Last night, our middle school’s Spirit Club hosted the annual Cooper Middle Dance – which is my absolute favorite event of the year. I’m sure when you hear the words “middle school dance”, your body instinctively cringes – your mind flooded with memories of awkward dances, hugging the wall, fear of being judged, etc. Mine does, too! But, I can confidently speak for our middle schoolers when I say that was not what they experienced last night. Worries were left at the door, dance moves were electric, and smiles and laughter filled the beautifully transformed library. These kids are so fearlessly themselves, and are also so great at meeting their peers where they are. It’s the magical combination of people in one room that made last night so special. If they can make something as cringey and terrifying as a middle school dance the exact opposite – what can’t they do?!
-Allison Gold
Upcoming Dates:
- February 27 – Trimester 2 Report Cards
- March 2 & 3 – Self Assessment Conferences (½ Days)
- March 14 – Little Big Things Gala
ELA: This week in ELA, 6th grade started their poetry study! This year’s unit is all about poetry and fine art. We learned the vocabulary of fine art and art history, working together to interpret many famous paintings and sculptures. Art enthusiasts learned the practice of ekphrasis – responding to art in writing or poetry. Many thoughtful poems-inspired-by-art have already been produced in week 1. The next few weeks of poetry study and writing all look forward to Middle School’s “Spread the Word” event where poets will share their favorite pieces from this time. Be on the lookout for more info around this beloved event! Students also took a vocabulary test this Thursday, so be sure to ask for those grades.
Next week, 6th graders will study the fine art work and poetry of William Blake. We’ll also survey the work of various Japanese artists who incorporate writing into their pieces. All the while, we will write many-a-poem in response to great art! We will also begin a long stretch of grammar studies to hit grammatical checkpoints and reviews in the final trimester of the year!
Science: This week in Science, our 6th graders explored how biomimicry can help address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Students collaborated to investigate the goals that most interested them, identifying barriers to achieving them and brainstorming possible solutions. Through thoughtful discussion, they began to see how scientific innovation and systems thinking can contribute to real-world change.
Next week, students will begin building their biomimicry design brief. They will choose a Sustainable Development Goal to focus on, research how nature addresses similar challenges, and begin developing a nature-inspired design solution. I am excited to see how their creativity and problem-solving skills continue to grow as they connect science to global impact.
Social Studies: Sixth grade continued diving into the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. We learned about the great peoples of Greece whose influence, ideas and inventions still shape the world today! We also worked on our Roman ghost tour project, coming in March. Their self assessment work is a vision board of what they want their area to look like during the Roman project. Next week we will talk about Alexander the Great as well as the fall of Greece and the rise of the Roman empire.
Math: This week in math, 6th graders began exploring negative numbers and began using the vocabulary “integers” to describe a number we’d see on a number line. We applied negative numbers to temperature, elevation, and money. We explored adding and subtracting integers before we move onto plotting points on the coordinate plane in quadrants 2, 3, and 4 as we’ve only seen quadrant 1 so far.
