Logophiles and verbivores, this post is for you! Even if you’re not a word lover, you have many students who are, and injecting wordplay into your school day not only enhances the language arts curriculum, it adds fun and laughter to your day. Here are a few ways to leverage a little language levity (with … Read more
Because I love etymology, I’ve always introduced philosophy to my gifted students as a “love of wisdom” (Greek ~philos and sophos). We spent some time exploring words related to those roots. My students especially loved the origin of the word “sophomore!” (see also “A Greek Root is Worth 1,000 Words”) If you work with intellectually … Read more
Many years ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Marcy Cook speak. She is a well-known math specialist and presenter of seminars and workshops all over the world, and if you’ve never attended one of her sessions, I highly recommend it! In my district, the goal for our gifted students has always been to create … Read more
Metacognition: a big word and a powerful idea. People of all ages, from primary students to corporate CEOs, benefit from learning how to THINK about their own THINKING. Way back in the 1960s, Edward de Bono introduced lateral thinking and created strategies that enable people of all ages to intentionally think in organized ways in … Read more
My G/T students always LOVED solving calculator riddles similar to these, particularly the third graders! At some point, they noticed the square root key on the calculator and wanted to learn about it. So, I began teaching square numbers and square roots and over the years found a few great resources to accompany the lessons. … Read more
Here’s a research activity I used every year with my gifted kindergarten students, but it could easily be adapted for students in higher grades. The final product was always emailed home to parents at the end of the year and my students loved sharing it. If you’re looking for a more challenging literacy activity for … Read more
Did you know that if you learn just 14 Greek and Latin roots, you can unlock the meanings of hundreds of words, maybe thousands? Clearly, students of all ages benefit from vocabulary instruction that includes Greek and Latin instruction, and there are so many great resources and methods. I’ve tried different approaches over the years, … Read more
It’s always great when a really challenging activity requires absolutely NO PREP! Most of my gifted elementary students loved logic puzzles and problems of all kinds. In our classroom, we had a logic center I created by pulling the pages out of PERPLEXORS workbooks, putting them in sheet protectors, and then filing them in labeled … Read more
When I ordered the logic game Chocolate Fix from ThinkFun (affiliate link), I thought it would be great to set out as a center for my kindergarten, first, and second graders. What I discovered is that the levels of this game, a little like Sudoku, can challenge kids all the way through fifth grade, and … Read more
Of all the BIG IDEAS my students and I have had, there’s one that stands out as the craziest, most fulfilling, most educational, and the most fun! It was the creation of a three-room, hands-on mini-museum for our school, complete with scheduled tours and docents, and inspired by San Antonio’s Doseum. Students always seem to … Read more
