When you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on…
For it won’t be long
Till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on
Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill
Those of your needs that you won’t let show
You just call on me brother when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you’ll understand
We all need somebody to lean on
-Bill Withers

My daughter came to visit this week. I walked out and witnessed her embraced by her new classmates that she will be with for the rest of her career at TCS. Seeing her smiling and playing with children she just met solidified why The Cooper School is a special learning environment. It’s a home away from home. Students here are not only learning how to learn, but learning how to live to be empathetic humans that accept people for who they are.

As the year gets closer to wrapping up, relationships are closer than ever. Teachers are helping out other teachers, middle schoolers are playing with kindergarten students, class pets are being taken care of like they are personal pets…I could go on and on and on! We are here to lean on each other. Not just student to student, student to teacher, teacher to teacher, but TCS to you…parents. xoxo-L
Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:

What’s happening in Science:
Seventh Grade worked hard in the chemistry lab this week! They created their own molecules and compounds using elements (stickers) to visualize atomic makeup of common substances. They compared and contrasted physical and chemical changes. Seventh Graders also experimented with compression using syringes to witness that invisible air is actually matter that takes up space with weight. They began to learn how to balance chemical equations and understand how a reactant must balance with the product. Next week, we will begin to wrap up this last science unit and explore solubility and mixtures.

What’s up in Math?
Seventh Graders have jumped into the beginning of a statistics study. Right now, they are analyzing scatter plots to see what kinds of data they can display, what positive and negative correlations mean in terms of their variables, and how to make predictions based on a model. Students are able to find the slope and describe what it means in context of the data. Moving forward, we will continue using linear models created from a set of data to make predictions and solve problems.

What’s happening in ELA:
I am excited to say that the book club groups reading Feathers and The Truth About Sparrows have completed their historical novel, and the book club for Moon Over Manifest have two more chapters to complete. Make sure you ask your students all about how their story concluded. Also, make sure your kids read over this long weekend. The students have been given their templates to begin working on their final book project for their historical fiction.

This week in grammar, students worked on possessive nouns and helping verbs. They will have a quiz on this concept on August 20th. Please make sure they review Weeks 9 & 10 to prepare for their grammar quiz. We have also reviewed grammar skills using a Bingo game. With this game, seventh graders learned about independent & dependent clauses; run-on & fragment sentences; simple, compound, and complex compound sentences.
In grammar next week, your students will work on “apostrophe with contractions” and “indentation: when to start new paragraphs.” We will also begin editing our writing so that we can work on the middle school version of “Pass It On” called “Spread the Word.” Finally, students will be given a template to complete their fantasy book report project.

Important Dates:
April 15 & 18: April Break
April 28: TCS Gala