William and Mary have developed curricula for Math, reading/lit, science and social studies that are aimed for gt kids. We looked at the literature one and it looks really good. I then checked out the science one and it too looks good. You can check them out at
W&M curriculum Then along with a book review about
Love for learning motivation and the gifted child (which was highly recommended) the following websites were given as places to find cool things to get and keep kids motivated:
visual thesaurus This is a word web thesaurus. It allows you to put in a word and then a web is made of a ton of synonyms and antonyms. If you click on a word, that becomes your main word and another web appears. With the free trial you can do 6 webs before it tells you you need to buy it. But, it allows you to go back and make as many 6 web iterations as you want.
The next few, we didn't get the exact URL for, but they can be googled. And, I think they said that they are all free!
Verizon has a site called thinkfinity.com
intel thinking tools
microsoft photostory (digital book making)
inspiration.com (also kidspiration.com) - you can make a mind web or put your ideas in outline form and it will switch the form back and forth from one to another.
The state of Colorado is also starting a review of gt programs in the state. On a 4 year basis 4 people from the staet will visit each BOCES or district and do a review of what is happening with the gt programs. They will then give suggestions about how to improve and concerns they have. So, they are starting accountability for the districts. There is a big problem in the state of gt students not showing growth throughout the year after grade 4. So, they get identified in grade 3 and show growth, but then that is it. (Obviously an issue) In fact there are many cases of gt kids scoring the highest in some areas of the CSAP tests (state tests) but not even scoring proficient in others.
Finally there are plans for more meetings next year to address things like writing ALPS (most around here do not know how to do it), informing parents of programs and services (there is very little parent involvement here because most schools are close mouthed about what is happening), and the CO assoc. for gt's annual conference is Oct 5th and 6th in Denver.
It was interesting to hear how the gt coordinators from the area see things and what theya re dealing with. They are facing a lot of resistance from the higher ups to do much of anything for gt kids. They are very frustrated with the situation (almost as much as the parents I know are). They too thought it was interesting to get a parent's opinion on how things are perceived.
