GERD Meeting

For the new school year 2013-2014, our first GERD meeting will be held on September 25, 2013 at the Jefferson County Educational Service Center computer lab.  We will begin at 8:30 a.m. and finish up at 3:00 p.m.  We will break for lunch from 11:30-12:45 on your own. There are several choices in the near vicinity to the office to accommodate you.  

Please bring any materials you would like to use to create a unit for differentiation. The unit will be housed on a Weebly that you can create in the computer lab.  If you have a Weebly already created, you will have time to add this new unit in a new page and ample time to enhance your already existing pages. 

Email pictures to yourself that you would like to add to your Weebly, or bring a flash drive with the pictures on it. You will be able to brainstorm and share ideas with fellow GERD members as well. 

A formal invitation email will follow for those teachers chosen by the districts to attend this years' GERD meetings. 

American Artists Children Should Know

Trying to learn about all American artists might be a bit too much for kids - even for adults. However, art historian Brad Finger has come up with thirteen American artists he thinks children should know about. Two pages are devoted to each artist, providing a brief biography, a description of their art, and why their art is important. You might not recognize all the artists, but after reading this book, you and your child will know why each is included in the list.

• Winslow Horner
• Mary Cassatt
• John Singer Sargent
• Edward Hopper
• Georgia O'Keeffe
• Alexander Calder
• Mark Rothko 
• Joseph Cornell
• Louise Bourgeois
• Jackson Pollock
• Jacob Lawrence
• Andy Warhol
• Jasper Johns

Great American Artists for Kids: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of Great American Masters

This book covers over 75 American artists and helps children develop an appreciation for them through an art activity for each artist. For example, for Hans Hoffman, an abstract expressionist painter, the book offers an activity for kid to create a painting of "Energetic Color Blocks." If you want to see more of what the book has to offer, you can visit the book's Web site. It has a few activities from the book and some that aren't in the book, as well as some links to more information for each of the four chapters:

• Early American Art
• New American Ideas
• American Art Explodes
• American Art Onward

The book includes a brief biography of each author and explanation of the importance of his or her work. There is also an index of art supplies and a glossary of art terms.

Summer Reading Recommendation

Gifted Grownups

Marylou Kelly Streznewski’s Gifted Grownups is the result of a 10 year study of 100 gifted adults. This group of grownups demonstrates that giftedness is not necessarily a path to happiness or success. We often hear that gifted kids “will be fine” and don’t need special programs, but Gifted Grownups shows the lifelong value of differentiating for our students and equipping them with confidence and self-understanding.

From Byrdseed.com

Apps to Motivate Young Readers

I found this on We Are Teachers and found it very interesting!!
For every kid who is caught hiding beneath his covers with a flashlight and a novel at midnight, there is another who has to be begged and pleaded with to read.  And the latter might need a little extra—shall we call it encouragement?—to become a great reader. To help, we've rounded up a list of the top apps that not only teach essential reading skills but also motivate kids—even the most book-phobic—to read, read and read some more.

Apps For Early Readers
Word Bingo:  Who doesn't love a good game of BINGO? This fun app teaches  kids basic sight words while they play.




Super Why:  With some help from some superhero readers, your kid will get a jump start on reading by playing these fun, interactive reading games. 



ABC Go:  Have a planes, trains and automobiles fanatic at your house?  Well, then this is the app for you. Full of fun pictures, new vocabulary words and fun things-that-go games, this app will inspire and teach your future pilot or racecar driver.




ABC Wildlife: Or if your kid is more Jane Goodall than NASCAR driver, try ABC Wildlife where pictures of animals are paired with new vocab words and fun reading games.




 Bob Books:  The ultimate books for early readers are now an app, complete with stories, word games and images that will motivate your kids to practice reading.





 Apps for Elementary School Readers
Bookboard:  Readers of all levels and ages are given specially selected literature to read. The best part? The more kids read, the more books are unlocked, opening up their eyes to new books every day. 



Snap Reading:  More than 150 leveled, interactive e-books are paired with fully scripted lesson plans, related activities and more.





GeoWalk 3D World Factbook:  Some kids resist non-fiction reading—unless, of course, it's all wrapped up in a fun app with a spinning globe that spits out fascinating facts at random.



Story Builder:  With a library of sound recordings and the ability to record their own voice, this app will get the creativity flowing in any aspiring storyteller or fictionista.





Mad Libs:  Who didn't love Mad Libs as a kid? And now, Mad Libs have gone digital.  Trust us, by the time your kid is done with this app, he'll never wonder again what the difference is between an adjective and an adverb.
 



Apps For Middle School and High School

Kindle:  This is kind of an obvious choice, but we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that kids who have access to books—and lots of them—are more likely to read than kids that don't.  And with the free Kindle app, your kid will have access to millions of books.



High School Bites:  Based on the bestselling youth fantasy novels The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, this game-based app lets teens score points as they duel with slayers and try to survive school.



Shakespeare:  The works of William Shakespeare are brilliant, poignant, compelling, fascinating and…. well, they're tough to read. This app makes them a bit easier with a searchable glossary, concordance and more.



iThoughtsHD:  iThoughtsHD isn't exactly a reading app, per se, but it does allow kids to carefully organize the information they are reading for easy reference and enhanced comprehension.



Free Books:  With more than 25,000 classic pieces of literature available for free with this app, your students will be motivated to read at least one.



Literary Analysis Guide:  We admit that this app was probably intended for those of us who proudly call ourselves literature geeks, but it has tons of useful stuff for the general student population, including simple tools to help kids track and comprehend literary components

7 Habits Of Highly-Effective Teachers Who Effectively Use Technology

7 Habits Of Highly-Effective Teachers Who Effectively Use Technology

 
1. They always start with the why
2. They are malleable and can easily adapt
3. They embrace change
4. They share
5. They think win-win
6. They are thorough and think ahead
7. They actively care

See the following website for further details:

http://www.teachthought.com/technology/7-habits-of-highly-effective-teachers-who-effectively-use-technology/

"The Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things"

There's a type of gifted kid who is simply filled to the brim with "did you know" trivia. If you know a student like this, then have Ian from Byrdseed has a book recommendation for you! "The Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things" explains how objects, customs, and sayings got their start.

http://www.byrdseed.com/for-the-trivia-obsessed/

Gifted Resources

Teacher Websites
National Association for Gifted Children	This association has information on gifted education for teachers and parents.
American Association for Gifted Children	This association has information on gifted education for teachers and parents.
ERIC: Gifted	Educational Resources Information Center. This is a page of links to information on gifted education and dual exceptionalities.
More links	Gifted and Talented Link suggestions made by Susan Winebrenner, the auther of Teaching Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom.
Professional Training for Teachers of Gifted and Talented	Tips and resources for teachers of gifted students.
Do Gifted Students Have Special Needs?	Article by Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D., a leading researcher in gifted education.
Fostering Academic Creativity in Gifted Students	Learn about teaching creative thinking skills to gifted students.
Gifted and Talented Articles	This page provides links to articles on teaching and parenting gifted children. (Variety of pertinent topics.)
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page	This is a great site for resources on educating or parenting gifted children.