Affective Learning

A major part of our gifted curriculum involves students learning about their social emotional self or Affective Skills - how they think, how they learn, how they interact with others around them and how they make decisions and act as responsible members of society.

They participate in various activities during the year to develop their affective skills. 

2nd graders using their brainfocals for divergent thinking. 

4th graders working on their "box of passions" after reading What's Your Red Rubber Ball? by Kevin Carroll.

2nd graders problem solving and working together on electric circuits and a maze game. 

What is a Superhero?

3rd-5th graders are working on a Superhero Unit learning about:

• heroic characteristics
• themselves & what is important to them by looking at heroes
• current events and roles heroes are playing in society
• Real human heroes in our community, nation and world
• how to show appreciation for a hero in their own lives or a hero from the past who has had an influence on them

Right now, they are creating their own hero and choosing a current issue or adversity for the hero to address. Then they will create a physical model of their hero! It will be super exciting to see what they create.

2nd Graders use Divergent Thinking Skills

2nd graders are investigative learners using some of the thinking skills they learned from the first grade unit called “The Birthday Present”. They recalled using “deductive thinking” to solve the animal story and are now carrying over those skills to a new unit called Detective Club. This unit will allow them to learn about and use the process of elimination to find a solution or solve a short mystery. They are also learning about Divergent Thinking - another way to brainstorm, imagine and invent many solutions to one problem. In addition to working on these higher level thinking skills, we will begin weekly challenge math and reading multicultural tales to build our social-emotional self (affective).

Using divergent thinking to create a cycle for a spider. How do you make a cycle for something that has 8 legs?