OCTOBER 2014

Welcome everyone,

We've had a long and great start to the beginning of the 2014-2015 School Year.  Direct GTD Resource has begun in 3rd-5th Grade and Mr. Packer has been going into the K-2 classrooms for Thinking Skills sessions.  Below is a summary of what has been happening at each of the grade levels thus far this school year.

Kindergarten:
Mr. Packer has been going into the Kindergarten classrooms for Thinking Skills, once a week for 1/2 hour.  We began with a name activity so that Mr. Packer could learn everyone's names (which he is still working on).  We then spent the next couple of sessions working on the position terms; IN, ON, UNDER, IN FRONT OF, BEHIND, NEXT TO, BETWEEN by learning a song and then the kids spent time following directions and placing dots in the correct position next to a box.

1st Grade:
Mr. Packer brought in his friend DOT to give the kids an idea of what higher level thinking skills are about and the kids experienced DOT's first day at school.   Recently the kids have been introduced to "Dudley the Detective".  Dudley is part of the P.E.T.S. program and teaches kids, through various activities to become good deductive thinkers, including the skills of; gathering ALL of the information, not jumping to CONCLUSIONS, and that there is ONE correct answer.  The kids have created detective badges to remind them of these Thinking Skills and have done the first activity "Mystery Creatures" which will be assessed for their ability to listen and use these skills.

2nd Grade:
2nd Grade students have continued with their friends from Crystal Pond Woods and the P.E.T.S. program and have met Max the Magician.  Max teaches the kids to use their visual/spatial skills and identify and look for shapes and patterns which help in identifying problems and solving them.  The kids have created Max the Magician hats to help trigger a memory for this as well as have begun to work with different types of patterns.

3rd Grade Reading
Students who qualify for Direct GTD Resource services in Language Arts have been working on Reading stories by Rudyard Kipling and building our vocabulary.

3rd Grade Math
Students have been working on multiplication strategies with 1 and 2 digit numbers, helped Ms. Creehan by counting the number of Eagle Slips the school earned, and have been working on problem-solving.

4th Grade Reading
We have been working on the Mystery genre and reading "The Wright 3", "The Calder Game", and the "Westing Game".  We are working on identifying character traits, red herrings, clues, and having small group discussions.  We are also working on vocabulary and turning verbs into nouns.

4th Grade Math
We have been working on operations with decimal numbers.

5th Grade Reading
We are studying Edgar Allen Poe by reading about his life, and reading several of his stories including; "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Fall of the House of Usher", and "The Masque of the Red Death".

5th Grade Math
Working on Units 1 and 2 of Big Ideas Math.  Unit 1 being Prime numbers, Greatest Common Factor, Least Common Multiple, and operations.  Unit 2 is operations with fractions and decimal numbers.

If you have questions regarding Gifted/Talented/Differentiation Services at Irving School, do not hesitate to contact me at packer@op97.org.  Looking forward to seeing many of you at conferences the week of October 20th.

All my best,
Mr. Packer

FIRST WEEK BACK 8/25-8/29

Hello all,

I hope everyone had a most enjoyable summer.  Mine was busy spent traveling coast to coast, CA one week and the next week in FL.  I ended the Summer teaching theater for a week in New Buffalo, MI and well...here we are.

For those of you new to my blog, or new to Irving School, this is the place to come for updates on Gifted/Talented/Differentiation (GTD) Resource services at Irving School.  For more information on Gifted Education in Oak Park, visit the  Gifted Education site on the District 97 homepage and follow the links to Elementary Programs.

At Irving School, I "push-in" to the primary grades K-2 and provide Direct "pull-out" services in Math and Language Arts for those students who meet District 97 Direct Service Criteria.  Those students are identified at the beginning of 3rd grade after the Fall M.A.P. tests are given and the results are shared with the staff.

I look forward to working with you and your families this year.  If you have questions regarding Gifted Education in District 97, services provided at Irving School, or how we meet your child's academic and social needs, please contact me at packer@op97.org

All my best,
Mr. Packer