The past week was a great week in room 8. The weather began to cool down and the scholars felt more comfortable with our classroom routines and what to expect from a GATE class. They are beginning to understand that gifted education doesn't just mean more work, it means work that makes us think in a different way where the answer isn't always obvious right away. Sometime students can have a hard time adjusting to academic contexts with more than one right answer, but these scholars seem excited about the opportunity to think critically.
Sometimes parents wonder if GATE means their child is skipping ahead and doing work for the next grade level. GATE is not about pushing ahead or just doing more work, it's about recognizing capable young minds who are able to take the same grade level standards to a deeper, more complex level of understanding. Rather than spending our class time asking and answering surface level questions (what, where, when...) we can explore a text's meaning and make more meaningful connections to academic content (why, could, should, what if....) to provide more appropriate challenge.
During the past week we began exploring the icons of depth and complexity, which we will apply to all subject areas throughout the year. These icons are consistent throughout the GATE program and are used in all grade levels. Last week we discussed Language of the Discipline, Details, Unanswered Questions, and Rules.
Language of the Discipline means the specialized vocabulary required to understand a subject, topic, or text. For example, some of the language of the discipline for our classroom would be "scholar," "1, 2, 3 eyes on me," "reading club," and "compliment can." These are terms specific to my classroom. A student in room 8 would understand what these terms mean and how they are used in our class. Similarly, a paleontologist has language of the discipline in their career that relates to fossils, while a doctor's language of the discipline would contain medical terms. This icon will help your child become more observant of academic vocabulary. Language of the Discipline is represented by a picture of lips.
Later this week I will post some information about the other icons, as well as answer some questions you may have about the reading log homework. Thank you, parents, for your warm response to my classroom website!
Thank you for clarifying the focus of GATE. This helps us guide my kid to the right direction at home. What kinds of books do you recommend for our scholars' daily reading assignment?
ReplyDeleteCould we get a copy of the icons and what they mean so we can use them at home? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mrs. Smith for taking your time to share what excited things the students are doing in your class. I know my daughter is in great care!
ReplyDeleteExcellent questions, thank you. I am going to pass out information about the icons to parents next week at Back to School Night. Back to School Night will be on Thursday the 26 at 6:15. I will prepare a "cheat sheet" about the icons to help you and other parents.
ReplyDeleteFor daily reading I think it's important to let your child's interests and ability determine the books they read at home. Fostering a love of reading is very important to me as a teacher. Some students in our class are able to read and understand chapter books such as the Horrible Harry, A to Z Mysteries, and Magic Tree House books. Others may read one or two picture books a night. Don't try to push your child to read chapter books if they aren't ready just because you saw another student reading one. I have hundreds of great picture books in my classroom library that are appropriate for first grade gifted learners.
If you are looking to guide your child towards more challenging independent reading, I recommend nonfiction books. Books with information rather than stories are more challenging and often appeal to GATE students. Also, there are great nonfiction books available at all reading levels.
The most important thing is for your child to read books that they can understand. They should not be too easy or too frustrating. If you aren't sure, ask them to read a few sentences from the book out loud and ask them questions about what they read.