Mrs. Thompson's Fall TAG News 2018
Rush Creek Elementary
Conferences!
Thank you to those of you who stopped in during parent- teacher conferences. I appreciate you checking in on your child's progress. If you ever have any concerns feel free to contact me at the email on the bottom of this newsletter.
TAG Parent Meeting
Thursday, Oct 25, 2018, 05:00 PM
Rush Creek Elementary Media Center
Destination Imagination is an academic challenge opportunity that takes place outside of the school day for students in Grades 4 & 5 at Rush Creek. Students work in teams to solve a team selected challenge and then perform their solution for appraisers at the regional meet in March. There was an informational meeting for students Sept. 27th during recess and tryouts were on October 4 & 5, also during recess. Meetings will be every Tuesday morning before school beginning on 10/16 and there is a cost of $45 to participate. Students need to commit to all practices and attending the regional meet at Coon Rapids High School all day on Saturday, March 2, 2019. If students do well they may be invited to participate in the State Tournament at Champlain Park High School on March 23, 2019. For more information about DI you can visit the website at: https://www.destinationimagination.org/
Students were notified last Friday if they can participate. We begin TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16 AT 8:15 AM.
Pull Out Seminars for 3rd-5th Grade
The first seminars began the second week of school for Grades 4 & 5. This is the Affective seminar which addresses the social/emotional needs of TAG students. It will go until MEA break.Grade 3 will be CogAT testing from Oct. 3rd- Oct. 17th. They will have their Affective Seminar later in the year. There will be three other pull out seminars during the year for grades 3-5, each lasting from 7-8 weeks -- Quantitative, Verbal, and Non-Verbal.
The seminar schedule for the year is:
Grade 3: Nov-Dec: Non-Verbal (K'nex Bridges)
Jan. - March: Quantitative (Math Mania/CML)
April May: Verbal (Super Hero Stories)
Grade 4: Nov.-Dec.: Quantitative (Would You Rather/CML)
Jan.-Mar.: Non-Verbal (LEGO Simple Machines)
April-May: Verbal (Improv)
Grade 5: Nov. - Dec.: Non-Verbal (LEGO Robotics)
Jan.-April: Quantitative (Stock Market)
April/May: Verbal (Mock Trial)
Participation is based on various data components along with the size of the building. At minimum I work with 10% of a grade level's population, but can often include a greater number of students.
- CogAT- Cognitive Abilities Test scores
- MAP- the last Reading and Math Measure of Academic Progress scores
- Recommendation / Observation by any and all of the following: TAG teacher, Classroom Teacher, other staff & or teacher, parents and (often impressively) by the student themselves.
Academic Challenge
What is the WordMasters Challenge?
The WordMasters Challenge is a national competition for students in grades 3-8 that encourages growth in vocabulary and verbal reasoning. Each year, over 125,000 students from some of the best public and private schools throughout the United States participate in the WordMasters Challenge.
Unlike other language arts competitions for this age group - which focus on grammar, punctuation, spelling and other language mechanics - the WordMasters Challenge helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically.
The contest addresses higher-level word comprehension and verbal reasoning in two ways:
*It challenges students to complete analogies based on relationships among words they have learned.
*It bases the analogies on special vocabulary lists, developed for each grade and difficulty level by experienced teachers, which participants are encouraged to study before each meet or quiz.
Excellence in the competition will require both a mastery of the meanings of the vocabulary words (of a difficulty appropriate to each grade level) and thoughtful reasoning about the relationships between these words and more familiar language used in the competition's analogies.
Students receive the first WordMasters list of 25 vocabulary words in the beginning of October. They will work on learning the multiple meanings of these words in their language arts class. They should also study at home. Words will be listed on this site as soon as they are available along with links to practice. The first challenge meet will be given the first week of December. The challenge meet consists of a 20 question multiple choice analogy test. The students have 20 minutes to complete the test. A second list of 25 words will be available in December. Challenge meet 2 will consist of using the new words as well as the first list words. The third and final list will be available in February and the third challenge meet will include analogies using words from all three lists.
The WordMasters website has general information about the competition as well as links to analogy practice activities. Use the following link to access the WordMasters site. Click on the "resources" tab to find links to additional practice opportunities.
http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com/home
General Analogy Practice:
Analogy Jeopardy: http://www.quia.com/cb/148767.html
Choices: http://www.quia.com/pop/14975.html
Hangman: http://www.quia.com/hm/242970.html
Speedy: http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/analogies/analogiesx.htm
Word Relationships: http://www.quia.com/quiz/748000.html?AP_rand=1225189222
WordMasters vocabulary words are sent to teachers when they are available. There is also a link for each grade to access the Quizlet website. The Quizlet website is excellent practice for memorizing the definitions. There are online games to play and tests to take. You can also use the "print" icon to print flashcards, tests, and a glossary.
Study Tips:
*After you have learned the meanings of your words, think about possible relationships among them.
*Which words have similar meanings?
*Which words have nearly opposite meanings?
*Some words have more than one meaning. You should know the multiple meanings.
*Think about some categories into which several words might be grouped.
*Be sure you understand the part of speech of a word (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) as it is used in the analogy.
*Pay special attention to the prefixes or suffixes of words, because they are often clues to meaning and part of speech.
*Familiarize yourself with other forms of the words. For example, isolate can also be isolated or isolation. Imitate can also be imitation or imitator.
*Keep your first list. Some of the words will appear in the second and third WordMasters Challenge Meets later in the school year.
The WordMaster's Challenge Competition for 2018/19 will begin in October and the first Challenge Meet is held in December. Grade 3 students work with their classroom teachers to compete and I will work with a group of students in 4th and 5th grade for the competition.
The Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth (MITY) has 3 weeks of Saturday classes for Grades 1-4 beginning November 3rd. For more information contact www.mity.org or contact me.
National Association for GIfted Children (NAGC) is holding their annual conference in Minneapolis!
Saturday, Nov 17, 2018, 08:00 AM
Minneapolis Convention Center, 2nd Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, USA
NAGC- Back to School Resource Roundup
Welcome back to school!
NAGC has compiled essential resources and information for parents, administrators, and educators on gifted and talented, as well as
general knowledge and advocacy materials.
General Knowledge
Become familiar with the common terms, standards, and position statements that NAGC offers.
- Glossary of terms
- NAGC Position Statements
Position Statements represent the official convictions of NAGC and provide guidance for individuals working with gifted children. They are great advocacy tools for garnering support for high-ability learners. - NAGC Gifted Program Standards
- NAGC Membership
Are you a member yet? Explore the options and benefits of membership. - Gifted Education Practices
For Parents
Amid the flurry of mixed emotions, purchasing supplies, and confidence in your child’s ability; dealing with the start of the school year can be quite a challenge, especially if your school is facing budget and program cuts. Just as you purchased those markers, folders, and scissors, so you should look to the resources that NAGC has for parents.
- Parenting for High Potential (a digital copy is attached above for you)
- Connecting for High Potential
- Resources for Parents
Laura Thompson - Gifted Education Specialist
Email: thompsonlaura@district279.org
Location: Rush Creek Elementary, County Road 101, Maple Grove, MN, USA
Phone: 763-494-4549 83131