Love Notes are a beloved tradition at Cooper School. At a recent prospective Kindergarten event, a current parent brought along a few of the notes his daughter had received and completely won over the room (we didn’t even ask him to!). He compared the weekly messages they receive — notes like, “You were on it today with your listening ears. We are so proud of you.” — to the updates friends of theirs receive from their kindergartener’s schools, which often sound more like, “Your child struggled with counting to 20 this week.”
Both types of communication share important information. But the difference between a teacher-to-student relationship rooted in love and encouragement and one focused solely on reporting concerns makes a tremendous difference in the school experience for everyone.
Love notes become a bit more verbal in middle school – this week I’ve heard, “I’m proud of you for having realistic expectations”, “I know that it’s hard, and I also know that you can do it”, “That was a really mature way of handling that.” All of those statements were said eye to eye, teacher to student, human to human.
If I were to share some love notes to students and families, I might say:
Families:
- “You are raising really cool people, and we’re lucky to know them.”
- “Your trust in us is energizing and inspiring.”
- “Seeing you in the car line makes my day a little brighter.”
Students:
- “You are developing a strong sense of self-confidence during a really tricky time.”
- “You are so resilient. I love watching you find your way through hard things.”
- “I can see your empathy and leadership grow during clusters.”
I hope our students and families feel the immense love that fills this community. It’s a love of teaching and learning, a love of helping shape good humans, and a love of guiding children through the sometimes confusing world of middle school. That love is what brings us to school each day with smiles on our faces and a daily commitment to care. We love Cooper, we love your children, we love you, and we love what we do. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Upcoming Dates:
- February 16-17 – February Break (No School)
- Please fill out this form for James Island County Parks. We will be doing PE there starting soon!
- February 27 – Middle School Dance!!
ELA: In ELA this week, 7th grade analyzed “Hollywood” plot structures, comparing and contrasting plot points in film with what we know about story structure in literature. We then studied the absurdist comedy film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, trying to match specific story moments with Hollywood “beats.” 7th grade also learned about the history and art of special effects and its impact on film. Our class had a grammar test on Thursday, so be sure to inquire about grades and correction opportunities.
After break, 7th grade will return to study the trend of adaptation in film, with a close viewing of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. They will begin pitch decks for their own adaptations of fairy tales into movies (due 2/23) and turn their film packets in on 2/20. We will also start a vocabulary unit.
Science: This week in Science, our 7th graders began their science fair journey. Students found inspiration by learning about young scientists who have competed in and won at the International Science and Engineering Fair. They generated lists of questions they were curious to investigate and, through research and conferencing, narrowed their ideas into focused research topics while beginning to compile sources.
Next week, students will continue developing their science fair projects and investigate how energy transfers through trophic levels in ecosystems, connecting their independent inquiry to the systems thinking we’ve been exploring in class.
Social Studies: Seventh grade began our unit on the 19th century. As I stated this unit is the longest of the year and has been broken down into several parts, starting with 1800-1820. Next week we will look at westward expansion, immigration and the rise of the industrial revolution and how these events helped shape America at that time. Enjoy the break!
Math: This week in math, 7th graders spent more time with scatter plot and lines of best fit – analyzing these lines as predictions and using their knowledge of slopes of lines to help aid them in these data predictions. We also continued our search for positive and negative relationships and associations between two things. We wrapped up the week with more review and application of systems of equations, before we spend next week finishing up unit5 with our end of unit assessment.
