Cassidy Gifted and Talented News
Week of February 8
What We Are Up to This Week in GT
Literacy:
In literacy, students are continuing to work on their opinion projects. We are going to work on a public speaking component to go along with the presentation of their projects so that they learn the skills needed to be engaging and proficient in communicating information. For 4th graders, we will also learn a variety of persuasive techniques to enhance the impact of our opinion pieces. Fifth graders should be finishing up their projects to go along with Johnny Tremain and starting an opinion piece after that.
Math:
In math, we will be working on accelerating the curriculum, meaning that we will be teaching any grade level content that is needed and then moving on to more challenging above grade level content. We will also continue our work with advanced problem solving and metacognition (being mindful of our thought processes so that we can explain our thinking).
Art, Creativity, and/or Leadership:
All students have selected a project now, so, if your child is in Gifted and Talented for one (or more of these areas), check in with them to hear about the exciting work they are doing! They will continue working on these projects over the next few weeks.
General Intellectual:
Students in these groups have been working on higher level thinking, reasoning, and logic through complex problem solving. We are using a program called Problem Solvers in 2nd and 3rd grade and Deductive Reasoning in 4th and 5th grade. I am amazed at how much more quickly and proficiently students have been learning to solve these problems and use a variety of strategies (visualizing, drawing diagrams, collaborating with peers) to solve them. I am also pleased at the level of resilience they have. They just won't give up when they have a challenging problem, which is a wonderful life skill to keep them going even when things are tough. I have already had to increase the complexity of the problems to keep it challenging for them!
In literacy, students are continuing to work on their opinion projects. We are going to work on a public speaking component to go along with the presentation of their projects so that they learn the skills needed to be engaging and proficient in communicating information. For 4th graders, we will also learn a variety of persuasive techniques to enhance the impact of our opinion pieces. Fifth graders should be finishing up their projects to go along with Johnny Tremain and starting an opinion piece after that.
Math:
In math, we will be working on accelerating the curriculum, meaning that we will be teaching any grade level content that is needed and then moving on to more challenging above grade level content. We will also continue our work with advanced problem solving and metacognition (being mindful of our thought processes so that we can explain our thinking).
Art, Creativity, and/or Leadership:
All students have selected a project now, so, if your child is in Gifted and Talented for one (or more of these areas), check in with them to hear about the exciting work they are doing! They will continue working on these projects over the next few weeks.
General Intellectual:
Students in these groups have been working on higher level thinking, reasoning, and logic through complex problem solving. We are using a program called Problem Solvers in 2nd and 3rd grade and Deductive Reasoning in 4th and 5th grade. I am amazed at how much more quickly and proficiently students have been learning to solve these problems and use a variety of strategies (visualizing, drawing diagrams, collaborating with peers) to solve them. I am also pleased at the level of resilience they have. They just won't give up when they have a challenging problem, which is a wonderful life skill to keep them going even when things are tough. I have already had to increase the complexity of the problems to keep it challenging for them!
In the Community
Kentucky Association for Gifted Education Conference - An Evening for Parents - February 22 - click for more info
E-Day (Engineering Open House Day) at UK - February 27 - click for more info
E-Day (Engineering Open House Day) at UK - February 27 - click for more info