It's hard to believe that we are getting ready to begin a new school year! Summer has flown by for me, as I'm sure it has for most of you. I hope you were able to relax and enjoy good times with your family.

I have some exciting news to share with you- I am expecting our second child, who is due February 25, 2013! We are so blessed to be adding to our family.

As the school year begins, I will be updating my blog each week with important information about the gifted services for elementary students. Please check back once school starts! Enjoy your final days of summer vacation, and I'll see you soon!

~Mrs. Wilson

We have only a couple weeks of the GEMS program left! It's hard to believe that this year has flown by so quickly. The students are busy working on their independent studies.

Please take a moment to read through the newsletter I am posting. I've searched for and found some great resources that you and your family may be interested in checking out this summer. Also- there are some great parent resources listed that will help you continue to support the growth of your gifted child.

It has been a pleasure working with your children this year and I look forward to another great year beginning in the fall!

~Mrs. Wilson

This week and next the students are taking the Ohio Achievement Assessments. Because of this, the GEMS schedule has been altered, depending on the test given on each GEMS day. None of the GEMS students will have a full day of GEMS class this week, however, next week will be different because only the 5th grade will still be testing. This means that the 3rd and 4th grade GEMS students will have a regular day of GEMS class. The 5th grade students will still be on an altered schedule.

As we are wrapping up this school year, the GEMS students are working on an independent study of their choosing. They have each written goals for what they want to accomplish for their study and are currently working on them. Students are studying topics of great variety. For example, MLB sports records, Abraham Lincoln, and whether alien technology was used to build the Pyramids are just a few of the topics being studied by the students!

As a challenge for this end-of-year project, I've asked the students to go beyond just researching their topic. We've talked about Benjamin Bloom's levels of thinking, and my challenge to the students is to have one of their goals be at one of the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The students have realized the difficulty in writing a goal that is at a higher level, but with a little guidance, most of them have come up with some great tasks that reflect these challenging ways of thinking.

If you are unfamiliar with Bloom's Taxonomy, please read through the information on the link posted below. These higher level thinking skills can (and should!) be reinforced in all areas of the students' lives, including at home.

http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful spring break!

This week, I will be meeting with the GEMS students to conference about their Olympic unit presentations from last week. I saw many impressive presentations of student work last week. When we conference, we will be discussing the student's self-evaluation and my evaluation of their work.

Next week we will be spending some time preparing for the Ohio Achievement Assessments which will be coming up in the next couple weeks. During the weeks of OAA testing, there will be an adjusted GEMS schedule. As soon as I have the schedule worked out, I will inform the students and post on the blog.

It has been an exciting year for GEMS and one filled with changes and challenges. I would like to hear feedback from the students about their GEMS experience this year. In order to accomplish this, I have created an online survey for the students to take. We will be completing this on the GEMS days over the next couple weeks. To get to the survey, please click on the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/giftedstudentsurveyFY12

I am looking forward to seeing some excellent presentations this week!

Students: Please make sure you are prepared for you presentation on the day you are assigned to give it. When your presentation is complete, I will give you your self-evaluation form. Please complete it and bring it with you when we conference about your presentation.

Thanks!

The GEMS students are working diligently to prepare for their Olympic Unit presentations to their homeroom classes. These presentations will begin next week.

The schedule will be:

4/2 Monday morning- Marlboro, Hull's homeroom
4/2 Monday afternoon- Lexington, Shoemaker's homeroom
4/3 Tuesday- all Washington students will present today
4/4 Wednesday- all remaining Lexington students will present today
4/5 Thursday- all remaining Marlboro students will present today

The students' presentations should contain information and completed activities from their Olympic Unit Matrix. To view a copy of the matrix, please click on the link below. Each presentation should be between 5 to 7 minutes and no more than 10 minutes long.

We are already into our 4th week of the Olympics unit. So far the students have studied about the history and origins of the games, the Olympic medals, and Olympic athletes or the past and present. This week we will be looking more in-depth at the preparations for the London 2012 games.

If you are looking for information on the Olympics, check out www.olympic.org or www.london2012.com. These are the official websites for the Olympics.

I believe there is a sense of excitement building amongst the GEMS students as they learn more about the Olympics. We are really looking forward to watching the games this summer.

Reminder: students should be working on their 6 chosen activities from the matrix. Presentations will be coming up soon! I will post more information, so please watch!

The GEMS students have started on their new unit of study: The Olympics. This unit is inspired by the summer Olympics which will be held in London this year. The students will have some challenging tasks to complete for this unit, including weekly tasks and a presentation to their homeroom classes.

This week's topic is Olympic origin and history. The students will be investigating why and how the Olympics began. They will be creating a time line of events from the ancient games to the present. These time lines will be displayed in the hallways of each building for others to learn from and hopefully catch the Olympic spirit!

Check back weekly to find out what we are learning about! The students are very excited for this unit and are looking forward to watching the 2012 Games in London.

What a great time we had last night at the GEMS Fly-In! The student work exhibit was fantastic! We had a fun time with the model airplane contests, and we learned a lot about radio-controlled airplanes from the demonstration. A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped out! I will post some pictures for all to see...

The GEMS students have been working very hard in preparation for the Fly-In Event. It's only one week away now! I have been conferencing with each of the students this week to make sure they are preparing, and I am impressed with the ideas I am hearing about and seeing made into reality.

As a reminder, students will need to arrive promptly at 6:30 at the Moulin Center with their display materials and work they plan to exhibit. The exhibit will go on throughout the evening for parents, family, friends, and others to view. The model airplane contests will begin at approximately 7:00pm. There will be contests for models that fly and models built just for looks. There will also be a "mystery contest" during the evening. The radio controlled airplane demonstration will bring the evening to a close. The students will be able to ask our demonstrators questions and can even try out some of the RC planes if they want!

We look forward to having everybody from all three buildings together for this night. If, for some reason, your child is unable to attend, please contact Mrs. Wilson to make arrangements for his or her work to be displayed at the exhibition. Thanks!

Click on the link below to download and read the GEMS Winter Newsletter. The students will also be taking a copy home either this week or next.

All of the GEMS students are up and running now on the Flight unit. We have a lot of exciting things in store for the next month. I have finalized the date and time of the culminating event for this unit. We will be having a "Fly-In" event at the Moulin Community Center on Wednesday February 15 from 6:30 to 8:00 in the evening. At this Fly-In, students will be setting up their work for parents, family members, and friends to view. We will also have some friendly competition between our GEMS students. Lastly, there will be a demonstration of radio controlled airplanes, and a question/answer session with the pilots. Students will get a chance to fly the RC planes, too! I am really looking forward to this event!

Please encourage your child to be working on his/her independent activities at home, as we want them to have their BEST work on display at the Fly-In. In addition to the independent activities, the students will be learning about the important principles and concepts of flight each week. We will have demonstrations and perform experiments to understand these principles/concepts. If you have any questions about the requirements or expectations for this unit, please feel free to contact me at m_wilson@marlingtonlocal.org.

Well, almost. Mother Nature had different plans for us today. This means that my Washington group will be a bit behind, but no worries. We'll make it work!

We are beginning a unit on Flight this week. I have some pretty exciting activities and experiments in the works. This week I will be introducing the students to the unit and what the expectations will be. As with the last unit on Legends, the students will have a matrix or activities to choose from. I will post this to the blog so you may check it out. The evaluation process will be the same as it was for the Legends matrix, with a 4 point rating scale. Each week we will cover material about the process of flight, with a few experiments thrown in. The students will also be given time each week to work on their independent activities from the matrix. The culminating event will be a "Fly-In" for all three buildings combined. We will display our work, have contests, and a demonstration of radio controlled airplanes. It should be a terrific event! More information will be coming soon, so check back. Also, be watching for information to be sent home with your child.

Wanted Posters



Bigfoot Legend


Loch Ness Monster


"Nessie" model


More on Bigfoot


Casting of Bigfoot's BIG FOOT!



Powerpoint presentations


Study of the Holy Grail


Pop rocks, Loch Ness, and Joel's own Legend: The Lost City of Diamond


The Vanishing Hitchhiker Legends


Mothman Legend

Unfortunately, the skits are too large to be uploaded to the blog, so if you would like copies, please send in a flashdrive with your child and I can copy them for you.

Wanted Posters


Pokemon Cards


Our own made up legends


Bigfoot cookies!


Pegasus wing cookies



"Nessie Pop"



Chupacabra Salsa



Comic of Loch Ness Monster by Riley S



Comic of Chupacabra by Riley S