The Cooper School

Fourth Grade scholars are working on reading intensely and interpreting characters. With partners, they looked at major life issues that children their age might experience. As a class, they talked about problems our Read Aloud characters experience that they may not know how to work through, both inside and outside of school. On their own, they then applied this lesson to their leveled reading books. They bravely discussed independence and problem-solving, financial issues, learning troubles, and familial hardships. This was a very eye-opening, empathic look at realistic fiction and the students did a wonderful job!

Third Grade Materials Engineers have been hard at work investigating various types of walls, and natural materials, to understand what makes good mortar. After making “mortar sandwiches” this week and exploring what worked best, these scientists will have a chance to design and create their own successful walls!

The Second Grade water study continues! Students are exploring the density of hot water and cold water. Our scientists received a blue ice cube to drop in a cup of water. They were shocked to watch the ice cube float and the blue food coloring sink to the bottom. Students concluded that ice floats because it is less dense than water, and food coloring is more dense, so it sinks to the bottom!

First Grade entomologists are making close observations as they begin their mealworm lifecycle study. They are excited to watch their metamorphosis into Darkling beetles! 🪲

Last week, K through Second Grade artists read “The Dot” by Peter H. Reynolds, and made their mark using watercolor paints. Third Grade artists enjoyed creating their own art studio sketchbooks. Fourth Grade creatives reviewed color theory skills by designing color wheels in their sketchbooks.

Interested in learning more about our progressive, project-based curriculum? Join us for an Elementary School Open House on Tuesday, October 24th from 9am to 9:45am. RSVP today by following this link: bit.ly/TCS_ElementaryOpenHouse_2023

This week in Middle School Social Studies…

* 5th Grade historians dove into old North America by taking a look at different Native American cultural regions. Students are working through a jigsaw activity, meaning they are mastering one region to then teach to their peers!

* 6th Grade egyptologists explored their new vocabulary centering around the ancient Egyptian and Kush peoples, kingdoms and cultures!

* 7th Grade researchers are answering their first DBQ (Document Based Question). Students took the previous week to analyze primary sources to find answers to why so many colonists perished in early Jamestown. This week, students worked on their first paper, focusing on their outlines before developing a rough draft to then turn into a final.

* 8th Grade war time scholars are learning about the Atlantic Revolutions. Students were paired up and focused on a specific revolution (French, Haitian, or Latin American). Scholars mastered their assigned revolution and are preparing a visual aid to teach their peers what they have learned.

Last night, our Fifth Grade volleyball team had their first game of the season! They played a very close game. We are so proud of them! 🏐

Second Grade scientists have been experimenting with surface tension! This week in their investigation with water, students predicted how many drops they could put on a penny before the tension broke. Second Graders were astonished to see a dome form with the water droplets. They counted 40 drops of water on one penny alone!

Third Grade thespians were thrilled to start drama this week! All of our budding K-4 performers will be visited by Charleston Stage Company this week and next week for drama lessons! Today, students played an array of games that involved using their body language, voices, and imaginations to create different scenes 🎭

Fourth Graders had a very special surprise this past Friday! Mr. David from True Balance Bodywork visited our students to share a lesson on joints and muscles. He shared insights about the five main types of bones, the major joints, and some conditions, such as arthritis. Thank you so much to Mr. David for visiting us!

First Grade entomologists are buzzing with excitement for our Insect Study! Last week, students focused on the features that define an insect then drew and painted their own beautiful bugs. We love how they turned out!

Kindergarteners have been working so hard to complete their very first project of the school year, “A Walk In My Shoes”. Students repurposed an old shoe to give any visitors to our classroom the opportunity to see the world through their eyes. Shoes have been redesigned to reflect students’ favorite colors, animals, foods and more!

K-4 artists recently learned about the paintings “Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles” by Kandinsky. They were inspired to paint their own circles using acrylic paints and tempera paint sticks. Each student added a circle and then rotated spots to embellish or add designs to other circles in a collaborative way! All of the paintings were hung together in the hall next to the library.

Eighth Grade physicists have been designing, constructing and testing helmets to learn about gravity and collisions. They finalized, presented, and watched the performance of their helmets this week by "tossing" a mannequin head covered in paintballs off the second story balcony with the protection of their helmets. They discussed the engineering process, and how their own experiences compare to commercial development of products.

Artists in the after school enrichment program “Inspire, Move, Create!” have been making their own clay pots with coiling and pinching methods! Students begin their sessions with mindful movements in the library and then move into the art room to create. They have been listening to classical music, such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, to inspire their work!

Our Fourth Grade anatomists began studying the bones of other animals by dissecting owl pellets! Our biologists compared the skeletal pieces in order to identify what kind of rodent or other small animal the owls might have ingested. They found everything from ribs and legs to full skulls with teeth!

Middle School artists had fun creating Name Artwork! Students designed each letter of their name to show their unique interests and hobbies.

Last week in Spanish class, elementary students learned how to introduce themselves when meeting new friends. They practiced phrases like “Hola”, “Adiós”, “¿Cómo te llamas?”, and “¿Cómo estás?” through music, role play, and arts & crafts.

Congratulations to Subhadra Glassman, Second Grade teacher, on receiving the outstanding honor of being designated as one of SCISA’s Master Teachers! Master Teachers are recognized by their use of best practices in the classroom, their ability to lead professional development, and their talent for inspiring others in the field of education. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating Subhadra, and her amazing accomplishment!

6th Grade readers are learning the art of high quality annotations today as they complete a novel study of Roald Dahl’s memoir, “Boy”! Readers are marking up novels for things like figurative language, unknown vocabulary, author style, and more!

5th Grade readers are learning how to analyze their fiction books today with strategies like dividing the story into parts, ranking evidence, and comparing characters. This culminated into thoughtful notebook entries about their reading!

INCLEMENT WEATHER ANNOUNCEMENT:

Wed., Aug. 30 - 11:30am Dismissal
Thurs., Aug. 31 - School Closed (e-Learning Day)
Fri., Sept. 1 - School Resumes

Stay safe!

Fourth Graders have been practicing Self-Regulation for their first Social and Emotional Learning Unit. They are honing their breathing skills to calm their emotions and bodies when they are feeling upset, frustrated, or anxious. For their Close of Day share yesterday, many of them made up their own breathing techniques and shared ones they prefer, such as roller coaster breathing, figure eight breathing, flower breathing and many more.

Third Graders are learning that technology is everywhere! In their first experiment of the year, our scientists investigated surprise technologies and discovered that most of the everyday items we use were created to solve everyday problems.

Second Graders checked out their first library books of the year! Ms. Henslee helped them choose books that they can bring home for a whole week. After students checked out their books, they had time to begin reading them in the library 📚

Today, First Graders sharpened their decoding skills by playing a roll and read game! Our First Grade word detectives did an amazing job of finding words that followed our phonics rule of the week.

Kindergarteners have kickstarted their year by exploring and getting familiar with their math tools! Students have been very busy counting with 5-frames, matching connecting cube patterns, and solving geoblock puzzles. Mathmeticians have blown us away with their brave counting skills!

Our K&1 Popsicles with Parents event was a huge hit this past Friday! Thank you to King of Pops for bringing us together over some tasty treats!

This week, elementary students participated in their first two K-4 Morning Meetings! Every Monday and Friday, all elementary students will gather together in the Library to get with their Cooper Clusters, and build cross-grade relationships. Today’s meeting was focused on introducing ourselves to new faces!

Fifth Grade mathematicians have started exploring volume while Eighth Grade statisticians began working with absolute data sets and ranges today. Seventh Graders gave each other secret instructions to describe a sequence of transformations on a coordinate plane. Through the messages, students were able to move shapes around the X and Y axis while practicing their instruction and listening skills! How fun!

8th Grade scientists are learning about gravity! They are running an experiment that involves dropping a mannequin head that has a paint ball between it and the helmet it will have on. Students are using the paintball as a measure for how well the helmet works, and at what height the helmet might stop working when the head is dropped.

This week, Second Grade hydrologists began studying water! In their investigation yesterday, students observed and recorded their findings after dropping water onto a variety of surfaces. Students took note of the different ways water reacted when touching different materials. Our hydrologists were most intrigued by water on wax paper!

This week, 4th Grade anatomists began their Human Body unit for Science. Students are learning all about how bones, muscles, and joints work, as well as what they’re made of. Our scientists will also study different systems of the body. Yesterday, they observed each other’s movements while jumping rope, and soon they will dissect owl pellets to compare the bones they find to human bones!

Today, First Graders excitedly picked out books together for their reading bags. Students will be taking their bags home and beginning their reading logs soon. First Graders also began stretching out words, and — being the confident and capable writers they are — began creating stories about small moments in their own lives. We can’t wait to read them!

Kindergarten through 4th Grade students had their first Art class today with Ms. Henslee! Our budding artists had fun showing what inspires them to create artwork: family, friends, pets, and more!

Middle Schoolers worked together today in their advisory groups to accomplish multiple team building activities. Known as the Middle School Olympics, advisories competed in a shoe relay, balance game, and round of blindfolded basketball!

Students had a blast getting to know each other and their teachers during their first day. Scroll to see Kindergarteners and First Graders playing together on the playground as a whole for the first time!

Back to School Night was a huge success! Students met their teachers, found their seats, and Middle Schoolers spent some time really getting to know their lockers. We can’t wait to see everyone bright and early tomorrow morning ☀️

Uniforms are out, and bags are hung. We can’t wait to welcome our families back to campus this evening from 4:30-6:00pm for Back to School Night!