Gifted and Talented Program at Birchland Park
Rube Goldberg Competition
The program serves the whole middle school community.
All Birchland Park Middle School students may participate in GT events and activities. Some examples: Rube Goldberg competitions, LEGO robotics groups, Chess Club, Future City Club, origami, poetry contests, West Point Bridge Building Competition, computer programming workshops, visiting performers, a science scavenger hunt, and student taught classes.
Parents : Please contact me if you have questions about gifted education, the GT program here at Birchland Park, or your child.
Students identified as gifted and talented may take part in a gifted pull out program.
All Birchland Park Middle School students may participate in GT events and activities. Some examples: Rube Goldberg competitions, LEGO robotics groups, Chess Club, Future City Club, origami, poetry contests, West Point Bridge Building Competition, computer programming workshops, visiting performers, a science scavenger hunt, and student taught classes.
Parents : Please contact me if you have questions about gifted education, the GT program here at Birchland Park, or your child.
Students identified as gifted and talented may take part in a gifted pull out program.
- Identification: The identification process employs a point system based on standardized testing, report card grades, teacher recommendations and parent input.
- What we do: We have discussions, do creative problem solving activities, solve advanced logic and math problems, create animations and computer games, build models, write stories, figure out word puzzles, read articles and watch videos about new science discoveries, run computer simulations, and enter contests. The room is stocked with a variety of materials for creating, inventing, researching and experimenting.
- 2013/2014 School Year: 6th Grade: All 6th Graders will learn Scratch Computer Programming, Then they will take two of the following: The Hobbit Reading and Discussion Group, The Joy of Math Class, and LEGO Robotics Building and Design.
- Independent Work: With teacher permission and guidance, students are also given the option to work on projects of their own choosing, alone or with others. A sampling of projects include: History Day; writing and filming movies; career exploration; online courses; writing novels and poetry; computer programming; planning and teaching classes; independent science research; Rube Goldberg machines; art and photography projects; West Point Online Bridge Building Contest; science experiments; and independent math exploration.
- Scheduling: Students are pulled out of two classes each week. Students must check in with subject teachers before going to GT. Students will not be pulled out of math.
- What if a student doesn't qualify for the pull out program?
- Talk to me about working on a project in GT during tutorial.
- Talk to me about taking the CogAT test. If you score in the top 97% you can get into GT. I administer the test and I schedule them on an as-needed basis.
- If you scored advanced on MCAS, try working on bringing your grades up. Two marking periods in a row of excellent grades, and an advanced MCAS score, should make you eligible for GT pull out services.
- Talk to me about working on a project in GT during tutorial.
- My Philosophy: I offer choices to students so that they can be exposed to new ideas, pursue their interests, work at their own level of ability and interact with their peers. I hope that parents and students will contact me with any concerns or questions.