Science

This week students studied more complex electrical circuits using D-cell batteries and flashlight bulbs. Students were able to build both a series circuit and parallel circuit. They were able to explain why series circuits need more energy sources to light the bulbs and why parallel circuits made the bulbs shine brighter. Students enjoyed tackling challenges such as putting a switch into the circuit to control one or both of the bulbs. They even discovered that using more than one battery makes their bulbs shine super bright!

 

Reading

The next few weeks will be spent reading and analyzing nonfiction texts written all about the Revolutionary War. During this unit, students will review key concepts such as, “finding the main idea”, “identifying important details”, and “using context clues” to understand complex words. By the end of this unit, students will master the art of analyzing nonfiction texts and identifying the features that best help them research their information.

 

 

One Word

Around the world, on New Year’s Day, people make resolutions- new goals to guide their lives. This year at The Cooper School we want our students to feel that same sense of introspective goal setting and personal improvement. Students were asked to find one word that they will focus on this year. The class brainstormed ideas like “perseverance” and “patience”. Then they created a card with this word beautifully written and on the back, each student explained why they chose that word and how they hoped it would help guide them throughout the year.

 

 

Important Dates:

 

Monday, Jan. 15^th                 MLK Jr. Day/ No School

Tuesday, Jan. 23^rd                Dock Street Theater – The Giver

Thursday, Jan. 25^th              Art Walk, 8:00 AM