Tinkering

This week, First Graders rolled the Tinkering Cart into our classroom for some design/build time. After examining the variety of materials, students recorded their ideas on a special design page, which includes a materials list and diagram space. It was amazing to see their designs come to life. We had two working catapults, miniature monkey-bars, a tower topped with magnets, and much more!

Social Studies

Our study of Polar Regions marches on! This week, First Graders each chose a polar animal to research. For such a frigid, harsh environment, you might be surprised at how much life the Arctic and Antarctic can support! After choosing, students used both print and digital resources to learn more about their polar animal. We noticed one thing they all have in common: they have amazing adaptations to stay warm.

Social Emotional LearningAt The Cooper School, we set time aside to explicitly teach things like flexibility, resilience, curiosity, and other virtues we hope to nurture in our students. This week we began discussing empathy. Learning to see things from another’s perspective is an important social skill, and can greatly help children in building and keeping strong friendships. By way of introduction, we discussed students can tell if friends are feeling happy, sad, angry, or scared. We discovered that the best things to look for are how they act, how they look, and what they say. We also recounted times in which we had said or done things we didn’t mean, and what it was like to have someone forgive us (because they were able to see things from our perspective). We will be talking a lot about empathy this spring.

Important Dates

• Monday and Tuesday, February 15-16 – February Break, No School
• Monday, February 22 – Polar Presentation, 8:15am
• Friday, February 26 – TCS Parent Coffee Morning, 8:30-9:30am