Gifted Education

About

Cheat Lake Elementary has a prospering gifted program which serves students in first through fifth grade. Our program is called TAG, which stands for The Academically Gifted in the state of West Virginia. During a child's early years of TAG, we strive to build strong problem solving skills, foster creativity, and develop social/emotional skills. This foundation is imperative in preparing them for the competitive problem solving they will do at Mountaineer Middle School. 

Gifted pedagogy is aimed at horizontal instruction, emphasizing a student's understanding of a topic with depth and complexity. In our gifted classes, we utilize several approaches to teaching. For more structured lessons, students may work through the steps of the Engineering Design Process or the Scientific Method. However, we do encourage exploration while learning which can appear more open-ended. In most cases, our curriculum touches on many subject areas (including art, music, and movement) and, in the school setting, is very hands-on. 

Cheat Lake currently has Jennifer Pitts and Laura Rayburn as their two gifted teachers. Please explore the site to learn more about our gifted program. You will find more information about teachers, student work, and parent resources. There are links with information about referring your child for the gifted program, supports to use at home, and gifted associations under the Parent Resources link.