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If you have questions or comments feel free to contact Libby Osburn or Kristy Ward.

On March 21, district elementary RISE & STAR students will have an opportunity to see Tulsa Opera's Raise Your Voice Tour. Students will be bussed to the TPS Performing Arts Center(PAC) for the 50-minute performance. This season's show is Sean O’Boyle and Ian McFadyen’s Space Encounters, an interactive children’s opera about two astronauts, Harris and Jefferson, and their robot, Roland, as they explore an unknown planet in search of a strange radio signal. What (and who) will they find there? Will they be able to return home again? While traversing this new planet, the astronauts also explore lessons of friendship and acceptance while helping one another.

The Cherokee County Student Art Show returns to the Performing Arts Center March 27-31, 2023, with the theme of “Life is…”. For the last few years, the show was limited to TPS district students only. This year, TPS district administrators and GT staff felt it was time to open the show back up to schools across the county.

Artwork will be judged on Monday, March 27, and prizes will be awarded Tuesday, March 28th, at 6 p.m. at the PAC. Schools may bring students to view the art show on any of the following days: Wednesday, March 29th; Thursday, March 30th; Friday, March 31st, between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Tahlequah Public Schools’ Gifted & Talented Program and Lake Region Electric Cooperative Roundup Program are sponsors and hosts for this event and are excited to showcase Cherokee County students’ artistic talents once again.

👉Guidelines and other information were recently shared with site principals. If you have questions, please contact your site principal or contact the GT staff.

Identified gifted students began RISE in late August. RISE is our pullout "class" for identified gifted students (Top 3%) in 3rd-6th grades.

RISE in February:

3rd - 5th graders continue to work on "Wonder" Journals. Wonder Journals are a collection of questions or wonders that a student has about the world. These journals will hopefully encourage student wonder and curiosity by allowing students a place to write down these questions. We plan on continuing to use the Wonder Journals throughout the school year--sometimes focusing student wonder, but mostly just allowing time for students to wonder about the world around them. Students have both a paper and digital journal--so there are no excuses not to record their wonders. We have started using the digital journal each week in RISE to complete short wonder activities to help generate and inspire wonder and curiosity. The ultimate goal is for students to investigate their biggest wonders and share their findings in a creative way in a kind of "Wonder Fair."

3rd - 6th graders practiced SCAMPER--a thinking method. The SCAMPER technique is one of the easiest and most direct methods for creative thinking and problem-solving. SCAMPER is acronym for (S) substitute, (C) combine, (A) adapt, (M) modify, (P) put to another use, (E) eliminate and (R) rearrange or reverse. Students SCAMPERed everything from a chair to an Oreo cookie and came up with some pretty creative ideas! Check out some of their sketches below!

Despite rainy weather, RISE 5th graders from the district recently enjoyed an enriching exploration of the capital city of the Cherokee Nation. Students participated in The Cherokee History Tour--a tour which allowed students to experience several historic museums--the Cherokee National History Museum, the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum, and the Cherokee National Prison Museum. Students enjoyed lunch under the Peace Pavilion before heading back to their perspective sites.