1. F ostering, O riginality, C reativity, U nderstanding, S elf- Awareness

2. Welcome I am so glad your child is here, and I welcome him or her to a challenging rest of the year. I hope he or she will welcome the possibilities in FOCUS and bring his or her best attitude and brightest smile each FOCUS day!

3. Goals and Objectives To educate gifted and talented students so that they may achieve excellence in GCPS To provide Academic advancement through AKS extensions

4. A Gifted student is… One who demonstrates a high degree of intellectual, creative abilities, exhibits an exceptionally high degree of motivation, and/or excels in specific academic fields and needs special instruction to achieve at levels at his/her academic level

5. Characteristics Positive: Early rapid learning Superior language ability Superior analytic ability High capacity memory Manipulates/invents Greater meta-cognitive skills

6. Characteristics Negative Underachievement Perfectionism Frustration and anger Nonconformity

7. 1 st Grade Curriculum PETS Mind Benders Spider Unit Chemistry Unit Zoo Unit Zero the Hero

8. 2 nd Grade Curriculum PETS Algebra Repeat After Me (Patterns) Mystery (Mr. Bear) Pastabilities (Italy) Surrounded by Nature

9. More Goals Divergent thinkers Convergent thinkers Evaluate our thinking Visual/spatial perception Develop critical thinking skills Deductive Reasoning

10. Schedules 1 st Grade: Once a week 11:00- 12:00 2 nd Grade: Once a week (hour/day TBA)

11. Who I am… Bachelor of Arts-SFSU Master of Arts- GA State Currently working on EDS 17 year teacher (5 th grade) 4th year of teaching FOCUS

12. Assessment in FOCUS Your child will receive an assessment (report card) for every 9 FOCUS class days. These assessments will go home with your child’s GCPS report card. I will send home graded work via your child’s homeroom Friday Folder every 2 to 3 weeks.

13. Grading Scale Level 4 (E) - Student consistently shows initiative and commitment to tasks, goes beyond AKS extension requirements and works in a timely, self-sufficient manner. Level 3 (S) - Student consistently demonstrates mastery of AKS extensions and/or successfully completes required tasks in allocated time. Level 2 (N) - Student inconsistently demonstrates mastery of AKS extensions and/or has difficulty completing required tasks in allocated time. Level 1 (U) - Student does not exhibit sufficient mastery of AKS extensions and/or is unable to complete many required tasks in allocated time.

14. Odyssey of the Mind An international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

15. Communication about FOCUS Every 3 weeks, you will receive a newsletter regarding curriculum and other announcements. Communication about individual students will be done by email or phone. There are additional resources and information on my website.

16. What can you do? Encourage your child to use their problem solving skills in everyday life, especially ones using logic (e.g. at grocery store, while driving, etc.) Remind your student to check in with me upon return if he/she is absent on a FOCUS day. I will give a quick overview so he/she doesn’t come in the next week “without a clue”. Join GAGE to stay abreast of current information in the world of gifted education.

17. Where to find me.... gary_fischer@gwinnett.k12.ga.us donna_m_davis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us Cooper Elementary 770-554-7050