BB 11-08-24

BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XVII, ISSUE 18

NOV 8, 2024

 

FROM THE OFFICE

FOR ALL:
  • Monday, 11/11:  No school in observance of Veterans Day.  We would like to express our appreciation to our staff who have served in the US Armed Forces:  Mrs. Cantaffa (1st grade), Mrs. Meredith (3rd grade), and Coach Johnston (upper school).  Many of our parents also served, and for that we are grateful.
  • Upcoming house competition:  Monday, 11/18  This is an easy way students can earn points for their house:
    • Sign up for ZipCast.  Simply text BANC to 833-409-4823
    • Listen to it during breakfast or on the way to school.  (The ZipCast is released on Monday at 7:00 AM directly to you via text and lasts less than 12 minutes – it’s so easy!)
    • Students, be sure to listen for the “word of the week” and then each student can tell the teacher as soon as they get out of the car.
    • **TK 3 day students (or students who are absent that day):  You can participate too!  Simply email the word of the week to office@bradfordacademy.org by 9:00 a.m.!**

 

LOWER SCHOOL- IMPORTANT NOTES:
  • Thurs 11/14:  Bradford Night for Kindergarten – 2nd Grade 
    • Students must wear their dress uniform with the sweater.
    • Please arrive by 6:10 and send your child to their classroom.  The program begins promptly at 6:30.
UPPER  SCHOOL- IMPORTANT NOTES:
  • Thurs, 11/14:  Declamation Class Competition:   Students have been working hard and will be presenting their speeches to their class.  
HOT LUNCH on Thursdays: 
  • The weekly menu locks at midnight on Sunday night – so be sure to place your orders and check out in time. Once your account is set up, it should be easy for the rest of the year! ORDER HERE  
FROM MRS. MITCHELL:  
  • It was wonderful to spend an evening with so many of our families at the house socials.  We pray that new relationships can grow and existing relationships were strengthened through this informal time together.  If you would like to reach out to someone you met, but don’t have their contact information, I’d be happy to forward an email for you.  Mutual encouragement and building up of the body of Christ will strengthen all of us and enable us to share the joy in this journey.

 

UPCOMING

NEXT WEEK:
  • Mon, 11/11:  ALL:  Veterans Day – No school
  • Tues, 11/12:  3rd-4th grades –  Running Club
  • Thurs, 11/14:  
    • Upper school:  Declamation class competition
    • Lower school:  3rd – 4th grades –   NO RUNNING CLUB
    • Lower school:  K – 2nd grade – Bradford Night, 6:30 pm
  • Fri, 11/15:  First basketball games of the season
 IN THE NEAR FUTURE:
  • Tues, 11/26:  ALL:  Thanksgiving Feasts
  • Wed, 11/27 – Fri, 11/29:  ALL:  Thanksgiving Break – no school
  • Sun, 12/1:  Applications open for 25/26 for new students
  • Thurs, 12/5:  ALL:  Coffee and Discussion with Mr. Johnston
  • Fri, 12/6:  Upper School:  6th grade Field Trip to Appomattox Court House
  • Week of 12/16:  Upper School:  Q2 Finals
  • Wed, 12/18:  Lower school:  TK Parents Coffee and Donuts, TK Nativity Play
  • Thurs, 12/19:  Upper school:  Christmas Concert
  • Fri, 12/20:  Christmas celebrations, Noon dismissal

 

FROM THE TEACHER’S DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Grubb and Mrs. Weber)

This Week
  • TK students spent some time this week learning about veterans and the importance of Veterans Day. Students were able to make a book about Veterans Day to bring home! We honor veterans here at Bradford Academy and we are so grateful for their service. Our letters this week were H and T. Students enjoyed identifying the letter and sound, as well as writing/building the letter in several ways. Our math focus this week was learning about 0 and adding 0 to our number cards 1-10. Students also practiced identifying shapes and positional phrases 1st through 4th. A few of our centers this week included: building letters with wood pieces, a letter hunt, separating the 2 words in a compound word and drawing the words, and playing the missing number game with our number cards. Our vocabulary words this week were all germ focused! It was timely to have these words now with sickness all around. Students participated in 2 different science experiments to show how easily germs spread. We discussed the importance of hand washing and practiced washing our hands well. In the Bible we read about David being chosen as king. We discussed that he was chosen not because he was big and strong but because of his heart and how he loved God. Next week we will read about David and Goliath. 

Lower School P.E. (Mrs. Bennington)

K – 4th
  •  Students did a great job this week playing various tag games. Students are showing great growth in teamwork and sportsmanship. 

Lower School Music (Mrs. Bennington)

K-2nd 
  • Students did a great job this week preparing music for Bradford Night. Bradford Night will be this coming Thursday 11/14 at 6:30pm. 
3rd -4th
  •  Students did a great job this week singing a wide variety of  hymns. 

 

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera and Miss Burdeshaw)

This Week
  • Our kindergarten scholars have been working hard for our upcoming Bradford Night next Thursday! They are excited to show you some of what they’ve learned so far. This week in math, we learned how to create and read a repeating pattern, the addition facts: the doubles with sums to 18, and we took some time to review previous math concepts. In phonics, we introduced the phonograms, sh, th, oo, ee, and er, and we started our first reader “Pan and the Mad Man.” In history, we discussed the biblical figure David, who was a shepherd boy who later became king of Israel. In art and science, we continued our section on trees and made leaf rubbings using different leaf molds. It is amazing that the students are already halfway through the second quarter! We are thankful that the Lord has grown them so much in their learning since the beginning of school. 
Memory Work:   
  •  John 14:6 and review

 

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

This Week
  • What a busy and exciting week it’s been in first grade! We’ve been working hard in preparation for Bradford Night, and the students are doing a fantastic job practicing their parts! In Math, we’ve been learning about telling time to the half-hour. The students are getting the hang of recognizing when it’s “half past the hour” and are enjoying hands-on activities to help them practice this skill. In History, we continue to explore the story of Pocahontas. The students are deepening their understanding of her life and the early history of America, sparking great questions and discussions. In Science, we started our Bird of the Month study, focusing on the Carolina Chickadee. The students are learning about its habits, habitat, and unique features. We also enjoyed reading the story “Up In The Sky” about the Wright brothers and their pioneering achievements in flight. To tie in with the theme, the students created their own paper airplanes, it was a fun and creative way to tie history and art together! It’s been another fantastic week full of learning, creating, and preparing for our big night. We can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on!
Memory Work:  
  • Review
 

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

This Week
  •  It has been a busy week as we prepare for Bradford Night along with our regular studies.  The students are working on several songs to share information they learn in second grade.  The students will also share their Science Journal and Logos journal as well as their Boxcar dioramas on Bradford Night.  Their Middle East project boards will also be on display along with some of their artwork.  Our newest book, My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, is a funny and creative story.  We can almost imagine ourselves on Wild Island trying to rescue the dragon.  The seeds we planted mid-October have nearly all spouted and the students enjoy watching them grow and watering them daily.  To help our students understand the importance of being thankful to God they are writing ten things they are thankful for each day!  Truly we all have so much to be thankful for and it is a good practice for the students to pause and acknowledge God’s many blessings.  
Memory Work:  
  • Hebrews 11 up through verse 16

 

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

This Week
  • Students added the last two parts of speech to their sentence question and answer flow. The parts of speech help you understand how words function in a sentence and how sentences are structured. Knowing the parts of speech also helps you communicate more effectively and convey your thoughts with precision. In math, we expanded our knowledge of the distributive property and applied what we learned to help break down expressions into smaller pieces to tackle larger problems. In history, we learned about the prophets of God and why He sent them. The prophets were sent to encourage faithfulness and to warn the people of the consequences of sin and the need for repentance. While Israel and Judah both fell, God left a remnant of those who remained faithful.  We discussed how thankful we are that God had a rescue plan and redeems those who are in Christ Jesus! 
  • Greek Mythology Projects Due Thursday, 11/14
Memory Work:  
  • Psalm 84:10

Mrs. Fairchild

3rd Grade Art
  • Our students have completed their latest project and will be switching gears to learning about our artist of the quarter, Diego Velazquez.

 

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

This Week
  •  This week in fourth grade, students engaged in a variety of enriching activities across subjects, deepening their knowledge and skills. In history, students delved into the structure of feudalism, immersing themselves in this medieval system of governance. They created family heraldry, built a model castle, and wrote reports on either castles or key figures within the feudal system, bringing the past to life through creative projects. In language arts, the class introduced sentence pattern two by studying the direct object, refining their ability to construct more complex and varied sentences. In math, they continued to explore the properties of multiplication, applying these principles to solve multi-digit problems using the standard algorithm with precision. Finally, students concluded their botany unit with a field trip to the NC Botanical Gardens, where they dissected a pitcher plant and collected soil samples, deepening their understanding of plant biology through hands-on experience. It was a dynamic and rewarding week, filled with exploration and discovery in the classroom and beyond.
Memory Work:  
  • Matthew 5: 6-9
  • Catechism 89

Mrs. Fairchild

4th Grade Art
  • Our students have completed their latest project and will be switching gears to learning about our artist of the quarter, Diego Velazquez.

LOGIC SCHOOL

 

Mrs. Bennington

5th Band
  • Students did a great job this week working on their concert music. Students were able to successfully put multiple parts together. It has been nice to see student’s confidence in their playing  grow. 
6th-8th Band
  •  Students did a great job this week on their Concert Music Test. Students are showing growth in their ability to play more complex rhythms and note passages. 
9th – 10th Band
  •  Students did a great job this week exploring musical boundaries. Students are being encouraged to be more confident when they play and to take risks when practicing. Students are working on making mature sounds and making sure all of the parts blend well together. 

Mrs. Johnston

5th – 8th Chorus
5th Chorus 
  • Our memorization is almost there, and we are becoming more confident in our music! We began also focusing on independence of parts – singing your part when someone else has a different part. It has been exciting to hear parts come together!
6th-8th Chorus
  • We are getting into the nitty-gritty of the music. Memorization is almost complete which is allowing us to really focus on quality of sound, expression, and character. 

 

5th Grade (Mrs. LaTour and Mrs. Kromhout) 

This Week
  • We have had a great week in fifth grade! It was good to get back into our normal routine after a fun and busy week last week with Hobbit Day and Reformation Day festivities. We tested on our 5th math chapter on Wednesday and began a new chapter at the end of the week! The students are doing well with the new concepts and are growing more confident to ask for help when needed. We began a new book this week! We have started reading “Voyage to Freedom” and we’ve enjoyed our time following the Lovelace’s journey on the Mayflower to the New World. Students are enjoying our history card for the week on the Salem witch trials and seem very well prepared for tests on Friday! We also started memorizing Isaiah 40 this week. We look forward to the next few months with our students as the holidays draw near!
Memory Work:  
  • Isaiah 40:1-2
Upcoming:
  • Alamance Battleground Visitor: 11/25

Mrs. Palmer

5th Art
  • This week students received information for the poster competition that is upcoming.  We finished our oil pastel drawings as well.  These are proudly displayed at upper campus.

 

6th Grade (Miss Stevenson)

6th Reading and Literature
  • We are continuing to work our way through Across Five Aprils.
6th Grammar and Writing
  • A big congratulations to the 6th graders for completing their first research paper this week!! I appreciate the hard work they have put into it over the past few weeks.
6th Bible
  • We are continuing to work our way through the gospel of Luke.
6th History
  •  This week we dove a little deeper into the U.S. Civil War.  
6th Science
  • We took quite a few notes this week. We have moved from living things in general to studying bacteria. 
6th Logic
  • This week we looked at our first logical fallacy in the Making Assumptions sections: circular reasoning. 
6th Latin
  • Due to the extra time spent on our research papers and presentations, we took this week off of Latin. 

Mrs. Crotts

6th Math
  • 6th Graders completed the test for chapter 4 and moved on to learn about chapter 5.  Chapter 4 included simplifying expressions with like terms and the associative and commutative property.

Mrs. Palmer 

6th Art
  • Students worked this week on their fall leaf colored pencil drawings.  This has been a challenge but students have done a great job with them.   We also continue to review our artist of the quarter, Diego Velazquez. 

Dr. Wright

7th Composition 
  • Students submitted first drafts of their Greek cultural artifact research papers, and we have addressed wordiness in sentences.  
7th Omnibus – Literature, History, Bible
  • We have finished rehearsals for our Odyssey play, and are wrapping up our study of the book.  Work on declamation speeches is ongoing, in preparation for November 14 in-class speeches.  
7th Logic
  •  Logic workbooks were collected to be graded, and will be returned next week.  

Mrs. Frueh

7th Science
  • We wrapped up our unit on Earth’s structure with a lesson on the different types of mountains. We looked at some of the most famous mountain ranges in the world and discussed the differences in their structure. We examined both the evidence offered up by the perspective of uniformitarianism, as well as the evidence offered up by the perspective of catastrophism. Ask your student why the existence of fault-block mountains in the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevadas is evidence of a catastrophic global flood instead of slow, uniform changes over millions of years.
7th Pre-Algebra
  • This week we continued to build our skills in evaluating exponential expressions, solving for fractional parts of a number, and calculating the surface area of geometric solids. We are currently working only with numerical solutions, but all of these skills are getting the students ready for the introduction of letters representing unknowns as we head toward calculating algebraic solutions in the near future.

Mrs. Palmer 

7th Art
  • Students finished up their charcoal architecture drawings this week.  We also began working on color theory. Go, Plymouth!

Miss Johnston

7th Latin
  •   I gave the students a vocab pop quiz and they did very well! We spent the rest of the week going over translations and charts, doing a bit of review before our test.

 

Dr. Wright

8th Omnibus 
  • History:   As part of our study of the iconoclastic controversy of the 6th-9th century, students had an in-class debate on the question of portraying Jesus in images.  
  • Literature:  We continue to read Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring, engaging themes of the book as they arise.   Declamation is next week.  
  • Composition:  Students have submitted second drafts of their biographical research paper.  

Miss Johnston

8th Latin
  • The 8th graders continued to study chapter 10 in preparation for their test next week! We did a bit of translations and review. 

Mrs. Frueh

8th Science
  • After finishing our unit on solids, liquids, and gases, we have now moved into a deeper study of fluid dynamics. This week, we looked at the unique properties of liquids, including surface tension and capillary action. We also learned about Blaise Pascal, Christian mathematician and philosopher, who, besides being a passionate Christian apologist, formulated several important mathematical principles, including Pascal’s Principle of Pressure. Blaise Pascal is a prominent example of a man of faith who used his passion for science and math to drive him to deeper worship of the One True God, even in the face of rationalist contemporaries like René Descartes who celebrated human reason as victorious over faith and religion.
8th Algebra I
  • We have continued our study of linear equations with more practice using slope-intercept form (y = mx + b). Students are now well-versed in producing linear equations from verbal descriptions, numerical tables and graphs. They have also learned how to produce linear equations given only two points on the graph without an intercept, as well as producing linear equations using function notation [f(x) = mx + b ].

Mrs. Palmer 

8th Art
  • This week we worked on our color theory magazine collages.  Through this project we are analyzing famous works of art and attempting to color math as best we can.  The goal is that students will delight in their observations even though it is a tedious project. 

Mr. Crotts

8th Logic
  • We have been studying statements (sentences that are true and false) and their relationships.

RHETORIC SCHOOL

 

From the COLLEGE COUNSELING Office:

Electives for 11th/12th: 
  • It is time to nail down plans for spring electives:
    • If you are taking Bradford classes for your electives, this is done
    • If you are planning to take a class or classes at ACC, you need to sign up for a time slot with our ACC advisor, Mrs. Sutton; you may schedule a phone call or Zoom appointment with her here: https://calendar.app.google/4rFwCczAEB1vZtCf9

This needs to be completed by the end of November!

Juniors:

Juniors will begin meeting with Mrs. Crotts as a benchmark to learn where the student and his or her family are in the college selection process and how we can be of assistance.

Seniors: 

  • Many of the seniors are done or nearly done with their college applications!! Congratulations! Now is the time to:
    • Finish up and finalize any applications
    • Work on scholarship applications, both for institutional scholarships as well as for national or local scholarships
      • Click these links for a list of scholarships of all types that have deadlines throughout the months of November and December

Mrs. Palmer 

9th Spanish 
  • Students learned several large grammar points this week.  We talked about descriptive adjectives and began learning about stem changing verbs in the present tense.   We also took a vocabulary quiz.  Go, Plymouth!

Mrs. Frueh

9th Geometry
  • We concluded our study of triangle congruence this week with the construction of ASA, AAS, CPCTC, and HL proofs. The students are becoming very adept at constructing logical proofs using the theorems we’ve discussed so far. We ended the week with a unit exam. Up next, quadrilaterals.

Mr. Crotts

9th Logic
  • We took a break from Logic this week to look at how to form a thesis and develop an essay or speech based on our rules of reasoning, logic, and rhetoric.

Dr. and Mrs. James

9th Biology
  • We finished up our unit on flowering plants with reproduction.  Test is next Thursday 11/14.  Students have two more class periods to bring in their leaves for the Leaf ID project.

Mrs. Crotts

9th Literature
  • Students prepared summaries and discussion topics from the book, Frankenstein for Parents’ Day visitors.  They also spent class time at the Mebane Library to begin research for an author biographical paper.

Dr. Byrd 

9th Bible 
  • As we have been studying the book of I Samuel, we have been challenged by the life of David, a man of God’s own heart. God took him from keeping sheep to be a mighty leader and king in Israel. We have been seeing how he is a type of Christ. We have also been studying the theme of shepherd and sheep and looking at Psalm 23.  We are beginning II Samuel.
  • Students are memorizing Psalm 19
  • Students are working on their Book Analysis Projects. 

Dr. James

10th Chemistry
  • This week the students learned to draw Lewis structures of compounds  and built models of several molecules to learn about structure and bond rotation.
  • Next week we will discuss how our understanding of bonding has changed over the years, and the students will be introduced to molecular orbital theory.

Mrs. Palmer 

10th Spanish
  • Students have been hard at work on skits in the target language.  The goal was to use both the preterite and imperfect tenses and to include plenty of vocabulary that we have been learning while working in a group setting.  Additionally, we have been practicing with pronunciations for these shirts. Go, Plymouth.  

Mrs. Byrd

10th Algebra II
  • We’ve been analyzing quadratic functions this week.   Now we can graph a basic quadratic function from vertex form as well as solve for the roots of the equation by factoring.  We played a factoring game “Joe’s Adventure” to reinforce our skills.

Mrs. Crotts

10th Literature
  • Students prepared a skit and summary inclusive of costumes, (wooden) spears and swords to present to parents visiting on Parents’ Day.  They also spent class time at the Mebane Library to begin research for an author biographical paper.

Miss Oldham

10th Rhetoric I
  •   The students worked on Declamation this week. 

Dr. Smith

10th Historical Theology
  • We reviewed for our test on Wednesday that covered the early church councils, the Christological and Trinitarian heresies and addressed some of the practical applications of needing to recognize that Jesus is both God and Man. On Friday we begin to cover the controversies in the early church surrounding the doctrine of salvation, and how these controversies are related to the doctrine of the Trinity and of Christ.

Mrs. Palmer

11th Spanish III
  • This week we reviewed the verb gustar as well as learned how to form and use informal (familiar) commands.  Students also talked about their findings on the cultural events we recently researched. Again, I say, “Go, Plymouth!” 

Mrs. Byrd

11th Precalculus
  • We concluded our study of rational functions this week.  Our next topic will be exponential and logarithmic functions.
11th Physics
  • After wrapping up our consideration of two dimensional motion, we began our study of dynamics by considering Newton’s Three Laws of motion.  We will especially focus on the second law and seek to distinguish between mass and weight as well as various units used to represent these quantities.

Miss Oldham

11th Literature
  • Students worked on their Le Morte d’Arthur projects that are due next week. 

Dr. Smith

11th NT Greek
  • We began to cover demonstrative pronouns, learned more vocabulary and worked on more translations from the New Testament. On Wednesday, students took a quiz on the demonstrative pronouns and chapter 13 vocabulary.  

Mr. Webster

11th-12th Systematic Theology
  • This week we finished the communicable attributes of God and then covered the doctrine of creation. Next week we will cover the doctrines of the providence of God and the trinity. 
11th History
  •  We continued our study of the Carolingian Empire and their effect on Medieval history. We also covered the golden age of the Byzantine Empire. 

Mrs. Fairchild

12th Art Portfolio
  • We have turned the corner in the sculpting project and are in the home stretch. Most of our artists are beginning to add the final details of hair,  jewelry and glasses to the sculpture.  We are eager to unveil the final results and share it with the other students.

Miss Oldham

12th Literature
  • Students had several study halls to work on essays. 
12th Rhetoric II
  •  Seniors worked on their edits this week. Please continue to pray for them as they are writing this quarter, it is an arduous process and one that the Lord may use bountifully. 

Mrs. Byrd

12th Calculus
  • We worked on solving related rates problems this week and also approximating the value of a function using local linearity.