Gifted & Talented Quarterly

Fall 2018

Gifted & Talented Coordinator

Gifted & Talented Coordinator

My name is Kari Donze, and I am the new Gifted & Talented Coordinator for the Rice Lake Area School District. My husband Jake and I relocated our family to Rice Lake in June after living and teaching in Minnesota for the last 15 years. We have three children in the school district and are excited about this new adventure in our lives.


The Rice Lake Area School District recognizes the importance of challenging and engaging all learners each school day. I am currently working with administrators, teachers and instructional coaches to inventory supplementary academic resources that align with our district's curriculum and state standards. Once compiled, these resources will be available to classroom teachers to help meet the needs of advanced learners in their classrooms on a daily basis. In addition, I will be working with administration and teaching staff to clearly define criteria used to identify students who may benefit from additional opportunities in the areas of creative thinking, leadership and visual & performing arts.


Meeting the needs of advanced learners within our school system can look very different from one student to the next. I look forward to forming partnerships with parents, teachers, administrators, community members and businesses in the Rice Lake Community to help reach that goal.


Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns or inspiring ideas as we move forward!

204 Cameron Road, Rice Lake, WI, USA donzek@ricelake.k12.wi.us (715) 234-9007 5688 ricelake.k12.wi.us/student_services/gifted_and_talented

Wisconsin DPI - What is Giftedness?

Over the years, the concept of giftedness has changed to include multiple components of intelligence. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has established guidelines for developing gifted education plans that are based on three major ideas:


  1. Intelligences are dynamic and fluid
  2. Giftedness is inclusive
  3. Educational systems should be responsive


These guidelines, as well as ideas and input from other sources, will be at the forefront of program development as we look to the future of gifted and talented education in the Rice Lake School District.


For more information from the Department of Public Instruction, please visit https://dpi.wi.gov/gifted

Rethinking Giftedness

Engaging Websites to Explore with Younger Students

BBC History for Kids http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/

Cool Math 4 Kids https://www.coolmath4kids.com/

Fun Brain https://www.funbrain.com/

Code https://code.org/

Make Me Genius http://makemegenius.com/

Prodigy https://www.prodigygame.com/

Resources for Parents

National Association for Gifted Children

https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources-parents


Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth

http://wcaty.org/


Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction - Gifted and Talented

http://dpi.wi.gov/gifted


Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG): SENG’s mission is to empower families and communities to guide gifted and talented individuals to reach their goals: intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually: http://sengifted.org/resources/; refer also to the SENG liaisons for Minnesota and Wisconsin: http://sengifted.org/about-seng/people/seng-liaisons/.


The Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented (MCGT) is a state-wide non-profit support and advocacy organization of parents, educators, and other professionals who live or work with gifted children and are interested in their education and well-being.http://mcgt.net/resources. Their St. Croix Valley Chapter welcomes family or representatives of Wisconsin children and schools.


Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page: where you can find the latest research and experience on parenting and educating these marvelous children, plus the best Internet and print resources to be found on every aspect of giftedness. http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/parents.htm


WISGIFT-L [Wisconsin Gifted Listserv] is a cooperative project of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and WATG. This email list was designed to connect advocates, educators, parents, and other supporters of gifted education for discussion of issues related to gifted children and gifted education in Wisconsin. http://www.watg.org/wisgift-list-serv.html


2E is a term, short for twice-exceptional, which is often used to describe kids who are exceptional because they’re gifted and because they have learning disabilities, learning disorders, attention difficulties, or just plain learning differences. Learn more at 2E Newsletter: http://www.2enewsletter.com/topic_2e_what_is.html. See also: Uniquely Gifted - a collection of resources for families with gifted/special needs children and professionals who work with them. http://www.uniquelygifted.org/