DCSD Advanced Academics & Gifted Ed
November, 2021
Douglas County School District Advanced Academics & Gifted Education
Equity of Access
Opportunity ~ Agency ~ Empowerment
Vision
We seek out, surface, and nurture the potential in each student from all races, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, gender identities, and sexual orientations.
Mission
We partner with staff, students, families, and our community to design/refine/implement equitable and culturally responsive systems of identification and programming for high potential/advanced/gifted students from all demographic groups in all schools.
Email: hagroff@dcsdk12.org
Website: dcsdk12.org/gifted-education
Location: 620 Wilcox St, Castle Rock, CO 80104
Phone: 303-387-0191
Director's Corner
As we engage in a holiday season celebrated in rich and diverse ways across our district, I extend my personal gratitude. Thank you for entrusting your beautiful children to our schools and teachers. Your children bring strong values, respect, and curiosity to their learning communities, and we appreciate your commitment to ensuring their success and our success.
Thank you to all who engage with us through community service and partnerships. Your support for our district and our schools brings opportunities that benefit each student in DCSD. Your ongoing partnership and generosity is invaluable as we learn and grow together to support our gifted learners. Our team extends its thanks and blessings to you and your families.
With gratitude,
Natasha Langjahr Straayer
Parenting Gifted Children
Why Nurturing Creativity in Kids Is So Important
Recent academic studies have shown that American kids are no longer as creative as they once were. This should not come as a shock to anyone, as we live in an era obsessed with numbers, data, and test scores, especially as they apply to our kids and their education. Seeing the decline in creativity should make us concerned about our children’s capacities to innovate, problem-solve, and navigate new and unfamiliar situations. What should parents, educators, and professionals do to help bring back our children’s natural creativity?
Continue the article HERE.
Podcast: How to Motivate Kids & Build Their Stress Tolerance
They’ve written a new book called What Do You Say: How to Talk with Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance, and a Happy Home, which covers everything from giving constructive feedback, to handling anxiety (both ours and our kids’), to talking about sleep, screens, and the pursuit of happiness, all based on Bill and Ned’s core beliefs in autonomy, empathy, and connection.
Host Debbie Reber states: "What I love so much about this book is both Bill and Ned’s compassionate approach to educating parents, and that they draw on decades of experience working with and parenting kids just like ours. We cover so much ground in this conversation, more than I can list here."
Read the full description and listen to the podcast HERE.
District News
Universal and Referral CogAT Testing
DCSD is committed to implementing equitable practices to increase access to advanced/gifted learning opportunities. Based on state and national recommendations and requirements, we implement Universal Screening for students in 2nd grade (February) and 5th or 6th grade--a student's final year of elementary school (November).
Universal Screening: As part of this process, ALL students in either 5th or 6th grade (last year of elementary school) who have not been identified for gifted programming will take the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) during November. This assessment indicates the level and pattern of cognitive development of a student in comparison to grade and age mates. These general reasoning abilities, which start developing at birth and continue through early adulthood, are influenced by experiences gained both in and out of school. If your child will be testing, specific information from your child's school should have been provided.
If your child missed their regular universal CogAT screening last year, they will be assessed during this window. This would pertain to students currently in 3rd and possibly 6th or 7th grade (depending on the last grade in elementary).
If your child is already identified for gifted programming, they will not participate in this universal screen testing. Your Gifted Education Facilitator will contact you directly with more detailed information about this process.
Referral Testing: During November, we will provide opportunities for students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades to take CogAT if they are not currently identified and have been referred for the gifted identification process. In our February window, we will provide opportunities for students in kindergarten and 1st grade who have been referred for the gifted identification process.
For more information, please contact your child's teacher or your school's GT Facilitator.
Reminder: Elementary Discovery Program Application Process Is Open for Round 1
The Discovery application process for the 2022-2023 school year is now open!
The Douglas County School District Elementary Discovery Program is designed to meet the needs of gifted elementary school students who require intensity of instruction and acceleration beyond what can reasonably be expected from regular school gifted programming.
If you think your child may need this level of gifted programming, please find out more on our website linked HERE.
You can view the Facebook Live Informational Session HERE.
Engagement Opportunities
Neurodiversity Podcast: Special Episode--We need your help!
Friends....
We are putting together a special episode focused on gratitude to release in a few weeks. We'd like you to reflect on how your life has been influenced by neurodiversity and why you are grateful for its impact.
- How has understanding neurodiversity changed you or your life?
- Has it influenced your relationships for the better? Your awareness of self?
- Are you grateful for a person in your life who supported you or someone you loved?
Be creative with your reflections. We want to hear all of them.
Record your reflections using the voice recorder on your phone. Don't forget to introduce yourself first! Then, send it to us at info@neurodiversitypodcast.com. We may use your clip on an upcoming episode of the podcast.
Oh - and we are so incredibly grateful for you.
Douglas County Gifted Education Advisory Council (DCGEAC)
The members of our district team and DCGEAC are collaborating to dig more deeply into Family and Community Engagement. Please consider responding to this survey to give us your input on areas in which you are interested and how you prefer to receive new information.
Our next quarterly DCGEAC meeting is scheduled virtually Wednesday, November 17, 4:30-6:30 P.M. Meetings are open to the public so if you are interested, you are welcome! Send an email to Heather Groff at hagroff@dcsdk12.org to receive the link.
Purpose:
Provide information, support, and resources to empower students, families, and educators toward successful lifelong learning/development through a variety of outreach methods, opportunities, and activities.
Serve in an advisory capacity to DCSD regarding new policies, trends, programming, and concerns.
Provide a collaborative voice to advocate for gifted students, policies, programming, and issues and act as a liaison between families/community and DCSD.
#MYGIFTEDSTORY: An Experiment with Visual Storytelling from Every Zip Code
THE G WORD is delighted to be launching our newest social media initiative, #MyGiftedStory. In tandem with producing our documentary film THE G WORD, we're experimenting with a visual storytelling project that focuses on our nation’s gifted and talented population at every stage of life - from urban, suburban, and rural settings, representing zip codes from all 50 states.
Go HERE to learn more about the story behind it and how to participate.
Connect with Other Parents of Gifted Children
Calendar of Events
Douglas County Association for Gifted and Talented (DCAGT)
Douglas County Association for Gifted and Talented (DCAGT) is our district's GT parent advocacy group. We want to reach and connect the gifted community with opportunities to share experiences and exchange information. We hope that you will join us in our community events.
We will be holding a DCAGT Facebook Live on Monday, November 8th from 6 to 7 P.M. We will be talking about Getting Involved at YOUR School. Are you interested in helping bring enrichment to your child's school? Do you have some time to volunteer but not sure what you could offer? We will discuss some of our favorite before/after school activities as well as other opportunities you could initiate or participate in at your school. Please join us on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel to join the conversation. You can even send questions to info@dcagt.org prior to the event and you can indicate if you prefer to remain anonymous.
Find our current newsletter here. Subscribe to our newsletter here.
CHALLENGING “GIFTED” TO RESONATE
by Dr. Kate Bachtel from Soul Spark Learning (full article HERE)
Previously, SoulSpark Learning partnered with leaders, including the Rogue Valley Brainery & Ludoteca, to try and “Rebrand Gifted.” This culminated in a grassroots campaign at the National Association of Gifted Children’s convention in 2015. Attendees were invited to share words they use to self-describe – some of the most frequent mentioned were complex, intense, sensitive, creative and compassionate. We fell short. Our timing was wrong. No one word emerged with consensus. There were lessons yet to be learned.
Now, the documentary film The G Word, has a similar “My Gifted Story” social media campaign (see above in Engagement Opportunities) and Gifted/Talented/Neurodiverse (G/T/N) Advocacy Week October 25-29. SoulSpark Learning invites you to participate and connect with us at the National Association of Gifted Children’s convention in Denver this November. Each of SoulSpark Learning’s directors will be presenting sessions and facilitating conversations on how we can unite to be more effective in our advocacy efforts. To prepare, we will be facilitating a virtual conversation on this same topic with The G Word director and producer, Marc Smolowitz. Will you join us on Sunday November 7th at 4pm mountain time? Click HERE for more information and to register for this free event.
We are grateful for you and love connecting with you – here’s to the work ahead!
Free Webinar: Books and More for Promoting Literacy and Thinking in Kids
with Dr. Susannah Richards - Eastern Connecticut University
Looking for recommendations to ignite, delight, and cultivate lifelong readers? This session will highlight recently published books that kids will want to binge read. It will include suggested fiction and nonfiction, middle grade and young adult novels, picture books, graphic novels, and more.
Colorado Association for Gifted Children Conversations with CAGT
Join us for sessions from amazing gifted experts from Colorado, the nation and around the world. We hope you can tune in each week on Tuesdays to our Facebook Live page for our Conversations with CAGT live at 5:00 P.M.!
November 9: There will not be a session due to the NAGC Conference
Archived webinars from Season 2 are HERE.
You can also watch the recording of archived webinars from Season 1 HERE.
Enrichment Opportunities
Get Involved at YOUR School: Volunteering
Join us on November 8 during Facebook Live for a review of some of our favorites and ask questions to learn more. See detailed information above in Calendar of Events.
Volunteering Ideas: Be a Guest Presenter Written by Stacia Garland
With so many people concerned about our educational system today, it is time to get more citizens into the classroom. Acting as a guest presenter in your local school is a great way to add a fresh face, new information, and an enriching experience for students.
Taking the time to visit a classroom can be rewarding for you and the students who will learn something new. Perhaps one of those students will make a future career choice or choose a hobby based on what you teach them. At the very least, you will have a better understanding of our current educational system and the children will have a better understanding of the world around them.
Read the full article HERE.
Math Enrichment
LOVE math but are not ready to host a team? How about volunteering some time during your week to offer math enrichment activities to students in your school? Chat with your child's teacher or your school's GT Facilitator about how much time you have and what you would like to contribute. They will generally plan the activities and you just need to get instructions and off you go!
Some great math enrichment ideas:
- Problem Solving (we have great materials for this!)--Often in the form of a word problem or short story, students have to apply strategies to work through problems that are more complex than what they encounter every day in their math programs.
- Math Extensions--Extensions take the current math unit concepts and extend them beyond the lessons in class. Often they are application problems which require students to use multiple steps to come to a conclusion.
- Math Projects--These are usually based on the current unit of math study. Generally, they require multiple days to complete and may incorporate advanced math concepts in addition to what students are currently learning. They usually have real world applications that really feed advanced and gifted minds.
Literacy Enrichment
Some great literacy enrichment ideas:
- Junior Great Books--Designed for advanced and gifted readers, JGB provides high quality literature with a focus on higher level thinking and shared inquiry. Your teacher or GT Facilitator can let you know if this is available in your school and give you some directions on how to use it.
- Mensa Reading Challenge--Mensa for kids has lists of books for advanced and gifted readers of all grade levels. When students read all of the books on their list, they can send in for certificate and t-shirt. As a parent volunteer, you could help students obtain books, discuss them and help fill out their lists.
- Book Clubs, Mystery Solving, Critical and Creative Thinking Activities--Traditional book clubs read the same book and discuss them. You could facilitate discussions utilizing higher level thinking with focus on theme, character development or many other aspects of a story. --Mystery Solving is often a short story with pieces missing. Students use questioning and develop strategies for problem solving while focusing on a mystery.--Critical and Creative Thinking Activities can be games, puzzles or just about anything that requires students to utilize thinking skills to work through the problem.
Science and Social Studies Enrichment
Science comes in many shapes and forms. Many parents and significant people in children's lives practice science every day in their chosen career. Let your child's teacher know if you have an interest or skill in this area. Since most science units in school are based on specific content, you may want to consider working with a grade level studying what you do.
Some great enrichment ideas:
- Engineering--Using Legos, robotics, model vehicles, Rube Goldberg machines, Minecraft or other tools, help students take their learning to the next level.
- STEM Projects--Team up with teachers to add extra support to help students bring to life real world combinations of science, technology, engineering and math.
- Coding--Sometimes considered math, sometimes science, teach students logic and programming which gives deeper understanding and purpose around many of the technological items we take for granted.
Social Studies incorporates history, geography, economics and civics. Do you have a passion or experience in any of these areas? Again, let your child's teacher know what you have to offer and see where you can best serve.
Some great social studies enrichment:
- Research--When children find a topic in class interesting, they often don't have enough time to delve into it as deeply as they would like. Support students to quench their thirst for knowledge.
- Geography Bee--This is a contest but if there is not interest in going that far, how about learning more about areas of interest? Perhaps a project around different types of communities in the area of class study or personal preference.
- History Fair--This is generally a more formal event, but not ready for that? How about helping students immerse themselves in the historical time period in which they are learning? Help research food, clothing, games, costs, living conditions, art, music--anything that students can connect with their life now. Ask if you can plan an event to bring history to life!
Specific Interest Resources
Twice Exceptional
Gifted Children with ADHD, and the Challenges Their Parents Face from theconversation.com
With the new school year underway, some parents will have a harder time than others because of a little known, but very real phenomenon: their child is “twice exceptional.” These children have both the potential for high achievement (“gifted”) and a one or more disabilities, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or generalized anxiety.
Read the rest of the article HERE.
Gifted Teens: Leadership and Scholarship Opportunities
Application Open: October 1, 2021-January 31, 2022
Admission Decisions: Early March 2022
2022 Summer Program: July 6-August 7, 2022
Details & Application
Colorado Student Leaders Institute (COSLI) is a state-legislated, summer residential program. For one month each summer, Colorado's best and brightest students, chosen from a competitive pool of applicants, live and study on the campus and earn three hours of college credit.
Colorado Gifted & Talented Student Board (CGTSB)
As a group of Gifted and Talented students, the Colorado Gifted and Talented Student Board (CGTSB) understands the struggles that gifted students face within the traditional education system. The board is dedicated to improving the experience of students across the state by providing all students with equal access to GT resources.
Learn about how to get involved HERE.
Daniels Fund Scholarship Now Open
Application Closes November 15, 2021 @ 4:00 MST
Details & Eligibility
The Daniels Scholarship Program provides the opportunity for highly motivated students to earn a bachelor’s degree that helps them build a successful career and rewarding life. Daniels Scholars demonstrate exceptional character, leadership, and a commitment to serving their communities.
Parenting and Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted
Behaviour, emotions, social development: gifted and talented children from https://raisingchildren.net.au
If your child is gifted and talented, you might notice that she has very strong emotions, interests and opinions compared with other children her age. Sometimes gifted and talented children have trouble managing these strong feelings.
For example, a young gifted child might be very upset when his drawing isn’t as ‘good as the one in the book’. A school-age child might worry more than others about friendship troubles or not always getting things ‘right’ in class. Older children might feel anxious about not being able to fix climate change. Or they might be extremely excited about a work of art and not understand why others don’t feel the same way.
This is all normal for gifted and talented children.
Continue HERE for the rest of this article containing: Emotions and emotional development: gifted and talented children, Social development and skills: gifted and talented children and Behaviour: gifted and talented children.