The Cooper School Daily

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Whew! What a week, especially with all this frigid weather. The middle school has had another busy week studying how neurons work in cockroaches and working on our writing with Spread the Word coming up! The anticipation is building and we hope you are all as excited as us. The students have created the most creative and beautiful pieces and we cannot wait for you to hear them! In honor of St. Patty’s Day here are some riddles to kick start your Irish weekend:


Where can you always find “gold,” but there’s no gold at all
What has eyes but can’t see?
How many gold coins can a leprechaun throw in an empty pot?
( Answers at the very end! 😉




Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:


What’s happening in Social Studies?


The eighth graders took this week to prepare for their midterms! Midterms happened on Friday.

Students will begin next week by working towards completion of their Women’s History Month Projects. Students will also be looking into the start of the first World War by diving deep into Imperialism!


What’s happening in ELA?

Your students are currently working on their pieces for the “Spread the Word” event that will be taking place on the afternoon of March 28th at the Charleston Museum. Please RSVP as there is limited seating. We would like for your students to dress nicely.

We will also have a brief rehearsal at the museum on March 23rd. Please fill out the permission slip so that they will be able to go to the rehearsal.



What’s happening in Science?


Eighth graders considered how organisms have evolved from the water to the land this week. They looked closely at the evolution of the lungfish evolving into a terrestrial tetrapod with digits. They also examined different fossil replicas to contemplate how organisms change over time.
Eighth graders also had the opportunity to observe how neurons communicate by experimenting with a roach leg and “spiker” box. They learned how neurons communicate with each other through electrochemical signals and how the signals can be witnessed through waves. They also had the opportunity to learn from Ben de Bivort, a professor of neuroscience and organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard. He came in to speak to the class and answer questions about the brain!

What’s happening in Math?

This week, eighth graders have started looking at compound interest. We are analyzing savings accounts and credit cards in order to solve problems and predict balances in the future. Students have learned the formula for calculating the effective annual interest rate. Looking ahead, we will finish out this unit next week and assess the week before spring break. Upon our return from spring break, we will work with quadratic functions to close out Algebra 1!


Important Dates:

March 28 – Spread the Word (11:30 Dismissal)
April 3-10- Spring Break

ANSWERS:
DICTIONARY
POTATO
ONLY ONE BECAUSE AFTER THAT IT IS NO LONGER EMPTY