My "To Do" List That Needs to be Finished Before July 30

I have been procrastinating doing all the things that need to be done before going back to school. So....I have decided to link up with Lorraine over at Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies for her To Do List Before School linky.

I do have a disclaimer to add before listing my "To Do" List....and that is......this list is only for the items that I need to have done for school. There truly is a larger list for home and then there is my personal list as well. Oh Well....there just isn't enough hours in the day or days in the week to get everything done. Thank goodness for "To Do" lists and Lorraine's Linky party.

So.....here is my list: (Well...actually...it isn't the whole list but what I deem most important right now)

1. Make a Back to School To Do List.  (OK...I really felt the need to have something to mark off)
2. Complete Donors Choose grant for library books.
3. Create PowerPoint and brochure handout for teacher professional development on gifted/talented.
4. Plan Curriculum map and begin lesson plans for units.
5. Make a class schedule.
6. Print and assemble my Teacher's Notebook (I created my own...you can find it in my TpT store)
7. Purchase library baskets in class colors. (as soon as I figure out ...which colors)
8. Make T-shirt pillows for library.
9. Plan room arrangement
10. Create a Reader Biography packet
11. Decide how Reading will be incorporated into my classroom (since I teach Gifted/Talented students.. we don't teach reading, per se...but I have a passion for reading and so it is highly stressed in my classroom.) We did Reading Olympics last year...so I'm thinking....100 Book club or something. Any help with ideas for this would be greatly appreciated.

These are what I consider the most important on my list that is 40+...so I will not bore you with the rest.

Seriously....if you have any ideas for how I can incorporate Reading this next school year....please comment and let me know!!

OK...now that you have seen my list...why not hop on over to Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies and link up with your own list.

Dee

Understanding Gifted/Talented Children Series - Pt III - Social/Emotional Issues

First of all, let's get one thing straight. The needs of a gifted child is the same as those of other children. They go through the same developmental stages, just usually at an earlier age.

There are some unique social and emotional issues that gifted children face. It is important to recognize these issues and help our children deal with any problems they may face as a result of their giftedness.

Generally, gifted children seem to be better adjusted than most children their age, are very independent, and usually know exactly what they want.

However, gifted children are usually very aware of their differences as related to their age-mates, and for some finding real friends can sometimes be a difficult and disappointing task because of the differences.

Gifted children are sometimes introverted and like to spend time alone, but at the same time they are eager to have contact with friends their own age. Becoming active in social interests such as sports, music, art lessons, or some other interest activity outside of school will help the gifted child develop relationships with other children who share their interests and talents.

It is not uncommon for gifted students to relate their self-worth to their success in school. Because of their tendency toward perfectionism, this can result in a feeling of low self-worth. If this should happen, we need to help them set reasonable goals for themselves and create opportunities for them to feel more positive about themselves and their talents.

Children often experience and internal "tug-of-war" between themselves and being what they think everyone wants them to be.

To help your gifted child be sure to:

• nurture and encourage your child's unique talents
• help your child set reasonable goals
• encourage friendships with other children who have common interests and abilities
• accept your child as an individual and openly express that acceptance
• be flexible without being too permissive
• if you notice problems....communicate them with the school/teacher and let's solve the problem together!

You can access the previous posts in this series below:


Understanding Gifted/Talented Children series - Part I - Characteristics of Gifted Children

 Understanding Gifted/Talented Children series - Part II - Encouraging Creativity


Dee

Typical Characteristics of Gifted Children

As a teacher of Gifted/Talented students, I get questions pertaining to giftedness often. One of the questions I hear most often, from parents and other teachers is, how do I know my child/student is gifted?

Today's post will begin a new series on Gifted/Talented children. The purpose of these posts is to help parents and teachers of gifted/talented children assist these children in reaching their fullest potential.

Understand, there is no one test that can determine the giftedness of an individual. As educators, we use a multitude of information to determine a child's giftedness.

Characteristics of Gifted Children

Keep in mind, you most likely will not see all of these characteristics in any child.  These are the typical characteristics that may be seen:

• high level of language/verbal development
• high level of curiosity
• very sensitive
• creative
• often intensely motivated/persistent/ goal-oriented
• many times will resist direction or interruption
• often critical toward others
• dislikes routine and drill work
• prefers individualized work/needs freedom of movement and action
• has difficulty with criticism and is vulnerable to peer rejection
• can see diverse and unusual relationships
• unrealistic self-expectations/ often a perfectionist
• able to generate original and ideas and solutions
• has a keen sense of humor
• displays an increase sense of justice
• shows leadership ability
• has inconsistencies between intellectual maturity and social, emotional, and physical development
• sometimes may show poor test performance and achievement in basic skills areas
• daily work may frequently be incomplete or poorly done
• may have low self-esteem
• inability to focus attention and concentrate efforts on tasks
• difficulty making and keeping friends

Some of these characteristics seem to contradict one another, however, these are typical behaviors of gifted children. Your child or student may exhibit some but not all of these characteristics at one time or another.

Do you have a child or student that exhibits some of these characteristics?

Check back for the next installment in this gifted information series. I will be talking next on Encouraging Creativity.

Dee

Aboriginal Art by My Gifted Students

As you know from previous posts, we have been studying all about Australia. Well, my students think they must have art projects for everything...actually I think they may have gotten that idea from me since I totally love ART!! Anyway, we have been planning our paintings and this past week we got around to actually painting. The photos are of my 4th and 5th grades class...but in the background of some of the photos, you can see some of the 3rd grade paintings as well.

Just like with the Aboriginal paintings of Australia, each of these paintings has a story behind it. I will not be posting the stories...I do not want to type that much!! :)

Here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so proud of all my students. They have worked so hard...but at the same time had tons of fun! I have really enjoyed all the stories that go along with each of these paintings.

Now....as an added bonus, my principal has agreed to allow us to have an art show right after MCT2 state testing. We are going to invite parents and the community so everyone can see exactly what these students have been working on the past few weeks.

OK...guess I will leave this for now....Until Next Time.....

 Dee

Five for Friday

I have been seeing this Five for Friday linky going on for a few weeks now and decided that this would be the Friday that I link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching and join in on the party.

Here goes my Five for Friday:

 1. We have been doing our district benchmark testing all week..well Tuesday through Thursday. It seems that all the teachers and kiddos were wound tight this week. I guess that is what benchmark testing does for everyone. Just wait until the end of this month when we do our comprehensive test...talk about wound tight!!! Anyway...because of this testing, I only got to pull my gifted students on Monday and Friday. Boy...did I miss them!!

2. So....my Monday and Friday groups are the only kiddos that I had in my classroom this week (I had to administer tests to one of the 4th grade classes along with the 5th grade science test). FUN!!! YeaH!!!! Annyhow....we have started a unit on Australia and I decided they would do some aboriginal art painting...........on rocks!! Do you know how difficult it is to find a decent sized rock in the Mississippi Delta? NOT EASY!!!!! However there were a few found and this activity was a huge success. Just take a look at the photos. (These are from my Monday group's rock paintings...they are 6th grade).

Didn't they do a fabulous job on this activity? These kiddos really seemed to get into it!!

3.  I tutor several 3rd grade students in Reading after school two days per week. I still get so excited when a student shows improvement in their reading. This little sweetie started with me reading on a 1.9 grade reading level. I haven't tested her to see where she stands at this particular moment. But she began with me not being able to read a lot of the sight words. We are now using phrase cards..(yes...the ones that I have in my TpT store) and when we started using them she was only getting about 18-20 phrases in a minute. This week my little sweetie has managed to consistently swing 40 phrases per minute!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

OK...I took this photo on Tuesday after the tutoring session...and forgot to take another one after Thursday's session...but she hit that 40 mark on Thursday as well!! I am so proud of her!! She has really been working hard!!

4.  At 3:30 today....I will officially begin my spring break....what am I doing during my spring break you ask? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!! Yeah right! I am sure I will be cleaning and decluttering. That seems to be what I do every time I have a little time off from school. But...that is alright with me. I really am not going anywhere.

5. I am putting this one as my #5...because I will enjoy a fabulous dinner with my sweet hubbles tonight to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary. NO...today is not the actual date...that would be next week on the 14th....However, the hubbles will getting chemo on that day and we have opted to celebrate tonight!

What is your Five for Friday??? Come on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and link up with yours!!!!

Dee

Art is always a hit with the kiddos....

Just a short post to show some of what we have been doing in the gifted classroom the past two weeks. My students are always in the mood for a little art...especially if it involves some paint or oil pastels to go along with it.

I took advantage of Groundhog Day and the groundhog to lead into the lesson on elements of art: light, shade, and shadow.

The students used flashlights to have their silhouette drawn. The the students began to draw all kinds of things that represent themselves....all things they like to do, eat, go, or just plain like.

The art work is not finished but here are a few photos of some of their work in progress.


All of the photos are of some of my 2nd graders.

 

 

 

Can you tell just how much fun these kiddos were having? They were totally engrossed in what they were doing and these pieces of art are turning out to be some fabulous works.

Be sure to check back to see how wonderful these pieces of art turn out.

 Dee

Project Based Learning

In my gifted/talented class, we have begun using project based learning. Let me back up a bit...we have mostly been doing units that had some project element to it....but I have been researching Project-Based Learning and decided that this was what my kiddos needed to be doing...at least a part of the day.

So....this week is the first lesson that have been delivered....yes...I know it has only been two days in this week yet....but because I serve a 6th grade class on Monday and 2nd through 6th grade on Tuesday that means I have actually delivered the beginning of both of the lessons that will be taught for my two Project-Based Learning units. My 4th through 6th grade are doing a unit on Heroes (classical & contemporary) and my 2nd and 3rd grade are doing a unit on how we communicate (this is a writing/art unit that requires them learn about vivid language(adjectives, similes, and metaphors). I must say today was an absolute blast. While I worked with the little ones....my older ones read a Greek myth and discussed the character traits of the characters that made them heroes. But that isn't all....I was worried this would be a little boring for them....they were so engaged....I was totally amazed!

So....I figure the rest of the week has to be good. I have only 2nd grade tomorrow....but there are 12 of them...so we will see how that goes. Then I have 3rd grade on Thursday. This one should be a piece of cake. Then Friday I will have 4th and 5th. This should prove to be another day filled with some awesome discussion about Greek myths.

I have to say....I am always amazed when my lessons go over so well....gifted/talented students can be some tough cookies sometimes.

What kind of day/week have you had? I would really like to know!

Dee

What we have been doing the past week.....

Due to our 2 days of fall break on Monday and Tuesday last week, I just finished up with a weeks worth of lessons on the Elements of Art - Lines. We really had so much fun with this lesson.Now...some of you may know that I serve Gifted/Talented students at 3 different schools in my district. I have a total of 58 students that I serve on a weekly basis. Each day I pull a group of students out of the regular education classroom to my classroom to receive services for 6 hours per week.

Here is the anchor chart that I created with the help of the students. Now mine isn't as pretty as a lot of the anchor charts that I see all over Pinterest and blog land....but at least it did the trick for the students.

Once we had the lesson and discussed the different types of lines, the students were instructed to make a name tag and decorate it with lines .... and color of course....everyone knows that Mrs. Bibb....love color!! Take a look.........at them while they were working.   OK...that didn't work. I can't seem to figure out how to keep my "masking" of students' faces on when I paste into my blog...will have to do more research on this. If you know how to do this....please leave me a comment and tell me how!

OK....here are some of the student name tags after they finished. All of these students are at one school....but there are several age groups represented here.



Here are a few close ups.

After doing this lesson with my students this past week, I find out at lunch time today that one of my other principals wanted me to go to a professional development tomorrow (October 17) that is being put on by the MS Arts Council....want to guess what part of the professional development is going to be about......you guessed it....Elements of Art. Well it also will be talking about using core curriculum with integrating art in to lesson plans. This should definitely be an interesting day tomorrow.

I will let you know how the PD goes after I get back.....maybe Thursday (not going to promise I will blog tomorrow night!)

OK...I am really tired...so I'm off to beddy bye now!!!

Dee