Kathy Lamont

Me and my family Heather – 6 th grade Kailey – 4 th grade Bill - firefighter

Gifted Children May: Learn quickly and easily have the ability to see relationships and think critically. Exhibit verbal proficiency. Have a high energy level. Be very curious. Be persistent on tasks of interest for long periods of time. Exhibit unusual emotional depth and intensity. Be highly sensitive. Be concerned about moral or adult issues. Aim at perfection. Have a keen sense of humor. Have an unusual imagination.

But they may also: Become bored and frustrated with repetition. Dominate discussions. Need less sleep and become frustrated with inactivity and lack of challenge. Take on too many activities. Disrupt class routines and be seen as stubborn or uncooperative. Be perceived as immature and use humor inappropriately. Feel failure which inhibits attempts in a new area. Have a tendency to challenge and question authority. Experience social isolation.

General Objectives: To develop skills in critical thinking. To develop skills in creative thinking. To develop independent learners. To develop interactive learners.

Questions:

START Curriculum Second Grade Budding Botanists (W & M Unit) Beyond Words (W & M Unit) The Necklace Shop (PWCS unit) Spatial Reasoning (W & M Unit) First Grade Dudley the Detective and the Mr Bear Mystery (PETS) Imi and Zani Shape Games (M2 Unit) Yolanda the Yarn Spinner and Trickster Tales (PETS) Budding Botanists(W & M Unit) Third Grade Fall Fantasy Fun House (PWCS Unit) Fairy Tales on Trial (PWCS Unit) Invitation to Invent (W & M unit) Gone Fishin’ (PWCS Unit)

First Grade Budding Botanist - Students will engage in scientific and creative thinking processes as they learn to hypothesize, observe, and problem solve with the properties and characteristics of plants. Yolanda the Yarnspinner - First graders will be introduced to Yolanda the Yarnspinner. Yolanda is a character from Crystal Pond Woods. Each character from Crystal Pond Woods teaches the children about a particular type of thinking. Yolanda is a divergent thinker. She likes to come up with many ideas as she tells and writes stories. She uses exciting words in her stories and makes them interesting to her listening and reading audiences. The first graders have applied Yolanda’s approach to writing to some writing of their own. They have practiced adding details to make their sentences more exciting. They have also practiced writing according to a pattern, using smooth transitional statements to create a logical sequence of events. Dudley the Detective and Who Borrowed Mr. Bear? -First grade crime scene investigators will be hard at work solving the mystery of Who Borrowed Mr. Bear? in START. They will be summoned to a crime scene by Dudley the Detective, where they will use their observation skills to record all the evidence they can find. They will use convergent thinking skills to organize and analyze the evidence. This will entail using the scientific process to determine the probable content of some of the items found at the crime scene, comparing physical evidence, and using logic to eliminate possible suspects and motives. In the end, they will draw conclusions based on the evidence and present their case. Exploring Shape Games with Imi and Zani - Students will develop an understanding of the properties of two-dimensional shapes, the relationships among shapes, symmetry, and congruence. They will be engaged as practicing mathematicians as they learn to clarify their thinking, explain their reasoning, justify their ideas, and communicate with others. They will help create, test, and provide feedback about geometry-based games.

Second Grade Beyond Words - Students will use creative thinking, critical thinking, and literary analysis as they study simile, metaphor, and personification. As a final product, students will use figurative language to write several styles of poetry which will be assembled in a poetry portfolio. Necklace Shop – Students will use math skills to create patterns using beads, and explore cost and measurement through the use of real objects. Spatial Reasoning – Students will explore 2-D and 3-D shapes through the use of manipulatives as they study polygons, symmetry, flips, slides, and turns, and gain a solid base for future endeavors such as engineering, architecture, medicine, and other sciences that require visualizing relationships. Budding Botanist - Students will engage in scientific and creative thinking processes as they learn to hypothesize, observe, and problem solve with the properties and characteristics of plants.

Third Grade Fall Festival Funhouse - Festival Funhouse develops students’ measurement and map skills as they design a floor layout for a museum festival funhouse. They will also use standards of reasoning, persuasive writing, and marketing techniques to develop an advertisement campaign to pitch their ideas. Gone Fishin’ – Students explore various types of poetry unit with students based upon the book Gone Fishing A Novel In Verse. Students worked on creating their own poetry using the style of the book. Invitation to Invent - Inventors unite! Students will explore force, motion, and friction as they learn about the six simple machines. Students will then implement the scientific method with creative thinking processes as they put these machines together to form a new compound machine to solve a present day problem. Fairy Tales on Trial – Students will conduct a trial based on a fairy tale. Students will serve as lawyers, defendants, witnesses and jury members. They will reach a consensus on the innocence or guilt of the defendant. Students will create all court documents, including arguments, witness statements, trail evidence, and jury findings.

Third Grade – Planning…. There will be a separate meeting in February or March for the 3 rd grade screening of students for the SIGNET program.

Schedule First Grade: 12:15-1:15, Monday Second Grade: 10:30-11:30, Monday Third Grade: 8:30-10:00, Thursday

Progress Report

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