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What's New in CCS Gifted Education?

2nd Quarter Edition

What's New in CCSGifted Education?2nd Quarter Edition

CCS Honors Course Teachers Begin 1st Honors Course Review

Throughout the 2015-16 school year, a group of Honors Course teachers from each high school in Cabarrus County participated in the process of reviewing the purpose and content of their Honors syllabi. The purpose of this review is to clearly define what makes an honors level course different from a standard level course. The Honors Review rubric assesses how the curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices are adapted for advanced learners.

The Honors Course Review began at a state level 2 years ago, and Cabarrus County will continue this valuable work locally throughout the coming years. Below is a list generated by the Honors Teachers to guide them in thinking about the characteristics of an Honors-level course.

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Math-letes Rise to the Challenge

Solving Math Olympiad problems is not an easy thing to do. Just ask our young "math-letes". This year Math Olympiad teams are practicing and competing in all elementary schools in Cabarrus County. These contests bring problem solving to the next level for our advanced math students!
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Honoring our Vetrans

Community Service and Service Learning projects are excellent ways to meet some of the social and emotional needs of our gifted students. 5th grade AIG students at Patriots Elementary helped host a breakfast to honor community vetrans on November 11. Students sang, read poetry, and recited historic American documents to signify the day.
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Fantasy Math

5th Grade AIG students at Mt. Pleasant Elementary practice algebraic equations and thinking through the lens of Fantasy Football statistics! Who said "math can't be FUN?!"
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In the Fishbowl

On the Nov. 3 PD day elementary school teachers explored how to use socratic seminar across content areas. Here they are trying out the fishbowl discussion strategy.
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Making Brain Waves!

During the Understanding the Whole Gifted Child PD session teachers modeled the way our brain can grow and communicate, which supports the Growth Mindset philosophy in our classrooms!
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Advanced Robotics in AIG

Elementary AIG teachers attend an advanced robotics training in an effort to extend their students even further in robotics programming.

The Year of Awareness...

Students in elementary schools across the county are becoming more aware of what it means to be "gifted" through a book study. The Survival Guide for Gifted Kids by Judy Galbraith provides a platform for discussion and self-reflection on some of the issues and challenges that may face gifted learners in their day-to-day lives. Counselors at some schools are finding this book study a great way to partner with the AIG program to support social and emotional issues of gifted students.

While the book is written for a student audience, it is an eye-opening read for adults as well. Teachers in the GLEE cohort are reading this book as part of their coursework, and middle and high school teachers are delving in to The Gifted TEEN Survival Guide by Judy Galbraith and Jim Delisle. A must read book!

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Young Engineers

5th Grade AIG at A.T. Allen applies Newton's 3 Laws and the basic principles of aerodynamics to design the best plane.
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Thinking Like a Scientist at Furr!

1st Grade LIFT students sorting and classifying in a small group lesson
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Analogy 101

1st grade LIFT students at W.R. Odell practice the basic understandings of analogies by finding the relationships between picture cards and building their own analogies!

Learning to Stretch Student Thinking

GLEE teachers at JN Fries Middle School learn how to incorporate visual learning strategies in to their instruction to increase rigor and promote critical thinking. During the PD teachers practiced by developing concept maps about using critical thinking with students. Lessons using visual learning can be found in the book Making Thinking Visible by R. Ritchhart, M. Church, and K. Morrison.

Books Featured in this Edition

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CCS Gifted Education Department

For more information please contact Nikki Sandor.

Email: nicolle.sandor@cabarrus.k12.nc.us
Website: http://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/Page/4272
Phone: 704-262-6257