I am that person who will bah-humbug my well meaning school kids when they request a little Christmas and holiday music on the class speaker before Thanksgiving. I’m all about the sparkly, gift wrapped cheer, but I will fight a little too boldly for the Thanksgiving season. Once again, I will use the excuse of a newsletter to step onto my soap box. I am, ahem, grateful for those of you who humor me when it’s my turn. That being said, it’s the gratitude that I’m fighting for. I’m asking for a season of prolonged, quiet gratitude that asks for no gifts, and doesn’t rush to the unwrapping rituals.
In fact, Our days at The Cooper School are the best when the ‘thank you’s’ are abundant. Now, a middle school ‘thank you’ has several iterations – it could be a half smile, the tiniest nod, a laughing fit. A Cooper School middle schooler’s language of gratitude is even more varied: it’s applauding their peers a minute longer than anyone expects at the talent show, it’s squeezing a friend’s hand as you sing in front of the whole school at said talent show, it’s an elaborately illustrated whiteboard message left for a tired teacher when she’s not looking, it’s a head on the shoulder of someone who lets you be upset, it’s a walk on the beach to raise money for those who lost much of what they were grateful for. So yes, I’ll happily look like a deflated Macy’s Day balloon using all my breath to preach gratitude to my TCS kids, simply because they are already too good at it! They should celebrate it, find more ways to say it!
Of course, there are days where you lose a little steam. Even Mrs. Thanksgiving 2024 hits a wall sometimes. Thankfully, adult gratitude can be as simple as looking out on a field of kids in their Halloween best, letting the breeze hit you and your silly clown costume, and exhaling.
-MK
Math:
This week was a short week due to the Halloween Carnival and the Teacher Work Day, so we spent Monday and Wednesday completing our Unit 3 Test and corrections! Next week, we will begin our unit on multiplying and dividing multi-digit whole numbers.
ELA:
This week in ELA, 5th graders readers climbed toward the most exciting parts of Where the Red Fern Grows, highlighting figurative language along the way. They collected examples of this language in figurative language charts and began sketching posters that illustrated their favorite example of figurative language as their final project (due next week, 11/7).
Next week, readers will finish novels and projects. They will have a test covering unit two vocabulary on 11/6!
Social Studies:
The fifth grade class will be starting a new unit next week on the United States from a geographical perspective. We will start learning about all the major features of this country. It’s going to be a great unit!
Science:
Fifth graders finished up their National Parks this week and will be presenting them in the Library on Wednesday, November 6th.
A note from our Development Coordinator:
Annual Fund Campaign Update-
We are currently at 29% family participation for 5th grade in our annual fund campaign, and if you haven’t had a chance to give yet, there’s still time to contribute and make an impact!
Also, thank you to those of you who have given your donation directly to me or who have Venmoed the school! If you haven’t had the chance to yet, there is still time!
Important Dates:
November 1: Teacher Work Day (No Students)
November 6: 5th Grade National Parks Presentation (2pm)
November 8: Parent Coffee with Jason Patera and Merle Henkel (8:15)
November 11&12: Parent Teacher Conferences
November 13: Cooper Clusters Lunch
November 22: Harvest Feast
November 25-29: Thanksgiving Break
