How can you help at home?
In general, I will always suggest students read. Whether it is a school assigned book or a reading for pleasure book, reading can't be topped.
Of course, the reading houses (Dahl, Rowling, and Paolini) are reading most nights. Dahl reads 2 chapters per week, Rowling- 3, and Paolini- 6 ( Hey it's a really long book.) Sometimes they will have vocabulary lists to do as they read and for Paolini- an interactive journal. I haven't had any complaints yet about the reading, but we do have a couple of kiddos a bit behind. Ask your student how they are doing.
For the math houses (Newton, Archimedes, and Da Vinci) student should be working on math facts. There should not be a long delay between when they are asked the fact and when they give an answer. This will totally help in the learning of higher level math skills as they won't become bogged down on the multiplication or subtraction and miss the point of the new skill. A fun accountability piece will be added soon. Here is the new site submitted by the Bolwells: http://www.webmathminute.com/
Finally, all students 2nd grade and up should be practicing on their keyboarding. We saw a huge jump in our GT student scores. Twenty -one different GT students scored "Exceeded Expectations" this past year on the PARCC test. This increase from 3 last year. One big change was the focusing on keyboarding skills for GT kiddos. If a student can only type 4 words per minute, there is no way to show what their teachers have taught them. OUr research shows they should be up to around 25 words per minute. I found that those even at 16 could show what they knew!! There are many free programs on-line. I used Dance Mat, because ot its focus on the home row keys. Any program that uses that strategy would be helpful. We had remarkable increases in typing rate even with once or twice a week. I also use an online typing test. We had them come in, take the test, record the rate, and then go to Dance Mat. However , anything you can do would be helpful.
Do I have high expectations? Yes, but I've never been disappointed in how students are striving to meet them. For the first time, many students are remarking about the challenging nature of what we are doing! I feel that is what a GT program should be. I hope you agree. (As always, I am open to discussion if a student is struggling. Please let me know!!)
Of course, the reading houses (Dahl, Rowling, and Paolini) are reading most nights. Dahl reads 2 chapters per week, Rowling- 3, and Paolini- 6 ( Hey it's a really long book.) Sometimes they will have vocabulary lists to do as they read and for Paolini- an interactive journal. I haven't had any complaints yet about the reading, but we do have a couple of kiddos a bit behind. Ask your student how they are doing.
For the math houses (Newton, Archimedes, and Da Vinci) student should be working on math facts. There should not be a long delay between when they are asked the fact and when they give an answer. This will totally help in the learning of higher level math skills as they won't become bogged down on the multiplication or subtraction and miss the point of the new skill. A fun accountability piece will be added soon. Here is the new site submitted by the Bolwells: http://www.webmathminute.com/
Finally, all students 2nd grade and up should be practicing on their keyboarding. We saw a huge jump in our GT student scores. Twenty -one different GT students scored "Exceeded Expectations" this past year on the PARCC test. This increase from 3 last year. One big change was the focusing on keyboarding skills for GT kiddos. If a student can only type 4 words per minute, there is no way to show what their teachers have taught them. OUr research shows they should be up to around 25 words per minute. I found that those even at 16 could show what they knew!! There are many free programs on-line. I used Dance Mat, because ot its focus on the home row keys. Any program that uses that strategy would be helpful. We had remarkable increases in typing rate even with once or twice a week. I also use an online typing test. We had them come in, take the test, record the rate, and then go to Dance Mat. However , anything you can do would be helpful.
Do I have high expectations? Yes, but I've never been disappointed in how students are striving to meet them. For the first time, many students are remarking about the challenging nature of what we are doing! I feel that is what a GT program should be. I hope you agree. (As always, I am open to discussion if a student is struggling. Please let me know!!)