Advanced Curriculum & Extended Learning: “The Vehicle”
Provides the depth and complexity needed to ensure meaningful academic growth.
Differentiated classroom instruction and in-class and small group opportunities for application of skills through enrichment, acceleration, extension, and compacting grade level curriculum. Classroom teachers collaborate and plan to meet the needs of gifted and talented students with the support of our school's Gifted and Talented Advocate.
Differentiated Learning Pathways: “The Roadmap”
Provides an education at the appropriate level of readiness and challenge.
Teachers strive to know Gifted and Talented students by their name, strengths and needs in order to determine how to best instruct at their level. Data about each student is gathered through formative and summative assessments, observations of student assignments, and regular interaction with peers and adults in structured and unstructured school settings. Teachers utilize this combined data set in order to determine what level of readiness and challenge is best suited for their learners, and design content and assignment that match.
Individualized Opportunities & Enrichment: “The Customized Options”
Actively engages and motivated through interests and meaningful learning opportunities.
Students and their parents complete an input form in the fall that is utilized to share the students' interests and hobbies, as well as areas they want to focus their goals around. This, along with the data set about the student, is utilized to create and Advanced Learning Plan (ALP). ALPs include goals around academic areas of strength and social emotional areas of need. All stakeholders (the student, parents, classroom teacher, and GT Advocate) participate in the creation of and reflection around these important goals throughout the school year. This process allows students to take the lead in creatin and reaching meaningful goals for the school year, and guides teachers in creating learning opportunities tailored to each learner. Our school also offers many co-curricular clubs as well that students can participate in according to their interests and strengths. All GT students are given the opportunity to participate in our monthly Camp GT with our GT Advocate as well, touching on different areas of interest and strength.
Social-Emotional Learning: “The Destination”
Focuses on developing the whole child by balancing empowerment and accountability.
In addition to weekly whole class SEL lessons and grade level lessons with our SEL specialist, Gifted and Talented learners may partake in guidance to understand how they might think and perceive the world differently, and they learn strategies to guide them in their interactions with others. Our 4th and 5th grade students have monthly SEL meetings with our GT Advocate and our SEL specialist targeted toward specific affective needs of GT individuals and strategies to help them prepare to transition into the next phase of their school journey.
