The Scoop

Thank you for your continued partnership in supporting our students' success. Your involvement and encouragement make a tremendous difference in their educational journey.

We encourage you to keep fostering positive conversations at home about school. Celebrating your child's achievements, discussing their challenges, and showing excitement for their learning experiences help build confidence and a love for learning.

Together, we can ensure that Cooper remains a place where every student feels valued, supported, and inspired to thrive. This is an incredible journey that we are on, before you know it, our kids will be high school students!

Thank you for all you do, and here's to another great week of learning and growth! Go Lions!!!!

"Win the moment"

Mr. Witherspoon

Percentage of Students Present: 91.2%(Goal: 100%)

Number of Students Tardy: 44...we need to do better here (Goal is 0)

Attendance is crucial for your child's academic success. We want to share important information about chronic absenteeism, as defined by the State of Michigan.

Chronic absenteeism occurs when a student misses 10% or more of school days in a year, including both excused and unexcused absences. For example, in a 180-day school year, this means 18 or more days missed (9 absences would be considered chronic based on today's date)

Regular attendance supports learning, social development, and long-term success. If your family is facing challenges that impact attendance, please reach out—we’re here to help.

Thank you for your support in ensuring your child’s success!

January 18

• PTSA Chili Cook-Off at Franklin High School (Cooper has the reigning champion!!!)

January 20

• No School (MLK Day)

January 21

• Bagel Orders Due

January 27

• CogAT Testing (6th Grade)
• Candy Sale Fundraiser Assembly

January 31

• PBIS Assembly
• Bagel Day

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:

Spring Flower Sale: February 26, 2025

Let's go make a difference Cooper!

Click on the following links to find out what you can do to make a difference as well as a commitment form (the only requirement is to document the good deed that you have done...and have fun doing it)!!:

• YMAD General Outline for Students 2024-2025
  
• YMAD Commitment Form 2024-2025

Commitment forms due: February 24, 2025

Completed projects due: April 9, 2025

Celebration at Churchill High School: April 23, 2025

Candy sales will begin on Monday, January 27th. We will do our kick off assemblies that day and students will receive forms at dismissal. The sale will go until Tuesday, February 11.

This sale is open to ALL Cooper students. 5th graders will earn money towards lowering everyone's cost for camp next year (last year's sales cut approximately $30 dollars off per student for this year's trip). 6th graders will earn money towards their personal camp costs this year. We can't wait to get started!

We wanted to share how we decide whether recess will be held indoors or outdoors. Our team uses the AccuWeather Hourly app to monitor the temperature and RealFeel® conditions. If the RealFeel® is below 15°F, recess will be held indoors for the safety and comfort of our students.

Thank you for your understanding and support in keeping our students safe!

NOTE: We are seeing many students coming outside with only hoodies in the cold weather. Please have conversations about wearing their coats, hats, and gloves at recess that they wore to school. (Note: Please reach out if these items are not available to your family.)

We are excited to announce that our 2024-2025 yearbooks are now on sale! This year’s yearbook is packed with memories, highlights, and moments that you won’t want to miss.

Important Details:

• Order Deadline: April 27, 2025
• Yearbook ID Code: 5927925
• Order Link: Click here to order your Cooper Upper Elementary Yearbook

Please note that yearbooks will NOT be available after the deadline. Be sure to secure your copy before time runs out! Order now to guarantee you don’t miss out on this special keepsake.+

Thank you for supporting our school, and we look forward to celebrating another fantastic year!

• Begin to prep your child for school by making sure that routines are established.
• Bedtime routines (read a book, cut off screen time at least 1 hour prior to bedtime, etc.)
• How Much Sleep Does my Child Need?
• Students can begin entering the building at 8:15 am (please do not drop off students any earlier as there will not be any adult supervision prior to that time).

• How will your child get to and from school?
• Bus: get to know the bus letter/number, bus stop, arrival/departure time.
• Dropping off in a car?
• Know the traffic pattern and the door that your child will enter through for school.
• Is your child walking?
• Know the location and door number that your child will be entering and leaving through.

Building grit in children involves fostering perseverance, resilience, and a growth mindset. Here are some activities families can do together to encourage these traits:

1. Set and Achieve Goals

• Family Goal Chart: Create a chart with short-term and long-term goals for each family member. Celebrate milestones together.
• Weekly Challenges: Set a small challenge (e.g., reading a book, completing a puzzle) and encourage consistent effort to complete it.

2. Encourage Growth Mindset

• "I Can’t Do It Yet" Jar: Write down challenges or skills the child wants to improve and revisit them to celebrate progress.
• Discuss Role Models: Share stories of people who overcame obstacles through perseverance.

3. Physical Activities

• Sports or Outdoor Challenges: Hiking, team sports, or obstacle courses can teach children the value of effort and resilience.
• Yoga or Martial Arts: Practices like yoga or martial arts build mental and physical discipline.

4. Develop Problem-Solving Skills

• Puzzles and Strategy Games: Play games like chess, Sudoku, or cooperative board games that require patience and strategic thinking.
• DIY Projects: Build or create something as a family, such as a birdhouse or science experiment, and problem-solve together when things go wrong.

5. Foster Responsibility

• Chore Rotation: Assign age-appropriate chores and encourage consistency in completing them.
• Pet Care: Taking care of a pet can teach accountability and perseverance.

6. Explore New Skills

• Cooking Together: Try new recipes, emphasizing the importance of trial and error when learning a new skill.
• Creative Hobbies: Painting, knitting, or coding can help children experience the satisfaction of persistence.

7. Reflect on Efforts

• Daily Gratitude Journal: Write about challenges faced and how they were handled.
• Family Meetings: Discuss setbacks and successes as a family, focusing on lessons learned rather than outcomes.

8. Volunteer Work

• Participate in community service projects to teach the value of hard work, empathy, and perseverance in helping others.

9. Read Together

• Choose books with themes of resilience and perseverance, such as "The Little Engine That Could" or "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth.

10. Celebrate Failure

• "Failure Party": Celebrate attempts that didn’t work out, emphasizing the importance of trying and learning from mistakes.
• Reframe Discussions: Encourage children to talk about what they learned from a setback rather than focusing on the failure itself.

Taking care of our mental health is important – for kids and adults! Here’s some information

about mental health and how you can support your child’s mental well-being. Please click on the following links to learn more:

Mental Health Matters

Coping Strategies to Manage Stress and Tough Emotions

Please view local community resources at the link below. This will be continuously revised, so please check back throughout the school year. Community Resources If you need any support, please feel free to reach out to our Cooper Support Staff.

Mallory McLean mmclean12@livoniapublicschools.org Rachel Banks Dzikowski rdzikows@livoniapublicschools.org Paige Demaree pdemaree@livoniapublicschools.org

When you or your child needs help, it’s hard to know where to turn. In an effort to ease the burden of finding the mental health and substance use services you need, we’ve partnered with Care Solace, your central hub of care.

With a network of over 425,000 providers and services, Care Solace will help you find the right help at the right time, 24/7/365, at no cost to you. They will connect you with providers accepting all medical insurances, including Medicaid, Medicare, and sliding scale options for those without insurance. You can access Care Solace services in three ways:

• Call 888-515-0595 at any time. Multilingual support is available 24/7/365. A dedicated Care Companion will help you every step of the way to research options, secure appointments, and follow up to make sure it is a good fit.
• Search anonymously to get matched with an extensive list of care providers at https://caresolace.com/site/livonia
• Contact your school health professional, and they will submit a referral on your behalf.

No matter what you're experiencing, there is hope and help. We are confident that our new partnership with Care Solace will help us build a healthier, more vibrant school community.
If you have a life-threatening emergency, please call 9-1-1 or The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8. Care Solace is not an emergency response service or mental health services provider.

Cooper is a school-wide Title I building. This means that Cooper receives additional federal funding to help support all students in our building. A condition of this funding requires all families sign the yearly Cooper Compact for each student that is enrolled at Cooper.

Please review and Complete the Cooper Compact form as soon as possible.

This is an excellent opportunity to be a mentor to our students. We love having parents and grandparents help in these positions. Responsibilities include supervising students during lunch in the lunchroom & outside at recess.

Daily 11:00-1:00 p.m. They are paid positions, and there is an application process through Edu Staff. If you are interested please click on the link below and begin the application process through Edu Staff using the link below:

https://www.edustaff.org/

Click "Start and Application" and then proceed through the guided steps. When you get to #4 on the application, click on Wayne RESA, then Livonia Public Schools. When you get to #5, click on Noon Attendant (Noon Monitor).