Dear 5th Grade LPES Families,

It's that time of year when we accept Academically and Intellectually Gifted nominations from classroom teachers and parents! This is a time that we ask you to really reflect and determine if higher-level differentiation is needed for your student in Mathematics and/or Language Arts. If you are unsure, please talk with your student's classroom teacher or last year's classroom teacher to determine if AIG Testing, may be needed to meet the needs of your student.

AIG Nomination Process

When a student is nominated, the AIG teachers will send home an AIG Testing Consent form and an AIG Parent Observational List. Please complete these forms and return them back to the AIG team as soon as possible. The AIG teachers will go to your student's current and last year classroom teacher to interview the teacher about your student's performance in the classroom, ask for unit assessments, enrichment opportunities, and classroom samples. The classroom teachers will complete a teacher AIG Observational Checklist and a Gifted Rating Scale. The AIG teacher will also pull formal data such as your student's ISIP data, COGAT and IOWA scores, EOG scores and Report Card grades. All of the above data is collected for each AIG candidate and presented to the Laurel Park Elementary's School Based Committee for Gifted Education (LPES SBCGE) for review. The LPES SBCGE will review the above data and decide whether the AIG candidate should be tested for AIG consideration. If a student is being considered, they will be given the COGAT and IOWA tests on the below dates:

Fall ​AIG Nomination Window

Track 1 - Beginning of school year - August 13th

Tracks 2 - 4 - Beginning of school year - September 10th

Fall AIG Testing Window

Track 1 - August 23rd - September 1st

Tracks 2 - 4 - September 20th - 29th

If you should have any questions about the AIG program or the process, please feel free to email Amy Stone at astone@wcpss.net.

Every year our students participate in a 5th grade Legacy Project, in which they work with a local artist to create a piece of art that they will leave at the school as their “legacy’. Past projects include the metal sculptures outside the building, the banners in the foyer, the mosaic penguins outside the office, and the circle weaving in the media center. This year we are so excited to welcome muralist, Loren Pease. Ms. Pease has created a beautiful design that incorporates the 5th graders’ most important Positivity Project traits. Students will work with Ms. Pease and Ms. Benner to paint the mural on the wall outside the cafeteria, near the red picnic tables. The project will be completed on September 10 and 13 so that students will have most of their 5th grade year to enjoy their hard work! This project is funded by the Laurel Park PTA, so thank you for any fundraising contributions that you have made to support the PTA!