Elementary Gifted Services
For elementary school students, the program of gifted services has two components: students in kindergarten through second grade are served at their elementary school through the advanced content, collaboration, and cluster models, and students in third through fifth grade are served at the Program Challenge Center one day a week while receiving modified curriculum in their regular classrooms the other four days.
Through the advanced content, collaboration, and cluster delivery models, students in grades K-2 receive differentiated curriculum five days a week. In order to facilitate this individualized instruction, Program Challenge teachers are assigned to specific elementary schools, where they collaborate weekly with the regular classroom teachers to modify curriculum and plan enrichment activities.
While at the Center, students are scheduled for a minimum of five segments a week for instruction with a gifted certified teacher. Classes are offered for each grade from each of the content areas: language arts, math, science, social studies, foreign language, and the arts. Students are able to take two interdisciplinary units per year. These academic-based classes have high expectations, a faster pace, and more complex curriculum. They offer topics and experiences outside the regular curriculum. Authentic audiences are encouraged, assessment is varied, and self-evaluation is developed.
At the Center, students receive instruction through a variety of teaching styles, many areas of expertise, and the compilation of all the system's resources and materials at the elementary level. The elementary Program Challenge teachers participate in professional development with the program coordinator, curriculum specialists, and the host principal and staff.
On the designated day, students who ride the bus to school will board a different bus when they arrive at their home school for transportation to the Program Challenge Center. Parents who drive their children to school can drive them to the Program Challenge Center, which is housed at Flat Shoals Elementary School. Students participate in a variety of programs that are challenging and enriching to their academic curriculum. At the Program Challenge Center, they interact with other gifted students from all over the county who are in their same grade level.
Students are transported by bus back to their home school in time to board their regular bus for home. Parents may also pick up their children at the Program Challenge Center.
In addition, the Program Challenge teachers meet one day a week with classroom teachers at their "home" schools to evaluate students for eligibility for the gifted program, plan Program Challenge students' activities, and to offer additional enrichment services to students at their home school.