Enrichment

Enrichment opportunities are made available to ALL students with no prerequisites. Classroom Teachers, Special area Teachers, Enrichment Teachers, and the Arts in Education program help to provide a wide range of opportunities and experiences to expose students to the richness of culture, communities, new disciplines, topics, and careers in the hope that undiscovered interests and abilities may emerge. Examples include assemblies, visiting authors, performances, general interest field trips, and other classroom enrichment activities.

Opportunities at this level are open to MANY students and require expressed interest and/or notable ability. Level 2 activities are generally group programs with a pre-determined structure. This may involve art, music, drama, creative thinking, leadership, or critical thinking. Examples include Robotics, Student Council, student newspaper, and academic competitions.

These options address the individual or small group needs of SOME students who have demonstrated high ability in a specific curricular area and need modifications made to the curriculum. Services at this level accommodate and enhance developing gifted behaviors and must go hand-in-hand with task commitment.(Renzulli, Reis,1997) Classroom teachers are trained in Differentiation of Instruction to keep every student moving in an upward trajectory toward his/her individual potential. Building Enrichment Specialists provide classroom teachers with support through co-planning, co-teaching, lesson preparation, and gathering resources as requested. These needs are met mostly within the regular classroom utilizing strategies such as cluster grouping, curriculum compacting, curriculum extensions, and higher level thinking strategies. It is our District’s mission to provide challenge and new learning for every student according to need. Examples of Level 3 activities include Wordly Wise, Junior Great Books, Literature Circles, Continental Math League, and Math Olympiad.

Alternatives at this level serve the very FEW students whose unique academic or creative strengths require individual academic plans for one or more of the content areas. For these students Building Enrichment Specialists coordinate appropriate modifications such as research projects, interest centers, learning contracts, or acceleration in accordance with need. Whenever possible, these students remain within the regular classroom of peers. We provide for the children's academic needs while nurturing their social and emotional development.