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Check out our Family Resources tab on this site!

Past editions of this newsletter may be located by clicking the Archives tab.

Welcome to QUEST!

Welcome back to all of our amazing QUEST families! We hope that you all had a great summer. The Advanced Academics team here in HEB ISD is excited to kick off the 2025-26 school year!

QUEST stands for Question, Unite, Explore, Strive, and Think. These active verbs describe what you will see happening in our pull-out classes with gifted and highly capable students. This newsletter will be emailed to you quarterly (QUEST runs on a 9-week cycle with four 9-week periods per year) to provide a bit of information regarding what is going on in QUEST!

Our partnership with you in the education of your children is of the utmost importance. Please reach out to your campus Advanced Academics Specialist with any questions or concerns. You can find his/her name and contact information by clicking the QUEST Staff tab at the top of this page. Included there you will also find contact information for our Advanced Academics Coordinator, Cheryl Harris, and Advanced Academics District Facilitator (Elementary), Emily Biggers.

Check out the Family Resources tab at the top of this page! This tab is updated with opportunities in the community in each edition of QUEST Family News.

We will also keep you informed about QUEST Family Engagement opportunities in this newsletter, so you will want to be sure to read it each nine weeks!

Scroll down to learn more about QUEST!

Camp Invention

We enjoyed the opportunity to work with many QUEST students over the summer at Camp Invention! Campers had a blast using their inventive thinking!

Remember to watch for this camp again for your QUEST student in the summer of 2026 in HEB ISD!

QUEST Family Engagement

Family Engagement was well received last school year, and we are excited to continue it this year!

More information on this year's first QUEST Family Engagement event coming soon!

QUEST Standards

Independence

Critical Thinking

Creative Thinking

Communication

Research

Collaboration

Leadership

QUEST Curriculum

QUEST curriculum is centered around year-long universal themes and generalizations. It is made up of student learning experiences that integrate STEAMSS (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, Math, and Social Studies) and Reading. Creative and critical thinking skills are woven throughout with focused attention on developing both independent and collaborative learning skills. The elements of Depth and Complexity as well as Content Imperatives help students reach those highest levels of thinking as they tackle QUEST challenges.

2025 - 2026 QUEST universal themes:

Grades 1, 2, and 3: SYSTEMS

Grade 4: POWER

Grade 5: CHANGE

QUEST Progress Reports

Assessment in QUEST classes is aligned with our program standards. At the end of each nine weeks, you will receive your child's QUEST progress report so that you may track his/her growth. Below you will see a list of dates you can expect a QUEST progress report to be sent home with your student.

QUEST Progress Report Schedule

2025 - 2026

Week of October 15 - 17
Week of January 5 - 9
Week of March 23 - 27
Week of May 18 - 21

First Nine Weeks in QUEST

Kindergarten

During the fall, campus Advanced Academics Specialists visit each kindergarten class once per month for a lesson.

In September, kindergartners are engaging in a learning experience that ignites their creative thinking. October's lesson requires students to use their mathematical-logical thinking!

Grades 1, 2, and 3

What do Braille, Egyptian hieroglyphics, ASL, and coding all have in common? They are all systems of communication. This is our first QUEST unit of study for grades 1, 2, and 3 within our year-long universal theme of Systems. Students will participate in learning experiences that explore and utilize verbal, nonverbal, and written systems of communication. They will take part in engineering challenges, read a biography, and more!

Grade 4

The year-long universal them for fourth grade QUEST is Power. Students will read Catching a Storyfish by Janice N. Harrington this nine weeks. It is a book written entirely in verse. Students will explore the theme of power as it relates to family, friendship, storytelling, loyalty, perseverance, change, words, and more in this powerful read!

Fourth graders are tackling science and engineering challenges, diving into multiplication, and putting their problem solving skills to work! They are also examining their personal strengths.

This year, they will continue to apply the elements of Depth and Complexity which elicit high level thinking.

Grade 5

Fifth graders are taking off with their year-long QUEST universal theme of Change. Our fifth graders will read either The Crossover by Kwame Alexander or Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. Both of these are books written in verse. Both books open readers' eyes to the impact of change as they follow the characters through changes in life's circumstances and relationships. Fifth graders are utilizing drafting tools, logical thinking, business sense, and geometric formulas to design and "market" their own desk nametags. They are exploring the art of decision making, working with heat energy, and more! Fifth grade QUEST students continue to apply the elements of Depth and Complexity to increase the level of thinking.

Grade 6

While gifted students are served through AdvAc classes in sixth grade, our service model includes designated time with the campus Advanced Academics Specialist for this group.

Throughout the school year, sixth graders focus on leadership and social emotional aspects of giftedness, and they will take part in a campus service project.

This first nine weeks, sixth grade QUEST students will explore leadership traits and create their own individual leadership handprints.

QUEST Schedule

QUEST Classes with the Campus Advanced Academics Specialist:

Grades 1 - 3 4x per week 45 minutes per session
Grades 4 - 5 4x per week 60 minutes per session
Grade 6 2x per month 60 minutes per session

The Advanced Academics Specialist visits kindergarten classes on a periodic basis in the fall to teach whole-class lessons and will begin serving QUEST kindergarten students in the spring when the kindergarten GT identification process is complete.

This schedule may need to be modified during certain weeks due to circumstances such as school holidays and STAAR testing.

If you would like more information regarding the QUEST schedule on your campus, please check with the Advanced Academics Specialist.

Below find highlights, news, and events of state and national organizations related to giftedness.

Check out the Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented here: https://www.txgifted.org/

TAGT Parent Webinar Registration

"They Started It!!” Raising Gifted and Neurotypical Siblings Together

Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 6:30-7:30 p.m. CDT

Check out the National Association for Gifted Children here: https://www.nagc.org/

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