school

a girl reading with stuffed toys: Why Children stop Reading

Why Children Stop Reading And What To Do About It

I’m desperately concerned about why children stop reading, and I hope you are, too. Let’s talk about why children stop reading and what we can do about it. Too Few Of Us Read I came across an article recently called Harry Potter and the Death of Reading that was written in

Read More »

Bringing Napping Back: A Kindergarten Perspective

To sleep, perchance to dream learn. – Shakespeare (kind of) When I went to kindergarten (shout out and apologies to my teacher, Mrs. Beasley), I needed crayons and a nap mat. Today’s kindergarteners need graphing calculators and pens. No nap map required. Or welcome. Fifteen years ago, the New York

Read More »

What Sled Dogs Can Teach Us About Working in Teams

Let’s be honest: working in groups is not typically a strength for gifted learners. That doesn’t mean that we just shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh, well I (or my child) just prefer to work alone.” That’s simply not practical in today’s cooperative learning and work environments. So how can we

Read More »

Why School’s Not Fair to Gifted Kids

A gifted fifth grader received this advice on his report card: “You could work on ways to exhibit patience for others who don’t work at your same fast pace. Also be aware that you don’t overstep boundaries by helping people when they are trying to discover something on their own.”

Read More »

Top Ten Ways to Annoy a Gifted Child

Do you see this boy with the peace sign? It’s a ruse. As a teacher or parent of a gifted child, you will have no peace if you do any of the following things guaranteed to annoy a gifted child. Intrigued? Follow our ten-step plan guaranteed to annoy every gifted

Read More »

Groupwork Groupthink

I just returned from Mensa’s Annual Gathering in Portland, Oregon, where I spent five days surrounded by smart people, including dozens of smart kids. It was challenging and fun and exhausting. We ran a focus group (well, my best friend, Patricia Bear, an LPC, ran the focus group) with our

Read More »

5 Tips for Beating the Second Semester Blues

The first semester is over and students are in the second semester doldrums. For GT kids, this can be a hard time of year. How can parents and teachers help them put some wind in their educational sails and avoid the second semester blues? The secret is punctuation. Rather than

Read More »