Who is considered talented and gifted?

257.44 Gifted and talented children defined.

1. "Gifted and talented children" are those children who are identified as possessing outstanding abilities and who are capable of high performance. Gifted and talented children are children who require appropriate instruction and educational services commensurate with their abilities and needs beyond those provided by the regular school program.

2. Gifted and talented children include those children with demonstrated achievement or potential ability, or both, in any of the following areas or in combination:

a. General intellectual ability. b. Creative thinking. c. Leadership ability. d. Visual and performing arts ability. e. Specific ability aptitude.

89 Acts, ch 135, §44; 2010 Acts, ch 1069, §72

Talented and gifted students need:

1. Activities that enable them to operate cognitively and affectively at complex levels of thoughts and feeling.

2. Opportunities for divergent thinking (originality, fluency, flexibility, and elaboration.)

3. Challenging group and individual work which demonstrates process/product outcomes.

4. Discussions among intellectual peers.

5. A variety of experiences that promote understanding of human values.

6. The opportunity to see interrelationships of all bodies of knowledge.

7. Special courses in the their area of strength and interest which accelerate the pace and depth of the content.

8. Great exposure to new areas of learning within and outside the school structure.

9. Opportunities to apply their abilities to real problems in the world.

10.Emphasis on the skills of critical thinking, creative thinking, research, and problem solving.

Therefore, the Grundy Center Community School District will identify the academic strengths of students and then use appropriate strategies, addressing a variety of abilities, preferences, and learning styles. Consequently, whole groups, small groups, and individual students will engage in a variety of curriculum enrichment and acceleration experiences.

*Participation in each depends on a number of interested ELP students.

Google Science Fair: is a completely online science fair, where students create and share their science fair project by the creation of a short video projects. This project is only available to 8th graders. Students have to be 13-14 years of age..

National History Day: is a national competition that challenges students to explore the history and share their documentaries, displays, papers, performances, or websites about their interests in history. In late March or early April.

Iowa State Science and Technology Fair: Mrs. Gutknecht sponsors 7th- 8th students. Mr. Gingery sponsors 6th or any other interested ELP student.

Students create and share a traditional science fair project at ISU and possibly move on to the Intel Science Fair which is held at a different location annually, throughout the US. In late March or early April.

iTec Fair: Students create and share their passion for technology by developing and design a technology-based project. Compete in a local technology fair at the University of Northern Iowa in the spring. In the first week of May.

Algona Quiz Bowl--TBA--Algona does not sponsor a quiz bowl. In January, Students work as a team to battle other schools in their knowledge of science, math, literature and history. More quiz bowls will be added throughout the year, as more school invite our teams from Grundy Center.

River of Words Entries is due in early December. River of Words® (ROW) conducts an environmental poetry and art contest for youth aged 5 to 19 in grades K-12 every year. The contest is designed to help youth explore the natural and cultural history of their own watershed, and to express what they discover through poetry and art. Each year, eight U.S. winners, one international winner, and a “ROW Teacher of the Year” are selected to be honored during National Poetry Month (April) at an Award Ceremony at The Library of Congress in Washington, DC. (ROW is affiliated with The Library of Congress Center for the Book.)

Students in grades 3rd-12th, who are nominated, identified and selected are based on the following multiple criteria:

Nominations (Teachers, Parents, and/or Students)

Test Scores ( CogAT, ITBS, ITED, NWEA/MAP)

Observations

Teacher Assessment (Renzulli's Scales for Intellect and Creativity)

Professional Intelligence Testing- Example: Belin-Blank Center, U of I

*Test and survey results are entered into a ELP Identification Matrix and a numerical value is given for all students.

Students that participate in ELP continue to:

-score above 95% in 2 or more areas on ITBS or ITED.

-CogAT scores of 200 or 95% or above

-score above 95% on NWEA. Using the MAP RIT scores (using the Fall/Spring Screening and Placement Guidelines for Gifted Students)

All assessments scores and survey scores are entered in an Identification Matrix spreadsheet provided by the Gifted Education Department at the University Northern Gifted Education program.

Grundy Center CSD supports many different extracurricular activities that can be considered enrichment. The fine and visual arts, speech, and drama, and hands-on activities like the Ultimate Mileage Vehicle, all provide enrichment opportunities for ELP and non-ELP students alike, but below are a few newly added enrichment activities that rely heavily on after and before school time.

Academic Decathlon has been a well supported and outstanding program for almost 30 years at GCCSD. Under the direction of Don Osterhaus, Grundy Center AcDec is open to any high school student, but in its very nature, engaging to ELP students. With numerous state and national awards, the Grundy Center AcDec team continues to be an excellent way for ELP student to become engaged, deepen through personal knowledge, and collaborate with talented peers from around the state.

First Tech Challenge FTC is a robotics program that connect real world problem-solving, collaborative teamwork and the principles in engineering. FTC is a state, national, and international competition that truly engages the total mind. Marketed as a “sport for the mind,” the Grundy Center FTC team includes primarily ELP students and meets weekly after and before school. Weekly competitions start in December and run through February, but FTC students spend countly hours designing, building, and testing their robots.

First Lego League FLLL is similar to First Tech Challenge, but on a smaller scale. Student in 6th through 8th build, design, and test small Lego robots as they compete against other FLL students from around central and eastern Iowa. Students also develop an in-depth research project and presentation and are also judged on their teamwork skills in a regional FLL competition.

Battle of the Books
Students read a selected set of books and then compete against other school as they challenge their reading comprehension. Working as a team, students strategically become experts on the required books and challenge their ability to recall specific details.