
CFBISD Gifted & Talented Bulletin
Issue #2
Stay up to date with events and important information regarding all things K-12 GT.
It’s finally autumn! 🎃
"A time of hot chocolatey mornings, and toasty marshmallow evenings, and, best of all, leaping into leaves!” — Winnie the Pooh
Happy Fall from your Advanced Academics Team! 🌰 🍂
October 2023
Dear GT Families,
Today, I am hoping you all are having a wonderful day off and enjoying cooler weather. Are your children tired? Have you even noticed how difficult October can be? After the start of the school year magic, learning about new things, mid-fall can feel less exciting and more like drudgery. October is hard. When the rigor of curriculum moves from foundational to challenging, students and teachers feel the cognitive tension. October can feel very long because it is many many days or weeks until the next significant break. At this point in the year, we are feeling that the daily stressors are cumulative in their effect. What felt manageable in early September, has now snowballed.
With all of these October factors in play, I find myself getting lazy in meeting my basic needs. I feel I don’t have time for basic needs; However, time spent meeting these needs is always time well spent because they are the things that make me feel good and keep me well. So, let's reset!
RESETTING TO THE BASICS
Prioritize sleep: You set the 8:00 screens-off rule for a reason. That reason is called sleep. Sleep is essential for recovering from the constant cognitive pivoting and emotional regulating your child went through during the school day.
Drink Water: 16 ounces of water is actually not even close to enough. Dehydration = tiredness and mood dips. Make sure your children are used to drinking water throughout the day.
Eat meals, not just snacks: By this time, meal prepping is likely a relic of August. Be sure to send healthy meals for your children to keep physical and brain energy high.
Enjoy the fresh air: It’s finally getting cooler outside. Spend family time outdoors. Need I state the obvious? It might not last long, so enjoy it while you can!
Implement Gratitude: It’s time to implement the Shout Out. Be sure to build meaningful praise into your conversations with your children. Help them find ways to be grateful for the learning that takes place in successes and failures.
This is not rocket science, but it is hard at this time of year; re-grounding and getting back to our basic human needs is a great antidote to “What do ya expect? It’s October.”
How can you get involved?
Meet the Teacher: Tessa Stern
I moved to Texas after earning my Masters in Elementary Education from University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA.. This is my second year as the 1st Grade STEAM Teacher at Landry Elementary. In our classroom, we have started to use the coding program, Tynker, which students have loved getting to explore. In class, we have been incorporating Depth & Complexity into the instruction, which has been increasingly challenging student’s critical thinking skills!
Fun Fact: I love to travel as much as I can! I have been to 7 countries around the world.
STEAM First Grade coding with Tynker on their ipads
STEAM classes are starting to incorporate VEX Robotics into their curriculum. VEX Robotics encourages creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving among groups. Students learn how to read plans and implement builds to have a tangible example of how technology is used in our world.
Brought to you by GT Specialist MaryAnn Condie.
Gifted Buzz
Welcome Parents!
I am looking forward to using this digital space to share resources about various aspects of parenting gifted children. Today we are going to delve into a common issue – perfectionism in your gifted child. Believe it or not there is a healthy version of perfectionism that can be positive for students. It contributes to achievement and dedication to academic performance. These students have high expectations and motivation to complete tasks and the self-confidence to be able to do so. They are not overly anxious or worried or stressed.
What we as educators and parents don’t want to happen is for the healthy version of perfectionism to veer into the unhealthy territory. Unhealthy perfectionism can be stressful, and lead to anxiety, depression, procrastination, and become a mental health challenge. It can cause a child to feel that they can never measure up to their own or perceived others' expectations. There are many ways children demonstrate perfectionism and there are strategies to help them better manage their expectations.
I hope you will check out the National Association for Gifted Children’s Tip sheet on Perfectionism for more information and resources. Search for NAGC-TIP Sheet on Perfectionism . One of the resources for the Perfectionism Tip Sheet is Lisa Van Gemert’s book entitled Perfectionism: A practical guide to managing “never good enough”. The board of our local gifted parent organization, Carrollton Farmers Branch Association for Gifted & Talented (CFBAGT), has been doing a book study with this title. For more information about our local CFBAGT group go to www.cfbagt.org .
Brought to you by GT Specialist Sarah Eaton
Learning Corner
Supporting Our Twice-Exceptional Children
Strategies to Support Twice-Exceptional Children
Many students who receive gifted services may also have a learning difference (ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, dyslexia, etc.). These students are known as twice-exceptional or 2E students. Twice-exceptional students think and process information differently and therefore may need different support in place to be successful socially, emotionally, and academically. I recently attended a webinar hosted by NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children) titled Beyond Backpacks & Binders: Setting Your 2E Students Up for Success. The presenter, Sarah Finch Jackson, shared practical tips to help support 2E kids at home and at school.
Due to 2E kids having asynchronous development, some kids will find difficulty in tasks that other kids find easy to do. The presenter shared the example of putting a paper in the correct section of their binder. While most kids will just need 2-3 instructions/steps to get this task completed, some 2E kids might need 9-10 steps.
Establish routines
Explain the HOW and WHY of routines. Many kids simply will not do a task until they know the “why.” Example: You will take your shower (using soap, water, wash cloth, over your entire body) at night so that you sleep in later and have less things to do to get ready for school in the morning.
Communicate your expectations frequently and in multiple ways. Having things written on a posted checklist or a calendar will help reinforce your verbal expectations. Put the reminders in places the kids will see them and at their eye level (examples: the wall outside the bathroom or taped to the bathroom mirror).
Tip: Color-coding can be a powerful organizing tool (calendar events, checklists, folders, bins, etc).
Organize
Label everything. Children can be involved in the process of labeling so they feel they have some ownership. If everything has a designated place, it’s harder for kids to argue about where things should go. Example: I see there are shoes under your bed, however, the bin in your closet says “shoes,” so what do you think should happen next?
Helpful items to label: bookshelves, kitchen cabinets/drawers, closet sections, clothing drawers, various binders/folders/notebooks with subjects/classes
Find the organization tools that work for your child.
For school, teachers may designate that every student needs a binder for their class. Maybe the tabs are color coded and labeled by subject, and maybe they use pocket folders in the 3-ring binder for unfinished work.
For home, perhaps there’s a bathroom caddy with multiple compartments they take into the bathroom every night that has their shower soap, wash cloth, shampoo, toothbrush, & toothpaste. (Can you tell this is a topic I may be dealing with in my own life right now? LOL)
It may take trial and error to find the correct tools to help at home and school, but kids will feel more successful and less overwhelmed once they find the ones that work for them.
Teach self-monitoring/self-reflecting
Teach kids to evaluate how processes and routines are working at home and school. What worked well today? Where am I getting stuck? What was frustrating or didn’t work well that I want to change for tomorrow? Kids will need help as they begin to do this type of metacognitive exercise. Ask the questions together and help your child brainstorm possible adjustments. Try to implement SMALL changes incrementally. It can be overwhelming to start completely over. CELEBRATE what’s working well! Kids (and even adults) tend to focus on their struggles versus successes.
Teach children to manage their time. Have them set a goal for a particular task. Let’s use homework as an example. David thinks it will take him 20 minutes to do his math homework. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Tell David he should occasionally look up at the timer to gauge how he’s doing. At 10 minutes, he should be about halfway finished with the assignment. If he’s not, then he may need to adjust his expectation for completing math homework tomorrow. There is no prize if he “beats” the clock. It’s about being aware of the time taken for any given task.
These are just some of many suggestions to support 2E children. The last point the presenter made, which I strongly agree with and encourage, was this: The most important thing is to TRY new strategies and be PATIENT with yourself and your kids.
Brought to you by GT Specialist Niccole Cunningham
Resources:
Advanced Academics and Secondary GT Information
Do you have high school children taking AP Courses?
Whether your teen is considering taking an AP® course for the first time, or has already started their AP journey, here’s information to help you understand and support their experience in AP.
*****Click on the AP Loge to learn more about AP.
AP Exam Registration is open now until October 23rd.
- Check in with your child's Associate Principal for more information.
- Here are the 2024 AP Exam Dates.
- If not, be sure to have them check in with their teacher for the join code, and enroll ASAP.
- Once they have access to AP Classroom, be sure to check out the AP Daily Videos, as well as AP Daily Practice Sessions, and AP Daily Reviews.
Brought to you by Advanced Academics Specialist Michelle Wilson.
Middle School Academic UIL is here!
Have your child check in with their Advisory teacher for information on how to participate.