BB 2019-01-18

BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XI, ISSUE 18

JANUARY 18th, 2019

FROM THE TEACHER’s DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Luther)

Bible
  • This week we learned how Jesus chose the 12 disciples.  We learned that God doesn’t necessarily look for the strongest and richest people to help him.  Instead, he looks at their heart. He looks for those who love Him and obey Him.
  • Next week we will study the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000.
Theme Adventure
  • TK students continued to study all the ways making pizza can apply to math, sequencing, labeling, and journaling.  We are ready to open and enjoy the Little TK Ninos Pizzeria next week!
Literacy
  • TK has continued to practice counting syllables.  
  • TK is learning to say and read their first names.
  • The students began writing identifying and writing lowercase letters this week.  We begin this unit by writing the letters that are created the same way as their larger counterparts.
  • The most treasured time in TK this week was reading buddies with 6th grade.  We appreciated their time and friendship with the TK students. TK children grow in excitement in reading and confidence in learning through their friendships with the older students
Math
  • This week we began learning to count by tens.
  • TK advanced in skills in creating designs on geoboards.  
  • The students continued the practice of counting dots on dot cubes and matching them to a number and a group of items.
Arts and Sciences
  • The TK class learned to distinguish real from make-belief through types of art and books.  TK considered illustrations on the covers of books to determine if the story inside could be real.  
  • TK practiced recognizing and reading common traffic signs. Next week we will add in signs that are notably seen on doors:  push and pull.

 

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera & Mrs. McDorman)

Language Arts
  • Our kindergarten scholars were introduced to their fifth book The Rig Ran On. This story is about a family’s trip west during the westward expansion. We discussed the vocabulary and special exhibit words from the book. Our new target sound was the short U sound. Our students were able to work on their public speaking skills during the presentation of their phonic museum bags. They are definitely becoming more confident speakers. We added the Lady in a Meadow to our museum exhibit.  Zandomeneghi’s style is similar to Monet, our third quarter artist.
Math
  • Subtraction facts: subtracting 2; dividing a square into halves; tallying; counting by 5’s; fact assessment 8; written assessment 13; oral assessment 7; drawing a picture to solve a problem.
History
  • We discussed Justinian the Great, ruler of the Byzantine Empire. We looked at our maps to see how small the empire was when Justinian became ruler in 527.  He wanted to see the Roman Empire restored to its former greatness and glory. Justinian recruited more and more men into his army. He set off on campaigns to reconquer the countries that used to belong to Rome- Italy, North africa, Spain, and the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. Each country had its own laws so it was very confusing. Justinian set out to make one set of laws for everyone in his empire. Hundreds of scholars helped him collect all the laws from the ancient Romans and Greeks. The new set of laws was known as the Code of Justinian.   
Science
  • We examined the planets and noted the characteristics of each one. The Earth’s unique planetary position shows us God’s design. Earth is in a perfect position in the solar system and the galaxy to support life. Living things need water and a planet needs to be close enough to the sun so water doesn’t freeze. If our Earth was just 5% closer to our sun, all the water would turn to gas, creating a massive greenhouse effect and burning up all life. If the Earth were 20% further away from the sun, all the water would become ice, carbon dioxide clouds would form, and not enough sunlight would reach the land.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer, and really enjoyed our video lesson about, “Moving To Music!” The students learned about some of the ways they could move to music, including bending, walking, marching, swaying, and swinging arms. They did a great job following instructions as we joyfully moved to the music of, “The Hokey Pokey,” and some other songs.  After our lesson, we sang our warmups and quarterly hymns. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to color, so we took our coloring sheets home.
Art
  • Our third quarter artist is Claude Monet. Students were introduced to his paintings and we searched for his use of the horizon. Impression, Sunrise is not typical of Monet’s work. The horizon has disappeared and the water, sky, and reflections have all merged together. Monet said he was not trying to create an accurate landscape, but to record the impression formed while looking at that landscape. Our students created their own landscape picture.
P.E.
  • Our students enjoyed hopping, skipping, sliding, jumping, running, and galloping around our circle.
Memory Work:
  • Romans 11:33-34

 

3rd Grade (Mrs. Mitchell)

Language Arts
  • Reading:  Misty of Chincoteague – Paul and Maureen learn valuable lessons as they work hard to earn enough money to buy the Phantom.
  • Writing:  We reviewed the protocol for dialogue in stories and many have worked through their 2nd draft.
  • Grammar: Test on helping verbs.  Chapter 10 – Conjunctions, compound parts, homonyms.
Math
  • Identifying square inches and square feet; number of square inches in one square foot; finding the number of square feet in a shape; dividing a rectangle into square inches ; finding the number of square inches in a rectangle; finding the area of an irregular shape using a grid; drawing a shape with a given area; finding the area of a rectangle; subtracting 2-digit numbers using mental computation; identifying and solving “larger, smaller, difference story problems; 60-2 assessment.
History
  • Greek Philosophers – This week we discussed where people go looking for the big questions in life.  We discovered that the Greeks had some faulty sources – their gods were fickle; they equated human nature with goodness; they were challenged by various groups that believed in stoicism (the original Stoics) and comfortable lives (Epicureans).  We were also introduced to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Did you know Aristotle was Alexander the Great’s teacher?
Science
  • Chemistry:  We experimented with gases and determined that Robert Boyle was onto something when he decided to study something you can’t see in order to prove there are atoms.
Latin
  • Chapter 17:  The Imperfect Endings of Verbs – Our quest to understand verb tenses continues!
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer, and some of the students recited last week’s weekly praise verse (Matthew 5:14) by memory, for a prize at the end of the day. Then, we enjoyed our time to color and draw as we listened to Rossini’s Overture to, “The Barber of Seville,” and some of his other famous works. Our music theory lesson was about rests and how they show different lengths of silence in music. We spent the rest of class-time singing our warmups and quarterly hymns.
Art
  • Students finished a first portrait and began a freehand 2nd attempt at drawing the placement and proportions of the human face.
P.E.
  • This week we practiced basketball layups.
Memory Work:
  • Psalm 19:3-4 – We determined that we live in a very “noisy” universe that proclaims God’s glory.

 

4th Grade (Mrs. Hamilton)

Language Arts
  • Reading: “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Students have entered the land of Narnia and are holding their breath awaiting the adventures to come.
  • Writing: Students continued working on fictional stories for the Burlington Writers Contest. It is such a joy and privilege to see them truly enjoying the gift of original storytelling!
  • Grammar: This week’s focus continued to be on capitalization and punctuation rules and practice.
Math
  • After completing their assessment, students learned about line graphs, decimal parts of a meter and about reading the centimeter scale.
History
  • The Magna Carta – students learned about the document that guaranteed legal and property rights in thirteenth century England, and served as a foundation for the U.S. Constitution.
Science
  • We began learning about the tectonic plates and the disasters caused by their movements: earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.
Latin
  • This week, our focus was on Latin ordinal numbers; we also learned the declension of unus, and wrote and performed a short play in (mostly) Latin.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer. Then, we enjoyed our time to color and draw as we listened to Rossini’s Overture to, “The Barber of Seville,” and some of his other famous works. Our music theory lesson was about rests and how they show different lengths of silence in music. We spent the rest of class playing our recorders and learning the notes for, “Old MacDonald.”
Art
  • Building on last week’s learning about Monet, we did a quick overview of the first couple hundred years of Western art history, beginning in the Byzantine empire and leading up to the impressionists. Students learned about the main features in each century.
P.E.
  • This week we practiced basketball layups.
Memory Work:
  • Ephesians 4:1-4

 

5th Grade (Ms. Windes)

Language Arts
  • Reading: Washington continues venturing into the wilderness, realizing more and more how little he knows but thankfully accompanied by a much more experienced group of guides.
  • Writing: Students finished their hobbit paragraphs focusing on one theme from The Hobbit.  Students also began final revisions on the stories they will submit to the Burlington Writer’s Conference.
  • Grammar: Past, present and future tense verbs along with reviewing classification of sentences.
Math
  • We learned about polygons, geometric solids, finding the surface area and volume of rectangular solids, adding three or more fractions, and writing mixed numbers as improper fractions.
History
  • In history we studied the First Continental Congress and their reaction to the injustices of the British Parliament. Delegates gathered from twelve of the thirteen colonies and finally agreed to send a letter listing their rights and grievances to the British king, boycott British trade, and begin preparing for war.
Science:
  • This week in Science we focused on the birth and death of a star and began exploring the Milky Way and its black hole. Also, students were assigned a topic for a special research report, which is due at the end of the quarter. Three College Observatory Field Trip: Friday, February 8th, 6pm.
Latin
  • Students learned a new set of vocabulary and played the second declension noun game to help understand how the noun endings work in Latin sentences.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer. Then, we enjoyed our time to draw and color as we listened to Rossini’s Overture to, “The Barber of Seville,” and some of his other famous works. Our music theory lesson was about rests and how they show different lengths of silence in music. We spent the rest of class-time singing our warmups and quarterly hymns.
Art
  • Students continued to learn and practice the proportions of a face and how to make the basic features.
P.E.
  • This week we practiced basketball layups.

 

Memory Work:

  • This week: Philippians 2:3-4

 

6th Grade (Mrs. Garrett)

New Testament Survey

This week the class reviewed the various genres in the Bible such as poetry and historical books and learned a bit about I Corinthians as well.

Literature
  • Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days has proven an exciting start for the students as they embark on a trip across Europe to India.
Math
  • Area of a Triangle, Area of a Rectangle, Interpreting graphs, Proportions, Sum of the Angle Measures, and Angle Pairs
History
  • The campaign and presidency of Abraham Lincoln brings a new vista to the class as they see the multitude of problems he faced in striving to unite the country, rid the land of slavery and heal the conflict in the 1860’s.
Science
  • Bacteria grows and multiplies, and has a variety of roles in relation to the human gut and immune system. The students were introduced to their personal defense system and the attackers: dendritic cells, macrophages, killer T Cells, T helper cells, suppressor T cells, antibodies, antigens, viruses, neutrophils, and bacteria.
Writing/Grammar
  • The class practiced writing poetry this week. In addition, the students worked through several note taking symbols to enable them to take notes speedily.
  • The class took part in the Scripps School Spelling Bee.
Latin
  • After reviewing the ablative constructions, students practiced parsing and translating from English to Latin.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer. Then, we enjoyed our time to draw and color as we listened to Rossini’s Overture to, “The Barber of Seville,” and some of his other famous works. Our music theory lesson was about rests and how they show different lengths of silence in music. We spent the rest of class-time singing our warmups and quarterly hymns.
Art
  • Gesture drawing and shading.
Logic
  • The class discussed the fallacies of equivocation and loaded question!
P.E.
  • .This week we practiced basketball layups.
Memory Work:
  • This week: I John 1-2:5
  • Literary Devices song
  • History song from 1815

 

LOGIC & RHETORIC SCHOOL

 

Mrs. Byrd

Physics
  • Energy can’t be created or destroyed….but this week we are seeing how energy leaves a system through friction.  We conducted a rolling ball experiment in which we calculated that the work due to friction removed 61% of the energy from the system.
Precalculus
  • We studying right triangle trig right now – learning to evaluate any size angle using the unit circle and/or special triangles.  We are also looking at some practical applications of trig ratios.
Geometry
  • The class is taking on a study of triangle proofs using an investigative method.  I’m hoping this approach will help students become more comfortable with this challenging topic.

 

Dr. Byrd

10th Bible Survey
  • This week we have been studying the sovereignty and providence of God in the book of Esther. The class also has an assignment to read a missionary biography for this quarter.

 

Mrs. Dovan

8th Omnibus
  • We are continuing to make our way through Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain as students teach individual chapters.  As we get a sense of the British origin story, students are also discovering their own origin stories, interviewing relatives and hopefully gaining a sense of heritage along the way.  
  • Students are also using class time to write their stories for the Burlington Writers Club Contest and give feedback to their classmates.
  • We’ve been working on the mechanics of our writing, specifically re-writing sentences that ramble and paragraphs that combine several verb tenses.
11th Elective – Intro to Drama
  • Drama began with a discussion of the imitative nature of the arts.  If a landscape, for example, imitates nature at a particular moment, what does drama imitate?  As drama embodies a text, we get an echo of the incarnation and an invitation to contemplate the human experience.  We began with Aristotle’s Poetics and his helpful definitions regarding tragedy and will soon begin Oedipus Rex.  I look forward to revisiting this familiar play with the students.  Because the plot is familiar to them from 7th grade, we will be able to discuss some of its dramatic features in more depth.

 

Mrs. Frueh

7th Grade Science:
  • As we progress through the solar system, we spent this week studying the fascinating characteristics of Earth’s neighbors, Venus and Mars. By exploring the features of these planets that make them less-than-habitable, we were able to see the goodness of the Earth God created for us to inhabit.
  • If the weather cooperates, students are encouraged to observe the total lunar eclipse occuring this Sunday night into Monday. The penumbral eclipse will begin around 9:40pm and the total umbral eclipse will occur between 11:40 pm and 12:40 am.
8th Grade Science:
  • We spent much time this week reviewing the differences between ionic and covalent bonds. We also started to explore the 5 different classifications of chemical reactions, starting with synthesis reactions. We will discuss the other 4 classifications next week.

 

Mr. Hamilton

7th Grammar/Comp
  • This week we are continuing in The Lively Art of Writing, discussing such crucial topics as the difference between fact and opinion, what makes a good opinion for an academic essay, what makes a strong thesis statement, and much else.
7th Omnibus
  • After tackling the Euthyphro dilemma and determining that it is more of a problem for the naturalist than for the Christian, we have moved on to Phaedo and its rich store of fascinating and somewhat bizarre Socratic philosophy.  
9th History
  • In 9th history we are now examining the growing pains experienced by our young country, from searching out what kind of government we really wanted to dealing with the difficulties of expansion and regional conflict.
9th Literature
  • We have now taken up Frankenstein, the classic by Mary Shelley. Our first order of business this week was to understand the background of this story and its groundbreaking subject matter: in particular, the sordid and painfully tragic lives of the small circle of brilliant but staunchly amoral friends that included Mary, her lover Percy, Lord Byron, and the infamous Claire Clairmont.
9th Theology
  • We are soon to pick up The Communist Manifesto and analyze its tenets from a Christian worldview.
11th Philosophy/Apologetics
  • We have begun the second part of our two-part course on philosophy and apologetics. First up is an overview and discussion of different apologetic methods.

 

Dr. James

9th/10th Biology
  • This week we began our introduction to genetics.  We also discussed our upcoming experiment using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies), in which we will look at the inheritance of a trait that prevents the growth of wings.
  • Next week we will continue the discussion of genetics and set up the first cross in the fruit fly experiment.

 

Mr. Miller

7th Latin
  • We reviewed complementary infinitives this week and then turned our sights to chapter 19. There will be a vocab quiz on the words in this chapter next Tuesday.
8th Logic
  • This week we continued practicing how to determine the validity of a syllogism by counterexample. The students are divided into different groups in which they are working through all the different forms of a syllogism to find which are valid or invalid.
10th Literature
  • This semester we turn from Greek literature to Roman literature. We began by reading and discussing Virgil’s famous set of pastoral poems, Eclogues.
10th History
  • We spent some time getting a historical overview from the period we just left (the height of Greek civilization and culture) to the period we are now entering (the height of Roman civilization and culture). Our first text for this new period is Livy’s historical account of the Second Punic War entitled War with Hannibal.
10th Rhetoric
  • We reviewed our rhetorical training with some impromtu speeches. Then we spent much of the week working on the Burlington Writer’s Contest submissions.
11th Literature
  • We worked on finishing up our Dante projects this week and putting them into final book form.
11th History
  • We worked on finishing up our Dante projects this week and putting them into final book form.
NT Greek
  • This week we reviewed the vocab learned thus far as well as the most recent test.

Mrs. Palmer

7th Art
  • We have studied Michelangelo and have started our new unit on watercolors!
8th Art
  • We have studied Michelangelo and have started our new unit on oil pastels!
9th Spanish
  • We are finishing up Chapter 4 and will have a test on Tuesday, January 29th.  Many verbs have been defined and conjugated and we are working on pronunciation as well as using them correctly in sentences!

Mr. Palmer

7th Pre-Algebra
  • This week we solved equations that had mixed numbers. We also reviewed for a test, and took a test.
8th Algebra I
  • This week we learned how to graph linear equations. We also reviewed for a test, and took a test.
7th/8th P.E.
  • This week we finished Bradford Bootcamp with “Dot” drills and sprints. “Dots” are a drill that work on speed and agility. We also ran 20-yard timed sprints to work on speed and power.
9th Intermediate Logic
  • This week we learned about the “Rules of Replacement”