Parents Need Information, Too

Several weeks ago our district had a parent information meeting.  After reading through some of their forms, it reminded me of the power of sharing information with parents.   This idea reminded me of this blog that seems to get put aside.  I guess one reason the blog gets put aside is the idea of the “other needs” for our children.  Parent questions and needs are also critical for those of us raising children with advanced potential, and I feel like the blog is a great way to feed information to parents.  Shout out to our amazing parents for reminding me of this!

One question that seemed to pop out at me (with the Holidays around the corner) was, “How do we keep little Suzie (not a real person) engaged at home?”  Parents also noted the need for more help with increasing their child’s perseverance.  The first thing that popped into my mind was ThinkFun Games.  The games from this company offer critical thinking opportunities that are actually fun!  Some games can be played alone.

Check out their website.

Think Fun Games

Another thing that popped into my mind was coding.  One app I really like is LightBot.  I like this because when students “run” the program it becomes a “self-checking” device.  Students have to figure out what they did wrong.  This game also provides students with some basic knowledge about coding.  Check it out.

LightBot

Two other great places to find games…

MindWare

Fat Brain Toys

Providing games, building blocks, science kits, etc., that require imagination, thinking, and/or revisiting the problem give students an opportunity to build critical thinking skills and perseverance that will nurture potential and increase student success in many areas.  And…it’s fun.

If you have a child who likes to opt out of challenge, you may have to play the games with them and not allow your child to quit playing.  Set a timer, have your child attempt for that amount of time, and then let them walk away.  They need to revisit the challenge at a later time.

So look into some of these games to engage your children at home, but also, make them READ a BOOK.  That’s a soapbox for another day.

 

National Parenting Gifted Children Week 2014

Check out the opportunities provided by the National Association for Gifted Children.  There are archived webinars and convention presentations that might interest you!

http://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources-parents/national-parenting-gifted-children-week-2014

Great Expectations

After recently reading a blog, I began to wonder if the kiddos we are with every day know and understand what our expectations really mean and when is it enough?  The idea of having to live up to someone else’s expectation without a break seems exhausting. Pressure.  Too much of it begins to work against us.  So how can we push our kids without pushing them over the edge?  I like these.  It’s a real good start.

Simple expectations of children…

1) Learn to work hard

2) Put forth reasonable effort at learning and facing challenges

3) Maintain a healthy perspective on what you can and cannot do in your life

Fabulous.  Gee these are good for the “big” kids, too.

Read the rest of the blog.  It will give you language to help kids know it’s okay to not be perfect.  Reassure your children and affirm their value.  You’ll make someone’s day!  Someone’s life.

Great Expectations Original Post

My Mom’s Drawing Book

My mom, Kaylea Mangrum, has self-published 4 books.  She designed a drawing instruction process, called Frog Hops, and applied it to these step-by-step drawing books.  Currently, you can download one of them for free as an iBook in iTunes.  This past year, her book was one of the top downloaded books in the category for the year. Cool!!

WHY do I think this is appropriate for this blog?  When I taught kindergarten, we would use these step-by-step instructions to draw a picture and write about it.  It also helped with visual discrimination when they used the instructions independently in workstations.

Here is a sample page of the free download.  This particular book has more difficult tasks.  Try this book, for free, on the iPad.  Go to iTunes and search for Kaylea Mangrum in iBooks.  The title of the free download is How to Draw Step-by-Step with Special Kids.  (She has done work with the Special Kids Organization in town.  Her time with them inspired her to produce this work.)

Sure I’m proud of my mom.  But I am also a sucker for free things…especially when it can help in my classroom!  Push creativity by asking them to complete the picture with questions such as, “What’s the weather?  I can’t tell by your picture.”

ENJOY!

Accelerated Reader and the Gifted Child

This combination often presents itself when working with setting goals for gifted students.  I realize there are multiple viewpoints, and we all have conviction which is why we  make the choices we make as teachers in our classroom.  The following is simply another window for viewing, and I hope it will be something to help you reflect as you decide on the  requirements for students.

When evaluating whether or not to place AR requirements on your gifted students (or others for that matter), remember the “why.”  What is your purpose?  Most of us are trying to get kids to read  (motivate), monitor reading levels, and/or do a simple check to make sure they are really reading.

If we are trying to reach those goals, we must periodically ask ourselves “Is AR working for this child?”  Reading some research, I came upon a dissertation from Renee Stewart.  I thought she had some interesting findings.

• Of the sample of students, what they found was requirement or not, the gifted students who liked AR would participate regardless of requirements; however, that was an extremely small group.
• Over time, without AR requirements, the student began to read fewer books…at higher reading levels and books with more pages.  (What are we as educators trying to obtain?  Make sure you monitor your “why” before you answer.)
• Without ANY requirement (AR or just reading), the amount of read grew significantly less over time.  In other words, when the students weren’t required to read, they didn’t.

For gifted students, choice is extremely important (I personally feel this is good for all kids.).  If you find yourself in a place, with your AR requirement, wondering why the gifted child isn’t reaching the goal for AR, perhaps it’s not working for them.  Re-evaluate the requirements.  Require reading but include student choice and interests.  Then ask the student to design a plan to show you what they learned as they read the book.  The results may surprise you because they typically go far beyond what we would have asked when given the opportunity to “invent.”

Disclaimer:  This is not a stamp of approval or against this specific program.  I am simply saying have a purpose and monitor to make sure you are on a path that will insure your student arrives at the destination!

Bottom line?  If you want your students to read, you must require them to read.   A teacher can only monitor “real reading” if students are required to produce something from the book showing his/her thinking.  I believe we call it assessment…and I don’t mean a 10 question recall quiz.  We need to build reading stamina in our students.

When was the last time you reflected over your reading requirements?