Welcome to Los Paseos GATE Parent Night December 6, 2006 Please take a Parent Handbook

Agenda What is a gifted child? What makes people successful? How did my child get identified?

What is a gifted child? Unusually large vocabularies for their age Ability to read earlier than most children, often before entering school Greater comprehension of the subtleties of language

Longer attention span, persistence and intense concentration Ability to learn basic skills more quickly and with less practice.

Wide range of interests Highly developed curiosity and a limitless supply of questions. Interest in experimenting and doing things differently Tendency to put ideas or things together in ways that are unusual and not obvious.

What makes successful people? Alert Committed to a task Flexible Courageous Decision Makers

Enthusiastic Decision Makers Energetic Risk Takers Self Confident

How did my child get identified for GATE? Screening Testing Case Study Evaluations Panel review District Office approval

Case Study Report cards Anecdotal records Teacher (s) evaluation STAR test results Running Records Student information sheet

What is the legislation governing Gifted and Talented Education? The Education Consolidation and Improvement Act passed by Congress in Gifted and Talented students are ones who have high performance capability in intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership or specific academic.

What California legislation are we under currently? 2000 new legislation was passed with standards set for GATE programs. Presently, working under a three year plan for Morgan Hill Unified. Parent Involvement is a key component Differentiated strategies must reside in the regular classroom

How do schools meet the legislation? Recipe for Differentiation Compact the Curriculum Acceleration, complexity, Novelty, depth Mix well Serves for a lifetime.

Compacting the Curriculum Eliminating skills or concepts already mastered by the student.

Depth Challenging learners by enabling them to venture further, deeper, and in a more elaborative manner.

Complexity Broadening the learners understanding of the area of study by making connections, relationships, and associations.

Novelty Gaining a personal understanding of the area under study or constructing meaning of knowledge in an individualized manner. Enrichment

Acceleration Altering the pace or speed of learning and providing more sophisticated resources for learning in order to challenge learners.

Individualized Program Design Given by your homeroom teacher at conference or after identification takes place.

End of Year Report Card This shows the opportunities your child participated in that meet the definition of differentiation.

How can parents help their gifted child? Always be aware that you cannot protect your children from all painful experiences. Be consistent, fair and honest in all interactions. Take advantage of your childs questions to guide further learning.

Answer their questions with patience and good humor. Provide opportunities for the development of physical and social skills. Avoid comparing your child with another. Provide opportunities for the development of physical and social skills.

Provide a place to display their work. Read to and with your child Act as a role model Help your children make decisions Provide quality time for your children Develop good communication with your children.

Teach values to your children Never do your childrens homework Help your child learn to prioritize everything Dont criticize or ridicule your children Validate your children by loving them because they are your children and not because of the grades they receive.

Help in the selection of T. V. programs Provide a place where your child can work on his/her studies and hobbies. Provide increased independence as the ability to handle responsibility increases. Avoid pushing your child into activities

Set educational goals and visit college campuses Provide opportunities to learn about varied occupations.

What resources can parents access for help?

GATE Parent Support Group A collaborative group of parents of GATE students who are willing to help institute an after school enrichment program for identified and invited students

How Can You Help? Teach a class for students one to four afternoons (Tues., Thurs., or Fri.) Monitor a class – Be an extra adult in the classroom to pass out materials, watch behavior, run errands, stay with students until they are all picked up. Snack person- Serve and watch over snack time (3:00-3:15) before the sessions begin. Supplier of snacks Class scheduler – Help schedule students into classes. Class finder – Help us find enrichment opportunities.

Field Trip Opportunities Help us arrange one fall and one spring enrichment trip. Fall – a performance or science oriented field trip such as Tech Museum with lab Spring – a visit to Cal or Stanford (5 th and 6 th grade only alternating each year.)