This post emphasizes the importance of specialized curriculum for gifted learners, focusing on deep thinking and engagement over mere content coverage. Key takeaways highlight the need for open-ended tasks, structured discourse, and appropriate challenges. The article also recommends various resources for educators to enhance curriculum design, fostering intellectual curiosity and creativity in advanced students.
Author Archives: Dr. Ann H. Colorado
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: Junior Great Books
Junior Great Books is an inquiry-based literature program for grades K-8 that promotes critical thinking and comprehension through high-quality texts and the Shared Inquiry method. It encourages discussions, interpretive questioning, and evidence-supported reasoning, making it particularly beneficial for gifted learners. The program supports various instructional models and enhances academic language skills.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: Nathan Levy’s Stories with Holes
Stories with Holes is an engaging logic game designed by Nathan Levy that promotes critical thinking and inquiry through short narratives with missing information. Students use yes/no questions to deduce answers, fostering reasoning skills across various academic settings. It’s a versatile activity suitable for gifted learners and enhances collaboration and hypothesis testing.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced: Project LIFT Free K-3 Math Resources
Project LIFT Math Lessons, K-3, offer free, standards-based instruction designed for gifted and high-potential learners. Developed by the University of Connecticut, these lessons promote mathematical reasoning, problem-solving, and discourse. They emphasize conceptual understanding and engage students through rich tasks, fostering critical thinking and collaboration in early mathematics classrooms.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: Project LIFT Free K-3 ELA Resources
Project LIFT offers free ELA lesson plans for grades K-3, developed to enhance critical thinking and creativity among gifted learners. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, these lessons align with Common Core standards and promote discourse and complex thinking, while providing practical resources for educators to recognize and nurture advanced potential in students.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: Websites with Math Problem Solving Resources
This article highlights four free resources designed to enhance math problem-solving skills for gifted and advanced learners. These include Robert Kaplinsky Lessons, YouCubed Tasks, GFletchy’s 3-Act Lessons, and Virginia DOE’s Rich Mathematical Tasks. Each platform offers high-cognitive-demand tasks that promote reasoning, communication, and creativity in mathematics.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: Vanderbilt University’s Science & Language Arts Units
Vanderbilt University’s curriculum for gifted learners integrates science and literature, offering two units: “Interactions in Ecology and Literature” for grades 2-3 and “Space, Structure, and Story” for grades 4-6. These units enhance critical thinking and literature analysis skills through meaningful discussions, investigations, and writing tasks, promoting interdisciplinary learning for advanced students.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: Vanderbilt University Language Arts Units
Vanderbilt University’s Language Arts units provide gifted learners with a text-rich, concept-driven curriculum designed to enhance critical thinking and communication skills. Grounded in the Integrated Curriculum Model, these units encourage deep engagement with literature through inquiry-based themes and discussions, promoting advanced interpretation and synthesis.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: W&M Math Curriculum
William and Mary Math Curriculum for Gifted Students offers a research-based program for grades 3-6 that focuses on deep learning rather than rapid coverage of basic skills. It emphasizes problem-solving, conceptual understanding, and reasoning. Designed for advanced learners, it aims to foster confidence and flexible mathematical thinking through challenging tasks and meaningful investigations.
Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Students: The Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program from W&M
Jacob’s Ladder is a research-based reading comprehension program aimed at gifted learners in grades K-8. It explicitly teaches higher-level thinking through organized lessons that progress from basic understanding to complex reasoning using short reading passages. The curriculum enhances critical thinking skills, supports discussion, and fosters evidence-based responses, benefiting students who excel in reading yet struggle with analysis.
Teaching for Talent 