocabulary. They will have a test next Friday, October 23rd.