Student PTA

The student PTA wants the whole school to get involved in anti-bullying. The student PTA does this because they want everybody to stop bullying and not be a bystander.

A bystander is a person that watches bullying and doesn't help the person by not reporting it or not telling them to stop. What the student PTA wants us to do is to stand up for others and yourself. We want Cooper Upper Elementary to be bully free.

Our Student Leaders are Finding their Voice!

Cooper leaders have had some exciting opportunities in the past couple of weeks.  First, Webster Elementary invited us to speak with their students about how Cooper students live the 7 Habits.  The Webster Wildcats have been learning about the 7 Habits and their principal, Mrs. Boka, felt that they really needed to hear from fellow students how living the 7 Habits could positively impact their lives.  We took six Cooper students from our Student Lighthouse Team and PTA Leaders.  They did a wonderful job!  

Also, today we had a surprise visit from the Livonia Public Schools Communication Department.  They are putting together a video to demonstrate the positive school environments across Livonia.  Six Cooper students were asked to speak on camera about their school experiences.  They were asked questions such as, "Describe your favorite teacher and what makes them your favorite, What is your favorite part of your day?, and How has being at at Leader in Me school changed your life?"

Once again, our students were poised, confident, and sincere.  They spoke highly about the role leadership and the 7 Habits play in their lives, their positive learning experiences, strong peer relationships, and the impact great teachers have had in creating engaging, positive, joyful school experiences. As Martina said, "Cooper is like a bagel and the cream cheese is the Leader in Me!"  Way to go Cooper Leaders!

Speaking to the 1-2 Grade Family

Speaking to the 5-6 Grade Family

Speaking to the 3-4 Family

Great Job Cooper Leaders!

Sienna LOVES learning!

One of our Rock Star Savers!

Mallory shares how her math teacher has been instrumental in 

helping her understand math and make it fun!

Honoring Mrs. Schnettler

When Mrs. Schnettler, one of our Physical Education teachers, died last December, Cooper students and staff wrote their thoughts and memories of Mrs. Schnettler on pink pieces of paper. The pieces of paper were made into paper chains and placed in Cooper's front hallway in Mrs. Schnettler's honor.  

What ever happened to the paper chains?  Jolene and Zoey synergized by carefully taking each link of the chains apart, and placing them into gift boxes.  Hundreds of slips of paper were sent to Mrs. Schnettler's children this Christmas in loving memory of their mom.  We will invite Mrs. Schnettler's children to come and walk the track that was constructed in her memory with Cooper staff and students this spring.  

Cooper Work-a-thon

Stephen Covey called synergy "the highest activity of life."  When we work together, we can create new alternatives.  It benefits us mentally and emotionally.  Last Friday, Cooper students, staff, and parents came together to beautify our school.  We had 57 students plus 13 teachers and numerous parents.  With the leadership of our art teacher, Ms. Didomenico, we painted windows, created quote canvas art for a group mural, and "grew" our new habits tree.  We look forward to more Work-a-thons this year!

Canvas Art

Leadership Quotes

Our Tree is Growing!

Just the Beginning

Ornaments

Painting with Friends

Wow!

Think Win Win Students

Parent Teacher Conferences

Thank you for attending Parent Teacher Conferences.  Parent Teacher Conferences provide such a wonderful opportunity to share our observations, stories, and concerns about your children.  We love them and we want you to know that we care!

Many of you had the opportunity to participate in Student Led Conferences.  Staff members are trying this format in a variety of ways.  Cooper leaders have Leadership Notebooks which they use to track their data and progress toward their academic and personal goals.  This provides our students with a voice in their own learning and helps them work toward their goals because they are responsible for recording the data.  Students are able to articulate their learning at Student Led Conferences.  Many parents have found this progress extremely engaging!  It's amazing what our students can do when we empower them to take charge of their own learning!

Mrs. Santi's student did a wonderful job leading her conference!

  

Super Hero Cooper Leaders

On Friday, November 6th we held our 4th Annual Walk-a-thon.  The day started cold and rainy but by 2:00 the sky was blue and the sun was shining.  Our Cooper Leaders dressed in their superhero gear were wonderful participants.  Students walked appropriately and enjoyed the time with their peers celebrating all of their hard work.  While we fell short of our goal, we still raised $6,885 for Cooper.  Nice work Cooper Leaders!

Batman gives high fives!

Beautiful day for a walk!

Superteachers

Superkids

Batman vs. Superman

Silly Super Heroes

Happy Winner!

Interim Superintendent Andrea Oquist

Super Office Staff!

Student Lighthouse Leading the Way!

Wow!  Cooper students were inspired first thing this morning by some amazing speeches!  We had 52 students prepare and give students for the Student Lighthouse Team!  Not only were the speeches amazing but the audiences were wonderful as well.  We reviewed how we need to Seek First to Understand when watching others speak.  It takes a lot of bravery to stand up in front of peers and Find Your Voice.

Votes were cast this morning and the counting commenced!  Stay tuned for the announcement of our new Student Lighthouse Leaders!

Welcome Back!

Wow!  We have had a wonderful first two weeks of school!  This has been an extremely smooth start to the year.  That is due to the wonderful children you are sharing with us and the amazing Cooper staff who spent many hours preparing to welcome our Cooper leaders!

We have been working on building community over the last few weeks.  Classrooms have focused on community meetings and classroom and building expectations.  Mrs. Aherne and Mrs. Collyer have been doing classroom walk-throughs and spending time at lunch and recess getting to know all of our students.  We have spent LEAD time on Fridays holding special assemblies to review school rules, discussing leadership opportunities, and pumping our students up for an awesome year!

We truly believe in our mission of

"Everyone Learning,

Everyone Leading, 

Together."

All of us-students, staff, and parents-are learners and leaders at Cooper.  We are excited to begin this journey with you!

Mrs. McGlinch's class community meeting

Mrs. Kincaide gives instructions during gym.

Mr. Armstrong helps at lunch.

Mrs. Aherne and Mrs. Collyer 

Parent Lighthouse Team

In addition to the Cooper Staff Lighthouse Team and the Student Lighthouse Team, we now have a Parent Lighthouse Team! This team of dedicated parents is already hard at work brainstorming ideas on how they can help promote and enhance the Leader In Me model within Cooper and at home. We look forward to implementing many new ideas that strengthen our leadership culture!

Leadership is Everywhere!

Wow!  What a month it has been at Cooper.  We have been busy with so many amazing events and leadership is blossoming!

We had one of our best camps yet!  Spring camp has always been a wonderful experience for making memories and celebrating friendships as students' time at Cooper draws to a close.  However, Fall camp is an opportunity for classes to build community and establish a caring, trusting environment at the beginning of the school year.  Our students represented Cooper well with their attentiveness to the instructors and willingness to take new risks and lead in amazing ways.  This year we built in a teacher time for teachers to do team building activities with their classes.  Staff have been able to build on the team work and leadership established at camp into their classrooms.

The Cooper Walk-a-thon was also a big success.  What a gorgeous day it was to be outside!  Our students were so respectful during both the walk and the assembly.  Cooper leaders surprised us all by surpassing our school goal of $7,000.  Together, we raised $7,636.  This money will be used to support our Leader in Me initiatives at Cooper.  The Student Lighthouse Team will be establishing how to use this money for the school with ideas such as leadership assemblies, Work-a-thons, Leadership Day, Career Day, etc.

The Walk Begins

Having Fun

Winner of the Plymouth Whalers raffle

Franklin cheerleaders show their spirit for Cooper.

After the Walk-a-thon, over 700 members of the Cooper community returned for Cooper Family Fun Night.  The Cooper PTA outdid themselves pulling off an amazing, family focused event.  Thank you to Lori O'Dell and her team for all of their hard work.  

Cooper Costumes

The Wrecking Ball

Cooper Students took the initiative to fundraise for a great cause.

Cooper teachers and administrators got pied!

Finally, a big thank you to Sally Erickson (6th grade teacher) and Annette Garbutt (Informational Technology teacher) who helped collect and vet applications, and interview our students for school-wide leadership positions.  We had almost 270 students apply for and receive a Cooper leadership position.  These positions include advertisers, beautification team, greeters, celebration planners, gardeners, hosts, letter writers, news reporters, photographers, recycling, spirit singers, tour guides, etc.  In addition, Bill Lietz (6th grade teacher) chairs the PTA leaders and Service Squad and currently has approximately 60 student leaders in these positions.  Lastly, Jeremy Cybulski, who runs our Rock Star Savers Program, has just made his selection of 24 students after a rigorous application process.  Wow!  This is just the beginning.  It is our school goal to have 100% of our students serving in a leadership position at Cooper.

Camp is Coming!

This year we are embarking on a new and exciting opportunity.  We will be having 6th grade camp in the October.  There are two reasons for this change.  First, fall camp allows teachers to work on building community and setting the expectations for the year.  Second, state testing and assessment requirements no longer permit us to go to camp in May, as MEAP testing will occur during that time.

Sixth grade camp will take place the week of October 13-October 17.  The week is divided into two groups.

Oct 13-15 Camp for Martin, Spence, Daraskavich, McGlinch, Cohan, Backiel, Hiser, and Gates

Oct 15-17 Camp for Lietz, Erickson, Kopacko, Mansour, Kimball, and Webster

There is a Parent Informational Meeting this Thursday, September 11 at 6:30 in the Cooper Cafe.  This will be an opportunity for you to learn about Howell Nature Camp and have any questions answered.  There will be no babysitting available.  Sixth grade students will have their own informational sessions at school during the day but are welcome to attend the Parent Informational Meeting as well.

In addition, all camp paperwork is due Friday, September 12.  Additional camp paperwork can be found on the Cooper website at lpscooper.ss5.sharpschool.com/parents/6th_grade_camp.

Finally, if you are interested in chaperoning 6th Grade Camp, please send in your paperwork, along with your child's by this Friday, September 12.  There is a Mandatory Chaperone Meeting on October 8th at 6:30.

Happy First Day of School Cooper Families!

We had a wonderful first day of school as our Cooper Leaders met their teachers, reunited with old friends, made new friends, explored the “new” Cooper, and learned their expectations as a student in a Leader in Me school.

On behalf of the Cooper staff, thank you so much for all of your flexibility, patience, and understanding as we underwent a major building renovation this summer. Cooper is the oldest building in the district and required extensive renovation. The first day Cooper staff were allowed in the building was the evening of Wednesday, August 27. Cooper teachers only had one workday to set up their classrooms. When they came in last Thursday, there were a number of electricians, painters, movers, and custodial staff still working in the building. Teachers tried to set up classrooms around hanging wires and freshly painted walls. Many of the teachers came in over the holiday weekend to complete their final preparations. We have the best staff in the district and commend all of the hard work our wonderful Cooper teachers have put in for the arrival of our students.

Bond workers will continue to finish up work throughout the month of September. Due to the continued work, Cooper’s Open House and Curriculum Nights will be held in October. We will welcome fifth grade families on Monday, October 13th and sixth grade families on Monday, October 20th. We always welcome parent questions and visitors, however, it is best to set up visits with teachers prior to your arrival. Please stop in at the office to sign in and receive a visitor pass. Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Aherne are available for questions, tours, etc. and can be reached by phone or email.

We look forward to a great year of Learning & Leading together!

Our New Entrance

Cooper Staff 2014-2015 

Mrs. Kimball leads her 6th graders to their new classroom!

Mrs. Bubar leads her 5th graders to their new classroom!

Ms. Gates and Mrs. Licata lead 5th graders to their rooms!