Cooper Elementary

October 7th ... PTA meeting 6:00 PM

October 8th ... Picture Day

October 30th ... Halloween in the Halls

October 31st ... NO SCHOOL

November 1st ... NO SCHOOL

Happy October! Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, the leaves, and getting into the routine of school! Are you getting into the fall routine? The routines here at Cooper are going well and I am excited to see parents at Conferences in a couple of weeks. Here are some updates and reminders from Cooper:

1. Student Progress

During conferences, Teachers will be updating parents/guardians about student progress. One way we do this is with our district assessments. Each fall we gather benchmarks for our students, make learning goals and provide a more individualized/small group instructional plan for students. Teachers will be sharing this during conferences. Learning goals help students with perseverance towards their learning and give students something to work towards.

2. Attendance:

Children learn best when they have consistent attendance at school. We understand that occasions sometimes arise that cause children to miss school. Our aim at SCHOOL is to help each child have a successful educational experience. We are concerned with your child's absences/tardiness and would like to be of assistance to you and your child. We are available to meet with you at your convenience to help address any barriers to your child’s regular attendance at school.

When your child is going to be absent or tardy, please call the school prior to 9 a.m. to notify the Secretary at 715-394-8790. If your child has a doctor or dentist appointment during the day or an illness that requires a doctor’s visit, ask the clinic for a medical note to bring back to school. We will, upon receiving this written excuse, note the absence as exempt. In addition, parents or guardians have the right to excuse a student's absence or tardiness from school, for any or no reason, by notifying the school of the student’s absence. The parent or guardian must call within 24 hours of the absence or it will be considered unexcused. By state law, students may be excused for up to ten days per year under this provision (Wis. Stat. § 118.15(3)(c)).

3. Arrival Procedures - The first bell rings at 8:50 with the school day beginning at 8:55. If you are dropping off your student, have them arrive just prior to the first bell. Breakfast is served beginning at 8:15, but you can arrive as late as 8:45 for breakfast. Students not having breakfast should wait until the bell rings to come inside.

Thanks for all you do,

Aaron Lieberz

At Cooper, during the month of October our focus will be on respect: respecting ourselves, respecting others, respecting objects, animals, and the world around us. A big part of respecting others is learning empathy. The term “empathy” is used to describe a wide range of experiences. Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. There are three parts to empathy.

1. Emotional sharing (also called "emotional contagion"), which occurs when we experience feelings of distress as a result of observing distress in another individual

2. Empathic concern, which is the motivation to care for individuals who are vulnerable or distressed, and

3. Perspective-taking, the "ability to consciously put oneself in the mind of another individual and imagine what that person is thinking or feeling."

Students at Cooper will begin to learn about empathy by first learning to recognize clues to help them figure out how someone else is feeling. This includes looking at faces, body language, and the situation. We learn about perspective taking and trying to understand what it might be like to be in that other person’s shoes. Then once we understand what that person might be feeling, we learn about compassion and ways to show compassion to others.