Welcome to Los Paseos GATE Parent Night December 6, 2006 Please take a Parent Handbook.

Welcome to Los Paseos’GATE Parent Night

December 6, 2006

Please take a Parent Handbook

Agenda•What is a gifted child?

•What makes people successful?

•How did my child get identified?

What is a gifted child?• Unusually large vocabularies for their

age

• Ability to read earlier than most children, often before entering school

• Greater comprehension of the subtleties of language

• Longer attention span, persistence and intense concentration

• Ability to learn basic skills more quickly and with less practice.

• Wide range of interests• Highly developed curiosity and

a limitless supply of questions.• Interest in experimenting and

doing things differently• Tendency to put ideas or things

together in ways that are unusual and not obvious.

What makes successful people?

• Alert

• Committed to a task

• Flexible

• Courageous

• Decision Makers

• Enthusiastic

• Decision Makers

• Energetic

• Risk Takers

• Self Confident

How did my child get identified for GATE?

• Screening• Testing • Case Study• Evaluations• Panel review• District Office approval

Case Study

• Report cards• Anecdotal records• Teacher (s) evaluation• STAR test results• Running Records• Student information sheet

What is the legislation governing Gifted and Talented Education?

• The Education Consolidation and Improvement Act passed by Congress in 1981 - Gifted and Talented students are ones who have high performance capability in intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership or specific academic.

What California legislation are we under currently?

•2000 new legislation was passed with standards set for GATE programs.

•Presently, working under a three year plan for Morgan Hill Unified.

•Parent Involvement is a key component

•Differentiated strategies must reside in the regular classroom

How do schools meet the legislation?

• Recipe for Differentiation• Compact the Curriculum• Acceleration, complexity,• Novelty, depth• Mix well• Serves for a lifetime.

Compacting the Curriculum

• Eliminating skills or concepts already mastered by the student.

Depth

• Challenging learners by enabling them to venture further, deeper, and in a more elaborative manner.

Complexity

• Broadening the learner’s understanding of the area of study by making connections, relationships, and associations.

Novelty

• Gaining a personal understanding of the area under study or constructing meaning of knowledge in an individualized manner.

• Enrichment

Acceleration

• Altering the pace or speed of learning and providing more sophisticated resources for learning in order to challenge learners.

Individualized Program Design

• Given by your homeroom teacher at conference or after identification takes place. http://www.mhu.k12.ca.us/

End of Year Report Card

• This shows the opportunities your child participated in that meet the definition of differentiation.

How can parents help their gifted child?

• Always be aware that you cannot protect your children from all painful experiences.

• Be consistent, fair and honest in all interactions.

• Take advantage of your child’s questions to guide further learning.

• Answer their questions with patience and good humor.

• Provide opportunities for the development of physical and social skills.

• Avoid comparing your child with another.

• Provide opportunities for the development of physical and social skills.

• Provide a place to display their work.

• Read to and with your child• Act as a role model• Help your children make decisions• Provide quality time for your

children• Develop good communication with

your children.

• Teach values to your children

• Never do your children’s homework

• Help your child learn to prioritize everything

• Don’t criticize or ridicule your children

• Validate your children by loving them because they are your children and not because of the grades they receive.

• Help in the selection of T. V. programs

• Provide a place where your child can work on his/her studies and hobbies.

• Provide increased independence as the ability to handle responsibility increases.

• Avoid pushing your child into activities

• Set educational goals and visit college campuses

• Provide opportunities to learn about varied occupations.

What resources can parents access for help?

GATE Parent Support Group

• A collaborative group of parents of GATE students who are willing to help institute an after school enrichment program for identified and invited students

How Can You Help?• Teach a class for 10-15 students one to four

afternoons (Tues., Thurs., or Fri.)• Monitor a class – Be an extra adult in the classroom

to pass out materials, watch behavior, run errands, stay with students until they are all picked up.

• Snack person- Serve and watch over snack time (3:00-3:15) before the sessions begin.

• Supplier of snacks• Class scheduler – Help schedule students into classes.• Class finder – Help us find enrichment opportunities.

Field Trip Opportunities

• Help us arrange one fall and one spring enrichment trip.

• Fall – a performance or science oriented field trip such as Tech Museum with lab

• Spring – a visit to Cal or Stanford (5th and 6th grade only alternating each year.)