1. City of Salem Schools Gifted Program Parent Meeting 2008 Children Come First in Salem!

2. Gifted Program Overview  Gifted support service to : -Staff: Coordinators meet with approximately seven to ten teachers a week to assist them with planning differentiation opportunities, conferencing about individual students’ needs, developing curriculum, etc; -Students: Salem has two gifted program coordinators for 251 students. The students participate in an array of differentiated opportunities in their own classrooms, as well as attend workshops in their areas of interest.

3. Gifted Program Overview Cont.  Gifted support service to: Parents: Coordinators send home differentiation opportunity logs which describe differentiation opportunities students have in the classroom. In addition, coordinators meet with parents as needed to discuss their children’s particular needs. Community: Various community members volunteer in programs such as our Shadow Program in which community members invite students, who have indicated an interest in their particular field, into their work place to explore potential career opportunities.

4. Elementary  Support for Teachers Resource materials Ideas of how to use differentiation strategies in the classroom Team teaching In-service opportunities  Support for Parents Meeting with parents as needed to discuss their children’s individual needs  Workshops for Students In-school, After-school, and Saturday Workshops

5. Middle School  Tutorials Gifted Programs Coordinators go to 6 th and 7 th grade tutorials periodically to do whole group and small group projects.  Support for teachers Resource materials Ideas of how to use differentiation strategies In-service opportunities Co-teaching  Support for Parents Meeting with parents as needed to discuss their children’s individual needs  Workshops for Students Before-school After-school _Saturday Workshops

6. High School  Support for Teachers Assist in planning Working with small groups Co-teaching Resource materials and ideas  Support for Students Individual assistance -schedules -applications -college planning Shadow Program Workshops Governor’s School  Support for Parents College Planning Meet with parents as needed to discuss individual needs

7. Highlights of the Year  Our identified gifted fifth grade students took a filed trip to the Roanoke Valley Governor School to participate in Hands On Learning Activities in Science and Technology.  Our Middle and High School Students went on a fieldtrip to the The John Vaughan Service Center, AEP’s Southern Transmission Region where they get a first hand look at how transformer insulation fluid is tested to monitor the health of the electrical system and much more.  Our Gifted Program Surveys were placed online allowing students, parents, and teachers to give us valuable feedback regarding the Gifted program.

8. Highlights of the Year  We offered professional development opportunities at the March 7 th Professional Development Day for teachers in our district focusing on Differentiated Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Strategies and Meeting the Needs of High Ability Learners and Creative Thinkers in the Classroom.  We are in the process of working with our identified gifted elementary students to create and produce “Introduction to My Elementary School Movies” at all four elementary schools which will be given to all new students entering the schools in the future.

9. Highlights of the Year  Our Region 6 Consortium is continuing to collaborate together on many issues facing Gifted Education in our area including the development of the Region 6 Gifted Consortium website, http://gtva6.orghttp://gtva6.org  Our Elementary School students attended a field trip to the W.E. Skelton 4-H Center during the Parent Teacher Conference Day in November to do hands on activities on Water Conservation, Ecology, and Entomology.  We assisted the Friends of the Salem Public Library in putting an Art Show together that featured our talented artists in the four elementary schools.

10. Future Plans  Continued Teacher workshop series focusing on G/T topics  Continued collaboration with school systems in our region  Continued partnership with the Foreign Language Department at Roanoke College to facilitate Foreign Language Workshop series for our Gifted Students  Innovative Technology workshops  Local, State, and National Government workshops

11. Outcomes from Parent Meetings Foreign Language Workshops Communication Workshop notification Academic College Planning Conservation Workshops

12. Gifted Website http://www.salem.k12.va.us