PCE Gifted Education News
October 31, 2024
Understanding Gifted Learners
Asynchronous Development - Gifted children often develop at different rates than their average peers. Where many children will be roughly average in all areas, gifted children can be far ahead and far behind typical development depending on the topic. For example, a gifted child may be very good in math but struggle with reading. That’s okay! (More info below)
Overexcitabilities - Gifted students often have one or more overexcitability. These are inborn intensities that result in a heightened response to stimuli. But they can be a good thing too, especially when you play to a child’s strengths! An imaginational excitability might result in amazing creative writing. An emotional excitability may mean that they want to change the world around them. Notice and appreciate what makes your gifted students unique! (More info at SENG - Overexcitabilities)
Math Olympiad
Does your child love solving challenging math problems? PCE has a Math Olympiad team for students in grade 4-6. The team competes in monthly contests earning points for our team. We are competing against other elementary schools around the country by solving challenging math problems. The first meeting of Math Olympiad is on November 8 and will run through March 28th. We will meet Friday mornings from 7:50-8:30 am. We play math games, discuss math strategies, and enjoy taking on challenges! If your child is interested in joining, register through the MySchoolBucks link. Cost for this club is $10 per student.
Please see the instructions below for registration and payment. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. Camp (acamp@dcsdk12.org) or Mrs. Giraldes (smgiraldes@dcsdk12.org).
To register your student:
Go to MySchoolBucks.com (this is the same process for lunches/tuition/school fees)
Log In to your account or create a new account
Click on School Store, then select "Browse All Items"
Click on PCE - Math Olympiad
Complete Registration form and add item to cart, your student is not registered until payment is made.
Please contact the PCE office, Amy Camp, or Shanna Giraldes if you have problems with registration.
Myth #3: "Gifted Students Make Everyone Else in the Class Smarter by Providing a Role Model or a Challenge."
Truth: Average or below-average students do not look to the gifted students in the class as role models. Watching or relying on someone who is expected to succeed does little to increase a struggling student’s sense of self-confidence. Similarly, gifted students benefit from classroom interactions with peers at similar performance levels and become bored, frustrated, and unmotivated when placed in classrooms with low or average-ability students. - National Association for Gifted Children
Science
- The University of Colorado Boulder has math and science interactive simulations that are super fun. Well, if you’re a nerd like me, which you probably are or you wouldn’t be reading this.
- Molecular Workbench hundreds of virtual labs in multiple science subjects. Requires download of (free) software.
- Learn.Genetics has loads of activities and labs related to biology, genetics, and human health.
- HHMI Biointeractive is another lab/simulation site. Lizard Evolution Molecular Lab, anyone? They’ve got that and more.
- McGraw-Hill offers online labs for free, no need to have the textbook.
- The NOVA labs are super cool, and have educator guides, so it can give you some direction.
