The Fall Family STEAM Fest was held Monday for Cooper families to engage with each other and have fun together.

The event was sponsored by the Family Engagement Team and the Cooper Booster Club. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math so each activity was related to one of those topics.

“We chose activities so the students could have fun and learn some skills. With the football activity, they’re counting by tens and plotting a graph. Another one they’re building a structure and then trying to make an apple balance on it. There’s music and art, an activity with leaves for science, there’s estimating with the candy jars,” said Evie Dencklau, facilitator for family engagement.

The Cooper Booster Cub also donated pumpkins for the students to paint and take home.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Students practice their art skills by painting pumpkins Monday evening at Cooper Elementary.

Principal Kate Simpson said the main goal of this event was to get families to come together and have a chance to engage with one another.

“Our district has really started family engagement as an initiative to try and bring families in and help them connect with each other as well as connect with staff,” said Simpson.

Simpson said they usually hold two family engagement events each year and they wanted this one to be more laid-back to give families a chance to have fun together.

In addition to the event, Simpson said they will also be sending home math games with the students and then making videos for social media to teach families how to play the games at home in order to keep up the family engagement.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Painted pumpkins dry while their owners participate in other activities at the Fall Family STEAM Fest at Cooper Elementary.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
One activity at the Fall Family STEAM Fest was making leaf rubbings while also learning about different types of leaves.

-Messenger photo by Michaela Frerichs
Cooper Elemen-tary students practiced their estimating skills by guessing how many candies were in jars Monday afternooon during the school's Fall Family STEAM Fest.