Gifted Resource Classes

Language Arts | Math | Spatial Reasoning

In the Kyrene School District gifted programs, we differentiate the content, processes and products according to a student's readiness, interest and learning profile.

~ Content- what the teacher wants the student to learn and the materials or resources through which that is accomplished
~ Process- activities designed to ensure that students use key skills to make sense out of essential ideas and information
~ Products- vehicles through which students demonstrate and extend what they have learned

Gifted Resource Language Arts Curriculum

Advanced reading and writing skills are infused with complex thinking skills: critical reasoning (thinking analytically); creative reasoning (thinking divergently), and metacognitive reasoning (thinking about thinking). Click here to view our Six-Trait Reading Rubric.

A major part of the reading curriculum focuses on the analysis of literature. Complex thinking skills are best modeled through the analysis of literature and written communication. "Reading and language arts are the perfect vehicle for developing higher-order thinking because literature - perhaps more than any other source of information - provides powerful models of problem-solving processes. It is full of characters who engage in effective and ineffective attempts at solving problems, who use incisive or fuzzy reasoning, and who rely on adequate or inadequate evidence" (Beck, 1989).

We use Newbery Award-winning literature as well as the Junior Great Book Series for our analysis and discussions. We also study nonfiction pieces, learning how to extract information, find or interpret the main idea, summarize, and make personal meaning. Click here to view our Reading Response Rubric. Students learn to ask good questions about what they read; questions that call for "reading between the lines and beyond the lines". Click here to view our Questioning Rubric.

In addition to written responses during literature Studies, students engage in a variety of writing tasks and genres. The Six-Trait Writing Model is used as a guide to teaching the skills of ideas, voice, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Click here to view a Six-Trait Writing Rubric.

Student links for Verbal Reasoning enrichment

Gifted Resource Math Curriculum

A general overarching goal of mathematics is to develop a deep and lasting understanding
of mathematical concepts and problem solving strategies. Spatial reasoning skills facilitate the understanding of abstract ideas, especially in the areas of algebra and geometry. When students are challenged to build, hold, and manipulate mental pictures they develop the thinking processes and strategies to comprehend mathematical concepts and processes.

Developing Mathematical Thinking with Effective Questions

To help students build confidence and rely on their own understanding, ask…

• Why is that true?
• How did you reach that conclusion?
• Can you make a model to show that?

To help students learn to reason mathematically, ask…

• Is that true for all cases? Explain.
• Can you think of a counterexample?
• How would you prove that?

To check student progress, ask…

• Can you explain what you have done so far? What else is there to do?
• Why did you decide to use this method?
• Is there a more efficient strategy?
• Why did you decide to organize your results like that?
• Do you think this would work with other numbers?
• Have you thought of all the possibilities? How can you be sure?

To help students collectively make sense of mathematics, ask…

• What do you think about what _____ said?
• Do you agree? Why or why not?
• Does anyone have the same answer but a different way to explain it?

To encourage conjecturing, ask…

• What would happen if…? What if not?
• Do you see a pattern? Can you explain the pattern?
• What are some possibilities here?
• Can you predict the next one? What about the last one?

The Math Curriculum covers five broad strands:

1. Number Sense and Operation
2. Data Analysis and Probability
3. Patten, Functions, and Algebra
4. Geometry
5. Measurement

Click here to view the 5th Grade Gifted Math Learning Objectives

Student links for math enrichment

Gifted Resource Spatial Reasoning Curriculum

Spatial (also known as nonverbal) reasoning is reasoning about shape, measurement, depiction and navigation. Two types of thinking are involved: visualization and visual thinking. “Spatial visualization” means to bring inherently visible things to mind; while the term “visual thinking” refers to forming mental visual images of ideas, concepts, and processes that are not inherently spatial, such as forming a mental image of division. Spatial reasoning is the overall thought process of using these mental images acquired from visualization and visual thinking to gather information, and then transforming the mental images into concrete spatial representations for others to see and understand.

Some of the activities and materials we use in the spatial classes include: Lego simple machines, 3-D geometry, Hands-on Equations^©, tessellations, pentominoes, and isometric drawing.

Student links for spatial reasoning enrichment

 

Ruth Sunda, Gifted Resource Teacher
Kyrene de las Brisas Elementary School
Chandler, AZ
rsunda@kyrene.org

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