The wild anticipation of snow in a city like Charleston is unlike any other. I’ve watched our kids join hands and skip in a circle for what would only generously be called sleet. To see them take whatever mother nature gives them with such aggressive joy is a great lesson to me. I know to appreciate what is rare and fleeting because of The Cooper School kids. I can’t imagine the joy on their faces when they got to witness anything beyond two drops of sleet!
What happens within the walls of this school is considered rare by many – hands on learning, testing as a skill rather than a value, whole student development, the open exchange of ideas and books, complete and total inclusion and belonging. I have to believe that if we keep sending our students out into society, they will be looked at as a welcome rarity. I can’t help but imagine them covering our future world with something special; like a delicate, transformative, and rare blanket of fresh snow.
-MK
Math:
This week, 7th graders practiced and applied their knowledge of systems of equations using a strategy called substitution. Next week we’ll practice a new strategy called elimination to help us solve similar systems. We’ll also dive into scatter plots, representing data, and how those relate to linear relationships (aka patterns, lines of best fit, trends, associations, etc.)
ELA:
7th grade writers finished typing their realistic fiction stories this week – be sure to look out for e-learning communications about their due-date extension (Next Tuesday 1/28) since they did not have my live feedback in class to help with editing. Encourage your students to take advantage of this time and pay attention to feedback in their google documents. They will take an open note vocabulary test next Monday to make up for delays from the weather.
Next week, we will transition to a very special film study and media literacy unit. We will get back on our regular grammar/vocab schedule with two weeks of grammar study with a test planned for 2/6.
Social Studies:
Seventh grade has continued working on the North and South pre Civil War and how those differences led us to war. We also discussed slavery and the Constitution as well as began our discussion on Westward Expansion and its role on Antebellum America. Going forward we are getting ready for a field trip to McLeod Plantation as well as to Charles Towne Landing to get a first hand account of life during the time period.
Science:
Seventh graders learned about hibernation this week! Why not, right? We are all hibernating in our own way! They also contemplated whether resources to learn about “useless information” is actually useful by learning about the creation of diabetes drugs such as Ozempic. Did you know that in the 70’s, scientists did studies on lantern fish and guinea pigs to research specific peptides that progressively led to creation of Ozempic? Who would have thought. Next week, we will finish our study on “Plants and Photosynthesis” and then get started on the Science Fair.
Important Dates:
January 29- 100th day of school
