Thank you so much for your excellent ideas and for taking the time
to respond!
Isabell

On 10/02/09, Jayne wrote:
> 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.
>
>
>
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>
>
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>
>
> 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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