Apangea - What You Need To Know to Get Started At Home

In September each elementary school hosted a kick off assembly for Apangea Math.  This online math program offers all 3rd-5th grade students, including our gifted and advanced learners, the opportunity to apply their knowledge of math while problem solving.  Many of our gifted math students have a knack for fact recall. Apangea encourages this knowledge while building students' understanding of what it means to apply numbers and words to a math problem. 

 

Students earn points as they are taken through a multi-step process to solve word problems.  The kids are hooked once they realize that by doing math correctly they earn points to purchase gift cards to vendors like Game Stop or Pizza Hut.  Points can also be used to purchase a backpack, t-shirt, or donated back to Apangea who will make a monetary donation to a charity of the student's choice.  Apangea's largest prizes are given out several times a year to students just for logging in and using the program!  Last year these students received iPod touches, laptops, and high-value gift cards. 

 

Your child's teacher can provide you with their username and password. 

 

Link to Apangea Letter Below

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VAbm_MIMfsZjnqZoiqLcLd_lvPwMC_GGf-WDrzYaZ0k/edit?hl=en_US

 

 

History Buff in the Family? Don't Miss "Museum Comes to Life"

If you have a child who is a history buff, don't miss the Idaho History Museum's Museum Comes to Life.    The museum will come to life in Julia Davis Park from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 24, 2011.  And better yet, admission is free!
http://www.history.idaho.gov/events/museum-comes-life-annual-history-festival

From the Historical Society eNewsletter:
"Music will be one of the many highlights this year.  Featured in the Lewis and Clark Pavilion in Pioneer Village will be Marimba Boise, an African-style xylophone ensemble inspired by the dance music of Zimbabwe (10:00-11:45 am), Hillfok Noir, old-time songster music (11:45 am-1:30 pm) and Boise’s local Banjo Band (1:45-3:30 pm).  Rounding out the fun will be the Boise Highlanders playing their pipes and the wandering musicians from Owyhee Mountain Fiddle Shop.

The Civil War Re-enactors will have a new encampment and will be east of the Museum, between Pioneer Village and the Black History Museum.  Younger members of the group will be demonstrating reels and other easy dances of the era and the women will provide etiquette lessons on proper ways to serve tea.  Daughters of the American Revolution will be on hand with a new tent area and Celebration Park will be back again with their Indian Lifeways exhibit, sharing their expertise on Indian lifestyles of the past 12,000 years.  From days of yore, the Society for Creative Anachronism will be at the festivities, depicting Renaissance life in huge tent-houses south of the Rose Garden.  Exhibits inside the museum will include leather stamping and braiding, how to make hats, tin can footstools and rug hooking, to name a few.    Catch the Japanese dolls that will be on display by the Syringa doll club and don’t miss the parlor with a 1911 couple telling about news of the day.  The Marionette group has scheduled performances for 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in the theater space downstairs." 

Books for Classic Readers

Each year we have at least one request from a student or parent for a list of books that kids can read to achieve the Classic Reader designation in Accelerated Reader.  This can be tough particularly for young advanced readers because the student must read 3 books at a 6.0 or higher reading level that are worth 7 points or more.  In the link below you will found a list we have compiled with the help of older GT students who have met this goal.  If your child comes across a book that they would recommend for the list, please let us know!  We'll add it.

Miss Young
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_VBXnTxMgiVMmUxYmM4NDctZjcwYy00OWU4LTliMjctZTQ1NmY3MGE0NTc3&hl=en_US

Opportunity for Budding Artists

The Idaho School Boards Assocation is sponsoring their annual calendar contest.  The theme this year is "What I Love About America."  If you have a child that would be interested in entering this contest, please email me at ayoung@msd134.org and I will send you the entrance form. You can either send the entry in as a family or send it back to me at your child's elementary school by September 30th and I'll send a packet of entries in.  Have fun being creative!

Miss Young

Middleton GT Getting Up and Running

Families,

School has started and we have been busy!  We are currently testing students who have been referred to our program.  We are just about finished with this process and will be meeting with parents to discuss the results.  We are also meeting with teachers and using academic data to plan more specifically for how we will serve groups of students this year.

Mrs. Ingersoll will be again serving 4th and 5th grade students and teachers.  Miss Young will be serving 2nd and 3rd grades.  Both of us will be working with teams at the middle school on Fridays.

Please call or email if you have specific questions about how your child is being served at their school this year.

Thanks for teaming with us!

Miss Young (and Mrs. Ingersoll)

Names Matter: What Does the Label Gifted Mean?

Names and labels matter.  There is power in the words we use.  What those words mean can be different for each of us.  Unfortunately the label "gifted" has come with both positive and negative meanings and I believe this is because of the ambiguity associated with the word 'gifted'.  If you are an educator you are born with the perspective of finding the "gift" in every child.  To label certain children as 'gifted' seems to rub us wrong.  Whether you like or agree with the etymology of the word gifted, there is a need for us to know what the definition means and then to quickly move past the label to provide the opportunities and services for these children so they can be learning every day.  So, for the sake of being on the same page, here are the Federal and Idaho State definitions of "gifted".

Federal - The current federal definition of gifted students was originally developed in the 1972 Marland Report to Congress, and has been modified several times since then. The current definition, which is located in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities.

Note: States and districts are not required to use the federal definition, although many states base their definitions on the federal definition.

Idaho:  Gifted/talented children’ mean those students who are identified as possessing demonstrated or potential abilities that give evidence of high performing capabilities in intellectual, creative, specific academic or leadership areas, or the ability in the performing arts or visual arts and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities.”
(Idaho Code § 33-2001)

In the Middleton School District we label a student "gifted' if they meet this definition by scoring in the 95th percentile on a norm referenced academic or intellectual test or with a building team decision based on multiple data sources.  We also include "advanced" students who may be gifted or showing potential in one academic discipline, but not qualifying across the board at the 95th percentile.  For the Middleton School District the important thing is that we provide services to these students to help them continue to be engaged, learning, and growing to their fullest potential. 

Whether differentiation is happening in the classroom or small group services are provided by one of the GT Facilitators, collaboration with administrators, teachers, and parents is highly important to helping kids succeed.  Thank you for all you do to help this process!

Miss Young (and Mrs. Ingersoll)