by Sarah Young Sarah Young works with districts all over the world to create and improve their gifted programs, curriculum, and teacher training. She also works virtually with students in grades K-10 in underserved and underrepresented gifted programs. She is passionate about helping teachers and was inspired to create a website to share curricular resources … Read more
A PASSIONATE PURSUIT OF PERPLEXING PUZZLES PERSISTS ~ CHECK BACK OFTEN! FIND MORE OF THESE AND OTHER TYPES OF PUZZLES HERESee also “Thinking Outside the Box” ~ A Lesson Plan (3rd – 8th) Matchstick Puzzles LEARNING TREE AWESOME BLOGSPOT BRAIN DEN GENIUS PUZZLES AIMS PUZZLE CENTER Rebus / Word Picture/ Wacky Wordy Puzzles KIDS HEALTH … Read more
If I had to name the ONE book that has most influenced my teaching practices in guiding students through challenging texts, it would have to be Deeper Reading by Kelly Gallagher. A high school English teacher, presenter, instructional coach, and author of a number of books, Kelly Gallagher is well known for his educational leadership … Read more
by the GATEway Gals Many teachers who work with advanced and gifted students create their own lessons and units, and some make them available for purchase. The GATEWay GALS are the first to write a guest blog post for BIG IDEAS for LITTLE SCHOLARS. In it, they share a little about their products and how … Read more
If you have animal lovers in your class, especially dinosaur fanatics, you may have some students who find it intriguing and fun to learn the scientific names of animals. Beginning in early grades, students are introduced to the classification of living things. However, lessons in the lower grades usually focus on the main classes of … Read more
The game of Mastermind has been around for decades and it reinforces not only logical thinking but also a number of math concepts (e.g. combinations, permutations, probability). My students, from third grade up, have always enjoyed it. I wanted to adapt it for younger students, so I created a beginner version that requires only these … Read more
One way to engage students in math problem solving is to “perform” some math magic, then have students try to figure out the number patterns that make the tricks possible. Many books, videos, and lesson plans incorporate “mathemagic,” and there are many university studies promoting its effectiveness in the classroom. It’s the presentation that makes … Read more
Have you ever played a trick on your students? I mean a benign prank- an activity or lesson that ended with you saying, “Gotcha!” Here’s a lesson I’ve used for years with students from 5th to 8th grade and I’ve never had a student catch on to the “trick” until I began giving hints toward … Read more
This is one way you can shake up the routine in a gifted class! Logic problems, such as Perplexors and Math Perplexors, promote deductive reasoning. Students use information and resources to reach a conclusion, the “correct answer.” In a previous post, I described how I set up a logic center that allowed my students to … Read more
This virus simulation has been part of my 5th graders’ first-day experiences for years, long before the 2020 world pandemic. This post was written on February 4, 2020. This hands-on science and math lesson is an activity my fifth-grade GT students remember and one that seems to always be relevant. As I write this, the … Read more
