Friday, February 24, 2017

GT LEADers in Action!

February 2017 (edition II)

ENGINEERS WEEK AT CANNON!

What an exciting week we had at Cannon! The building was covered in engineers from Lockheed Martin, the Perot Museum and even GT LEAD had special guest engineers

that spoke to our 4th and 5th grade scholars.

Ken Clausen, Mechanical Engineer

Jason Elms, Civil Engineer

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SAGE PARENT GROUP for GT CHILDREN

SAGE is offering FREE memberships for the remainder of this school year for recently GT identified kindergarten families. SAGE (Supporting & Advocating for Gifted Education) is a Gifted & Talented Parent and Teacher Support Group for the Grapevine Colleyville area. Visit this link now to sign up for your free membership: http://sagemembers.org/MemberFreeSignup.aspx.

SAGE Brown Bag, March 7: Strategies for Addressing “Boredom”

Lunch, learn, and network at the SAGE Brown Bag on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at the Professional Development and Education Center, (PDEC) at 5800 Colleyville Blvd. Find us in the Mustang Corral!

Our speaker is James Bishop, advocate and teacher of the gifted and talented. Does your GT student use “the B word?” — as in, “I’m bored!” How can a parent or teacher address a GT student’s complaints of boredom?

Question and answer session to follow the presentation. Bring your own lunch and drink.

The SAGE Speaker Series is free for SAGE members’ households, and $5 at the door per non-member.

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GCISD EXPO WAS AWESOME!

The GCISD Expo was a huge success, and parents raved on all the incredible programs available to scholars, such as dual language, STEM, the Aspire Academy. I was so proud to see many GT LEAD students serving as hosts for the Cannon Elementary STEM program.
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What's going on in the GT LEAD classroom?

Kindergarten spent their time this week focusing on critical thinking. They were challenged to solve puzzles that had multiple solutions, similar to Sudoku puzzles.

1st Grade continued their research on their selected author of interest. Students worked diligently on their stories, as they tried to emulate the writing style, genres, illustrations and qualities of their author.

Minion Valentine invasion

2nd Grade integrated their knowledge of the brain with poetry, by connecting it with clever draw starts they created. This experience tested their tolerance for ambiguity, for sure! Scholars also learned about Ken Ken puzzles, and they are now a class favorite.

3rd Grade interviewed a classmate and wrote a cinquain poem, highlighting their classmate's greatest attributes. It was fun to exchange the thoughtful and meaningful cards!

Third grade also used critical problem solving to successfully navigate these precious, yet fragile participants through a complex obstacle course. Thankfully, all teams were egg-ceptionally successful!

4th Grade was thrilled to get started planning and developing on their marble runs. Simple machines were reviewed, and scholars creatively used recycled materials. We will complete construction after the GT testing window closes.

5th Grade

Learning about depth and complexity in our research through Kaplan's Icons

Scratch coding programs continue to grab scholars' interests

Practicing the pitch of our SPARK talk through "speed dating" format.....30 seconds to grab someone's attention

Friday, February 10, 2017

GT LEADers in Action!

February 2017

Perfectionism.....The Struggle is Real!
In Rosemary Callard-Szulgit's book, Perfectionism and Gifted Children, she states that the number one social and emotional issue gifted children deal with is perfectionism, due to their high intelligence and talents, and that they can typically see more than one solution to a problem. She points out that gifted kids struggle with a finishing point, as they are fully aware more could be done. Many times, these students will avoid new experiences (or committing to one final solution), due to their fears of failure, and they are therefore concerned others will view them as inadequate.

It is vital we understand this about these precious scholars.

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GRADES 1-4 Gifted and Talented Testing for GT LEAD and the Aspire Academy:

The nomination window for parents to submit their child's name for testing is this Monday, Feb. 13-28. The actual testing will take place Feb. 27-March 10. Please email me or contact the classroom teacher to let him/her know you are interested. Students who qualify for gifted and talented services will begin the fall of the upcoming school year.

Special Programs Expo - February 13

From engineering challenges to advanced academics to language immersion and early childhood education, GCISD offers a world of opportunities for students. Families are invited to learn more about these opportunities at the Special Programs Expo on Monday, February 13 from 5:00-7:30 p.m. at Cross Timbers Middle School. The expo will feature stations showcasing our STEM programs, ASPIRE Academy, Dual Language, tuition-based pre-kindergarten, Collegiate Academy and AVID programs. In addition to program stations, presentations focusing on the instructional components and benefits of STEM, Dual Language, ASPIRE Academy and tuition-based pre-kindergarten, STEM, Dual Language, ASPIRE Academy and tuition-based pre-kindergarten will be delivered in the lecture hall, the AVID classroom (A3) and library.

Math Telescoping Exam Information

Testing opportunities for telescoping math for the 2017-2018 school year are available in the spring and summer for GCISD students who are completing grades K through 7. Information can be found at the GCISD website under Advanced Academics.

Kindergarten