Sometmes I ask the kids. I asked my 2/3rd grade group and they
decided Rain Forest, US History and Space. We are on trimesters
so we will switch units each marking period.

I have also done some formal programs with my 4/5th grade group.
I did artifact box exchange, newsbowl, and math olmypiads. You
have to pay but none of them are that expensive and then you have
a curriculum.

I also like to do books that I really like depending on the
kids. I've done Frindle, Hatchet, Sideways Stories from Wayside
School. You can find tons of information online to go with each
novel. Sometimes we write are own stories inspired by the books.

One year--I did Magic School Bus for the whole year. We read a
different book each week and did a science experiment to go with
the topic. At the end of the school year, the kids wrote their
own story in Magic School Bus style--I gave them clip art to
illustrate--then we finished with an author's tea.

One unit I have always wanted to do is read Cryptid Hunters, then
have each kid pick a cryptid and research about it but I haven't
had the right group for this.

On 10/02/09, GT Teacher wrote:
> On 10/01/09, Isabell wrote:
>> I am a retired K teacher. My principal has asked me to
>> take a one day a week position teaching gifted children.
>> I'll be working with grades 2 and 3 for half the day and
>> grades 4 and 5 for the other half day. There are no
>> curriculum guides or materials. Any suggestions would be
>> SO appreciated!
>> Thanks!
>> Isabell
>
> It will be fun - sounds like it can be wonderful enrichment
> time. What resources do you have? A laptop connected to a
> projector would be nice.
>
> What are your interests? I can feed you material but with no
> curriculum to follow, you can follow your bliss. What about a
> first unit entitled "Speaking Through Stone"? One of my
> favorites and we study public sculpture - who puts these huge
> and sometimes small monuments into our parks and by our
> highways? Why? How do they decide who gets a sculpture and
> what it will look like?
> Princeton New Jersey considered several versions of an Albert
> Einstein sculpture before letting the public choose one. You
> can access hundreds of public scupltures on line and the kind
> of 'out of the box' thinking that this is works well for GT
> children.
> And get some clay - after consideration of other sculptures
> intended to honor someone or some event, let them make one of
> their own. In fact, this 'unit' could cover two weeks.
>
> Consider the two monuments and the HUGE fight over them that
> are the memorials to those who died in the Vietnam War.
> There's a great documentary on it - I'm blanking on the name
> but it's certainly one the older children could watch. Which
> of those two represents the concept better? Consider also the
> huge fight over the new statue of Franklin Roosevelt and
> whether he should be portrayed as physically challenged or
> not.
>
> GT children have the ready ability to consider such matters
> and have strong opinions about them.
>
> For a start the above might work well - I've used it many
> times and every time it's been well-received by students and
> parents alike.
>
>

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