Puzzle Pieces
Putting the Pieces Together
AG Class Schedule
5th Grade ELA~9:30-11:00 (Mondays)
4th Grade ELA~8:00-9:50 (Tuesdays)
3rd Grade ELA~8:15-10:00 (Wednesdays)
5th Grade Math~1:00-1:45 (Mondays, Tuesdays)
4th Grade Math~11:00-12:30 (Tuesdays)
3rd Grade Math~12:10-1:40 (Wednesdays)
Madison ES:
5th Grade ELA~8:30-9:15 (Thursdays & Fridays)
4th Grade ELA~ 9:45-10:30 (Thursdays & Fridays)
3rd Grade ELA~12:15-1:00 (Thursdays & Fridays)
5th Grade Math~10:30-11:15 (Thursdays & Fridays)
4th Grade Math~1:00-1:45 (Thursdays & Fridays)
3rd Grade Math~7:45-8:30 (Thursdays & Fridays)
Progress Reports and Report Card Dates (Revised)
June 12 (Report Card)
Lights, Camera, Action!!! Curriculum Spotlight
4th Grade
Heroes Within
Fictional or not, we all love our heroes. Students are stretching their minds to wrap around the concept of what makes a hero. We're learning how to look @ unsung hero and the beliefs/actions that mark a true hero. Through Socratic Seminars and journal writing, students are digging deep to truly unravel who are our true heroes. So often, parents and teachers are leading the scoreboard. The tireless sacrifice and grace at which you do your job impresses these growing minds. It's refreshing to know that they are looking beyond the superficial.
Ahoy Mates...Sailing the High Seas of Ratios:
This math unit will allow us to delve into NC’s rich history with pirates and review equivalent fractions. Students will work in teams and use their knowledge of fractions to solve ratios, creating proportions, determining unit rates and understanding problems involving time, rate and distance. A trip to the grocery store is a good real life math investigation into ratios and proportions. We discuss if the advertised BOGO sale is a wonderful deal or not. This unit will build your child’s understanding of how math can help him/her become a smart consumer.
5th Grade
Let Freedom Ring
"My Country Tis of Thee, Sweet land of liberty of thee I sing..." Samuel Francis Smith wrote this song in 1831 to honor America with a patriotic tune that still rings loudly. In this unit, students will analyze and engage in collaborative discussions about the oppression, sacrifice and choice many individuals have made for the sake of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We've studied some wonderful individuals who have sacrificed all for the sake of freedom. Students are moved by their courageous dedication. It's breath-taking to hear the discussion of what freedom truly means to them. This is a remarkable learning journey.
3rd Grade
Explaining the Unexplainable
Their first stop is digging up history and understanding the world through mythology. Mythology is a system of hereditary stories which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain (in terms of the intentions and actions of supernatural beings) why the world is as it is and why things happen as they do. Myths also established the rationale for social customs, observances, rules, and sanctions.
So it begins as we end the school year… the Quest into Problem Solving!!!
3rd and 5th Graders will build their problem solving skills with MathQuest.
MathQuest is a role playing simulation which acquaints student with six problem solving strategies: Guess/Check, Draw a Picture, Use a Table/Chart, Look for a Pattern, Act it Out and Work Backwards. Students work on teams to maneuver through several words while their fate rests in the card their team draws and the supplies they carry on the journey. The teams are trying to reach the Golden Treasure Chest of $50,000 (fake of courseJ).
Discovery Ed Resource
For GCS student access to Discovery Education online:
STUDENT LOG-IN
1. Click here to log in
2. User Name: student ID #
3. PW: student date of birth
4. Once students are logged-in they can start to search using the browser window at the top or they can go to the MY DE dropdown menu to access the Science Techbook or Streaming services.
Social and Emotional Care for Bright Thinkers
The Social and Emotional Transition to Middle School
https://blogs.tip.duke.edu/giftedtoday/2014/09/30/the-social-and-emotional-transition-to-middle-school/
Middle school introduces new opportunities for gifted adolescents to form rewarding relationships and develop their own identities. It can also present challenges to gifted students as they encounter new social structures and pressures.
Contrary to some popular negative stereotypes, most evidence indicates that gifted students are typically well adjusted socially and emotionally. Many studies show that they are viewed positively relative to their peers. Moreover, researchers tend to agree that when gifted children experience social problems, they are often in an environment that is ill-fitting to the students’ intellectual development.
This said, some gifted students do experience social and emotional difficulties transitioning to middle school. The following are common challenges of the middle school environment:
Asynchrony
Gifted students’ intellectual abilities and interests can differ widely from their peers’, causing them to feel “out of sync” with their peers. Gifted child development theorists call this difference “asynchrony” and explain that this characteristic can complicate social relationships for gifted children. The degree to which gifted children are aware of and concerned about these differences can make finding compatible same-age peers more difficult during a time in development when great importance is placed on “fitting in.”
New Social Structure
For all students entering middle school, navigating new subcultures of peers or “cliques” can be challenging. As middle school students begin to form their own identities, they begin to assign stereotypes to each social group. This labeling can make students feel uncomfortable, as stereotypes of different groups are inaccurate representations of each student’s actual identity. Despite the challenges of this new social environment, middle school also brings opportunities for adolescents to form closer friendships. Additionally, more extracurricular activities are offered in middle school, which provide an outlet for students to find like-minded peer groups.
Conflicting Identity Values
Bullying and teasing for being “smart” or receiving high grades can reach its peak in middle school. Gifted students are often very aware of this stigma against intellectualism and adopt different strategies to adapt. Many gifted students start to hide their talents in an effort to be “like everyone else.” Others may become dissatisfied with a social environment that devalues intellectualism and begin to withdraw.
Forming an Identity
Another way that students can combat stress from stereotyping and teasing is to establish and develop confidence in their unique identities. When students are surer of who they are and where their values and priorities lie, judgments and challenges from others can have lesser effects. Whether a family allows children to develop and express their unique identities can greatly impact an adolescent’s social environment. Adolescents form their identity by taking risks. This usually entails harmless actions like adopting new clothing or hairstyles, trying out for a new sports team, or committing to an extracurricular project. With risks comes the possibility of failure or rejection, which may be new to some adolescents.
Internal Transitions: Perfectionism and Self-confidence
Past studies indicate that perfectionistic tendencies may increase for middle and high schoolers. There is mixed evidence about whether gifted students are more likely to be perfectionists. Perfectionism can be a beneficial characteristic when students strive for excellence. However, it can be debilitating to students who only work to avoid failure, receive others’ approval, or reach unattainable standards. Emphasizing your child’s hard work instead of innate ability or performance can show your child that growth is more attainable than perfection.