GT Parent Update
October 2022
Teacher Highlight
When the school year first started, I began to see many of my students finishing their independent work quickly and accurately. I wanted some options for how to further their learning and thinking. My GT Coach was so helpful in meeting with me during my plan time to show me options for how to challenge those students in reading and math. In math, I am using a booklet for each lesson that the GT department has made. At the beginning of the week, I will introduce the concept to this group. For the rest of the week, they work independently or with the partners in that group. If they get stuck, they know how to find a group member to help them work through the challenge. This has furthered their thinking in helping/teaching each other in order to further their understanding of the standard and build their conceptual understanding with more writing to explain their thinking. In reading they are working in canvas on a research and inquiry project. This is fun and exciting while also being intricately connected to the second-grade standards and curriculum. As we go through the school year, I am looking forward to learning more about implementing these resources and having more of my class use them!
Kristen Pope
2nd Grade Teacher
Farragut Primary School
Grade Level Updates
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fourth Graders this month will practice analyzing a character in a text. The students will refer to details when drawing inferences from the story. Students will also practice writing a narrative to develop real or imagined experiences or events using an effective technique, such as descriptive details and clear event sequences. Students will then have the opportunity to use creative thinking as they generate a list of possible books that the character may enjoy, based on the students’ analysis.
Fifth Grade
Fifth Graders are taking a break from our grade-level competency to focus on thinking and problem-solving in Math. At the beginning of this month, students will be working with decimals and analyzing nutrition labels to determine the amount of sugar in a 2-liter bottle of soda. Students will be challenged to think about whether it is ethical for scientists to present factual information related to sugary sodas and health in a positive light for the beverage industry. We will wrap up the month by using critical thinking and our knowledge of decimals to solve at what time two trains could possibly collide.