Gifted Education
Identified Gifted and Talented students at Colonel Smith, may receive expanded academic course offerings in the classroom and may attend weekly WIN time meeting with the District Gifted Teacher, Mrs. Westen, while having home access to an online Makerspace- The Imagination Zone
SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
How Our Program Works:
⭐ Gifted and Talented WIN time meetings: Identified Gifted and Talented students have the option and may attend weekly WIN time meeting with the District Gifted Teacher, Mrs. Westen. During these WIN meetings, students focus on creative and critical thinking skills, expand trivia, participate in escape rooms, and participate in game based learning.
⭐Expanded Academic Course Offerings: Offerings may include acceleration, enrichment, flexible pacing, and interdisciplinary curriculum. Differentiated instruction that includes creative thinking, problem solving, and higher order thinking is a big part of the program as well.
Mrs. Westen, the gifted teacher, works with core classroom teachers to collaborate on enrichment as well as meets weekly with identified gifted students during designated WIN times.Need Enrichment Now? Try our Imagination Zone!
Testing:
If you believe your student is gifted you may request that they be tested. Referrals are available at each school site and testing occurs three times a school year. Students may only be tested once per school year. Students may be referred by either a parent, themselves, or teacher in order to be considered for testing for the gifted program.Next Gifted Testing Dates:
✏️ Fall testing September 23th to October 10th
✏️ Winter Testing: January 6th to January 24th 2025.
✏️ Spring Testing: April 28th to May 6th Note: Referrals due by April 8th , 2025
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
⭐ Specific testing dates for each school will be determined based on number of the number of referrals submitted by referral deadlines, announced to teachers.
⭐Please remember no student may be tested without parent permission. Deadlines for referrals and parent permission slips for testing will be emailed to teachers prior to testing dates.
Have Questions? Please Contact:
Nadia Westen, the District Gifted Teacher, works with each school site to ensure the gifted students are participating in project based learning, challenging students to increase skills in the 4C’s- collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication. Mrs. Westen has been teaching gifted education since 2013. Her philosophy for learning is that each child is unique, and each child learns in a different way, one of the jobs of gifted education is to help your child discover his or her individuality and work alongside them to maximize it.
