1. Welcome to the START Parent Orientation Meeting Welcome to the START Parent Orientation Meeting. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey on your table. I would really appreciate your feedback. Thank you so much!

2. Kelcie Conroy conroykl@pwcs.edu

3. From Pittsburgh My Family My teaching history Excitement for program My learning style/personality

4. READING Scrapbooking Cooking Family and Friends FOOTBALL! Pittsburgh Steelers! Fashion & Jewelry Teaching

5. Have you ever felt like this?

6. Gifted Children May: Learn quickly and easily have the ability to see relationships and think critically. Exhibit verbal proficiency. Have a high energy level. Be very curious. Be persistent on tasks of interest for long periods of time. Exhibit unusual emotional depth and intensity. Be highly sensitive. Be concerned about moral or adult issues. Aim at perfection. Have a keen sense of humor. Have an unusual imagination.

7. But they may also: Become bored and frustrated with repetition. Dominate discussions. Need less sleep and become frustrated with inactivity and lack of challenge. Take on too many activities. Disrupt class routines and be seen as stubborn or uncooperative. Be perceived as immature and use humor inappropriately. Feel failure which inhibits attempts in a new area. Have a tendency to challenge and question authority. Experience social isolation.

8. START Stands for… S trategies for T eaching A nd R eaching Talents Reaching Potential: o Students identified for START are identified as “potentially gifted” o Students are exposed to language arts and math enrichment. o Work on creative thinking skills and critical thinking skills o **We also work on cooperative learning.

9. Schedule 1 st Grade2 nd Grade3 rd Grade4 th Grade5 th Grade Tuesday 9:45-10:45 Tuesday 12:30-1:30 Tuesday 2:00-3:25 Wednesday All Day Thursday All Day  Intervention/Extension Block  Required times/Benefits of Site Based Program

10. START Curriculum First Grade Water Works, a William & Mary science unit Second Grade Planet X, Problem Based Science Unit

11. Third Grade Fall Festival Funhouse (Measurement, scale, writing, oral language) Hailstones and Halibut Bones (poetry, imagery) Jacob’s Ladders (Fables, writing) Hands on Equations (Intro to Algebra— second semester) Journeys and Destinations (Language Arts) Can you Dig It? (Science) ***There will be a separate meeting to discuss the upcoming screening of third grade students for the SIGNET program.

15. Throughout the year, your child will also engage in STEM activities in START. Through these activities we will: Learn about design briefs Test and re-test ideas Use the scientific method Make improvements to existing designs Work individually and with groups Work with a range of tools and materials Use technology to enhance our ideas Write about our experiences

16. Progress Reports

18. Thanks for coming to Back to School Night! Please leave your survey on your desk. Pencils can be placed back in the red bucket and the power point is yours to keep! Make sure you have signed in at the front of the room!