GIEP News

New Possibilities for Learning

2009-10-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

With enrichment classes up and running, students were introduced to the new possibilities for this year. Exploring our classwebsite, Learning Hub, students discovered a great variety of choices to enrich them this year. Enrichment units to get everyone excited about learning include:

GIEP Podcast Show

National Writing Day

Passion Based Learning

Tech Wizards

We're Going Green

All third and fourth graders will develop their scientific research and experimental process skills as they participate on design teams to build and test Jet Toy Cars for the Earth Toy Designs, Inc.

Fifth and Sixth graders will dive into creating an action plan for their Passion-based Learning Project. In addition to making choices about the other units, all sixth and fifth graders will initiate plans and publish our first segments for the GIEP Podcast Show

Visit our classroom website to read more about each of the different new possibilities!

What is Your North Star?

2009-10-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Third and fourth graders extending their thinking about the questions associated with how they learn, engagement, and purposeful learning by viewing and reading the book The North Star by Peter Reynolds. The story tells the tale of a young person who is following "This Way" signs to reach a destination. Along the way the young person gets lost and discovers that find your way is to follow your own North Star. "The book and related site are dedicated to teachers, families, students, life-long learners and those brave enough to follow their dreams."

We talked about our passions and strengths that can be our personal North Stars. They can help guide us in turning to our interests and strengths to help us with new kinds of learning.

Students recorded their own ideas using an Etherpad document to answer the question, "What is your North Star?" A variety of North Stars appeared including baseball, science, drawing, computers, reading, math, puzzles, soccer, and writing.

Sounds like we are going to have a busy year!

A Vision of 21st Century Learning

2009-10-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

Our enrichment classes started out the year by pondering questions associated with how they learn, engagement, and purposeful learning.

Students watched two incredibly insightful movies, “The Networked Learner” and “Pay Attention” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M_336pDWoM), which were created to make educators, teachers, students, and those concerned about elevating our students to success THINK! Our society has expectations that students be able to analyze, evaluate, critic, gather and manipulate data, and most importantly create to further the pursuit of knowledge or the cause. Content is easily accessible- in fact it is practically in our pockets (Iphones, data phone, IPODS, etc.).

After watching both videos, students were asked to reflect upon these questions:
• How do you learn?
• What are your passions?
• What does it mean to be a student today?

Students used an Etherpad document (collaborative spaces that allows multiple users to contribute to one document) to record their reflections and ideas on these questions. The conversation was opened up and topics such as advocacy, responsibility, strengths, weaknesses, and choice were built into passion and engaged learning.

Fifth and sixth graders were asked at the end of the discussion to identify a topic for their personal learning answering the question:
What am I going to do this year in enrichment that is going to make a difference in my life, and in the life of others and serve my passions?

Here are some of valuable collaborative ideas that were developed in regards to how we learn
( these are student's raw ideas in note taking form :)

Taken from the Etherpad...

What are your passions?

programing,math,robotics,health,computerized work,WRITING!!!!!!!!!!!!Homework,inveting
I like to try to invent the things i think would save energy (electrisity,human)life easier healthier.
I would like to study the brain i think it is awesome
designing things is something we could do I liked that last year.
Some of my passions are math, science, I also liked the Design Kids project last year. I also like history. It would be cool to do a history project. I would also like to do another mueseum. I also like programming. I could look more in depth to numbers by coming up with difficult algebra eqations. By going on discussion boards and discovering mathematicians ideas. See if I like or not.
I like math.
Some of my passions are math and animals.I dream to become a vet. I also like the design kids project and the oreo stacking project. Turning off computers was really fun and I got to run around the school.
I love computers so anything with computers is fun for me. I like to learn on the computer and doing something like outside or hands-on instead of sitting in a desk. If I watch someone treating an animal it could inspire me to want to help and become a vet.
My passions are animals( like veterinary type) and math. I also like writing.

How do you learn?

I like to learn by actually doing something hands-on.
How do you like to learn? like to learn by looking on the web getting info and then trying to make something that would help.
Computers,lectures,hands on,discovering on my own,research,read,notetaking,fun ways like my 5th grade game
I learn by going hands on and going out there and experimenting. I like to do brainproblems. But I'm bad at computers.
We should find things that are bad and making stuff that would make stuff better
I'm all for hands on.
I would like to study the brain by listening to doctors and watch a brain surgeon go to work
I like to learn by doing physical activities, on the computer, visually, I also like doing hands on problems. Maybe a little bit of research, just a little. Short Lectures, sometimes being showed to.
I also like playing games while learning.Demonstrating things also works if the explanation is thorough. I also like to research and get to know the topic more.
I like to just take somehing mess with it and make it better I like to learn by actually doing something hands-on. Demonstrating things also works if the explanation is thorough. I also like to research and get to know the topic more.
I like to just take somehing mess with it and make it better

Stay Tuned to see how the Fifth and Sixth Graders embrace the opportunity to empower each other to make a difference! More to come. Feel free to post ideas or comments that contribute to our conversation and discoveries.

Welcome Back to the 2009 - 2010 School Year!

2009-09-08T12:47:00.001-07:00

It is always so exciting to see all of the students as they stream down the hallway the first day of a new school year. I believe that I had a chance to connect with each of them today. I am so looking forward to a wonderful year of learning with them.

Today your child should have brought home an envelope containing the first newsletter of the year along with an invitation to meet to review their GIEP for this school year.

Be sure to check out all of the latest news about GIEP!

We are already off and running this year! You are receiving an invitation to your child’s GIEP review conference along with one more copy of your rights as a parent of an identified gifted child. We will be meeting together along with the regular classroom teacher to discuss your child’s programming needs for this school year and to make needed revisions to their GIEP. Please let me know as quickly as possible if the date and / or time are not workable for you.
As a vital member of the GIEP team, I invite you to share your thoughts about your child’s strengths and interests in preparation for our meetings. I have created a Parent Input Form which can be accessed on our class website and competed online. Each question has a paragraph text box that allows you to provide as much information as you feel necessary to assist in drafting your child’s GIEP this year. All of the information you provide will be sent directly to my email and will remain confidential.
I will be meeting with students to identify possible choices of units for this year. In addition, I will be meeting with them individually to chat about their current interests and determine any additional areas of strength. Assessments for reading, writing, and math are being completed by their classroom teachers. I have also already spoken with each of their classroom teachers to review their programming from last year and to begin to plan for appropriate adaptations this school year.

Summer Camp Opportunities

2009-04-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a different summer camp experience for your fourth, fifth, or sixth grader this summer? Then look no further.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

News of an Archeological Experience in which students participate in an actual archeological dig located at historic Joanna Furnace funded should be coming home with your child. This opportunity is funded by the Regional Summer School of Excellence

In addition, I have received news of a Space Exploration Science Camp opportunity at the Vanderbilt University Dyer Observatory's Space Exploration Science Camp where real science with real astronomers and space experts equals real learning and fun. For more information about this opportunity, go to www.dyer.vanderbilt.edu or contact Lynn McDonald at lynn.d.mcdonald@vanderbilt.edu or call 615-373-4897.

Learning With Monsters

2009-03-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

The first and second grade STARS have been working very hard on their Monster Project. The Monster Project encourages the development of reading and writing skills while integrating technology into the classroom. Using monsters as a vehicle, students exchange written descriptions of their own monster through The Monster Project wiki, and then recreate their partner's monster without ever looking at the "real thing". During the project, students create, discuss, describe, interpret, analyze, organize and assess their monsters as well as the monsters of their peers.

The first and second graders have been using laptops from our laptop cart and have become very proficient at logging on and using Smart Notebook to create their monster drawings. Listen to what we have to say about their learning!

Take a look at the amazing drawings they have created!
BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

They are now very busy at work writing their descriptions of their monsters for their partners. They've learned that it is important to write in sentences and include a shape, size, color for each body part including where it should be drawn. We can hardly wait to share their descriptions for you to try!

We're Going Green! Shouldn't Your School Go Green Too?

2009-03-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

On February 17th, we sparked our interest in the environment with a videoconference with a Gifted and Talented 7th and 8th grade class from Texas. There project and videoconference with us was being judged as part of the KC3 Kids Creating Community Content Competition. Here is a link of the video that was recorded of both or our schools during the videoconference competition.

Listen to our podcasts to hear what we learned, thought, and what we plan to do to GO GREEN here at East Vincent!

Photo by http-//www.flickr.com/photos/shiyazuni/3060701050/sizes/o

Read Across America and Around the Planet

2009-03-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Read Across America is being celebrated this week across the nation. East Vincent has planned many activities to celebrate and encourage a love of reading in our students.

Students in STARS are extending their celebration with Read Around the Planet. Our first and second grade classes were partnered with another class in the United States through the TWICE Read Around the Planet program. Our first grade class is partnered with a class in West Virginia and our second grade class is partnered with a class in New Hampshire to share their love of reading with each other.

Our classes will each participate in a one hour videoconference using PolyCom videoconferencing equipment. Our first and second graders each have designed background scenes and are excited about presenting Reader's Theatre stories complete with costumes and props to their partners.

On March 2, the National Education Association is calling for every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult.

Click here to get four free digital read along versions of Dr. Seuss books.
I hope you join us in celebrating reading with your child this week.

Have a Problem?

2009-02-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

It is always a challenge to consider and decide on the next enrichment projects to offer students during enrichment time. This time, I turned to the students to offer their ideas and interests. Having worked on a topics in social studies and math, students and I were looking for a different approach.

Their collective ideas brought us to the 2009 Design Kids Ch alleng e, a collaborative on-line project, which offers students the opportunity to provide creative design solutions to real life problems. Students use their creativity to review, select one design and engineering problem presented by Kids Design Network and devise a creative solution to the problem. Student designers submit their work to their design partners who analyze the creativity, originality, approach, and effectiveness of the design. Designers then use their partner's evaluation and suggestions to revise their original solutions and refine designs to submit a final Design or Build. All student designers and teachers participating get the opportunity to vote on the top three design solution for each Design Challenge. All winners will advance to the finals round where professional designers and engineers will review their solutions and determine the Best Design of each Design Challenge Category.

Students have been brainstorming and sketching out their design solution and are movin into the build phase of the project. So should your child request some guidance or need some unusual items you'll know they are hard at work desiging, problem solving and creating. Be sure to chek out your child's ideas on the Students and Partners page.

Data for REAL?

2009-02-26T09:05:00.000-08:00

Do you use data in your daily life?

Students in enrichment classes have discovered a multitude of ways that is used, learning that it can be quite useful also! Identifying a topic of interest, students gathered data and created graphs to represent their understanding. Using the online tool, VoiceThread, students uploaded their graphs and then used the built-in recording tool to record their thoughts and questions for their partners. At the same time, their partners from other classes across the world were also creating their VoiceThreads for them. Then came the interesting part. listening to their partner's ideas and questions and then responding. For the most part, students have competed their collaborations with their MathConnections partners for Challenge 1 - Data Analysis. be sure to stop by the Student and Partner Pages to see what you can learn. Feel inspired to add your thoughts to the student VoiceThreads. Learning never stops!

And we aren't finished with math yet!

Challenge 2 - Geometry is just around the corner and promises to be interesting with partners creating collaborative geomentry concept embedded drawings.

New Resource for Parents of Gifted Children

2009-01-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

It is not often that a new resource for parents of gifted students comes along. New on the scene is Prufrock Press' gifted education podcast a new addition to the Prufrock Press Blog.

The first podcast on the topic of ability grouping gifted children with the second episode just posted which acts as a parent's brief introduction to various learning opportunities for gifted children.

Parents of gifted children are often presented with a menu of learning opportunities for their kids. From special accelerated classes, dual-enrollment college programs, homeschooling, to online courses ... the decisions about quality learning opportunities can seem endless. In this week's podcast, I sit down with Carol Fertig, the author of the new book, Raising a Gifted Child: A Parenting Success Handbook, in order to help make sense of some of these many options.

Listen to the Podcast

You can listen to this podcast by visiting Prufrock Press' Gifted Education Blog.

If you have iTunes installed on your computer, you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (much to by 15-year-old daughter's dismay--apparently, her dad is not cool enough to have a podcast on iTunes ... to which I respond ... au contraire!). If you do listen to the podcast via iTunes, please feel free to post a review there.

Listen in and let me know what you think!

Making Connections Through Math

2008-12-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Math is found and used everywhere in our world. During November and December, students have participated in a collaborative project to share their experiences with math and discover the connection of mathematics study to their own real world experiences. This year's project is centered about four CHALLENGES which use a variety of online tools to engage students in exploring and communicating their understanding of math within four different strands.

The first CHALLENGE the students have explored is focused on Data Analysis.

We began by brainstorming all of the different types of questions that might be asked and solved by gathering data whether it be in their personal world, the world of school, or the larger world.
Learning how to develop and improve their search skills was the next challenge.
Once students found real world data, they were challenged to create their graphs.
Students pose questions and problems about their real world example for others to explore and solve.
Students post their example with questions on their individual wiki page in Math Connections using the Web2.0 tool VoiceThread.
Students are partnered with another student from a different classroom enabling them to work collaboratively to ask questions and solve the problems posed. See the Students and Partners Page.

By focusing their attention on finding examples of math in their world, students will broaden their understanding of mathematics study. Both synchronous and asynchronous interactions will provide an opportunity for students to share their own experiences and dialogue with others about their discoveries of math in their world. Through these collaborations, students will discover that mathematics is found everywhere in our world, expand their understanding of the universality of mathematics, and further understand the role of math in their everyday lives.

Oreos and Scientific Thinking

2008-12-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

The Science Fair is just around the corner! Hopefully everyone has completed all of their experimentation with the dispay board left to design and complete. I thought this would provide the perfect opportunity to reflect upon the Third and Fourth Graders earlier work with the Scientific Proecss and their work with the O.R.E.O. Project.

Developing a through understanding of the steps in the scientific process can take numerous experiences. The O.R.E.O. project provided third and fourth grade students with an opportunity to conduct an experiment created by Jennifer Wagner from JenuineTech project. We approched the project with a scientist's eyes, identifying the question being explored, generating a hypothesis, and following the procedure provided. A careful analysis of the process followed with students then being challenged to craft their own Oreo question. Learning to focus closely on what one variable would be tested and how it would be measured was challenging work. Take a look at the Oreo Experiments students designed and implemented on their own and check out their scientific thinking.

STARS Read and Record for CHOP

2008-12-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

This year, my STARS students combined with Miss Houloose's third grade class are working together on a holiday community service project. We have ordered picture books for the studetns that are on their independent reading level. The students have been partnered together to practice fluency, reading with expression and accuracy of the text. Next week the students will be recording their voices of their reading of the book and crating a podcast. This vook will then be donated to the children at CHOP, Children's Hospital of Pennsyvania, and access to the the podcast will become available.

This time of year gives us all the opportunity to reflect on how fortunate we are. What makes this community service project so special is that it is one child halping another. Our hope as a classroom is to allow one child to take another child far away from the pain, fear, and fatigue through the words of a story. Together, we are helping to make this special event a magical and memorable onr for many!

STARS at East Vincent

2008-12-15T09:06:00.000-08:00

We having been have a wonderful learning experience together during our STARS time. The students have engaged in a variety of experiences to develop their reading, writing, research, and oral expressions skills. One project, The Best Book Poll, asked students to select their favorite book and to create a short oral commercial which included important story elements along with their reason why their book was the best. Each student created a podcast of their commercial using an iPod and TuneTalk microphone. Our next step is to ask other students to listen to the podcasts and vote for their favorite book.

Maybe you heard about our “All for One, One for All” project which was the November task for Voices of the World, a collaborative global project. Together we explored the theme of working together through read-alouds, independent reading, and through the creation of a short video which included our visual interpretation of the theme.

Have you heard about Morpheus Fortuna? He has been the focus of our current project. He is visiting our class, learning all about East Vincent, and experiencing all sorts of fun activities. Each student is writing about his experiences all over the school from the point of view of Morpheus Fortuna. In addition, we are taking photos of him to document all of the fun he is having.
An important part of learning is also sharing what you have learned with others. Our podcasts are ready to share with other students. Our writings about Morpheus Fortuna are ready to be shared through his blog. Helping to prepare our students for their futures in a globally flattening world is an important goal. With your permission, I would like to post their work and creations from our classroom projects online linked through my class website, LearningHub.wikispaces.com.

Online Safety
Learning to interact safely online is vital to your child’s work both at school and at home. Throughout our projects, we will address and emphasize the issue and continue to infuse online safety with every online opportunity. Please note that no personal information about your child or photos of your child will be shared online. Students will create their online pseudonym (alias) as their online identify. In addition, each student will create an avatar (a personal icon that is not their picture) for their online presence.

Connecting and Learning in a Flat World

2008-12-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

We have been accepted as Peer Reviewers in The Flat Classroom Project which links students in five different countries. The Flat Classroom Project is a global, collaborative project using Web 2.0 tools to foster communication, collaboration and creation. For inspiration and content material it draws on the work of Thomas Friedman and 'The World is Flat'. Read more about the project background and view 2006 and 2007 archives.

Our task is to review and comment on their work.Our comments will be read both by these students and by some serious experts who are evaluating the project. The main audience for our comments are the high school students.We need to remember in our writing that they are working very hard and also that only some of the students are from the USA. Our students have the responsibility of reviewing two of the eleven projects- 'Connecting the World Online' and 'Why we should be promoting Web 2.0 Tools for Sharing Information'

Students evaluated each group's work on three different criteria:

Quality of Content
Communication / Collaboration
Presentation - Layout and Design

Take a moment to look at the evaluative thinking that took place by checking out their Graphic Organizer Summary of their Feedback here and here.
Students then had the task of organizing their feedback into a 3-2-1 model:

3 good things about the wiki project
2 improvements for the wiki project
1 piece of new knowledge that your group has acquired due to these high school students participating in the Flat Classroom Project

Take at look here and here to see the response the students sent to their high school Flat Classroom project partners.

Decision08- The Next Step

2008-11-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

For the fifth and sixth graders in enrichment, this year's presidential election provided numerous opportunities to learn about our government and to experience citizemship in action.

The week before the actual election, students worked feverishly to prepare our classroom and transform it into the East Vincent Election Center where students from every grade was able to vote for their candidate of choice through the Kids Voting USA Program. This followed two to three weeks of public service announcements and posters to inform students and help them meet our slogan, THIS YEAR - YOU DECIDE.

In the weeks prior to the election, the fifth and sixth grade students also worked on a collaborative project with classes from across the United States to study the issues and each candidates views. Working with partners in our own class, students researched information and posted it on our class website, LearningHub. Students then posted their research on the Collabortive Election Project site and were able to review and identify significant findings about the issues gathered from all participating students. An Elluminate session enabled all of the students in the project to talk about all of their issues.

While the election is over, the fifth and sixth graders are turning their study of the issues into a Call to Action for President-elect Obama. They will work with the other classes in our project to craft a video message to President-elect Obama. Partners will work collaboratively with students in the other classes using a jigsaw model with each set of partners adding their one sentence on their Hot Issue Topic to their call to action. When all of the students and partners have finished collaborating, we will have a call to action message for each Hot Issue the students studied. We hope that every student in the project will feel empowered to voice their ideas and recognize the power of citizens take an active role in our democratic process.

Be sure to check back to see our video message just in time for President-elect Obama's inauguration.

GIEP NEWS - A New Look

2008-11-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

For many of you, the GIEP News newletter emailed to you has been a source of updates about the activities which take place in our enrichment classes. Beginning this month, the GIEP News will now be able to be found here at http://giepnews.blogspot/. This new site will provides the to post ideas and news about the many different activities and learning experiences in which your children participate. You will be able to find information relevant to your child's experience at East Vincent by clicking on the related topic on the right sidebar.

I suggest that you bookmark this site to be able to keep abreast of our newest activities. You can also click on the SUSCRIBE button to receive a notice when this site is updated with important news and links to projects students are working on.

The decision to use a blog rather than an emailed newsletter also reflects my hope that this GIEP News blog will provide a new avenue of communication between school and home which also supports and encourages your collaboration in our learning.

Welcome Back!

2008-11-17T10:23:00.000-08:00