The Chinook Trail Talented and Gifted program offers a unique blend of pull out and push in activities, focusing on the needs of our students at a given moment in time. Our ultimate goal is to provide a well-rounded education for all of our students, formally identified or not, as all students have gifts to nurture and celebrate. This belief has led us to flexible enrichment groups reflecting teacher recommendations, groupings which allow for student movement in and out of grade level sessions throughout the year. Our commitment is to enrich and extend without creating gaps in core knowledge; therefore skills progression is based on teacher input in combination with the needs of formally identified students.

Talented And Gifted

Chinook Trail Elementary

K-5 enrichment groups are flexible groups based on student abilities and teacher recommendations. The students participating in enrichment group activities may change from week to week depending on the concepts being taught in the regular classroom. The goal is to provide additional academic opportunities for students, while making sure no skill gaps are created while out of the regular classroom.

Important Note:

K-5 enrichment sessions are not designated TAG classes, but rather chances for students to take part in extra challenges throughout this particular school year. Official TAG identification occurs during the second semester of third grade, thus allowing for placement in the TAG program for the following year. Participation in an enrichment session does not guarantee a future TAG identification.

TAG at CTE

Enrichment Opportunities

Continental Math League

2

WordMasters 2

Spelling Bee 2

Hands-On Equations 3

Battle of the Books 3

Enrichment 4

Contact Information 4

Inside this issue:

Twenty Spelling Bee (grades 5-8) at the Discovery Canyon Campus.

Winners from the Academy School District Twenty Spelling Bee move on to the Denver Post State Spelling Bee held at the Colorado Conven-tion Center.

Chinook Trail students in grades 1-5 have the opportunity to participate in classroom spelling bees, typically in November.

Top classroom spellers move on to a grade level spelling bee.

The top two fifth grade spellers from Chinook Trail participate in the Academy School District

P A G E 2

Per their website: “The WordMasters Challenge is a national competition for students in grades 3-8 which encourages growth in vocabulary and verbal reasoning.”

“Unlike other language-arts contests, which emphasize grammar and punctuation, this competition addresses higher-level word-comprehension and logical abilities and helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically.

The competition does this in two ways:

1) It challenges students to solve analogies based on relationships among words they have learned, and

2) It draws these analogies from special vocabulary lists, which students have two weeks to study before each meet.“

http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com/

T A G … Y O U ’ R E I T !

Spelling Bee

WordMasters

Continental Math League

Continental Math League (CML) is a nation-wide math program which challenges and encourages students to learn about, and solve, incredibly complex math problems. For fourth and fifth grades, this means five different challenge days spread throughout the school year. Second and third graders may participate in three challenges. On each challenge day, students are given thirty minutes to solve six problems. Some problems call on a student’s factual knowledge, but most problems ask the students to use problem solving and critical thinking strategies such as:

* Look for patterns * Work backwards

* Make a table * Use objects

* Draw a picture * Make it simpler

* Guess and check * Brainstorm

* Reason logically * Make a list

These challenges are very high level, multi-faceted problems. Students are not expected to be proficient in these strategies. In fact, it may be the first time they have ever seen similar math problems, so it is not uncommon for students to receive a low score, or even a zero score. Students are asked to give their best effort and to celebrate any correct solutions, as well as the learning involved and strategy gained in each challenge.

P A G E 3 T A G … Y O U ’ R E I T !

BatTle of the Books

The battle is on! Chinook Trail fifth graders are taking on the challenge of reading up to 40 books in order to secure a spot on one of our Battle of the Books teams. Students create book projects, take quizzes, and demonstrate their knowledge of these selections during weekly Battle of the Books meetings.

Battle of the Books is a regional program that encourages fifth graders to read high quality literature in order to prepare for a “knowledge bowl” style of competition. During the actu-al battle, students share their knowledge of the forty novels as they compete against other teams from throughout the region. Students may begin reading “Battle” books as early as second or third grade, but only fifth graders may participate in the actual competition. One or two teams of four students and an alternate represent Chinook Trail at the Battle of the Books festival held at Colorado College in April.

Chinook Trail may also offer a district practice battle to give students a chance to test their skills prior to the regional competition at Colorado College. Several other D20 teams join us as students demonstrate their knowledge. Chinook Trail is definitely up for the challenge.

3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at Chinook Trail are jump-ing into the world of algebra with the Hands-On Equa-tions program. By using a physical “scale” to balance equations, students are able to manipulate pieces to see how algebraic expressions really work, thus creating a solid base for higher levels of algebra.

It’s a balancing act!

Hands-On Equations

Enrichment sessions expand on academic themes in the regular classroom. Many of these themes are consistent from grade level to grade level, although they require more depth and intensity each year. Topics/themes are adjusted throughout the year to meet the needs of each specific group of students and may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Kindergarten Enrichment Beginning Analogies Vocabulary Expansion Reading Comprehension Parts of a Story/Storytelling/Creative Writing Math Challenges/Problem Solving Online programs/sites as appropriate 1st Grade Enrichment Beginning Analogies Vocabulary Enrichment Reading Comprehension Parts of a Story/Storytelling/ Creative Writing Math Challenges/Problem Solving Online programs/sites as appropriate

2nd Grade Enrichment Beginning Analogies Vocabulary Enrichment Reading Comprehension Parts of a Story/Storytelling/ Creative Writing Math Challenges/Problem Solving Continental Math League Online programs/sites as appropriate

3rd Grade Enrichment LA/Reading WordMasters Analogies Vocabulary Enrichment Reading Comprehension/Novels Parts of a Story/Storytelling/ Creative Writing Online programs/sites as appropriate Math Continental Math League Math Challenges/Problem Solving Hands-On Equations Online programs/sites as appropriate 4th Grade Enrichment LA/Reading WordMasters Analogies Vocabulary Enrichment Reading Comprehension/Novels Parts of a Story/Storytelling/Creative Writing Writing Extensions Authentic Research Online programs/sites as appropriate Independent Projects Math Continental Math League Math Challenges/Problem Solving Visual-Spatial Challenges Hands-On Equations Online programs/sites as appropriate

TAG/Enrichment

Jennifer Swanson TAG Resource Teacher Phone: 719-234-5700

Email: jennifer.swanson@asd20.org

Chinook Trail Elementary 11795 Grand Lawn Circle

Colorado Springs, CO 80924 Office: 719-234-5700

Ms. Swanson’s Home Page:

http://www.asd20.org/Schools/cte/Teachers/Jennifer_Swanson/Pages/

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Contact

Information

T A G … Y O U ’ R E I T !

5th Grade Enrichment LA/Reading WordMasters Analogies Vocabulary Enrichment Reading Comprehension/Novels Parts of a Story/Storytelling/Creative Writing Writing Extensions Authentic Research Online programs/sites as appropriate Independent Projects Math Continental Math League Math Challenges/Problem Solving Visual-Spatial Challenges Hands-On Equations Online programs/sites as appropriate