All formally identified gifted students in 6th grade may take Apogee. 6th grade students will have a common experience as taught by Mrs. Bancroft, Ms. Frese and Ms. Mercury. 6th grade will meet daily, one period a day, and Literature has been carefully embedded into the curriculum.
Classes in Apogee are multi-disciplinary with an emphasis on real-world connections. In addition, assessment is based upon the process that students undertake as well as the products that demonstrate their learning.
Offerings are carefully chosen to address a wide range of giftedness. This year students will learn about themselves and the world through the following units:
Who Am I? Students will take a variety of personality, interest and learning inventories and develop a presentation all about themselves.
Hero’s Journey - Students will study the stages in the Hero’s Journey archetype and how it is applied in artistic works across time and cultures, including current popular culture.
Eight to Be Great - Students will learn about Richard St. John's eight traits that lead to success and analyze how these traits might apply to becoming a successful student.
Adolescent Brain Development - Students will be introduced to the mysteries of the mind, learn about the structure and function of the brain, gain insight into memory, intelligence and emotion, observe and analyze animal behavior, research a brain disorder and design and conduct psychology experiments.
Astounding Questions - Students will choose a topic of interest, research that topic, and create a way to present the information learned to the class through a video, poster, puppet show, short story, podcast, or other student-created project.
Embedding Literature - Students will be expected to keep a reading log of independent reading, report on reading through book talks and independent projects, and read fiction and non-fiction in small groups and as a class. Readings are selected to be appropriately challenging and to connect to units of study in Apogee. We have resources for advanced as well as struggling readers, and understand that not all gifted students are gifted readers. Our goal is to challenge those who love to read to read more complex works at a deeper level, and turn those who don't love it or who struggle with reading to learn to love it. We will also be participating in Word Masters this year, a national vocabulary competition.
All formally identified gifted students in 7th and 8th grades may take Apogee, a scheduled class that students take as an elective. Students may sign up for semester or full year Apogee.
Classes in 7th and 8th grade Apogee are multi-disciplinary with an emphasis on real-world connections. In addition, assessment is based upon the process that students undertake as well as the products that demonstrate their learning.
Offerings are carefully chosen to address a wide range of giftedness. Current topics may include engineering strategy games, intro to film, business, crime scene investigation, philosophy, spy games and room of requirement. Within each topic, students are taught in a variety of ways to address a variety of learning styles as well. See the menu bar to the left for more details on these units.