The Cooper School Daily
April 5, 2024
Nothing Much
Students returned from Spring Break with plenty of stories to tell and adventures to report. I marveled with them in the time spent getting to do whatever our hearts desired (mostly) for a whole week. Though there were many amazing, whirlwind trips while we were away, when asked, “What’d you do over break?” the majority of students and staff seemed to answer with some variation of, “Not much, just did a whole lot of nothing.”
We may shrug our shoulders at reports of “nothing much” but I couldn’t help but celebrate the do-nothing squad of Spring Breakers. Middle school can feel like a tail spin, so remarkable value can be found in the restoration that comes with rest, stillness, even silence. We may lament a silent middle schooler that won’t share much of their day with you, but there is meaning and worth even in the “nothing.”
I’m reminded of one of my favorite filmmakers, Hayao Miyazaki, whose animated films have been noted for including various nontraditional moments of silence and nonaction. The following interview excerpt between the late Roger Ebert and Miyazaki describes this concept beautifully:
“… Instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are.
“We have a word for that in Japanese,” he said. “It’s called ma. Emptiness. It’s there intentionally … if you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness, but if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb.””
Perhaps we can look at silence, stillness, uneventful breaks as a balm to keep us from going numb. I know for a fact there is so much processing and emotion teeming beneath a cagey middle schooler. I know I could do more time to honor that silence, that space, that sense of nothing that’s actually full of something. Perhaps we can embrace future opportunities to sink into ‘nothing’ more often or enjoy the silence and sweetness that is just you and your middle schooler taking up space and processing all the change.
-MK
What’s happening in Science?
Fifth graders learned about solutions this week. They made solutions using salt and water to consider how concentration impacts mass and density. They also taste tested “tang” in different concentrations to understand the difference between dilution and super concentration. The fifth graders also layered mystery liquids of different densities to consider how liquids can have different densities. They also continued to work on their interactive periodic table of elements which should be completed by the end of the school year.
What’s happening in Math?
This week, 5th graders explored the area and perimeter of shapes on a coordinate plane, and then took their test on Friday. Next week, we’ll dive into our final unit of study in which we review and connect all of the key concepts we’ve learned this year, including decimal and fraction operations, multiplication and division of multi-digit numbers, as well as area and volume of 2-d and 3-d figures.
What’s happening in ELA?
5th graders returned from break to begin their novel study of Island of the Blue Dolphins. We considered the impact of setting, dialogue, and imagery on the mood of a story. Readers also considered what the figurative language of our narrator revealed about the history and cultures depicted in the novel. We continued grammar studies in perfect and continuous verbs, comma placement, and pronoun antecedents.
Next week, readers will consider how culture impacts character development and continue to track idioms specific to our story’s time period. We will study predicate elements and new categories of verbs.
What’s happening in Social Studies?
In Social Studies, the fifth graders studied the differences between Buddhism and Hinduism as we continue through our Asia unit. Students presented their slideshows that they worked on before the break to their class! Students tested their new understanding with Venn Diagrams and races against their rival table neighbors on the basic concepts of the two.
Next week, students will learn about life in modern Asia before completing their assessment on Asia. Students will be asked to make a T-Chart comparing life in Southwest, South, East, and Southeast Asia!
Important Dates:
April 10: Spread the Word- 11:30 dismissal
April 17: Middle School Sports Banquet- 5pm
April 19: 1st, 5th, and 7th Grade Artist of the Month- 8:15am
April 27: Spring Auction & Gala- 6pm @ Founder’s Hall (tickets available until 4/12)
We may shrug our shoulders at reports of “nothing much” but I couldn’t help but celebrate the do-nothing squad of Spring Breakers. Middle school can feel like a tail spin, so remarkable value can be found in the restoration that comes with rest, stillness, even silence. We may lament a silent middle schooler that won’t share much of their day with you, but there is meaning and worth even in the “nothing.”
I’m reminded of one of my favorite filmmakers, Hayao Miyazaki, whose animated films have been noted for including various nontraditional moments of silence and nonaction. The following interview excerpt between the late Roger Ebert and Miyazaki describes this concept beautifully:
“… Instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are.
“We have a word for that in Japanese,” he said. “It’s called ma. Emptiness. It’s there intentionally … if you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness, but if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb.””
Perhaps we can look at silence, stillness, uneventful breaks as a balm to keep us from going numb. I know for a fact there is so much processing and emotion teeming beneath a cagey middle schooler. I know I could do more time to honor that silence, that space, that sense of nothing that’s actually full of something. Perhaps we can embrace future opportunities to sink into ‘nothing’ more often or enjoy the silence and sweetness that is just you and your middle schooler taking up space and processing all the change.
-MK
What’s happening in Science?
Fifth graders learned about solutions this week. They made solutions using salt and water to consider how concentration impacts mass and density. They also taste tested “tang” in different concentrations to understand the difference between dilution and super concentration. The fifth graders also layered mystery liquids of different densities to consider how liquids can have different densities. They also continued to work on their interactive periodic table of elements which should be completed by the end of the school year.
What’s happening in Math?
This week, 5th graders explored the area and perimeter of shapes on a coordinate plane, and then took their test on Friday. Next week, we’ll dive into our final unit of study in which we review and connect all of the key concepts we’ve learned this year, including decimal and fraction operations, multiplication and division of multi-digit numbers, as well as area and volume of 2-d and 3-d figures.
What’s happening in ELA?
5th graders returned from break to begin their novel study of Island of the Blue Dolphins. We considered the impact of setting, dialogue, and imagery on the mood of a story. Readers also considered what the figurative language of our narrator revealed about the history and cultures depicted in the novel. We continued grammar studies in perfect and continuous verbs, comma placement, and pronoun antecedents.
Next week, readers will consider how culture impacts character development and continue to track idioms specific to our story’s time period. We will study predicate elements and new categories of verbs.
What’s happening in Social Studies?
In Social Studies, the fifth graders studied the differences between Buddhism and Hinduism as we continue through our Asia unit. Students presented their slideshows that they worked on before the break to their class! Students tested their new understanding with Venn Diagrams and races against their rival table neighbors on the basic concepts of the two.
Next week, students will learn about life in modern Asia before completing their assessment on Asia. Students will be asked to make a T-Chart comparing life in Southwest, South, East, and Southeast Asia!
Important Dates:
April 10: Spread the Word- 11:30 dismissal
April 17: Middle School Sports Banquet- 5pm
April 19: 1st, 5th, and 7th Grade Artist of the Month- 8:15am
April 27: Spring Auction & Gala- 6pm @ Founder’s Hall (tickets available until 4/12)