Uncompahgre BOCES Gifted Education

CAGT, the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented, has been working hard over the past several months to provide virtual learning opportunities for the teachers and families across Colorado. I'd like to feature a few of the resources available to families. First, CAGT has invited many experts in the field of gifted education to their "Conversations with CAGT" presentations every Tuesday evening on their Facebook page. If you haven't already liked their page, go do it now! Not a fan of Facebook? Well, they have thought of you as well. All of their conversations have been recorded for anyone to view. Click on the logo above to be taken directly to the page with You-Tube links to all of the recordings. As of this writing, there are 18 sessions posted! In addition to the "Conversations with CAGT," the decision was made to hold the yearly conference in October online. There are always sessions available of interest to parents as well as teachers. In addition

 Welcome back to a new school year! Although things look different, I know both teachers and students are happy to be beginning a new year. Gifted services will continue for students whether they are in person, in a hybrid cohort, or online. Services may look different, so please be patient as we work to provide every student with what they need. However, please reach out to your gifted coordinator if you feel that something different needs to be done. Below is our parent newsletter that should also have been forwarded to all of our BOCES gifted parents. Here's to a wonderful school year!!

I hope you all are adjusting to our new temporary normal in education. Several parents have asked for additional resources for enrichment opportunities for their children. Here are some suggestions to help with keeping your children learning and growing: To keep up with timely articles and activities, request to join our UnBOCES Gifted Education Parent Group . To join, search for "UnBOCES Gifted Education Parent Group" on your main Facebook page. Click through and select "Join." You will be asked a question and then be sent for approval. This page is private and only for parents of gifted learners in our area. Here you will find articles and activities posted as I find them. STEM challenges :  https://www.jamesdysonfoundation.com/resources/challenge-cards.html  44 different science and engineering challenges will both wow and teach your children. Plan a different challenge each day! Virtual Scavenger Hunt for Homebound Scholars  -   https://forms.gle/ YWFhxtL

Because of the current situation of online schooling, we have chosen to continue our Battle of the Books competition in an online platform! For the first time ever, we will be hosting all five districts' teams in a digital battle. Your district's coach has all of the details! Unfortunately, we will be canceling our Math Olympiad for this year. However, we have created some online challenges for those math kiddos to continue to play math. Contact your district's Math Olympiad coach for information on how to access these resources. Stay safe and keep on learning!!

Halloween week promised more than just costumes and candy. On Tuesday of Halloween week, 4th-6th grade gifted students from Naturita, Norwood, and Ridgway converged at Naturita Elementary School for a morning of learning and collaboration. Many gifted students in small, rural areas find themselves to be the only identified student in their grade level - possible in their entire school! Our area coordinators wanted to create a Summit that would bring these students together several times a year to work alongside others like them. Our first Summit brought together nine students. We began with a get-to-know-you activity, followed by a group activity where we looked at giftedness from different perspectives. After a quick snack, we dove into the featured activity - a break-out box which required flexible thinking and collaboration to solve. Although neither of the groups solved the puzzles in the 45 minute time frame, given extended time, all were successful. All of the students left the