The Cooper School Daily

Building More Knowledge

American College of Building Arts

This week, Kindergarteners had the opportunity to visit the American College of the Building Arts. Kindergarteners learned that the new campus building used to be a trolley barn and has been sitting vacant for over thirty years before the college recently renovated it. Kindergarteners observed students drafting blueprints for houses and learned that everything that is going to be built needs to be drawn first so they know what to do. Building enthusiasts toured the library and looked at a pop-up Gaudi architecture book. There were a lot of OOH’s and AHH’s as our tour guide showed us each picture. Kindergarteners were then shown various tools like an ax, a paver, a  saw, and a hand screw.

Kindergarteners then toured the different parts of the college. Students were introduced to plaster molds, brickwork, and intricate woodwork that had pegs to connect them or that looked like jigsaw puzzles. Kindergarteners learned how stone is shaped with a mallet and chisel and that it is a very slow process and tedious process. Kindergarteners were able to watch blacksmiths forging different metals into nails and hammering them into shapes. They loved seeing the sparks fly and thought it was cool to see how big the fire got. Ask your kindergartener what they learned at The American College of Building Arts. 

 

 

Holiday Collaborations with First Graders

Kindergarten students have been busy working with First Grade and Fifth Grade to prepare decorations for our tree in Marion Square. Fourth Grade friends helped teach the lovely art of finger knitting to Kindergarteners. Students collaborated to finger-knit garland and to prepare pinecone bees for the tree. Students were excited for our festive outing Thursday, to decorate the tree! We are so excited and proud to have a holiday tree in downtown Charleston’s majestic Marion Square!

Discovering More About Donald Crews

Kindergarten readers continued exploring their author study on Donald Crews. This week, Kindergarteners explored the many ways that good readers approach books. Kindergarten readers used Donald Crews books to examine how authors use different fonts that make readers pay attention. Readers practiced reading and then retelling the major events from the beginning, middle, and end of their books to sequence events. Students learned that good readers use picture clues to read words and tell the stories and that sometimes books can teach us about numbers and math! It has been a lovely week exploring the joys of reading and learning about Donald Crews’ collection of books.

Important Dates:

  • Friday, December 8th Holiday Concert at the Circular Congregational Church at 1:30
  • Thursday, December 14th Parent Coffee (8am)
  • Thursday, December 21st Pajama Day 11:30 Dismissal
  • Friday, December 22nd – Thursday, January 4th Winter Break