The GATE Gazette
Tustin Unified School District - June, 2016
Message from the Coordinator
Greetings to GATE families, and welcome to those who are new to the Tustin Unified School District Gifted and Talented Education Program! In this GATE Gazette edition, you will find information and resources to support you as you raise your gifted child. I hope you will find them to be helpful.
As a district, we have continued to stay current in the area of gifted education, and we take pride in our program's comprehensive focus on nurturing gifted needs through differentiated instruction and supporting our students' social and emotional well-being by GATE trained teachers. We also continue to value parent education through seminars, trainings, and GATE Community Advisory Committee meetings throughout the year. It is our continued goal to collaborate and partner with parents in order to help GATE children reach their potential. Our philosophy centers around working together to support gifted learners and their unique needs, which includes both the intellectual and social and emotional aspects of their growth. Our desire is to work collaboratively between home and school to help support them as they develop and change.
I also wanted to let you know that as of next school year, I will be pursuing a new journey as the Principal of our district's GATE magnet elementary school, Tustin Memorial Academy. I have truly enjoyed and am extremely grateful for the past 8 years in this role as TUSD GATE Coordinator working with administrators, teachers, parents, and students. Thank you for being a partner in your child's learning and for your ongoing support of the program.
With the closing of the 2015-16 school year, I encourage you to continue to nurture your child's interests and needs, and be sure to take time to recognize and celebrate his/her growth and efforts. All my best to you, your GATE child, and your family in your future endeavors!
Very sincerely,
Sharon Maeda
GATE Program Coordinator, Tustin Unified School District
TUSD Gifted and Talented Education Program
Our Mission Statement
Gifted and Talented Education is a program of qualitatively differentiated instruction, consisting of a variety of curricular options, which respond to and nurture the needs, interests, and abilities of identified students.
Thank you, GATE CAC!
The 2015-16 GATE CAC (Community Advisory Committee) met throughout the year to plan, review, evaluate, learn about, and discuss GATE topics. This committee is comprised of GATE parents, teachers, administrators from each site as well as district representatives. A most sincere thank you goes out to this year’s committee for their outstanding involvement and collaborative efforts!
2015-16 GATE PARENT SURVEY
Please take a moment to complete our GATE Parent Survey, as we would like to know what is going well and what we can do to continue to improve and build upon our program to meet the needs of GATE students. (Please note: This survey does not apply to parents of newly identified GATE students who will begin participation in the 2016-17 school year)
Survey Link: http://goo.gl/forms/0w5RkWnofrcflQuC2
"Helping Gifted Children Cope with Intense Emotions"
By Carol Bainbridge
Many gifted children are extremely sensitive. They seem to take everything to heart and get extremely upset by words and deeds that other children can ignore or get over quickly. How can parents help their emotionally sensitive children cope with these intense emotions? Here are some suggestions that might help.
1. Understand What's Behind the Sensitivity- People often believe that sensitive children are simply being melodramatic and making a fuss over nothing. While some gifted children may have a flair for the dramatic, that does not diminish the intensity of their emotions. These children probably have what psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski called an emotional supersensitivity or overexcitability. That means that they actually do experience emotions more intensely than others.
2. Have Your Child Create an "Emotional Response Scale" - Emotionally sensitive children seem to respond to each negative experience as though it were the end of the world. They cannot help what they feel, but they can learn to put these experiences into a helpful perspective, which can help them cope with their strong feelings.
-How to create an "Emotional Response Scale": Take a sheet of paper and write the numbers one to ten in a vertical list. Ask your child what he or she thinks would be the
very worst thing that could happen. You may need to work on this as the first answer you get could be something relatively minor like losing a favorite toy. A more appropriate answer would be the house burning down or something along those lines. Write this answer down next to the number ten. Ask your child what he or she thinks would be the most minor thing that could happen. This may be a little easier than the number ten event. It could be something like having to go to bed a half hour earlier than usual. Whatever the event is, it needs to be something negative. Sometimes children will want to pick something neutral, that is, something that they don't really care about. Write this event next to the number one. Find an event to write in the number five spot. Once the number ten and number one events are decided on, it's easier to come up with a number five event. Help your child come up with an even that is not really bad and not really minor, but right in between the two extremes. Then, fill in the rest of the numbers in the list. This may take quite a bit of revising. You and your child must see the progression from the least to the worst thing that could happen.
3.Acknowledge Your Child's Feelings - Remember that your child's feelings are quite strong and these feelings are beyond his or her control. Avoid saying things like "You're just too sensitive" or "Stop over-reacting." Not only do such comments not help, they can make a child feel worse and even make the child feel as though there must be something wrong with him. This is especially difficult for highly sensitive boys, who may believe that they are "supposed to be" emotionally tough, according to society's standards.
In time, your child will be better able to cope with his or her intense emotions, but will not outgrow them. These emotional intensities are part of a person's makeup and are there for life! However, these suggestions can help emotionally sensitive children learn to manage those intense feelings.
Carol Bainbridge has a BA degree in psychology and an ABD in linguistics, with a focus on verbally gifted children.
GATE Parent Webinars!
The National Association for Gifted Children (www.nagc.org) and Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (www.sengifted.org) organizations also offer informative parent webinars. (Some fees may apply) . Visit their websites for more information!
Additional Local Programs Suitable for Gifted Students
TUSD 2016 GATE Summer Scholars Program: Notification letters will be sent to all applicants during the week of June 6. If you have not received your letter by June 13, please email tusdgateinfo@tustin.K12.ca.us.
- Tustin Summer Academy - Tustin Public Schools Foundation STEAM & enrichment courses -Grades (incoming) Grades 1-9 www.tpsf.net
- UC Irvine Gifted Students Academy - Grades 1-11 https://www.giftedstudents.uci.edu/gsa/
- iD Technology Camps - Ages 6-18 https://www.idtech.com
- SIG (Summer Institute for the Gifted) - Ages 5-17 http://www.giftedstudy.org/
- Visit www.cagifted.org (California Association for the Gifted) for fun websites and links for gifted learners! They also provide grant and summer program opportunities!
(Informational only: Inclusion does not constitute endorsement for all programs listed above)
GATE Kid's Corner
Riddle Time!
QUESTION: How many seconds are there in one year?
ANSWER: 12 of them: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd, April 2nd, May 2nd, June 2nd, July 2nd, August 2nd, September 2nd, October 2nd, November 2nd, December 2nd.
Resources
www.cagifted.org – California Association for the Gifted
www.occgate.org – Orange County Council for Gifted Education
www.sengifted.org – Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted .
www.nagc.org – National Association for Gifted Education
http://www.byrdseed.com - Ian Byrd
www.giftedguru.com - Lisa Van Germert
www.aagc.org/ - American Association for Gifted Children
www.hoagiesgifted.org – Hoagies Gifted Website (Student games and parent resources)
www.worldgifted.org – World Council for Gifted & Talented
www.giftedbooks.com & http://www.prufrock.com/ – Books on parenting gifted children
About Us
Tustin Unified School District
Gifted and Talented Education Program
Para obtener una copia de nuestro boletín informativo, por favor comuníquese al (714) 730-7301 x 323
Email: tusdgateinfo@tustin.k12.ca.us
Website: http://www.tustin.k12.ca.us/Page/102
Location: 300 South C Street, Tustin
Phone: (714) 730-7301