Pangburn
Gifted and Talented
Program Options
Gifted children are as different from each other as they are from other children. They have needs for differing amounts of homogeneous grouping, and at various stages of development their interests differ. The gifted program is systematically organized, with the long rang goal of providing a rigorous and relevant education inpreparing our gifted students to become college and career ready. The goal is designed to guide the development of gifted students from the time they are identified through graduation from high school.
K-3 Enrichment
All students in grades K-3 are serviced through Whole Class Enrichment. In school, your child is taught handwriting, spelling, reading, math science, etc., but thinking – the process of making use of knowledge – is often neglected. It is my duty as a teacher of gifted and talented to help students learn how to analyze information, draw inferences, generate ideas, make connections, and solve problems.
The curriculum for Kindergarten thru 3rd grade Enrichment will be PETS (Primary Education Thinking Skills). PETS is a systematized enrichment and diagnostic thinking skills program. PETS serves the dual purpose of helping in the identification of academically talented learners and developing higher level thinking skills in students of all learners.
In Kindergarten, your child will be introduced to the skills in PETS. In 1st grade, your child will be introduced to six characters, each with a special thinking strategy. 2nd grade develops the thinking strategies further and introduces the students to blending the thinking strategies. 3rd grade, the characters continue to blend their thinking skills in a problem solving format.
4-6 Pullouts
At the end of 3rd grade, students are referred for testing and placement in the GT program. 4th, 5th, and 6th grade identified students are served a 150 minutes a week in the GT classroom with the GT facilitator. This time is spent on independent study and other units of study that focus on Bloom's Taxonomy and critical and creative thinking. These students also have the opportunity to participate in activities such as Chess, Quiz Bowl, YES for Arkansas, Noetic Learning Math Contest, educational field trips, and other higer level thinking competitions.
7th-12th Grade
7th and 8th Grade
Students in 7th and 8th grade are served through a GT Seminar class and Secondary Course Content. GT Seminar is a class where students can identify their interests and learning styles and select curriculum of their choice that meets their individual needs. Students in GT Seminar are led by the GT facilitator to seek out projects and activities that meet their needs. Our 7th and 8th grade core teachers (Math, Science, Social Studies,and Language Arts) are trained to differentiate classroom curriculum for our gifted students through Secondary Course Content.
9th-12th Grade
Students in 9th-12th grades are serviced through PreAP, AP, Concurrent Credit classes, and Secondary Course Content. GT students are encouraged to take PreAP, AP and Concurrent Credit classes, but not all students enroll in these classes. Therefore, those students are served through Secondary Course Content. Our 9th-12th grade core teachers (Math, Science, Social Studies,and Language Arts) are PreAP, AP and Secondary Course Content trained to differentiate classroom curriculum for our gifted students.
All students in grades 7th-12th are encouraged to participate in in out-of-class GT activities, such as Quiz Bowl, Model U.N., YES 2.0, Chess, Spelling Bee, Geography Bee, guest speakers, mini-seminars, and field trips.