Welcome Parents to PEP/SAGE Curriculum Night!

Jennifer Smith • I teach because I love to work with kids and I am passionate about the needs of gifted kids • Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education- Univ. of Puget Sound Masters in Curriculum and Development- Seattle University Teaching experience – grades 1, 3, 5 and SAGE /PEP 30th Year Teaching – Kent and Issaquah • Mother and wife - Haley (age 19 , Spencer (age 16) and Ron (husband) I enjoy walking, skiing, reading, entertaining, friends & family

Mrs. Smith’s family

A High Achiever vs. A Gifted Learner from “The Gifted and Talented Child” by Janice Szabos, Maryland Council for Gifted & Talented, Inc. A High Achiever Knows the answers Is Interested Is attentive Has good ideas Works hard Commits time and effort to learning Answers questions Absorbs information Copies and responds accurately Is a top student Needs 6 to 8 repetitions for mastery Understands ideas Grasps meaning Completes assignments Is a technician Is a good memorizer Is receptive Listens with interest Prefers sequential presentation of information Is pleased with his or her own learning A Gifted Learner Asks the questions Is highly curious Is intellectually engaged Has original ideas Performs with ease May need less time to excel Responds with detail and unique perspectives Manipulates information Creates new and original products Is beyond his or her age peers Needs 1 to 2 repetitions for mastery Constructs abstractions Draws inferences Initiates projects Is an innovator Is insightful; makes connections Is intense Shows strong feelings, opinions, perspectives Thrives on complexity Is highly self‐critical Highlight the last one under gifted: Is highly self-critical Possible activity: Break group into two sides alternate reading each characteristic out loud.

For Primary Enrichment Program PEP is an acronym For Primary Enrichment Program

Information about PEP PEP is a pullout program in the Issaquah School District for highly-capable gifted students in grades K-2. PEP is available at each elementary school in the district. First and Second grade students receive an hour of PEP each week. Kindergarten receives 30 minutes each week. Current Kindergarten students will be screened in October in their classroom. All students will be tested again in the spring of Second Grade for qualification into the SAGE program in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. PEP students will remain in the program, but will be tested to determine how they will receive services.

Special Approach to Gifted Education SAGE is an acronym For Special Approach to Gifted Education

Information about SAGE SAGE is a program in Issaquah School District for the most highly-capable students in grades 3-5. SAGE is available at each elementary school in the district. Students typically qualify in the spring of their second grade year, begin the program in the fall of third grade, and continue through 5th grade. Once a student qualifies for SAGE, they remain in the HCAP program through twelfth grade. SAGE Math meets once each week for two hours. In those two hours, students work on a variety of activities to provide enrichment and challenge in the area of math. This may be through the use of science or technology. SAGE Reading meets once each week for one hour. During that time, students take a deeper look at text and have meaning full discussions about their reading material. They engage with other SAGE readers and they do a research project in an area of interest.

In PEP and SAGE Math, we focus more on the way students THINK than the content. The units we study are a means for practicing thinking skills, problem solving and creativity.

Probable Units of Study 1st Grade 2nd Grade Problem Solving Liquid Explorations Discovering Density Oobleck Engineering Who Stole Mr. Bear? Fingerprinting Chromatography Secret Formulas Engineering

Probable Units of Study 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade Problem Solving Lego WeDo Scratch Bubble.ology Topology or Polyhedraville Paper Towel Testing EV3 Basics Inventions or Capsela Dry Ice Inventions Lego EV3 Skateboard Science Hands On Engineering

Information about SAGE Reading SAGE is available at each elementary school in the district. Students typically qualify in the spring of their second grade year and begin the program in the fall of third grade. SAGE reading is a 1 hour weekly pull out. Once a student qualifies for SAGE, they remain in the program through 5th grade.

SAGE Reading (Pull-Out) What the SAGE teacher does… Inquiry Based Learning Projects (student led individual and/or group projects) A project is an in-depth study, over an extended period of time, of a topic that is of high interest to an individual, a small group, or a whole class. (Katz & Chard, 2000) “Inquiry-based learning” is one of many terms used to describe educational approaches that are driven more by a learner’s questions than by a teacher’s lessons. Components of Inquiry Based Learning Projects: Interest Focusing (Topic Generation and Research Question Formulation) Problem Focusing (Research and data collection) Product Focusing (Creating, designing) Audience Focusing (Presenting) Evaluation of student research and process Celebration/Research Fair Shared Inquiry method used in discussions about text (Technique used with Junior Great Books) Individual Reading and/or Writing Projects using higher level thinking skills and independent reading and to be completed over time in the general education and SAGE classrooms. May include: Genre studies Author’s craft analysis Theme studies Vocabulary analysis Poetry

SAGE Reading (in classroom) What the Classroom teacher does… Use of leveled readers and guided reading groups held regularly for the highly capable students Use of additional challenging reading material such as Junior Great Books Conferring regularly with SAGE readers Asking higher level questions Student self-selected reading material in a topic of interest with goal of becoming “local expert.” Report to the class. Incorporate student accountability. Consultation with the SAGE teacher to provide differentiation ideas for SAGE readers Use of SAGE teacher as a resource and a consultant for teachers Use of SAGE teacher as the “Case Manager” of the SAGE reading students.

SAGE Goals and Objectives Goal 1: Intellectual/Academics To enrich and expand each student’s intellectual horizons. To encourage each student to take responsibility for his/her learning. To make learning a life-long habit. Objectives: The student will learn and practice: Problem solving strategies Information processing skills: classifying, inferring, and predicting; Creative thinking skills: fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality; Thinking behaviors: risk-taking, goal-setting, decision making, persistence, inquisitiveness, and self-evaluation.

SAGE Goals and Objectives Goal 2: Social/Emotional To provide a safe environment for gifted students to interact on a regular basis with others who have similar abilities and interests. Objectives: Confidence, ownership, and independence Work cooperatively in groups, collaborate and work independently Produce quality work reflecting excellence, precision, thoroughness, creative innovation, and best effort Responsibility

Assessments and Evaluations Problem Solving Assessments District—October and March Classroom—Bi-monthly Informal—Weekly Self-Assessments March June Reflection End of Unit Before Self-Assessments

SAGE Class Requirements Make Up Work Guidelines Basically, students are responsible for any learning they miss while at SAGE. 2. Communicate with the classroom teacher and with me if any problem arises. SAGE Class Requirements Be in class every week. Think deeply. Persist. Collaborate.

A million thanks to the Issaquah Schools Foundation for the very generous grant they provide each year. We have been able to purchase 40 EV3 MindStorms kits to be used with the 5th grade SAGE students in the district. We have also received LEGO Wedo kits and LEGO More To Math kits.We appreciate their ongoing support of gifted education in the Issaquah School District.

It is now mandatory for all school districts to identify k-12 gifted and to serve them. We are making a big effort to educate teachers about gifted studentes and their needs so that they realize that these kids are at risk if their needs are not met.

Contact Information Jennifer Smith I am at Endeavour on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (425) 837-7396 I am at Clark on Thursday and Friday (425) 837 -6249 Email is the best way to contact me… smithj2@issaquah.wednet.edu