It was so wonderful to see all of you who attended parent-teacher conferences and thank you for making the time to meet with us! This week the middle schoolers have had a multitude of project presentations that have really showcased their hard work, talent, and creativity. We also have the Harvest Festival coming up this week! Make sure you are here on the 18th for a fun filled day on our beautiful campus!

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

What’s happening in Science?

Sixth graders investigated five mysterious substances this week to decide if they were living or non-living things. They first just observed them up close to make a hypothesis, but furthered their investigation by adding water, sugar water, or salt water to each substance to see how liquids impacted the mysterious substances. They observed their solutions after they sat for 10 minutes to see if there were any changes and then again in 24 hours. Next week, they will observe them under the microscope to see the substances up close. They will learn how to make a wet mount and dry mount and experiment with different magnifications.

What’s up in ELA?

Sixth grade students are working diligently on their “Deep Study of Character” reading unit. They’ve been applying their notetaking skills and noticing that their perspective of characters can change throughout the story. The sixth graders also came to a realization that character traits can be impacted depending on the pressures the characters are facing. Please encourage your students to take notes as they read. This is an important skill that will serve them well as they pursue higher education.  This week in grammar, students have identified adverb clauses and reviewed using commas correctly. 

Finally, signed papers for ELA will be sent home every Monday. Please make sure to check with your child every Monday afternoon for their ELA signed papers.

What’s going on in Math?

We are diving deeper into our fraction unit. This week, we have been able to make sense of fraction division through stories and word problems. We will review for and take the mid-unit assessment soon! It was very nice to see some of you during conferences and I am hopeful that you gained a clearer insight to your child’s day here at The Cooper School. I wanted to share with all of you that I do send “Cool Down’s” home almost daily so that you can see what it is your student is learning, their strategies, and my notes. I am hopeful this will keep us on the same page and provide consistent communication about what’s happening in math. 

What’s happening in Social Studies?

Sixth Grade students finished up our studies of the Indus Valley Civilization. We looked at some early empires and used our mapping skills to map the early civilizations and empires of India. 

Next week, the students will be diving into ancient China. Students will be taking a look at the Huang Valley Civilization and moving into the Zhou Dynasty. 

Important Dates:

• November 18- Harvest Festival (11:30 Dismissal)
• November 21-25 Thanksgiving Break (No School)