BB 2019 – 05 – 17

BRADFORD BULLETIN

VOLUME XI, ISSUE 32

MAY 17,  2019

 

FROM THE OFFICE

There are only 3 weeks left of school!….just in case you didn’t notice.  We still have much to accomplish so thank you in advance for helping your children to stay focused and driven all the way to the end.  Our cross country runners are used to hearing “run all the way through!” In other words, don’t pull up on effort until the finish line is crossed.   It’s a good lesson for students too.

UPCOMING

NEXT WEEK:

  • Tuesday, 5/21
    • Standardized testing begins – 1st – 10th grades
    • Spring XC Training
  • Wednesday, 5/22 – Standardized testing, day 2 of 3.
  • Thursday, 5/23
    • Standardized testing finishes
    • TK final day
    • LAST Spring XC Training
  • Friday, 5/24 – Teacher Appreciation Day

 

IN THE NEAR FUTURE:

  • Monday, 5/27 – MEMORIAL DAY, no school
  • Thursday, 5/30 – Patriotic Program
  • Week of 6/3:  Final week of school!  We will send out more detailed information soon about the events of that week.

 

FROM THE TEACHER’s DESK

 

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 

Transitional Kindergarten (Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Luther)

Bible
  • This week TK students learned about the story of Paul.  The learned about the amazing transformation Christ made in his life.
Theme Adventure
  • TK got to celebrate a year of loving each other well.  Both classes filled their jars of joy which resulted in a special celebration outside with extra recess, outside chalk, and popsicles!

 

Literacy
  • TK finished their lowercase letter handwriting lessons this week.  
  • Students continued to practice onset-rime pairs and develop their oral language skills.  
  • TK reviewed alphabet knowledge with lowercase and uppercase letters.

 

Math
  • TK learned to count by twos this week!
  • TK also learned to identify the geometric solid of a cone.  The practiced sorting cones, cylinders, spheres, and cubes.
  • TK learned to gather information and organize the information into a chart.  TK was further challenged to interpret the data to demonstrate understanding.
Arts and Sciences
  • TK students had their final lesson in the kitchen this week.  The students got to clean, prepare, and sample all the delicious fruits and vegetables that are grown in the TK garden.  

Kindergarten (Mrs. Rivera & Mrs. McDorman)

Language Arts
  • We sang the Consonant Digraphs Song and reviewed adding “es” to final CH words.
  • Special exhibit words: use, fall, wall, their, and watch. (These words will appear in our last reader, Runs from Guns. )
  • Handwriting: focus on the FOUR P’s (pencil grip, paper position, posture, and pressure). Our kindergarten scholars reviewed the proper strokes for both upper and lower case letters. Please encourage good handwriting habits when they are completing their homework. It is very easy to fall into a bad routine.
Math
  • Subtraction facts: subtracting half of a double; identifying events as certain, possible, likely, or impossible; oral assessment 13; drawing a picture to solve a problem; using a table to solve a problem; identifying and counting hundreds, tens, and ones; written assessment 25.
History
  • We had a wonderful field trip to the Mebane Fire Station. The firemen gave us a tour of the station and then we watched a video on fire safety. The captain reminded our students to always get out of a burning house and leave pets, toys, and possessions behind. They can be replaced. He also suggested parents teach their children to memorize their phone number and address. Landlines are becoming a thing of the past and more and more people are using cell phones. It takes them up to 30 min to trace a call made on a cell phone, but if the person calling can give them the address, they can dispatch a fire truck right away. Lastly, establish a “safe meeting place” which is a designated location outside your home where your family will gather once they exit the home. This is very helpful once the fire fighters arrive so they know if they need to enter the home to rescue someone or start extinguishing the fire.
Science
  • We reviewed all of the body systems studied: circulatory, skeletal, digestive, respiratory, nervous, and muscular systems. Students can sing the major parts of each system.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer, and had our video lesson about music in religion. Then, we enjoyed warming up our voices and practicing the music we will perform for the Patriotic Program. We used all of class time practicing, so the students were able to take their coloring sheet home.
Art
  • We finished working on coloring the major organs in our body. Students then glued them into place on a life size body cut out to help them better understand where they are located inside their own bodies.
P.E.
  • We are reviewing our large motor skills, and testing our endurance. Students ran, hopped, skipped, galloped, and walked laps until they were tuckered enough to sit. Afterwards, we split into three groups and practiced a few of the events for the upcoming field day: bowling, racing, and shooting soccer goals.
Memory Work:
  • Review of Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 verses.
  • The Bible Bee will be held on June 6th. Now is the time to review those verses and hide God’s word in their hearts.
  • Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16  

 

1st Grade (Mrs. Campbell)

Language Arts
  • Phonics target sounds: PH as F and Silent final H (phone, trophy)

                                     CI as SH (glacier, social)

                                     Final ED for past tense (acted, jumped)

  • Review of nouns; Verb chant
Math
  • This week we practiced subtracting 5 facts, covering designs with tangram pieces, writing money amounts using dollar and cent symbols, and estimating and finding the capacity of containers (quart, half-gallon, gallon).
History
  • Students worked hard to label every state in the US and color-code by borders according to the Border State songs we’ve been singing since the first weeks of school!
Science
  • Our class continued learning about the water cycle through literature, video, and completing a diagram of this amazing process.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer and the students read the weekly praise verse out loud with the teacher.  We enjoyed some time listening to the patriotic music of John Phillip Sousa, and our history of hymns was about, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Our music lesson was about concert etiquette, and the types of different careers based in music. Finally,  we warmed up our voices, and practiced the music for the Patriotic Program.
Art
  • Art and phonics intersected as students carefully imitated the colors of two paintings associated with the PH and ED sounds.
P.E.
  • This week we enjoyed the beautiful weather and ran some races followed by a good, old-fashioned game of tag.
Memory Work:  
  • Quarterly review

 

2nd Grade (Mrs. Jones)

Language Arts
  • Reading: We finished reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins on a bittersweet note. Janie and Bill had to say goodbye to their father and their twelve brother/sister penguins as Mr. Popper decides they all belong in the South Pole.
  • Cursive: Upper case S, I and L
  • Grammar: Prepositional phrases
Math
  • Division facts (3s  and 4s)
  • Making change from $1.00
  • Reading and writing six digit numbers
  • Multiplying by 100 and 1000
  • Writing a four digit number in expanded form
History
  • We studied David’s son, Solomon, and his ascent to the throng. We read from the Bible about Solomon’s wisdom, then searched through Proverbs for practical wisdom. We talked about the temple that Solomon built and what this meant for the Israelite nation.
Latin
  • We reviewed all eight body parts that the students have learned in addition to learning 4 new verbs. They created their last study guide for their final Latin test of second grade.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer and the students read the weekly praise verse out loud with the teacher.  We enjoyed some time listening to the patriotic music of John Phillip Sousa, and our history of hymns was about, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Our music lesson was about concert etiquette, and the types of different careers based in music. Finally,  we warmed up our voices, and practiced the music for the Patriotic Program.
Art
  • This week the students added the outer edge to their agate paintings. We talked about texture as I added salt to the paint to help better represent the hard edge of an agate.
P.E.
  • This week we enjoyed the beautiful weather and ran some races followed by a good, old-fashioned game of tag.
Memory Work:
  • Hebrews 11:1-40, Reviewing all verses

 

3rd Grade (Mrs. Mitchell)

Language Arts
  • Reading:  Archimedes – We read perhaps the most familiar story about Archimedes, the Eureka! Story, and did our own science experiment to replicate his findings about King Hiero’s crown.  We also discovered why he was so fascinated with geometric shapes.
  • Writing:  Journaling.
  • Grammar: Rules for making nouns plural – these are more complicated that one might remember when they are all put together in one place.  However, excellent readers know these intuitively already.
Math
  • Measuring angles using a protractor; identifying acute and obtuse angles; finding the median of a set of data; making a stem-and-leaf plot; identifying and making models of geometric solids; big review day; assessment.
History
  • End of the Western Roman Empire – Students memorized and discussed 5 reasons that contributed to the fall of the Western Roman Empire and look forward to learning more about the Eastern Empire, which they will study in detail next year.
Science
  • Bridge Building competition, part 1. – Students tested their specific bridge designs, making note of those that appeared to be the strongest in order to design their own for next year.
Latin
  • Chapter 32 – This is a full review of charts and vocabulary as well as a good bit of translation.  We are working through it slowly.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer and the students read the weekly praise verse out loud with the teacher.  We enjoyed some time listening to the patriotic music of John Phillip Sousa, and our history of hymns was about, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Our music lesson was about concert etiquette, and the types of different careers based in music. Finally,  we warmed up our voices, and practiced the music for the Patriotic Program.
Art
  • Finished up our mosaic projects.
P.E.
  • This week we worked on sprinting through racing each other.
Memory Work:
  • Psalm 20:7-9; 4th quarter verses.

 

4th Grade (Mrs. Hamilton)

Language Arts
  • Reading: We completed This was John Calvin, as well as the Third Book of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.”  Students also began reading one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories from our anthology, Realms of Gold.
  • Writing: Students completed their fantastic stories.
  • Grammar: Indirect objects and irregular verbs. We also reviewed key concepts that we have learned this year, such as punctuation and capitalization rules, as we as writing concepts and skills.
Math
  • Students learned to multiply decimal numbers by 10, 100, and 1000, to find the least common multiple of two numbers, to write mixed numbers as improper fractions, to add and subtract fractions with different denominators, and to divide decimal numbers.
History
  • We completed our history curriculum learning about John Knox and the Reformation in Scotland.
Science
  • Students are working hard to complete their medieval machines. They will begin testing them and making all of the necessary repairs and adjustments on Monday. We plan to have Bradford’s Fifth Annual Medieval Machines competition on Wednesday, May 29nd, at 1:45pm. Parents welcome!
Latin
  • We completed our study of the third declension and are just about ready to embark on a massive review of Latin Primer B.
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer and the students read the weekly praise verse with the teacher. First, we practiced performing, “My Country ‘Tis Of Thee,” together with our recorders. The teacher asked that it be completely memorized by next week. Then, we practiced singing our other songs for the Patriotic Program. Our music lesson was about concert etiquette, and the types of different careers based in music. Our history of hymns was about, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Finally, we enjoyed some time listening to the patriotic music of John Phillip Sousa.

Art

  • Students continue to work on their watercolor landscapes, improving bit by bit on mixing colors, their brushstrokes, and creating beautiful pictures!
P.E.
  • This week we worked on sprinting through racing each other.
Memory Work:
  • Psalm 139:1-10 and review of all of the memorized Bible verses in preparation for Bible Bee

 

5th Grade (Ms. Windes)

Language Arts
  • Reading: Students continue to do a great job with reading and discussing Johnny Tremain; this week students discussed symbolism in the book, friendship, suffering, and how Johnny is growing up and maturing.
  • Writing: Students completed the first draft of their essays and turned them in on Friday!
  • Grammar:  
Math
  • We learned about real life applications with division problems, calculating the scale between models and real life, multiplying and dividing negative numbers, and adding and subtracting mixed measures.
History
  • We began studying the War of 1812 this week, learning about its beginnings and the Battle of Fort McHenry which inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner!
Science:
  • After splitting into teams and completing several exciting projects with snap circuits, the students learned the basics of magnetism and completed several activities using our magnetic labs.
Latin
  • We finished our last new chapter of Latin, learning about more adverbs and continuing to practice translations!
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer and several of the students recited last week’s weekly praise verse for a reward after school.  We enjoyed some time listening to the patriotic music of John Phillip Sousa, and our history of hymns was about, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Our music lesson was about concert etiquette, and the types of different careers based in music. Finally,  we warmed up our voices, and practiced the music for the Patriotic Program.
Art
  • The student’s paintings are progressing; after painting a background, the students sketched the more complex parts and are beginning to add the layers of detail.
P.E.
  • This week we worked on sprinting and then played some capture the flag.

 

Memory Work:

  • Psalm 121:4-8

 

6th Grade (Mrs. Garrett)

New Testament Survey
  • The class looked at I, 2 and 3 John, following John’s hopes for the church, and his reminders to persevere under persecution.  
Literature
  • The class continued to follow the life and faith of Corrie ten Boom as she risked her life to step out in faith and love for those whose lives were in danger. They discussed the symbolism of the Beje, the watch shop where the ten Booms lived.
Math
  • Estimating the area, graphing inequalities, and continuing to work through percentages. The class has become quite astute in tipping!
History
  • The Cold War impacted the world in a multitude of ways. The students studied Korea and Vietnam this week, and the conflicts that ensued there. The students also discussed the ideas of communism and its destructive roots in societies, versus the free market of capitalism. The students learned first hand what it means to negotiate with one’s boss for wages, benefits, etc.. Freedom shined as they worked through a settlement for their waffle cone factory. A waffle cone party finalized the signed pact.
Science
  • Renewable versus non-renewable energy sources were examined.
Writing/Grammar
  • The class prepared for a cumulative vocabulary test covering the past year’s work.
Latin
  • After finishing a translation, students reviewed geography and Latin mottoes in preparation for taking a practice National Latin Exam!
Music
  • This week we began class with prayer and several of the students recited last week’s weekly praise verse for a reward after school.  We enjoyed some time listening to the patriotic music of John Phillip Sousa, and our history of hymns was about, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Our music lesson was about concert etiquette, and the types of different careers based in music. Finally,  we warmed up our voices, and practiced the music for the Patriotic Program.
Art
  • Looking carefully at Norman Rockwell’s realistic expressions on his characters, the class worked to emulate his style with their own faces.
Logic
  • A review of the fallacies covered thus far.
P.E.
  • This week we worked on sprinting and then played some capture the flag.
Memory Work
  • I John 1-3:8, Flander’s Fields, Presidential quotation

 

LOGIC & RHETORIC SCHOOL

 

Mrs. Byrd

Physics
  • This week we learned about the benefits and drawbacks of series and parallel circuits and how current behaves in each type.  We also discussed how circuits are protected in our homes, cars, and other devices. After our test on Monday, we will begin a unit on magnetism where we will see how electricity is generated.
Precalculus
  • We concluded a study of matrices with several interesting applications of determinants – finding areas of triangles, testing collinearity of points, and solving systems of equations.  We marvel at the mathematicians who were smart enough to discover all of these cool patterns and hope that one day we will be able to explain how they were developed.

 

Geometry

  • We spent this week trying to understand where trig ratios come from and why they are useful.  The class went outside to estimate the heights of some tall objects outside using a trig ratio.  Our test on this unit will be next Wednesday.

Dr. Byrd

10th Bible Survey
  • This week we were encouraged by the truth given to us in Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. We finished up a test on John, Galatians, Ephesians, and II Corinthians today. We also have for Bible memory Hebrews 1:1-4. We are still going to try to finish up the rest of the New Testament and also are planning a special Bible class at the local coffee shop.

Mrs. Dovan

8th Omnibus
  • This week we reflected on Henry V’s varied use of language.  The same king addresses the same soldiers the night before the battle of Agincourt and the morning of, but his word choice and tone are quite different.  He is able to read the needs of his men and address them directly. We discussed how this use of language results as medieval kingship fades into modern kingship.  Henry must speak to his people because the concept that a king is anointed by God (rather than maintained by the people) is passing away.
  • We began Tolkien’s Return of the King this week, providing us with another perspective on kingship.  Needless to say, the students are thrilled to be back in Middle Earth!
  • We are also exploring the emergence of early modernism in the aftermath of The Hundred Years War and The Black Death.  The highly ordered worldview of the Middle Ages (symbolized by the Great Chain of Being) has collided with disastrous disorder.  What measures will be retaken to regain a sense of control?
  • Finishing our last piece of Shakespeare for the year, we also have discussed the Shakespeare authorship controversy.

 

11th Elective – Intro to Drama
  • We concluded last week with memorized dialogues (everyone was prepared)! This week we blocked monologues and got a sense of the responsibility that one person carries on the stage.

 

Mrs. Frueh

7th Grade Science:
  • We looked at geologic evidence for both uniformitarianism and catastrophism and discussed how the principles of each have played a role in shaping Earth’s surface. It was particularly fascinating to study the evidence of catastrophism in the Channeled Scablands of the Pacific Northwest, as well as the land surrounding Mt. St. Helen’s.
8th Grade Science:
  • Students took their last exam of the year, which covered Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation. The remainder of our class days will be spent planning, designing, and testing self-propelled vehicles. Students should be researching and gathering materials to build their vehicles, which may be powered by a balloon, rubberband, or mousetrap.

 

Mr. Hamilton

7th Grammar/Comp
  • More work with academic papers!
7th Literature
  • We finished up the Aeneid with a discussion of its literary merits.
7th History
  • Our focus this week was on the Roman empire.
9th History
  • This week we discussed China and Korea in the 20th century.
9th Literature
  • We are now reading 1984, Orwell’s engaging but harrowing tale of totalitarianism.
9th Theology
  • More work on our academic papers this week.
11th Philosophy/Apologetics
  • This week we examined the problem of evil.

 

Dr. James

9th/10th Biology
  • This week we continued our study of God as Creator.   Also, the students began presenting their research topics for this quarter, which focused on individual scientists who made significant contributions to the field of biology.
  • Next week we will continue our study of God as Creator.  The remaining research presentations are scheduled to be completed.

 

Mr. Johnston

8th Latin
  • Students did a quiz on chapter 24 vocabulary and began studying reflexive pronouns and possessive adjectives.
7th Logic
  • Students reviewed hasty generalizations and moved on to consider the false analogy and false cause fallacies.

 

Mr. Miller

7th Latin
  • The students took a quiz on Latin numbers this week and began studying for their comprehensive vocab test next Thursday.
8th Logic
  • The students took a test on lessons 30-32 this week.
10th Omnibus
  • We spent time in class preparing presentations on Greco-Roman philosophies and philosophers which were given this Friday. Landon covered Lucretius and Epicureanism, and Chip covered Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism.
10th Rhetoric
  • We are in the process of preparing the final speeches of the year.
11th Literature
  • This week we finished acting out Romeo and Juliet in class and also enjoyed our trip to see Comedy of Errors performed at the Blackfriars Theater replica in Staunton, VA!
11th History
  • We finished our class discussions of Calvin’s Institutes this week with the topics of election, justification by faith, the church, and baptism.
NT Greek
  • In Greek one of the groups is finishing up review of all the previous chapters and the other is finishing our final two chapters of the year, 24 and 25.

 

Mrs. Palmer

7th Art
  • This week students continued with, and nearly finished, their small scale detailed black and white drawings.
8th Art
  • This week students continued on with either their up close self portraits or with a small scale detailed colored drawing.
9th Spanish
  • This week we worked on fruit/vegetable vocabulary and discussed singular/plural. We also reviewed some past concepts as well as worked on sentence construction and listening comprehension.

 

Mr. Palmer

7th Pre-Algebra
  • This week we learned how to work with roots with negative numbers, how to work with negative exponents, and also how to work with fractional percents.
8th Algebra I
  • This week we learned how to find the equation of a parallel line and how to solve equations with radicals in them.
7th/8th P.E.
  • This week we enjoyed the beautiful weather and played some soccer.
9th Intermediate Logic
  • This week we studied for an exam and then took an exam on truth trees and all of their uses.