GT GA ZETTEJEFFCO

Volume 3 | Issue 1 | August 2018

The 2018 Fall GT Center Testing application is now open and will close on Oct 15, 2018. Testing will take place on Saturday, October 27 & Saturday, November 3. This testing is for GT Center placement for the 2019-20 school year. Please not e: t here w il l only be a fal l Cent er t est ing w indow t his year -- t here w il l not be a spr ing Cent er t est ing w indow! We will be identifiying students for ALP's throughout the school year. Please apply here for ALP consideration.

Our last parent seminar (2/26/18) with Ian Byrd, "Nurturing Tomorrow's Innovators" was very well received! Click here to see a video of the event if you missed it!

Save these dates for next year 's GT Parent Sem inars (all topics TBD):

- Sept em ber 24, 2018- Oct ober 24, 2018- January 28, 2019- February 25, 2019

All Parent Seminars are held at: Jeffco Ed Center 5th Floor Board Room 6:30 - 8:00 pm.

The Gifted and Talented Department, in collaboration with Jeffco?s 21st Century Virtual Academy, is launching Jef fco Online GT Courses for the 2018-19 school year. This program will start with 7th grade core classes: GT Language Arts 7, GT Math 7/8, GT Science 7, and GT Social Studies 7. Classes are taught by certified GT teachers and offer the opportunity for GT students to participate in an engaging online curriculum that incorporates both the academic and social-emotional needs of gifted students. Families may work with JVA and their home schools in order to arrange for their gifted children to take one or more GT classes during their school day in their area(s) of strength. All students are required to have an ALP and cannot be currently enrolled in a GT Center program. The eligibility form is completed and approved by their home school?s counselor or administrator.

GT Info on Jef fco App!

You can now get notifications on GT news and events on the Jeffco Schools mobile app, available for both iOs (Apple) and Android! If you have not yet downloaded the app (FREE from either iTunes or Google Play stores) see here for more info. Once the app is on your device, go to ?Settings: Schools?, then scroll down to switch on ?Gifted & Talented?. You can also select your children?s schools to receive notifications from them on the same app! Also be sure receipt of both emails and text messages is enabled in Jeffco Connect so we can let you know important GT info by those methods. Finally, be sure to follow us on facebook and now Twitter! There are now many great ways to stay connected to GT in Jeffco!

Online GT Courses for St udent s Pilot s Vir t ual GT Classes in 2018-19

2018 Fall GT Cent er Test ingALP Ident if icat ion

ht t p:/ /www.jef fcopublicschools.org/program s/gif t ed_t alent ed

2018- 19 Parent Sem inars

SAVE THE DATES

Congratulations to Madhvi Chittoor, 3rd grade student at Hackberry Hills Elementary GT Center, for her recognition on an exciting community service project! Madhvi worked with the Governor to get a Proclamation - "Plastic and Styrofoam Pollution Awareness Month for April 2018". She is also working with Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment and Jeffco Schools to replace Styrofoam in all Jeffco schools cafeteria. See this story in the Arvada Press for more information about Madhvi?s great work and a book she has written on the topic, Is Plastic In My Food? (available for free on Amazon). Madhvi is also starting a nonprofit, tit led Madhvi4 EcoEthics.

On Saturday May 5, the Gifted and Talented Center at Wheat Ridge High School presented the GT World's Fair. Each spring the center invites incoming GT Center freshmen, their families, and the Jeffco community to a special showcase in which current students plan personalized booths and projects to share with those in attendance. This year 's attendees, measured at over 350, were able to learn about a variety of subjects, from the history of cheesecake, brass jewelry making, acoustic levitation, homemade kombucha, pancake art, world building, art therapy, and hypnosis - - just to name a few. Various student characters, such as the Spooky Boies, a snake oil salesman, a K-Pop boys band, and 'FBI agents' entertained participants as they traveled through the hallways. Guitars and pianos were there in abundance; throughout the building, the talent of the Wheat Ridge High School Gifted and Talented program was undeniable. The evening culminated in an auditorium presentation which included student performances as well as a student panel. Four food trucks were also present, which kept the crowd fed and happy. The annual event is entirely student driven, from planning, purchasing supplies, scheduling, community outreach, and marketing. Feedback from those who attended as well as those who were involved was extremely positive, and we are so proud of the way the Wheat Ridge community was represented!

Please see this video showing these wide-ranging demonstrations of learning.

WHEAT RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL GT WORLD'S FAIR

GT STUDENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

St evens? GT Ext ension Labs:

Personalizing t he Educat ional Traject ory for Our Scholars

The Gifted and Talented (GT) Center program at Stevens Elementary provides innovative learning experiences

that transform student task. Stevens GT Center maximizes students? giftedness by helping students develop

passions that change their educational trajectory. Student learning is personalized through pull out extension

labs for students each and every day. Pull-out labs consist of a Literacy Lab and a Science, Technology,

Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) Lab.

- GT students are placed in general education classrooms to allow opportunities for inclusivity with diverse

learners. Throughout the day GT students are pulled to participate in one or two learning labs, depending on

their strengths, by progressive, GT certified teachers. Lab sessions are 90 minutes and extend and enrich general

education curricula through project-based learning (PBL) methods.

- The Stevens STEAM Lab uses technology resources such as 3D printers, Cubelets (modular robotics kits), and

Lego Mindstorm education sets to work on projects that are designed for students to analyze, problem solve, and

think creatively. This past year, student scholars designed and built scale models of resorts by calculating costs

using multi-digit multiplication and used technology resources to sketch architectural plans.

- The Literacy Lab utilizes cross-curricular thematic units that provide students opportunities to engage in various

projects, real world application, and authentic activities through literature. One of the thematic units this past

year was survival. Throughout this unit students read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, applied the characters actions to

real life survival situations.

GT CENTER SPOTLIGHT: STEVENS ELEMENTARY

1st Grader in Makerspace

6th Grade GT students building a satellite

During a Literacy STEM Challenge, 5th grade students engineer bow and arrows -- just like the main characters in the book Hatchet.

Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs) for the 2018-19 school year will be completed by October. See here for our ALP Life Cycle and our ALP Websit e.

NEW JAGC WEBSITE

The Jef fco Associat ion for Gif t ed Children (JAGC), an affiliate of our state GT organization, the Colorado Association for Gifted & Talented (CAGT, coloradogifted.org) has just unveiled a new look to its website with a wealth of resources and info for parents. Check it out at jef fcogif t ed.org.

GIFTED PARENT ACADEMY

Try an online class for GT parents! Gifted Parent Academy is now offering four different courses. See the web sit e for a course tour and registration information.

ADVANCED LEARNING PLANS (ALPs)

Tom Clynes Com ing Soon Finding Your GT Resource Teacher

On October 24 Jeffco is thrilled to host Tom Clynes, author of The Boy Who Played with Fusion: Extreme Science, Extreme Parenting, and How to Make a Star, which tells the story of 14-year-old Taylor Wilson, who became the youngest person in history to build a working nuclear fusion reactor. Through Taylor?s story, Tom explores the challenges facing gifted children and their parents and educators, as well as the increasingly important contributions of amateur scientists. Don't miss this fantastic event!

The list of GT Resource Teachers and Building Liaisons for each school for 2018-19 is now posted on our website.

Each school should designate a GT Building Liaison (GT BL) that is part of that school?s staff -- usually a teacher, counselor or administrator. They can serve as your point of contact for general info on GT resources at the school.

Each school is also assigned to a centrally-based GT Resource Teacher (GT RT), who has great expertise in gifted education and can assist with GT identification, Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs), professional development and parent questions on giftedness in general. GT RTs usually have a caseload of about 10 schools, so they are not in each building on a daily basis, and are best reached via email. Email address formats for

both the BLs and RTs are on the list.

CHALLENGE & SUPPORT FOR GT LEARNERS

GT CENTER SCHOOLSONLY 1 APPLICATION

WINDOW!

FAMILIES MUST APPLY ONLINE

BY OCT 15 FOR GT CENTER

TESTING:

JEFFCOPUBLICSCHOOLS.ORG/

PROGRAMS/GIFTED_TALENTED

Seventeen neighborhood schools house GT Centers throughout the district at the elementary, middle, and high school level. Teachers cert ified in gifted and talented educat ion offer different iated instruct ion to students with a variety of programming opt ions including accelerat ion, enrichment, and social-emotional support. Families can learn more by attending our GT Center Informat ion Nights at 4 Jeffco locat ions on September 13. There will only be one application window -- apply online by October 15 for a test ing appointment on either Saturday, Oct 27 or Nov 3.

Sept 13 GT Center Information Night Locat ions (6:30-8:00 PM):

- South Area: Ken Caryl Middle School- 6509 W Ken Caryl Ave, Lit t leton

- Central Area: Jeffco Schools Ed Center Board Room- 1829 Denver West Dr. #27, Golden

- North Area: North Arvada Middle School- 7285 Pierce St, Arvada

- Mountain Area: Evergreen Middle School

- 2059 S Hiwan Dr, Evergreen 303-982-6650

GTINFORM@JEFFCO.K12.CO.US

Wit h an em phasis on m eet ing t he individual needs of Gif t ed and

Talent ed st udent s, Jef fco Schools? GT Cent ers of fer exper iences t hat fost er m eaningful grow t h for gif t ed learners. Find out m ore at :

www.jef fcopublicschools.org/program s/gif t ed_t alent ed