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The Office of Gifted and Advanced Learning
At Home Educational Resources and Activities
Grades PreK - 12
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Table of Contents
I. Overview
II. Online Educational Resources
III. Books and Literature
IV. Activities for Grades PreK – 2
V. Create a Novel Invention for Grades 3 – 8
VI. Problem-Based Learning Prompts for Grades 9-12
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Gifted and Advanced Learners: An Overview
Things to consider when working to keep your gifted learner(s) engaged and appropriately
challenged.
• Gifted learners typically find on-grade level work, for at least one academic area, to
be boring or something they already know. Help your child engage in grade level
above work aligned to their level of readiness, appropriateness of content, and their
area(s) of interest. We all learn better when we are already interested in the topic.
• Gifted learners may prefer to challenge conventional thinking and get frustrated when
the question posed only has one answer and it’s not the answer they are promoting.
To that end, seek out learning opportunities that promote divergent, rather than
convergent, thinking and answers. Convergent questions want us all to provide one,
single, same answer: What’s 2 +2? This convergent style question wants us to answer 4
but gifted learners may want to say 8/2 or 16/4 and since we did not specify that it
should be expressed as a whole number, they are not wrong in their response. In fact,
their response is a perfectly good example of a divergent answer. Seek out learning
that encourages divergent answers.
• Know that many gifted learners start to ponder social and emotional topics in
advance of their age peers so encourage discussion and self-reflection. Avoid
dismissing their concerns with statements like “You’re too young to worry about such
things” and instead follow up with prompts like “What about that issue concerns you?”
or “How would you like to change that situation?”. These learners need to know that
it’s OK to feel intensely about things but we can help them take some ownership of
their feelings so they can gain a sense of empowerment. One approach to
empowering your learner(s) is to have them keep a journal about the issue/topic that
has captured their attention. In this journal, they can document the most
contemporary information about their issue of concern and write their response
including how they feel about it and what they might like to see happen to lessen the
situation.
• One of the greatest myths about gifted learners is that they succeed at everything
because they know everything. We all know that is not the case but some gifted
learners feel that’s the expectation that everyone has for them and therefore avoid
risks at all cost. Help your learner(s) understand how to fail. Let them know that it’s OK
to fail especially since they have you as their safety net at this point in their lives. Failing
early in life and learning that it’s not the end is a priceless gift that you can give to your
learner(s) as there are too many stories about gifted students who did not encounter
failure until they went off to college. Since their self-identity was so tied to academic
success all of the time and since they had no personal frame of reference for
recovering after failure, many genuinely struggle to recover. So, help your child take
on academic risks, commend originality, provide constructive feedback, and let them
know that it’s more than just OK to refine, rewrite, and re-create!
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• Help your learner(s) find themselves in literature. There is something called
Bibliotheraphy, that while originating in traditional therapy settings, has been adopted
by the gifted community to help connect gifted learners with fictional characters and
non-fictional individuals in books. The thinking is that many gifted learners may not
have similar ability peers in their lives and therefore the heightened sense of self may
needlessly elevate anxiety and self-doubt. Reading about characters or real people
who look like them, think like them, and feel like them, allows some gifted learners to
connect in a way not typically afforded to them in their everyday lives. Please be sure
to preview the book first to make sure that the character/individual with whom your
learner is most likely to relate has a happy resolution by the conclusion of the book.
• Nearly all students will encounter one or dozens of projects assigned to them by
teachers during their K-12 educational journey. Gifted learners don’t need more work
but rather more appropriate work and in this case that more appropriate work would
be Problem Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a core part of Individualized Learning Plans
(ILPs) used in City Schools because of the open-ended nature of the task. In short, PBLs
are projects based in real world problems that don’t have an assumed answer upfront
and therefore invite a wide range of solutions. While a project assigned on the
biography of Teddy Roosevelt has a very predictable trajectory of born, did stuff, and
died a PBL starts off with asking the learner to propose an actionable plan on what to
do to ensure learning continues when schools are forced to close for an extended
period of time. Learners need to research what has been done previously before they
can put forth their own plan.
• It’s all about choice! At the end of the day, all learners, but especially gifted learners,
need to choose topics of interest to them, explore it in a manner that engages them,
and be empowered to share their learning in a format that excites them. Once we
confirm that the topic is appropriate for the level of the learner’s maturity level, allow
them to learn in a manner they enjoy most. For some students that will be a deep dive
into a series of books while for another it may be a seemingly endless chain of websites
or videos. Finally, allow them to share what they learned with you. While some learners
may prefer to “keep it to themselves”, most will want to share what they learned
because they want you to be as excited about it as they are. Let them teach you and
in that action, you are communicating so much more than simple words can impart.
Please feel free to contact the Gifted and Advanced Learning office with any questions you
may have about implementing the aforementioned strategies.
Contact Dennis Jutras: [email protected]
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Gifted and Advanced Learning Online Educational Resources
Below, you will find a variety of free resources and activities that your child can engage in
during this time outside of school:
• All Subject Resources
o Mensa for Kids – Grades K-8
▪ Mensa for Kids has a lot of challenges, activities, lessons, and games for
gifted students that can easily be done at home.
https://www.mensaforkids.org/
o CK-12 – Grades K-12
▪ CK-12 provides free lessons by grade level and content (science, math,
social studies, and photography) for students. They include videos,
reading passages, and practice questions.
https://www.prodigygame.com/
o BreakoutEDU – Grades K-12
▪ BeakoutEDU is providing free content-related games in a digital platform
that mirrors an “escape room.” Students have to figure out puzzles and
content to progress throughout the game.
https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathome
o Legends of Learning – Grades 3-8
▪ This highly engaging game-based platform focuses on math and science
learning. Parents/guardians will need to provide an email address to
activate a student account.
https://app.legendsoflearning.com/login
o Khan Academy – Grades PreK-12
▪ Khan Academy has many courses and lessons for students across all
content areas to help them learn more about content in school or other
areas of interest.
https://www.khanacademy.org/
o Newsela – Grades PreK-12
▪ Newsela provides leveled text in literacy, social studies, science, and
social emotional domains, along with kid-friendly current events articles.
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Students can create free accounts.
https://newsela.com/
o Destination Imagination – Grades K-12
▪ Destination Imagination offers hands-on instant challenges for students.
https://www.destinationimagination.org/challenge-program/resource-
library/
• Science Resources
o Mystery Science – Grades K-5
▪ Mystery Science offers a free version that allows students and parents
access to two free Mysteries in each unit of study.
https://mysteryscience.com/
• Math Resources
o Prodigy – Grades 1-8
▪ Prodigy is an online math platform that allows parents to create a free
account to allow their students to work on differentiated math problems
at their level. https://www.prodigygame.com/
• Reading and Literacy Resources
o epic! - Grades PreK-7th
▪ epic! is a free resource for 30 days which provides popular, leveled book
titles for students to read digitally.
https://www.getepic.com/
• Technology Resources
o Scratch Jr. – Grades K-2
▪ Students learn how to code with games, problems, and interactive stories.
https://www.scratchjr.org/
o Scratch – Grades 3-8
▪ Students can create their own interactive stories, games, and animations
by using coding.
https://scratch.mit.edu/
• Social Emotional Resources
o Dealing with Anxiety: Simple to implement strategies to help your child deal with
the anxiety that they may be experiencing.
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▪ https://gozen.com/37-techniques-to-calm-an-anxious-child/
o Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus
▪ https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/
• Gifted Education Resources
o Learn more about gifted education from the national experts.
https://www.nagc.org
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Books Worth Considering
This is a list of resources and books students may consider reading during this time out of
school:
• American Library Association’s List of Notable Children’s Books
o http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb/ncbpastlists
• Hoagies Reading List (variety of topics and age levels)
o https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_lists.htm
• Possible Books for Bibliotherapy Use
o Grades 5 – 6 Adapted from a list created by Tamara Fisher
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2009/03/using_bibliot
herapy_with_gifted_children.html
• Alvin Webster’s Surefire Plan for Success and How it Failed by Sheila
Greenwald.
• Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry.
• Apollo 13 by James Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
• Arilla Sun Down by Virginia Hamilton.
• The Bat-Poet by Randall Jarrell. (For this purpose, an excellent book to
combine with "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," listed below.)
• Been Clever Forever by Bruce Stone.
• Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White.
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Curtis.
• Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham.
• Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson.
• Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras.
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.
• Deliver Us From Normal by Kate Klise.
• Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex and
Brett Harris.
• Einstein: A Life in Science by John Gribbin and Michael White.
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.
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• Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis.
• Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald Sobol.
• The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt by Patricia MacLachlan.
• Fairest by Gail Carson Levine.
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
• Forever Changes by Brendan Halpin.
• Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho by Jon Katz.
• Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson.
• Good Enough by Paula Yoo.
• The Great Brain by John Fitzgerald.
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.
• A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy
League by Ron Suskind.
• Ida B: . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save
the World by Katherine Hannigan.
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.
• Kids Inventing! A Handbook for Young Inventors by Susan Casey.
• The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in
the World by A.J. Jacobs.
• Leonardo’s Notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci (edited by Anna Suh).
• Letters From Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes.
• Libby on Wednesday by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
• Maizon at Blue Hill by Jacqueline Woodson.
• Matilda by Roald Dahl.
• Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee.
• More Than a Test Score: Teens Talk About Being Gifted, Talented, and
Otherwise Extra-ordinary by Robert Schultz and James Delisle.
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.
• The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy by Diane Stanley.
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• My Thirteenth Winter by Samantha Abeel.
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.
• Pride of the Peacock by Stephanie Tolan.
• Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
• Saving Lilly by Peg Kehret.
• The School for Cool by P. G. Kain.
• Seeing Emily by Joyce Lee Wong.
• Smart Talk: What Kids Say About Growing Up Gifted by Robert Schultz and
James Delisle.
• The Snowflake Man: A Biography of Wilson A. Bentley by Duncan Blanchard.
• Some Day Angeline by Louis Sachar.
• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.
• Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie Tolan.
• The Teenagers’ Guide to School Outside the Box by Rebecca Greene.
• The Triple Chocolate Brownie Genius by Deborah Sherman.
• The View From Saturday by E. L. Konisburg.
• Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob Thomas.
• The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman.
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
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Adapted from the Maryland State Department of Education’s Primary Talent Development
Gifted kids are incredible. Their minds teem with creative ideas and the motivation to
complete challenging tasks, but sometimes gifted kids can become bored and aloof when
they don’t have anything to do. When it comes to giftedness, the name of the game is
selecting creative, stimulating, and challenging activities to keep busy minds interested while
extending their natural curiosity for learning. These At-Home activities are hands-on, problem
solving experiences that will promote thinking opportunities for your young learners.
Your child is about to embark upon an exciting unit entitled “It Fits”. This unit is an
excellent opportunity to demonstrate “Perceptive” talents (see resource sheet 1C). Your
child will also learn about identifying attributes to sort, classify, and make inferences to
create analogies on collected observational data about the world. Below is a day-by-day
task of learning activities.
Day 1
Perceptive
Join your child in observing patterns and sorting the ways in
which things are alike and different (see resource sheets 1A and
1B). Talk with your child about what the concepts Alike and
Different mean. Enlist the help of your child in matching socks,
shoes, gloves, etc. Furthermore, help to build the concepts of
Match and Go Together.
(Pre-K and K) Work with your child to write the alphabet in upper
and lower case. Have your child circle an upper-case letter and
a lower-case letter in the same color and talk about why they are
pairs. Discuss how the letters are Alike and Different.
Activities for Home
It Fits
Grades PreK – 2
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(1 and 2) Revisit the concept of Alike or Different by reviewing the
concept of being Perceptive (see resource sheet 1C). Revisit the
concepts of Match and Go Together (resource sheets 1A and 1B).
Using letters of the alphabet have students determine which
letters match like (A, a). For example, they both Match because
they are both first letters of the alphabet and they are the same
letter or (A, B) Go Together because both are upper-case letters.
Using resource sheets 2 A-D, children can determine which pairs
of pictures are a Match and which Go Together. Using the T-chart
(resource sheet 3) children can put pairs on the correct side of
the T chart and orally explain why they Match or Go Together.
Day 2
Perceptive
(Pre-K to 2) Revisit the concept for why pairs Go Together. Today
we are going to play a memory game called “Go Fish”. This is a
sorting game. Pass out the picture cards (resource sheets 2A-D).
Cut the cards in half before the game begins. Pass out the cards.
Look at the T-chart (resource sheet 3). Point to the words Match
and Go Together. Have your child look at the picture cards and
decide where they go on the game board. Your child can tape
the card under the appropriate heading on the chart and talk
about why the items match or go together. Remind your child
that being able to see how things are Alike and Different is being
Perceptive.
Extension Activity: Have your child draw or collect pictures of
things that Go Together or Match. As your child creates the
pictures, have conversations about why it’s important to be
Perceptive.
Day 3
Perceptive
(Pre-K to 2)
Review the concept of being Perceptive. Generate a list of items
that they created that Go Together. Follow the tune of “The
Muffin Man” to sing the following song. Your child can fill in the
second verse with the suggestions from their list.
Do you know what goes together?
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Goes together, goes together?
Tell me now.
A bat and ball go together,
Go together, go together.
A bat and ball go together.
What else do you know?
Continue to practice the song to determine how things go
together. Share the story “We Go Together” by Todd Dunn as
seen on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSRALoswyx0 . Talk
about the story and discuss the illustrations in the book. Review
that the purpose for reading the story is to think and talk about
things that go together.
Extension: As your child becomes comfortable offering
explanations with the text pairs in the story, challenge them to
look at pictures in other books to explain how they go together.
Day 4
Perceptive
(Pre-K to 2)
Go on a hunt within the house to collect things that Go Together.
Place items in two separate bags. Label bag A and Bag B.
Separate the items that Go Together into each bag. Example:
toothbrush/toothpaste (toothbrush bag A) (toothpaste bag B).
Collect about 10 items. Bring out the collected items and spread
them on the floor. Hold up items 1 at a time and have your child
name it and find the Go Together piece. Allow time for your child
to locate pieces and explain their connection.
Extension: Your child may want to cut out their own Go Together
pairs from magazines or computer clip art, or they can draw
pictures to include as pairs.
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Day 5
Perceptive
(Pre-K to 2)
Have students select a topic. Your child will locate items that fit in
that category to create a kit of Go Together items. Example: Tool
Kit: hammer, nails, screwdriver, nuts, and bolts. Your child can cut
out pictures of the items, draw the items, or create a picture
collage. Independently, your child will now begin to paste the
items on a board to represent the items that they have chosen to
fit or Go Together. The pictures on the board will represent a
collage of items that Go Together. You can assess if your child
understands the concept of being Perceptive, by asking
questions about how the items Go Together.
Extension: Put together a collage of pictures that initially do not
seem to have much in common with each other and then have
a conversation with your child to see if they can reason or explain
how some of these Different items might actually be Alike and Go
Together.
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Resource Sheets
Resource Sheet 1A:
Resource Sheet 1B:
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Resource Sheet 1C:
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Resource Sheet 2A:
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Resource Sheet 2B:
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Resource Sheet 2C:
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Resource Sheet 2D:
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Resource Sheet 3:
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Creating a novel or unique invention requires a lot of critical and creative thinking. This process
includes:
• Creating a problem or “bug” list
• Researching current solutions to problems and their pros and cons
• Deciding upon the best problem for which to create a novel invention
• Creating an invention prototype
• Deciding how to produce, sell, and market the invention to a larger audience
In the subsequent pages, you’ll find graphic organizers that will guide you through the process of
creating your own, novel invention. If you do not have a printer at home, all these steps could be
completed on notebook or scratch paper.
As you design your novel invention, consider the following:
• Does it address a problem or annoyance that happens in everyday life?
• Is it useful?
• Is it accessible? Can anyone use it or purchase it?
• What are the positive contributions the invention makes and what are the down sides of
the invention?
This project is meant to be fun and creative. You get to take this as far as you would like and can
always add or work outside of the directions provided here. Ultimately, the following organizers and
steps are meant to support your thinking as you pursue a new and novel invention.
Problem Based Learning Activity
Create a Novel Invention
Grades 3+
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Bug List
Create a list of all the problems you encounter through the day and things that bother or
bug you. If you don’t have a printer, do this on notebook or scratch paper.
1. _________________________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________________________
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18. _________________________________________________________________________________
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20. _________________________________________________________________________________
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Current Invention List
Now that you have a list of problems, what inventions currently exist to solve these problems?
You may need to use the internet to research current products.
1. _________________________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________________________
4. _________________________________________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________________________________________
6. _________________________________________________________________________________
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Pros and Cons of Current Inventions
Now that you know more about the current solutions to your identified problems, which
problems would most benefit from a new invention? Consider listing them and determining
the pros and cons of their existing inventions. Consider cost, effectiveness of solving the
problem, how many people can use it, etc.
Identified Problem Current Invention Current Invention’s
Pros
Current Invention’s
Cons
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Novel Invention Brainstorm
Select one of the problems you just analyzed that you think would most benefit from having
a new and novel invention to solve it. Using your research on the pros and cons of current
inventions that exist for this problem, begin brainstorming possible new, novel inventions that
you could create.
Identified Problem:_______________________________________________________________________
Possible New, Novel
Invention Invention’s Pros Invention’s Cons
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Novel Invention Prototype
Select one of your novel inventions that you have brainstormed and begin designing a
prototype. You can choose to either draw the invention and label its components and
features or you can create a real model using the resources available to you at home. You
may need to create multiple prototypes to improve on your invention over the course of a
few days or weeks. It may also be useful to test your prototype in multiple situations and
track its effectiveness. Using that data, you can continue to adjust and make it the best
product it can be.
Chosen Novel Invention:_________________________________________________________________
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Novel Invention Marketing
Now that you have designed and created a model of your novel invention, it is time to think
about how you will advertise and market your invention to others who experience the
problem your invention solves. You may choose to write a proposal to Shark Tank to have
your invention funded for mass production (you’ll need to research costs of materials,
production, advertising, warehouse space, etc.), create a commercial and/or materials to
advertise your product, or identify another way to market and promote your product. You
might also consider sponsorships or finding celebrity endorsements to promote your product,
but consider which celebrities would be best suited to market your product. Choose any of
these options (or all of them) and create the necessary documents and materials to
effectively market and sustain your product. Good luck inventor!
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Problem Based Learning Prompts Grades 9 -12
What follows is a list of real-world problems for which learners should consider the
overall problem, research the history and past attempts at solutions, and then propose
a well-reasoned and practical solution. Learners should imagine that the “owner” of
the proposed problem has come to them seeking a thorough and thoughtful solution.
The presentation of the proposed solution can take the form of a “white paper”, a
power point or prezi presentation, a poster board, or even a documentary. Ultimately,
the individual learner should select a problem of interest, either from the list below or of
their own suggestion, research the topic, inclusive of other attempts to solve the
problem, and then elect to present their plan in a manner best aligned to their style of
presentation.
Remember, that while there are no right or wrong answers there are poorly-reasoned
and impractical solutions – avoid those!
Local: The Mayor of Baltimore has reached out to residents of the City and requested
a plan of action, which may include a budget, to address any of the following:
• Local news agencies have reported a growing number of squeegee “kids” at
major intersections throughout the city. The media has been very focused on stories
involving physical confrontations, tourists reporting their unease, and on the
financial plight that has forced this option upon some young people. Regardless,
there has been an impact on tourism to and through the City and the financial
situations for these “kids” has not really improved. What can be done to remedy
this situation that considers both the importance of tourism as well as the financial
realities of those “kids”?
• City Schools enrollment has continued to erode over the past few decades with
parents and residents citing everything from safety concerns to the lack of
engaging and rigorous curriculum as major reasons for the decline. What can the
mayor do to reverse the trend while adding no dollars to the City’s financial
contribution to the school system for at least the next 3 years?
National: The United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform has decided it
needs to solicit ideas from citizens to address the following:
• Opioid prescription use has grown exponentially over the last decade. As a result of
this rampant increase in use has come the unintended consequence of abuse and
addiction. As of 2018, more than 128 people die every day in America after
overdosing on opioids. The committee wants practical and implementable ideas
that can be enacted at the local, state, or federal levels to combat this crisis
before more lives are lost.
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Global: The CEO of British Petroleum has come to you as a member of his Board of
Directors with the following problem:
• “We have a set of three oil platforms off the coast of Mexico which have been out
of operation for more than five years. The government of Mexico is no longer
satisfied with our previous plan which was to simply leave those platforms
abandoned off their coast. They have approached me with a demand that we
provide a plan in the next month which will, to their satisfaction, solve this problem
within the next three years. If we fail to provide a satisfactory plan, they will no
longer allow us to drill off their coasts going forward. I don’t care what approach
you take as long as we can satisfy the Mexican government and it doesn’t cost us
a fortune to implement.”
