Cooper Elementary School

Happy Terrific Thursday! To ensure the WHOLE child is taken care of we offer many programs to meet the various needs of our students. If there is anything your child or family may need, please let us know so we can best serve your family and their needs.

Happy Wednesday! Never hesitate to contact us regarding any issues or concerns that you may have with your child. We are always willing to team up with teachers and parents to ensure that each student at Cooper Elementary is loved and well taken care of. Through classroom guidance lessons, group sessions, and individual sessions we aim to meet the needs of each and every Bronco! If there is ever a time you need to reach us, feel free to email us at cescounselor@bentonvillek12.org or call the front office!

This week kicks off National School Counseling Week! This year’s theme is “Helping Students Dream Big”! Mrs. Dumes and Mrs. Mayo will be  taking over our social media this week to share things about our dynamic school counseling program. Stay tuned all week long to discover ways our dynamic duo assist students and our school daily!

Hey, Broncos! Take a quick break from AMI and enjoy a laugh with Mrs. Manus and one of our incredible students, Juliette. This is the Morning Corny from last week’s Bronco Breakdown. Enjoy!--Josh https://tinyurl.com/morningcorn

Monday’s Bronco Breakdown featured the first Morning Corny segment of the school year. For Morning Corny, Mrs. Manus collects jokes from students who want to be featured in the weekly segment. This week’s Morning Corny features Josephine, and an awesome joke she submitted. Thank you for helping us start our week with a laugh, Josephine! https://tinyurl.com/Jan9MorningCorny

Last week we had our first Round Up of 2023, and I cannot think of a better way to start the new year than by celebrating our students and school together in Round Up.  We recognized our Big Three award recipients in all grade levels, danced, and watched our teachers compete in a game on stage. I want to thank Mrs. Mayhew and the Round Up Crew for their work in planning and organizing this monthly event. It is great for our entire school. The Round Up Recap from this week’s Bronco Breakdown is linked below.  This week’s focus has been on MAP testing. As I mentioned last week, MAP is fantastic because it looks for growth--not just achievement. So far, we have MAP results for 3rd and 4th grade reading, and the growth is awesome. We are really proud of those teams and their students for their work in the classroom. We’ll share more highlights in the near future as MAP continues.  Have a great week, Broncos! -Josh Round Up Recap: https://tinyurl.com/Jan6roundup 

Today was the Cooper Sing Along. It was packed full of holiday cheer. The event featured a performance by the Sophisticated Ladies, a group of local retirees who tap danced to Christmas classics. Then, all the staff and students belted out holiday songs. It was awesome, and… it gets better… Mrs. Manus and I were able to enjoy the event from a unique perspective: Duct taped to the wall. It was a fantastic morning. We continued the celebration by having a staff lunch, courtesy of our two Cooper elves, Rudy and Jingle. I want to thank Mrs. Mayhew for organizing today’s Sing Along and the Penny Wars fundraiser. Our fourth grade students enjoyed winning and taping their administrators to the wall. It was a great experience for all of us. --Josh

Today, we finished the Cooper Spelling Bee for 3rd and 4th grade students. A total of 20 students competed today (winners of their class spelling bee), and our top two spellers were Rayleigh Hudson and Nadia Stipp. Rayleigh, Nadia, and their fellow spellers took the stage, and spelled their way through the Scripps National Spelling Bee process. I want to thank all of the students who participated last week and today. Rayleigh and Nadia will represent Cooper Elementary at a regional competition in 2023. We’ll recognize all spellers in an upcoming Bronco Breakdown. Moreover, tomorrow morning is our Cooper Sing Along, an event where students and staff get together and sing holiday songs. It is also the culmination of the Round Up Crew fundraiser, Penny Wars. When Penny Wars kicked off, the goal was to raise $500. If students raised $500, the grade level with the most points would get to duct tape Mrs. Manus or me to the wall. Well, students raised over $1000, so Mrs. Manus and I will be singing while stuck to the wall. The winning grade was 4th--they will make sure we “stick” around for the sing along. A rundown of the Penny Wars from this morning’s Bronco Breakdown is below. We will send and post pictures from tomorrow’s sing along. Have a great evening, Broncos! -Josh https://tinyurl.com/CESpennywars

Last week, the Bella Vista Police Department partnered with our counselors, Mrs. Dumes and Mrs. Mayo, for Shop with a Cop. Shop with a Cop is a program that helps students and families during the holidays. The Bella Vista Police Department helped 12 Cooper students shop for gifts this year. During Shop with a Cop, students shop with an officer and purchase gifts for themselves and their families. This year, the police department made it an even bigger experience for these kids. They picked them up at school and gave the students’ bus a full police escort to Wal-Mart. Students had flashing cars and motorcycles leading the way and following them from behind. On top of that, the police department treated each student to pizza. It was a great experience for these kids, and the 25th will be a special day for them as they open their presents and share the gifts they purchased for their loved ones. Another shoutout to the Bella Vista Police Department for their work with our students. They continually step up to help students in our community! --Josh

Good afternoon, Cooper families! Today was a great way to end the week. Our second grade students performed their holiday musical, and they had a huge crowd. I want to thank our parents for their attendance and their patience. We had to delay the performance from its 7:45 start time to ensure all who lined up were able to attend to support their student, capture some moments on video for their family, and enjoy the production. A big shoutout goes to our office team (Trish, Tiffany, and Courtney) for quickly scanning visitor IDs and distributing visitor badges. As usual, the students and our incredible music teacher, Mrs. Cowart, hit it out of the park. Following the packed event in the cafeteria, students traveled to Bella Vista retirement homes to share their music with the elderly. It was a great experience for our students, our parents, our staff, and the entire community. Thank you, Mrs. Cowart, for creating these memorable learning experiences for our students! --Josh https://tinyurl.com/ces2ndxmas

Good afternoon, Cooper families! Last Friday was our December Round Up. After a spectacular “Star Spangled Banner” from Mrs. Henry’s class, we recognized each grade level’s Big 3 award recipients, announced Mrs. Bentley as the staff member of the month, enjoyed kindergarten students singing “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth,” and watched a few of our teachers participate in a Santa themed game. It was a great time! A big shoutout goes out to Mrs. Mayhew and the Round Up Crew for leading yet another fantastic event. Click the link below to view some highlights of last week’s Round Up. Have a great evening!-Josh https://tinyurl.com/DECroundup

Good afternoon, Cooper families! I hope each of you is doing well and having a great Thanksgiving break. I am so thankful to be a part of Cooper Elementary. It is a special place because of the work of our incredible team, our parents, and our students. Thank you for being a part of our school! Cooper has become a second family for me, and I hope it has for you and your family, too. Happy Thanksgiving!--Josh https://tinyurl.com/CESthanksgiving

Today, our 3rd grade team incorporated another Thanksgiving tradition: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Students created and paraded balloon floats throughout the school. Prior to today’s parade, 3rd graders read nonfiction passages about the history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. They also read Balloons Over Broadway, a biography about Tony Sarg. Sarg was a puppeteer who created the giant balloons used in the parade. Students discussed his character traits and how his actions led to an invention in 1927 that is still used today. A big shoutout to the 3rd grade team for their creativity in designing this project! We hope you have a great weekend, and a happy, restful Thanksgiving. Take care! --Josh

Today was day two of Cooper Thanksgiving, and like day one, it was awesome. We served well over one thousand Thanksgiving meals to our students and families this week. Students and parents, thank you for being a part of our school!

Good afternoon, Cooper families! Today was the first day of Cooper Thanksgiving. We enjoyed hosting families of kindergarten, 2nd, and 4th grade students. We had a huge turnout! I want to thank our cafeteria team for their hard work. They planned, prepared, cooked, and served a great meal for all of us to share. Joan, our cafeteria manager, does a fantastic job each and every day. We are thankful for her leadership and her team. I also want to thank our custodial staff and PTO. PTO volunteers assisted Mr. C and Mr. Richard to ensure tables and chairs were ready to go this morning, and they made sure our space was clean after each grade level’s Thanksgiving. Lastly, I want to thank our parents for sharing a meal with us today. We are thankful to have you in our building, and we hope to continue traditions like today and more create opportunities for you to be an active part of our school. Thank you!--Josh

Today was a great day. Our 4th grade students helped our school and community celebrate Veterans Day. They started off by performing several songs to parents and veterans at Cooper this morning. Dozens of students also took the mic to share personal messages of thankfulness to veterans. I want to thank Mrs. Cowart, our music teacher, for organizing and orchestrating this event. It was spectacular! After this morning’s Veterans Day performance, the 4th grade team took their talents on the road and visited several local nursing and rehabilitation facilities. The residents were thrilled to have our kids visit and perform for them. I was able to pop in for one of the visits, and it was so great to see our students giving back to the community through song. They represented our school so well. We are proud of them. I’ll put together a video for next week’s Bronco Breakdown showcasing today’s performance. In the meantime, I hope you and your family have a great weekend!--Josh

We want to take a moment to thank the Bella Vista Fire Department. They recently visited Cooper students to talk about fire safety. We are so lucky to be a part of the Bella Vista community. We have the resources, support, and high expectations of Bentonville Schools, but we have the local support of the entire Bella Vista community. Our community, including our police and fire departments, has an incredible partnership with us. We are thankful for their support and service to our greater community. Thank you, Bella Vista Fire Department for teaching our students about fire safety and community service. You are great mentors and role models for Cooper kids. Click the link below to view a few highlights from the fire department’s visit. Have a great evening!--Josh https://tinyurl.com/bellavistafd

November Round Up is this Friday. Like last month’s Rocktober Round Up, we will have to limit the number of guests to award recipients and Round Up performers. Teachers will contact parents if their student is being awarded at Round Up. This month’s Round Up theme is Movember, so it will be a fan-stache-tic celebration to kick start November. We are looking forward to it! https://tinyurl.com/CESmovember

Today was a busy day with our normal routines as well as costumes and classroom parties. The last week has been great because there have been several opportunities for our parents to be in the building and involved with their school: two days of parent teacher conferences, fall carnival, and today’s celebrations. Parents, we have enjoyed having you in our classrooms, and in many cases, in full costume. I want to thank our PTO for Friday’s Fall Carnival. It was a huge success thanks to the PTO’s hard work. Our students had a great time (and so did our staff). I also want to thank all of the parents, students, and staff who stayed late to help clean up. The extra help was greatly appreciated by Mr. Richard and Mr. C. Click the link below for a few videos and images from the Fall Carnival and Halloween. I apologize for not taking more pictures. There were so many great costumes--I wish I had taken more. Have a great evening and a Happy Halloween!--Josh https://tinyurl.com/Cooperhalloween

Good afternoon, Cooper families! I hope you have had a great week. This Friday night is our fall carnival, and we hope to see you and your family there. Our PTO has consistently hit it out of the park this year, so I have no doubt that this year’s carnival is going to be a great time. In November, there are several important dates: November 4th-11th: Cooper Book Fair November 9: Choose Love Event on the Bentonville Square from 5-7 November 15: Fall Picture Retakes November 16-17: Thanksgiving Lunch with Students and Families November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break We’ll send out additional information about the above dates in the near future--we just wanted you all to have a heads-up about next month’s activities. For Choose Love, the district has some spirit days scheduled for next week. See the attached graphic for additional information. We’ve enjoyed seeing our families this week for fall conferences, and we look forward to seeing you all Friday. Take care! Fall Carnival Reminder https://tinyurl.com/cescarnival