
The Python Brainwave
Evergreen Mill's Gifted Education Newsletter
September 2023
Greetings, parents and students-
According to the calendar, it's officially fall, and I'm excited about the cooling temperatures that portend outdoor weekend adventures and indoor board game nights. Unbelievably, we've been in school for about a month now, and it's a good time to reflect on what's going on in gifted education.
Small but noticeable changes are afoot this year in SEARCH. First of all, unlike years past, SEARCH for kindergarten through third-grade students launched the first day of school. It was exciting to see both familiar and new faces on those bubbly, back-to-school days. FUSION and DCI started up the next week with a full menu of services. EDGE is starting at its usual time - mid to late September. Also noteworthy are the time changes. KG-1 SEARCH lessons decreased to 25 minutes; 2-3 SEARCH lessons increased to 50 minutes. These changes were implemented to adjust planning times for grade-level teachers.
Right now, LCPS is preparing for its fall gifted eligibility cycle, which is open to fourth- and fifth-grade students who are new to the county or who didn't participate in the spring eligibility cycle. LCPS students may be evaluated once annually for gifted services, so fourth-grade students who participated in the screening last spring as a third-grader will wait until spring 2024 for re-evaluation.
Parents who wish for their upper elementary students to be evaluated in the fall should submit the "Permission to Evaluate" form to martha.rombach@lcps.org no later than Monday, October 2. All third graders will participate in the universal spring screening--a norm across LCPS.
Elementary Gifted Programs Webinar
SY24 Gifted Evaluation Process - Fall 2023 Webinar
As October peeks around the corner, I'm staying busy creating and delivering high-impact, hands-on lessons for your kids. Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 12 from 5-7pm for the EMES Gifted Ed Open House. This meet-and-greet event coincides with Mr. Mattraw's Book Fair Family Night in the library. Stop in for a quick tour of the gifted resource room and try out a few family-friendly challenges.
All the best,
Martha Rombach
EMES Gifted Resource Teacher
P.S. There are plenty of festivals and special events around Loudoun County this fall. I find myself regularly checking DullesMoms.
Evergreen Mill Gifted Education Open House
Thursday, Oct 12, 2023, 5:00 – 7:00 p
Evergreen Mill Elementary School, Evergreen Mills Rd, Leesburg, VA, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
SEARCH - for all students K-3rd
Biweekly, in-classroom SEARCH lessons (25 minutes for KG/1st and 50 minutes for 2nd/3rd) foster a learning environment that encourages students to think critically, take intellectual risks, and develop a healthy curiosity for learning and discovering across a variety of thinking skills. The SEARCH curriculum is problem-solving based and founded upon gifted education research. The curriculum spirals developmentally through five components: reasoning, perceiving, connecting, evaluating, and creating. These components are presented to the students as "thinking keys," and Mrs. Rombach is always searching for brain power!
Want to know more about SEARCH? Ask your children about this month's SEARCH lessons.
Kindergarten - Goodnight Gorilla, Alpert, and Spot the Difference
First Grade - Dot Goes to School, More than Meets the Eye, When a Line Bends
Second Grade - Bubbles, Beautiful Oops!, Why?
Third Grade - Car Show, The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination, Why?
KG - Goodnight Gorilla - Understanding Keys & Patterns
1st - More than Meets the Eye - Exploring Artwork Through the Five Senses
3rd - Fantastic Bureau of Imagination - Thinking Creatively
EDGE - For Select Students 2nd-5th
EDGE (grades 2-5)
The EDGE talent development program identifies, nurtures, and challenges students from historically underrepresented populations who demonstrate advanced academic potential. EDGE is a pull-out service, so students visit Mrs. Rombach's gifted resource room for enrichment. Second and third-grade EDGE students meet for 30 minutes weekly whereas fourth and fifth-grade EDGE students meet for 45 minutes biweekly.
For grades 3-5, EDGE began the week of September 18-22 or September 26-29. Our learning focus changes weekly, alternating between math, language arts, and STEM. My primary focus now is building a confident community of learners who see themselves as smart and capable.
DCI - for identified 4th and 5th graders
In the past two years, the LCPS Gifted Education Department added a new level of gifted services for 4th and 5th grade students. It is called Differentiated Classroom Instruction or DCI. Students who demonstrated exceptional performance in one domain, language arts or mathematics, during the gifted evaluation process were found in need of DCI in their area of strength. Some students may have been identified for DCI mathematics and DCI language arts.
By collaborating with several grade-level teachers to plan and design lessons, Mrs. Rombach will provide a combination of weekly push-in and pull-out services. Students can expect increased opportunities for rigor and deeper learning in language arts and/or mathematics.
FUSION - for Identified 4th and 5th Graders
The school-based, collaborative FUSION program is a relatively new model for delivering gifted services to advanced 4th and 5th-grade learners. Its purpose is to enhance and to develop the intellect of students who have been formally identified for gifted services. Mrs. Rombach co-plans and collaborates with several classroom teachers so as to enrich and extend the general curriculum--in addition to integrating curricula developed expressly for gifted learners (e.g., William & Mary Literature Units, Jacob's Ladder, and Mentoring Mathematical Minds).
FUSION students meet two hours weekly for pull-out, project-based learning. This year's overarching theme is LEADERSHIP, so students will explore a diverse collection of past and present leaders, delve into leadership traits, and build their own toolbox of leadership skills via a series of investigations and projects. In FUSION, students are immersed in hands-on learning that integrates the five C's of 21st century learning (and leadership): Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, and Contribution to Real-World Problem-Solving.
About Mrs. Rombach
Email: martha.rombach@lcps.org
Website: https://www.lcps.org/Page/238200
Location: 491 Evergreen Mills Road, Leesburg, VA, USA
Phone: (571) 252-2900