BB 11-15-24

BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XVII, ISSUE 19

NOV 15, 2024

 

FROM THE OFFICE

FOR ALL:

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 what house they belong to and the “word of the week” 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:
  • 11/26 Bradford Feast Day,12:30-2:45: Needed:
    • Three 3rd or 4th grade dads: compass/orienteering station
    • One 1st/2nd grade dad:  Fire tender/fort builder
    • Contact Mrs. Mitchell at emitchell@bradfordacademy.org
UPPER SCHOOL- IMPORTANT NOTES:
  • Seniors:  Please order your graduation gear before Christmas break!  See your email for instructions.
  • Declamation Results
    • Semifinalists will present  at 10am on 11/26 at upper campus for the final round.  Parents are invited!
      • 6th – Sal Papaneri, Nora Palmer
      • 7th – Yilia Dong, Ella Lopes
      • 8th – Elise Palmer, Wil Adkins
      • 9th – Megan Papaneri, Nick Meredith
      • 10th – Luke Randall, Savannah Drews
      • 11th – Reagan Johnson, Miriam VanFarowe
  • Judges’ Choice – students will present at a special forum at upper campus.  Dates TBD
    • 6th – Jake Zamorski
    • 7th – Titus Ferencik, Ashlyn Grubb
    • 8th – N/A
    • 9th – Eleni Kohl, Carolina Walton
    • 10th – Joy Yael Williams, Martha Crotts, Anna Kornienko
    • 11th – Sadie Williams 
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:   

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control.”  (Galatians 5:22) So many of these qualities were on display or being acquired as Kindergarten – 2nd grade practiced for Bradford Night.  It is such a joy to see the growth that takes place over a span of just a few weeks as teachers lovingly and skillfully train public speaking skills for this special night.  We hope you all enjoyed the program and were encouraged by the blessing of Christian and classical education.

 

UPCOMING

First Basketball Games this afternoon! Grace Christian Academy at the Lamb’s Chapel Burlington gym (3539 Alamance Rd. Burlington, NC 27215). 

  • 4:00 pm MS girls (4pm) 
  • 5:15 pm MS boys 
  • 6:30 pm Varsity boys 
NEXT WEEK:
  • Mon, 11/18:  ZipCast competition
  • Tues / Thurs:  Running club
  • Wed, 11/20:  Merch Sale at the Upper School campus
  • Fri 11/22: 
    • Merch Sale at the Lower School campus
    • Varsity Basketball games away
 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 enjoyed the beautiful fall weather this week with lots of time outside! We visited the forest this week while discussing the changes we have noticed over the past several weeks. Students learned the story of David and Goliath this week and were able to enjoy watching the Veggie Tales version of this well known Bible story. Next week our focus will be on thankfulness. In math, students continued working on ordering numbers 0-10 and played bingo to practice number identification. Students were also introduced to pennies this week and practiced matching the number of pennies to a number card. Our letters this week were I and U. We practiced the sounds these letters make and practiced writing them in our green books. Our centers this week included: playing bingo, sorting words by how many syllables they have, and building letters with Play Doh. On Thursday, the TK students had the pleasure of watching the Bradford night dress rehearsal. 

Lower School P.E. (Mrs. Bennington)

K – 4th
  •  Students did a great job this week following directions and working in teams. The classes that had P.E. this week had a lot of fun playing “Capture the Flag”. 

Lower School Music (Mrs. Bennington)

K-2nd
  • Students did a great job this week preparing for Bradford Night. It makes my heart so happy to hear these young students sing about their love of God and his words. The Bradford Night Performance was amazing. Students sang beautifully! 
3rd-4th
  •  Students did a great job rehearsing the first two verses of , “Joy To the World”. Students also did a great job playing exercises with their first two recorder notes. 

 

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera and Miss Burdeshaw)

This Week
  • Our kindergarten scholars spent most of the week practicing for yesterday’s Bradford Night. They have been  working so hard and we are incredibly proud of how they performed on stage.  Academically, we spent the week focusing on some new math concepts and working on our phonics skills. In math, we introduced the doubles with sums to 18 facts and we learned how to identify a lighter and a heavier weight by using a balance. In phonics, we continued reading the book “Pan and the Mad Man,” and reviewed our phonograms and cursive letter strokes. As another week comes to a close, we are continually reminded of how far the students have come and we are excited to see how they continue to  grow moving forward. 
Memory Work:   
  •  1 Corinthians 10:13 and review

 

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

This Week
  • This week, our first graders have put in fantastic effort practicing for Bradford Night. They really shined brightly on stage as they have shown so much dedication. In Math, we’ve started exploring the concept of money. The students are learning to identify coins and understand their values, an exciting step in developing their math skills. Our Reading time was especially delightful as we read Frog & Toad Are Friends: The Story. The students enjoyed the friendship theme, and we had some thoughtful discussions about kindness and helping others. They think Toad is absolutely hilarious with all his silly antics. The students presented their State Projects to their class, the other first-grade class, and even older grades came through to hear all about their states. They presented with pride and enthusiasm, showing off all the hard work they put into learning about different states! In Spelling, we reviewed all the words we’ve studied so far this year, and worked on using them in sentences. For Science, we studied precipitation and discussed how rain, snow, sleet, and hail form. The students were excited to dive into weather concepts and had a great time making their precipitation booklets.. It’s been another full week of preparation, learning, and discovery! We enjoyed seeing everyone at Bradford Night! The kids were on cloud nine when it was over. It is always so heart warming to hear these precious kids showing what they are learning about God and His plans!
Memory Work:  
  • Psalm 1:1-6
 

 

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

This Week
  •  What a wonderful week as we prepared for Bradford Night.  Such excitement to share with the parents some of what we have been learning.  The students have all worked together and worked hard to memorize the songs for Bradford Night.  We enjoy making these special memories.  The students enjoyed sharing their Middle East project with their classmates.  We hope they learned a bit about this important part of the world that is so often in the news.  My Father’s Dragon has been such a delightful story for the children.  Math involved adding three or more single digit numbers as well as telling time to five minutes.  Continue to review all the math addition/subtraction facts that we have learned so that the students can recall them quickly.  We have enjoyed this week, but look forward to getting back to our normal routine next week.  
Memory Work:  
  • Hebrews 11: 1 to 19

 

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

This Week
  • Your students have now memorized 100 words in Latin. They can conjugate verbs, decline nouns, and translate Latin sentences.  We continued working with different properties of multiplication, including the Distributive and Associative properties.  As we continue to work on our writing skills, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of  those skills taught by entering the Burlington Writer’s Contest next quarter. In grammar, we are learning the rules of capitalization. In science, we continue to explore God’s creation and the beauty it demonstrates of His character, logic, and order. Newton discovered three laws of motion that govern our world, but decoding gravity was only part of Newton’s contribution. His other major mathematical preoccupation was calculus. Students observed first hand through a series of experiments just how these laws work. They may even be inspired to try out a few at home! 
Memory Work:  
  • Psalm 84:11-12

Mrs. Fairchild

3rd Grade Art
  • Our students have begun studying our artist of the quarter,  Diego Velazquez. They have enjoyed studying his work and learning how Diego Velazquez enjoys leaving the the viewer with a question. 

 

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

This Week
  •  This week in fourth grade, we continued our study of feudalism in the Middle Ages, bringing the era to life through hands-on projects. Students built castles, explored heraldic symbols, and gave presentations on the structure of medieval society. In Latin, we reviewed the ablative and accusative cases, reinforcing our understanding of sentence structure. In math, we tackled multi-step word problems and introduced division. In literature, we neared the conclusion of Ralph and the Viking Bow. This compelling story follows Ralph, a young Viking, as he embarks on a journey to prove his bravery and faithfulness. Along the way, Ralph learns lessons about courage, loyalty, and the importance of relying on God’s guidance in times of trial. As we near the end of his adventure, we’re reminded of how we need God’s strength and wisdom to help us face challenges. We compared the traits of the various characters against the traits in Matthew 5: 1-9. It’s been a week of growth, both academically and spiritually.
Memory Work:  
  • Ephesians 4:1-3
  • Catechism 89

Mrs. Fairchild

4th Grade Art
  • The finishing touches are being added to their artwork and they will be moving on to studying art artist of the quarter soon.

LOGIC SCHOOL

 

Mrs. Bennington

5th Band
  •   Fifth grade band students did a great job this week working on their concert music. Students have worked hard to reinforce their first six notes. Students are now consistently able to put together more than one part at the same time. We are very much looking forward to our very first Concert. Keep practicing at home! 
6th-8th Band
  • Band students did a great job this week working on their concert music. Students are working hard to learn new notes and rhythmic passages. Students are being encouraged to be more assertive and aggressive when they play. Students did a great job adding in dynamics as well. Please encourage your child to continue to practice at home! 
9th – 10th Band
  • Band students did a great job this week working on their concert music. Students worked hard to apply the concepts of balance, blend, and expression to their concert music. Students are being encouraged to be more assertive and aggressive when they play. Keep up the good practicing!  

Mrs. Johnston

5th – 8th Chorus
  • 5th Chorus – We have reached a great arrival point where we are able to start putting our part into the other groups. We gook a break from concert prep to explore the classic songs from The Music Man and The Sound of Music! It was fun to do some sight-reading!
  • 6th-8th Chorus – Music is coming together and starting to flow! Students are also recognizing each other’s parts which is also a huge arrival point because they can then better relate to each other’s parts! Keep up the practicing!

 

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

This Week
  • Fifth graders have had another great week of learning! Miss Johnston has begun to teach some of our classes, and the students are enjoying having her as another teacher! For math, we continue to learn about fractions – finding the least common denominator, adding mixed number fractions, and doing problem solving with fractions. In writing, we learned a new dress up (the because clause) that students will use to add style to their writing; they are currently working on a new historical fiction story based during the Boston Tea Party. Latin involved a big review of all of the chapter 7-10 vocabulary words before taking our test on Friday. In history, the students learned about the thirteen colonies, learning the distinctives of the northern, middle, and southern colonies. We continue reading Voyage to Freedom, a small historical fiction book about the voyage of the Mayflower in 1620.
Memory Work:   
  • Isaiah 40:3-4
Upcoming: Alamance Battleground Visitor comes to us – Mon, 11/25

Mrs. Palmer

5th Art
  • This week students began their posters in which they chose a famous American Revolutionary War hero to highlight.  These will be judged by the Sons of the American Revolution.

 

6th Grade (Miss Stevenson)

6th Reading and Literature
  • We are continuing to work our way through Across Five Aprils.
6th Grammar and Writing
  • We took a little break from Grammar this week as we prepared for Declamation. 
6th Bible
  • We are continuing to work our way through the gospel of Luke
6th History
  •  This week we learned about the Battle of Gettysburg.
6th Science
  • This week we reviewed for our quiz on bacterial structure which we will take next Tuesday.
6th Logic
  • This week we learned about the loaded question fallacy.
6th Latin
  • I introduced 6th grade to our Chapter 3 vocabulary words and reviewed simple present tense verb conjugation.

Mrs. Crotts

6th Math
  • 6th Graders ventured into chapter 5.  They also did a mini-lesson on editing for correct grammar to show the importance of editing or checking math work when finished with a problem.  It was eye-opening how many more problems students did correctly after checking their work.

Mrs. Palmer 

6th Art
  • Students worked on a festive painting this week.  We will be working with watercolor for this upcoming project. 

Dr. Wright

7th Composition 
  • Students received back the first drafts of their research papers, with my specific comments for improvements.  The copy of the first draft is to  be resubmitted to me with the final draft, due next week.  The battle against wordy sentences continues.  
7th Omnibus – Literature, History, Bible
  • Students are completing “Theme Tracker” forms for The Odyssey, as we reflect Biblically on that literary work.  We have a major upcoming project which consists of creatively presenting the findings of their research paper to the class. 
7th Logic
  • Odyssey play, and then declamation in class 11/14 delayed our Logic class, though we will be in full swing again before Thanksgiving break.  

Mrs. Frueh

7th Science
  • The students spent time this week working through the many edits on the rough drafts of their formal lab reports. It was a humbling experience for all of them to receive back their edited rough drafts. We talked about the value of constructive criticism and the purpose of writing a rough draft. They received the edits with humility and grace, taking the time this week to hone their final drafts for submission. They should be proud of their diligent work!
7th Pre-Algebra
  • This week we learned how to use scientific notation to express extremely large or extremely small numbers. The students practiced turning standard numbers into scientific notation as well turning scientific notation into standard form. In science, when we learn about the vastness of the universe, the breadth of our galaxy, the mass of stars, as well as the diameter of atoms, the width of red blood cells, or the volume of a bacterial cell, they will be able to attach meaning to these measurements given in scientific notation.

Mrs. Palmer 

7th Art
  • Students began a colored pencil festive drawing this week.  We are working on blending, value in colors and details.  

Miss Johnston

7th Latin
  •   The students did lots of practice and review in preparation for their test on Monday! They reviewed grammar and vocab and did some translations as well. 

 

Dr. Wright

8th Omnibus 
  • History:   Students have begun work on their in-class presentations of the research papers, which will involve a costume and at least one object evocative of their individual’s era and/or biography. 
  • Literature:  We continue in Fellowship of the Ring, discussing synopsis and themes.  The fellowship has entered Moria. 
  • Composition:  Students should receive back their second draft of the biographical research paper, with my written comments, next week.  Final drafts will likely be due before Thanksgiving break.  

Miss Johnston

8th Latin
  • We only had one Latin class this week due to Declamation speeches on Thursday, which they all did very well on. On Tuesday they took their chapter test and we will begin our next chapter in the week ahead.

Mrs. Frueh

8th Science
  • The students continued learning about Blaise Pascal and the many discoveries that he made in the study of atmospheric pressure and the distribution of pressure within fluids. We discussed Pascal’s unshakeable faith in God as Creator, as well as his view that human reason is not sufficient to discern all truth because human reason has been flawed by the Fall. We practiced using Pascal’s Principle to make pressure calculations using our algebra skills.
8th Algebra I
  • We have continued our study of linear equations with lessons on finding the equations of parallel and perpendicular lines. Ask your student how they can tell if two lines are parallel or perpendicular just by looking at their equations.
  • Starting next week, we will use graphing calculators (or graphing calculator apps) to determine lines of best fit for scatter plots of data.

Mrs. Palmer 

8th Art
  • Students continued to work on their famous painting magazine collages.  These are tedious and time consuming but they are coming along well. 

Mr. Crotts

8th Logic
  • We are studying the relationships between words and statements.

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!

Seniors:
  • Most of the seniors are done applying to colleges, and have already received several acceptance letters! Congratulations! 
  • Don’t forget to write thank you notes to the teachers who wrote recommendation letters for you! 
  • Now is the time to focus on applying for scholarships! Parents, you can be of help to your students by helping them to research scholarships that fit their qualifications. 
    •  College Essay Guy’s Scholarship Info – here is more detailed information and exercises for finding scholarships; he also has information about filling out the FAFSA and other financial matters
    •  Scholarship Tracker – students can make a copy and keep track of scholarships you have found and want to apply to on this document
    • Click these links for a list of scholarships of all types that have deadlines throughout the months of November and December
  • Keep on the radar: FAFSA will come out December 1, and seniors should plan to fill it out at some point in December

 

 

Mrs. Palmer 

9th Spanish 
  • This week students continued to work with AR, ER and IR ending verbs.  We also talked about several irregular and stem-changing verbs such as tener, venir and hacer.  Students continue to renew both old and new vocabulary. 

Mrs. Frueh

9th Geometry
  • After spending a few weeks studying triangles, we have moved on to quadrilaterals and other polygons. However, the students noticed that, no matter how many sides a polygon has, it can be divided into multiple triangles. Therefore, we can use our knowledge of triangle theorems to determine information about angles and segments of more complex polygons.

Mr. Crotts

9th Logic
  • We have taken if…then or conditional statements from the Bible and are developing arguments and counter-arguments, introductions, and conclusions for writing an essay or giving a speech on the statement.

Dr. and Mrs. James

9th Biology
  • This week we reviewed and took the test for the last section of Botany.  Next we will be discussing Ecology.

Mrs. Crotts

9th Literature
  • Students spent time practicing word value:  they were given a topic and the goal of writing a complete sentence in six words.  Then the word count expanded to 12 words.  Also, during literature this week students worked on research papers and practiced for declamation.  

Dr. Byrd 

9th Bible 
  • We finished the book of II Samuel this week. We were challenged by the life of David and studied Psalm 51 and 32.
  • Verse Quiz – Psalm 19:1-4
  • Book Project

Dr. James

10th Chemistry
  • This week we completed the introduction to molecular orbital theory and reviewed for the test. 
  • Next week the students will take their second test of Q2, and we will begin a discussion of chemical composition and reactivity.

Mrs. Palmer 

10th Spanish
  • This week students practiced with adverbs and also with the imperfect tense.  We reviewed past vocabulary and received a study guide for their upcoming test.  

Mrs. Byrd

10th Algebra II
  • This week we learned how to graph quadratic equations that are in standard form.  We also learned how to solve quadratic equations that follow a difference of squares pattern.

Mrs. Crotts

10th Literature
  • 10th Graders dove into research paper rough drafts this week.  They also learned about parallelism and other poetic forms shown in the book of Psalms.

Miss Oldham

10th Rhetoric I
  • This week we discussed Declamation (they did a wonderful job on Thursday) as well as continued with our notes on Aristotle’s Rhetoric.   

Dr. Smith

10th Historical Theology
  • This week we have been looking at the differences in beliefs between Augustine and Pelagius regarding the doctrines of Man, sin and salvation.

Mrs. Palmer

11th Spanish I
  • Students worked on reading in the target language this week.  We also reviewed past vocabulary and grammar concepts.  Additionally, we learned about the present perfect tense in Spanish this week. 

Mrs. Byrd

11th Precalculus
  • Exploring exponential and logarithmic functions and their graphs has been our focus this week.  We also considered some common applications such as interest, population growth, radioactive decay,  and the Richter scale.
11th Physics
  • Continuing in our study of Newton’s Laws of Motion, we considered the normal force as well as frictional force.  We also learned that although forces always come in pairs – a restatement of Newton’s Third Law commonly known as “action/reaction” – a net force can be exerted on an object.

Miss Oldham

11th Literature
  • We began our Shakespeare unit and I am so excited for these students to experience The Bard this year. 

Dr. Smith

11th NT Greek
  • .We have continued working on translations that include demonstrative pronouns and begun to work on memorizing the relative pronouns and how they are used in NT Greek sentences.  

Mr. Webster

11th-12th Systematic Theology
  • This week we covered the doctrine of the Trinity. 
11th History
  •  This week the students took their unit quiz. We will finish up our present unit this upcoming week and will take a test. 

 

Mrs. Fairchild

12th Art Portfolio
  • Our seniors are getting geared up to begin their new project after having completed their sculptures of their classmates. Watch for a social media post to see their finished sculptures.

Miss Oldham

12th Literature
  • We continued to read Hamlet and see the rottenness in Denmark. 
12th Rhetoric II
  •  Students worked on their edits this week that are due next Friday. Please keep these seniors in your prayers as they work on their theses, this is a tense time of year with college applications and acceptance/rejections. 

Mrs. Byrd

12th Calculus
  • We considered some additional applications of the derivative – L’Hospital’s Rule and the Mean Value Theorem.