Gifted & Talented Program Update
Tahlequah Public Schools -- November 2022
๐ข Welcome to this month's TPS GT Newsletter!
We hope to use this monthly newsletter as a way to share information with parents and our community about gifted education and the TPS Gifted & Talented (GT) Education Program..
๐Look for our newsletter every month on our Tahlequah Gifted & Talented Facebook page or sign up to receive it automatically via email each month by completing this form.
If you have questions or comments feel free to contact Libby Osburn or Kristy Ward.
Did you know?
District 5th Graders Take NNAT3 Online
*We had originally scheduled the 2nd grade for testing as well, but due to a glitch in the testing system we were unable to secure enough tests at this time so district 2nd graders will be testing sometime in Spring 2023.
Tuesday, November 8, is GT DISTRICT Family Night
800 E Goingsnake
Free pizza and drink for the first 200! ๐
This is an event for all district elementary families and is hosted by the TPS Gifted & Talented Program.
Bring the family for pizza and learn more about the TPS Gifted & Talented Program while enjoying several STEM stations including: Alternate Uses, Critical Thinking, Coding Robots, Rube Goldberg, and more!!
TPS GT Staff to attend NAGC Annual Convention in Indianapolis
The GT staff, Libby Osburn and Kristy Ward, will be attending the National Association for Gifted Children' s 69th Annual Convention on November 17-20, 2022, in Indianapolis, IN. The convention offers hundreds of education sessions on gifted children and opportunities to network with gifted educational peers and heroes.
๐This past month in RISE:
In October:
Students showed their creative skills by creating a pattern name. They did this by writing their name in overlapping block or bubble letters and then creating unique patterns in each enclosed space. See some of their creations below.
3rd - 5th graders also made "Wonder" Journals. These journals will hopefully encourage student wonder and curiosity by allowing students a place to write down all of their questions about the world around them. We plan on investigating some of the student's wonders as a group and to have a culminating "Wonder Fair" sometime in late Spring where students will choose one of their own questions to research and share their findings with the class.
6th graders recently traveled to Camp Lutherhoma and participated in a natural history hike with Mr. Russell Hudgens, retired TMS science teacher. Natural history is the scientific study of animals or plants, especially as concerned with observation rather than experiment, and presented in popular rather than academic form. The hike focused on plants, in particular, leaf morphology, the study of leaf characteristics used in identifying different species of trees. Along the way, students collected leaf samples and other natural specimens like lichens, mosses, nuts, and other plant material that had naturally already fallen. Students' specimens were brought back so students can catalog their findings and display them in a "digital" natural history museum. After lunch, students played field games and participated in a STEM challenge led by Camp Lutherhoma staff, John and Erin Busch. Some pics of our trip are below.