Accelerated Learning Resources

Those of you who are faithful readers of our KH blog (and we appreciate that…thanks!) know that you will frequently get not only my Kendall Hunt perspective, but also my perspective as the mom of a fifth grader who is in gifted classes. This post is one of the latter. 

I received a phone call the other day from my son’s math teacher. She proceeds to tell me that he’s breezing through math, so they gave him the sixth grade math inventory test and he only missed five out of 45 questions. They’re moving him from fifth grade high math to the sixth grade high math group on Monday. I interpret this to mean three things: 1) I will not be able to help him with his math because his math abilities have now surpassed mine (there’s more than one reason I’m not an accountant!); 2) he’s pretty good at math, obviously; and 3) his school really needs a strong gifted and talented math program.

We’ve spoken many times about the lack of talented and gifted resources in some schools. But I’m wondering, even in schools that use accelerated learning resources like Kendall Hunt’s Project M³: Mentoring Mathematical Minds and our newest curriculum, Project M²: Mentoring Young Mathematicians, are there still students who are moved up a grade? Or is moving them up a grade the substitute for a curriculum for high-ability learners? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I know that we usually talk about accelerated learning resources, elementary school textbooks, or high school science textbooks, but I thought we’d take a short break today so I can introduce to one of Kendall Hunt Publishing's author groups, the Second and Seven Foundation.

The 2^nd and 7 Foundation is all about literacy. It was founded by three former Ohio State University student-athletes: Mike Vrabel, Luke Fickell, and Ryan Miller. They were standouts on The OSU football team and decided that they wanted to give back to the greater Columbus, Ohio community once their playing days there were over. They started out by conducting a football camp in the summer of 2000, the proceeds of which were used to purchase books for second grade students in seven Central Ohio elementary schools (that’s where the name, 2^nd and 7 came from), in an effort to tackle illiteracy. As its founders passion for promoting literacy has grown, so has the foundation.

2^nd and 7 Foundation’s Tackle Illiteracy program now includes reading to second graders in classrooms all over the country, and provides each of the children in those classrooms with a book to take home. The foundation targets schools with economically disadvantaged kids and communities where its founders feel they can make the biggest impact. The Ohio State University, the University of Toledo, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin and the University of North Carolina have all been involved in reaching out to the community through this program, by allowing student-athletes to participate in the readings.

In my next post I’ll tell you about the foundation’s books, how many they have distributed and how you can get them for yourself. But for now, check out their website and the great work they’re doing and please consider supporting their efforts!

Will you be at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference beginning tomorrow in San Diego? If so, first, I’m jealous, I love San Diego, but second and more importantly, don’t forget to visit Kendall Hunt Publishing at Booth #523. You’ll be able to check out all of our gifted education books and accelerated learning resources, including Project M3: Mentoring Mathematical Minds, and the brand new Project M2: Mentoring Young Mathematicians.

Project M3 is a math curriculum for high ability learners in grades 3-5, while Project M2 meets needs of gifted math students from Kindergarten through Grade 2.

The following workshops by our authors, will take place during the conference:

Math Innovations, presented by Kathy Gavin, Friday, April 23rd, 10:00a-11:00a, Room 1B in the San Diego Convention Center.

We Discover Math, P-K, presented by Carol Inzerillo, Friday, April 23rd, 11:30a-12:30p, Room 1B in the Sand Diego Convention Center.

Math Innovations, presented by Kathy Gavin, Friday, April 23rd, 1:00p-2:00p, Room 1B in the San Diego Convention Center.

M3 and M2, presented by Kathy Gavin, Friday, April 23rd, 2:30p-3:30p, Room 1B in the San Diego Convention Center.

After the conference, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment and let me know what you think!

I know we generally talk about high school science textbooks or accelerated learning resources, but I thought a momentary change of topic to something affecting so many of today’s students would be appropriate. Did you watch the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s new show about childhood obesity? It was a real eye opener, and quite alarming, especially in light of all the educational cuts that have been announced in the past few weeks. If you’re a teacher, I don’t have to tell you that specials are the first things to go, music, art, P.E., sadly on the chopping block in so many districts.

This all reminded me of GYMB4, the affordable and easy-to-implement classroom video workout program designed and tested specifically for Pre-K and elementary school students as young as 3 years old and up through all elementary school grades. GYMB4 (short for “Get Yourself Moving Before Learning”) workouts are fun, and at just 5 to 10 minutes long, they are easily incorporated into any classroom routine. The exercises are all age-appropriate (PreK-6) and no special equipment or extra floor space is required.


Teachers across the country are using the videos in their classrooms. They have told us that their students are calmer, more attentive, and better able to stay on task since they’ve started using GYMB4. I guess this makes sense since scientists have linked physical activity with brain function. (Seems like I should get up and move now!) Click this squirming button to the left to see the video introduction to GYMB4.

Anyway, check out their blog, you’ll learn all kinds of things about GYMB4 and getting kids moving. The GYMB4 website also offers video samples and more information. And you can purchase the videos on the Kendall Hunt Publishing website. Check it out and get moving!!
 

My son was recently invited to participate in an area Eco-Meet. They chose three fourth grade gifted students and two fifth grade students from each of the participating districts to make up that district’s team. This is quite the inquiry based science event, it seems! Each team member received a packet about an inch thick of materials they need to study to prepare. Additionally, they will be working with the gifted and talented teacher, who is the coach, each week leading up to the event in mid-May.

The Eco-Meet is a day long event held at a local park high above the Mississippi River. The park rangers and Army Corps of Engineers will involve the students in activities and presentations on different subjects, including Fish of the Mississippi. After each event, the teams will take a test. The tests will be graded and winners announced.

Your erstwhile blogger has returned from the land of vacationers, fully refreshed and ready to blog. I don’t know if it was the time of year, or what, but while I was off I started wondering about the question in the headline of this post. How did we end up with “talented & gifted” resources, gifted education books, accelerated learning resources? Where did the terms come from?

So out of curiosity, I did a little research while I was off. It turns out there’s no general consensus as to the origin of the term “gifted.” And, in fact, as we’ve all known for years, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the use of the term. But that wasn’t the interesting part. Along the way I learned that what we call gifted education and curriculum for accelerated learners, etc. has been around, literally, for thousands of years. In the sixth and seventh centuries, under China’s Tang Dynasty, children identified as prodigies were summoned to the imperial court for advanced education. Also, Plato was a leading advocate of specialized education for those who were intellectually gifted.

Now, I knew that the Marland Report, A Nation at Risk, and the Jacob Javits Act more recently had memorable impacts on talented and gifted education, but I certainly had no idea how far back the origins went. See what happens when I have extra time on my hands!

Have you visited our Professional Development area? KH offers professional development support for many of our programs, including our accelerated learning resources. Here’s some news on a recent conference from our Professional Development Manager, Laura Lottes:

The Talented and Gifted Professional Development Conference held in Columbia, South Carolina November 18^th and 19^th was a big success! 

The conference was designed to provide training to both users and non-users of Kendall Hunt talented and gifted resources and curricula for high ability learners.  Eighty-six teachers from 29 elementary schools and administrators from the South Carolina Department of Education participated in the two-day event.  The participants had four topics to choose from including Math, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies.  Our author groups from Project M3 and the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William & Mary provided us with the resources for content of the workshops.

We are so grateful to our dedicated customers, as well as our future customers, who believe in life long learning and continuing education for their staff!

Yesterday was our son’s conference, and fortunately for him, there were no surprises. In fact, in fourth grade he reads at the 7^th grade level, so I’m thrilled and very proud of him.

Then I met with the gifted teacher, who showed me some of his work and sung his praises as well. We bemoaned the lack of accelerated learning resources (both in terms of books for gifted students and teacher time) and discussed my last column about students falling through the cracks. She has an interesting POV as she’s taught both ends of the spectrum, “special ed” and gifted. She says as different as the levels are, there are so many similarities. Certainly that is due largely to the fact that both are the minorities, so they don’t have a great deal of resources.  Each school has to buy elementary school science books, but not necessarily a curriculum for high ability learners. The lack of resources and teachers is also exacerbated by the fact that it’s a small school in a small district.  

That said, they do a remarkable job with what they have, the number of students, and the range of abilities. This seems like a good time of year to thank each teacher who gives their heart and soul to make a difference in the futures of my child and all the others out there!
 

Here’s my question…as a teacher, what do your gifted students do during RTI time? It used to be that the students who struggled or had behavioral issues were the ones who “fell through the cracks.” More and more I feel like it’s now the gifted or advanced students who fall through. Of course, in a perfect world, no one would fall through the cracks. And I give all the credit in the world to the classroom teacher who is trying to balance the needs of 20-30 students with vastly differing needs, levels and abilities. 

I know that in my son’s school, everyday they have a half hour of RTI time. During this time, the other students are engaged in group reading. For some students, that group reading is beneficial, for the more advanced students, they are bored. As I’ve indicated here before, his school doesn’t have a lot of accelerated learning resources or books for gifted students - they don’t even have a curriculum for high ability learners. And they only go to their gifted class twice a week. So what’s the answer for these students?

I did give the principal one suggestion when I spoke with him earlier today (first time in five years that I’ve actually felt the need to call him, and I didn’t want to just call and complain without offering at least one solution). I said the teacher create a couple groups of the other students, give them a research topic or question, and tell them that they must make a presentation, complete with visual aids, in two weeks. It would at least put that RTI time to good use for them.

 I’d love to hear from teachers who have this same dilemma. I know many schools don’t have gifted education books in class, and some lack even the basic talented and gifted resources. So what do you do?

They’re here, they’re here!! The 2009-2010 PreK-12 catalogs are now available on our website! Chock full of high school science textbooks, primary school textbooks, accelerated learning resources, and much, much more. 

There are two catalogs, available via pdf download: the first showcases our outstanding elementary school textbooks for grades PreK through 8^th grade. The second catalog covers our offerings of high school science textbooks and programs, math, health & fitness, and talented and gifted resources. Best of all, you can be green and still see the catalogs if you just download them here: http://www.kendallhunt.com/index.cfm?PID=5970&PGI=0.  From this page you can also download our Reading Resources and Gifted Education catalogs. Check them out!

Well, school registration is complete. One week from today, my son will be safely ensconced in his fourth grade classroom surrounded by elementary school textbooks of every subject: reading, math, science, social studies. He’s looking forward to what his gifted teacher has in store this year. The school was able to get a few new books for gifted students along with other accelerated learning resources. 

Here at Kendall Hunt, our brand new Distribution Center (it’s huge, and I love it when I have to go down there…it’s the coolest place!) is shipping out books like crazy…by the palletful, actually, just like every other educational publishing company, I suppose. 

Soon students around the country will be cracking open a new high school physics textbook, or opening a well-used primary school textbook. Whatever the case, this time of year always feels new, it’s a time of fresh starts, friends to be made, lots to teach and much to learn. To all the teachers out there who are responsible for our children learning, thank you for all you do. To all the students out there, learn everything you can, and have fun while you’re at it!

It seems like the last few years there has been a veritable explosion of accelerated learning resources flooding the market. Maybe it’s because our own offerings in books for gifted student have grown so much. We now have talented and gifted resources available for:

• Math
• Language Arts
• Science
• Social Studies

And I’m not just talking about a book or two for each subject. Each is a robust curriculum for high ability learners. What about your talented and gifted resources? Are they books…curriculum programs? And how does your school choose…does the gifted teacher decide on his/her own? What role do the principal and the district play? 

I don’t know about you, but when I was in school, there was no such thing as talented and gifted resources, gifted education books, or, for that matter, talented and gifted education. We had accelerated courses, but those were more about working a grade level ahead, using a high school biology book in 8^th grade, or using middle school books in 5^th grade, rather than the textbooks for elementary school.

What type of accelerated learning resources is your school using? Do you have a budget for books for gifted students? At my son’s school, the gifted teacher does a wonderful job of creating projects for the children using ideas of her own because she doesn’t have a budget. But I think about how much easier her job would be and how much more robust the program could be if she had a budget to purchase a curriculum for high ability learners.