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|  | | | | EXPO’S Gifted and Talented Program | |  | | Geography Fair Projects |
My name is Gail Pierce and I am the Gifted and Talented Specialist at EXPO. I am very excited to be able to tell you about our program. If you have any questions after reading about our program, please feel free to contact me at EXPO. My e-mail address is gail.pierce@spps.org or my phone number is 651-290-8384 ext 2259. I look forward to working with you and your learners while they are at EXPO.
As part of our Gifted and Talented program I work with individual learners as well as whole classrooms. We look at each learner individually and work to meet their needs both in and out of the classrooms. Being able to collaborate with the homebase educator allows for all learners to participate in the enrichment activities being offered at different levels of complexity.
Our gifted program begins in kindergarten and follows the learners through sixth grade. Depending on the classroom, the topic being covered, and the classroom educator, G/T learners may be offered a small or large group learning environment when working with me. I may be co-teaching a unit for the whole class along with that classroom educator with my focus on the G/T learners of that room. Besides working with me, all classroom educators provide G/T services within their classrooms by differentiating their curriculum to meet the needs of all their learners.
All G/T learners are identified the same way throughout the district. Every January the NNAT test is given to all kindergarteners and second grade learners along with other learners that have been nominated to take the test in grades one, three, four, and five. Some learners who have not been identified by the test may be included in the G/T program if they would benefit from what we were planning on doing.
Since becoming the G/T Specialist here at EXPO I have worked on a variety of units with many different classrooms including a Pioneer Unit, a Geography Unit, an Immigration Unit, and a Minnesota Unit with third and fourth graders and a Mapping Unit and a daily math class with first graders. With the older learners I have worked with Literature Groups and Renzulli Learning projects.
This year I have been focusing on Creative Problem Solving. Every day the learners see me they are given a different problem to solve either with a partner of by themselves. Have you ever tried to put toothpaste back in the tube using a plastic spoon, duct tape, a straw, and a piece of 8 ½ x 11 paper? That is only one of the many problems our learners have been working on. It is fun to see how creative these learners are when trying to solve a problem! The G/T schedule this year has changed from previous years. We are trying a new schedule that has me working with each classroom once a week for about 50. This schedule will stay the same for the entire school year. In years past we have done a rotating schedule where I would only see the learners for a four to six week stretch. Working with the groups weekly has benefited not only the identified learners, but everyone involved, myself included. EXPO prides itself on being a community of learners
G/T activities happen throughout your learner’s day, not just when they are with me. Every classroom educator differentiates the curriculum within the classroom so that a learners has the opportunity to challenge themselves at a level that is comfortable for them. An integral part of EXPO is our Enrichment Classes (Theaters of Learning). These classes are offered twice a year for five weeks. This is a program where the learners choose what class they would like to participate in based on what their interests are. These classes are taught by EXPO staff that also may bring in specialists to help teach the class. Our Literacy Program is made up of flexible literacy groups that are differentiated based on every learner’s needs and strengths. Children are always allowed to work at their constantly changing ability levels. EXPO along with every St. Paul elementary school uses Everyday Math which includes lessons that can be differentiated based on every child’s needs. We offer testing in math, using KeyMath to see if a learner is eligible to grade skip. We provide math classes through seventh grade.
We also like to involve our learners in activities that may not specifically be part of the regular school day. In the past we have had eleven third and fourth graders participated in the Minnesota State Geography Fair. We are very proud of the work they did and how they conducted themselves representing EXPO. We have also been part of the Geography Bee and the Spelling Bee. I am always looking for other opportunities for our learners. Below are some of the projects that were created for last year’s Geography Fair.
The goals of EXPO’s Gifted and Talented program are:
• Add depth and complexity to our curriculum
• To provide differentiating curriculum to help meet the needs of all learners
• Collaboration between the G/T specialist and homebase educators
• Curriculum Compacting (modify curriculum to allow learners to move at a faster pace)
• To offer enrichment activities during the school day
• To offer extra curricular activities
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