Gifted/Highly Capable Services

PURPOSE

The academically gifted are a unique population differing greatly from their age group in abilities, talents, interests, and psychological maturity.  The gifted need to work with content and ideas appropriate for them but beyond most of their age peers.  Gifted students need and thrive in an educational program which will increase their involvement and interest in learning.

Central Kitsap School District is committed to offering a variety of options to gifted students as part of a network of services supporting the District Mission Statement and the recommendations of the Parent Advisory Committee as adopted by the School Board in the Spring of 1994.  The District recognizes that curriculum for gifted students must be differentiated by faster pace, greater complexity, and earlier introduction of knowledge and skills.  They also recognize the need for gifted students to explore interests in depth and spend time with their intellectual peers.

Venture Building Mentor Services

Please use these links to view individual school's Gifted Web sites or to contact the Mentor.

The Mentor Program at CKSD operates at the building level.  Each school has one Mentor for the Gifted.  This is a stipend position with additional money available for implementing a building plan.  

In the fall, each elementary mentor, with the support of a building team, create a plan for meeting the academic needs of the gifted population in their school.   These building plans are individualized to meet the unique needs found in the different schools.  All plans must include a way for the mentor to:

• become familiar with identified gifted students
• provide resources to staff
• communicate with parents
• coordinate student enrichment opportunities

The essence of the mentor position is to be an advocate for the gifted child.  The mentor works with both teachers and curriculum to make the school experience relevant and meaningful for a child who  needs learning at a faster pace and more complex level.  Clustering gifted students at grade level is done whenever possible to maximize time with intellectual peers.

At the elementary level, the mentor provides support for the classroom teacher to create a Highly Capable Learning Plan (HCLP) in an identified child's intellectual strength area.  This HCLP is used for curriculum planning and is a helpful tool during parent conferencing.  Mentors regularly network with one another at District level meetings.  These meetings are led by the Curriculum Specialist for Gifted Education.  Together, they evaluate the success of their building plan with the purpose of improving services for the next school year.

Elementary Self-Contained Gifted Classroom 2-6

Program Description

• Four separate grade-level classrooms participate in a rigorous curriculum that meets the specific affective and academic needs of gifted students.
• The self-contained elementary gifted service is presently housed at Emerald Heights.

Program Components

• Mastery of the basic skills of reading, mathematics, and science at a pace and depth appropriate to the capacities of able learners.
• Engage critical thinking and reasoning abilities across the curriculum.
• Provide an environment that encourages and fosters inquiry and challenging attitudes toward learning.
• Develop research skills and methods. Students will understand a variety of research methods and their application to areas of inquiry.
• Develop creativity through fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, problem-finding, and problem-solving exercises.
• Use student strengths and interests to determine in-depth explorations.
• Address affective needs through individual goal setting with an emphasis on organization and study skills.
• Develop interpersonal skills of empathy and cooperating through group work.

How We Differentiate

• Students participate in self-assessment, goal setting, and reflection of goals for each trimester and in all core subject areas.
• Critical and creative thinking skills (i.e. flexibility, fluency, originality, elaboration, and problem solving) are developed in all academic areas.
• Continuous formative assessments are given to develop individualized instruction.
• Students are placed beyond grade level for additional challenge in a variety of subject areas.
• All grade levels participate in project-based curriculum that allows for students to select research subjects according to interest and ability.

Junior High Magnet Block