Seminars

Dear Parent and Guardians,

Welcome to the 2019-20 school year! I am excited to continue teaching in the Talent Development, Academic Challenge, and Gifted Support (TAG) department. This is my 15th year in this role at Basswood. I look forward to working with students who have participated in my classes in the past, as well as those who will be new to my groups this year.

As we begin the new year, I want to share with you my growth mindset learning philosophy for all students with whom I work. All past students are aware that my job is to stretch their brains and challenge them. They will work with problems and activities in which they may or may not succeed on their first attempt. I expect that they will stay with a problem and be persistent. We will discuss strategies if they get stuck and need help. They will learn about growth mindset and how they must practice and fail and learn from their mistakes to build strong neural connections in their brains. Without productive struggle and some failure, they will not learn how to stick with a problem and help their intelligence and talents to grow. Everyone needs to be encouraged to take risks and to understand that it takes hard work to become better at anything. Students in my room will be praised for their effort and dedication, not for their intelligence. I encourage you to do the same outside of school.

As parents and guardians, I welcome your support of your children, this program, and a growth mindset philosophy. If you’d like to learn more, here are two websites to get you started:

https://www.mindsetworks.com/parents/default

https://www.mindsetkit.org/growth-mindset-parents

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I am excited for the new school year and all it has in store for everyone!

Students in grades 3-5 may participate in one to four seminars throughout the year. These are a pull-out from the homeroom and are 75-90 minutes in length. The focus of three of these seminars match the three areas of the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT): verbal (language), quantitative (math), and non-verbal (visual/spatial). The fourth seminar is the affective class, focusing on social and emotional skills. Most seminars are 6-8 weeks long, except for the affective seminar, which generally is four to six weeks long. Student participation is based on data from the CogAT and MAP tests, as well as teacher observation and recommendation.


Quantitative classes will begin during the weeks of February 10th and 17th.

3rd Grade Seminars for 2019-20

Groups meet on Tuesday (Bohr, Byun, Lynch, Sager) and Thursday (Harrington, King, Schmidt) afternoons from 1:30-3:00.

  • Non-verbal (fall): K'Nex Bridges
  • Quantitative (winter): Math Patterns and Geometry
  • Verbal (spring): Storytelling

4th grade seminars for 2019-20

Groups meet on Tuesday (Aydt, Cherney, Kretsch, and Monson) and Wednesday (Johnson and Schutte) mornings from 8:55-10:15.

  • Non-verbal (fall): LEGO Simple Machines
  • Quantitative (winter): Build a Tiny Houses
  • Verbal (spring): Improv

5th grade seminars for 2019-20

Both groups meet on Thursday mornings, from 8:55-10:15 (Anderson, Saugstad, Wallace) and 10:15-11:35 (Kubiak, Park, Thompson).

  • Non-verbal (fall): CSI
  • Quantitative (winter): Dream Vacation
  • Verbal (spring): Mock Trial