Activities · 03-30-2014
1. What pattern do you see? 2. How do you know what color comes next? 3. How many times does the color yellow appear? 4. If the pattern continued 7 more times (for a total of 10 times) how many times would yellow appear? 5. If the pattern continued 7 more times (for a total of 10 times) how many times would green appear? 6. If the pattern continued, what would be the 48th color? What would be the 55th color? 7. How could you answer question 6 without naming each color? How could the pattern...
Activities · 03-25-2014
What is the name of your holiday? What will you do? With whom will you share the day? Create: Something that describes your holiday Decorations to hang from the ceiling A greeting card Invitations to the holiday celebration A postage stamp honoring the day Games A special meal A short speech for the celebration Something you can wear A song for friends and family to sing A new tradition If you missed "Make Up Your Own Holiday Day" that's okay. Your celebration can be today!
Museums · 03-17-2014
A few years ago, my fifth grade gifted and talented students completed a unique research project. Specifically, we sent letters to museum directors asking for input about one object, artifact, work of art, or a creative selection from their museum's collections. The selection could be a personal favorite, possess significant cultural relevance, be a "best" example of its kind, tell a story, promote a new idea, or expose students to a new experience. The purpose of the project was to provide...
Museums · 03-12-2014
Research in Brief In the classroom, students often tune out teachers who talk too much. Likewise, in the museum, too much information about art can cause eyes to glaze over. What follows are 3 guidelines for sharing information while promoting dialogue about art. Question: How can we use information effectively within dialogues about art? 1. Be informed, yet consider the relevance of the information to the audience. "What an adult finds helpful might not be useful to an 8-year-old." 2. Invite...
Activities · 03-08-2014
A warm-up is a short activity at the start of a lesson to jump-start students' thinking. Warm-ups have many purposes including: to introduce a new topic to reinforce skills to motivate students to prepare students to learn to assess how much students know The following warm-up uses data from a pedometer to reinforce math skills, geography, health, and well being. It also models how to incorporate exercise into a daily routine. (My students joked about my pedometer habit but were often curious...
Activities · 03-05-2014
We wanted to paint our dining room blue. There were so many choices, we didn't know what to do. We gathered paint swatches and samples to test; Chose "Cool Jazz Blue" and made crafts with the rest.
Books · 03-03-2014
Some of My Best Friends are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School (Third Edition) by Judith Wynn Halsted, M.S. Now in its third edition, this resource is helpful in selecting a variety of books for your child. In addition to discussing the social and emotional needs of gifted/talented children, there is information about choosing books that challenge readers. The annotated bibliography, organized by grade level, also includes recommended books from earlier editions....