Social Studies

This week our study of the native Inuit people of the Arctic continued. We learned about how the Inuit have adapted to living in such a harsh climate by their unique diet and warm clothing. First graders were astounded to discover that almost all of the healthy foods that we find on our dinner plates either cannot be grown in the Arctic or are prohibitively expensive. They learned that, without reliable sources of fruits and vegetables, the Inuit have gotten their essential vitamins and minerals from eating raw meat. They also discovered that Inuit people today wear a mix of traditional and modern materials for clothing. Learning about native cultures is a lot of fun!

Math

Each day, First Graders receive an hour of math instruction. A large part of that time is devoted to independent practice, part of which is GAMES! Playing math games gives children an opportunity to practice and reinforce recently learned strategies and skills. This week, First Graders learned two new games: The Difference Game and Base-10 Exchange. The former reinforces the skill of finding the difference between two numbers and the latter reinforces place value. One student asked this week, “Do we do games because they are fun AND we are learning at the same time?” Exactly!

Art Walk

On Friday, Cooper School students invited families and special friends into the school for our annual Art Walk event. Classrooms were transformed into museum walls, featuring three special pieces of artwork from each student. The museum also featured an Artist Statement written by each student. First Grade Artist Statements included answers to the following questions:

• Why do you like art?
• How do you feel when you are creating art?
• What are your favorite art materials?
• The museum patrons were very impressed with the hard work of all of the young  Cooper School artists!

Important Dates

• Friday, February 5 – Opinion Writing Publishing Party, TCS Library, 2:00pm
• Friday, February 12 – Valentine’s Day Concert and Bake Sale, 1:30-2:45pm
• Monday and Tuesday, February 15-16 – February Break, No School
• Friday, February 26 – TCS Parent Coffee Morning, 8:30-9:30am