Gifted and Talented Education

Our Mission: At Stacey Middle School we ensure all students learn at high levels.

Our Vision: We guarantee high level learning and college/career readiness for all students through collaboration, innovation, and commitment.

For students who are identified as GATE learners or who have met the required prerequisites for the accelerated class, the GATE/Accelerated program includes:

• GATE/Accelerated classes offered in grades 6-8 with Accelerated or advanced content
• A relationship between rigorous academics, acceleration, and enrichment
• Technology rich instruction
• Appropriate flexibility of time spans for learning
• GATE certified teachers in 6-8th grade
• Project Based Learning

How do we differentiate at Stacey?

The staff at Stacey believes each child is unique and deserving of a rich educational environment. We recognize that each student is a unique individual with different abilities, interests, and learning styles. We believe in a student-centered approach, which provides an atmosphere in which a child’s social, emotional, and intellectual needs are equally important. Stacey's ultimate goal of education is to provide each student with the skills and knowledge that will enable him/her to aspire to the highest level of achievement in his/her chosen endeavors.

To meet the needs of gifted learners, from sixth through eighth grade, Stacey teachers provide a differentiated curriculum that will compact, enrich, and/or accelerate the regular curriculum.  Differentiated instruction is not a single strategy, but rather an approach to instruction that incorporates a variety of strategies. Differentiation is not just a “gifted” word.  Every child has the right to learn, and that rate of learning is not universal for all children.  However, all students need high expectations. Differentiation is providing and planning pathways according to the needs and readiness of your students.

Differentiation

• Depth/complexity (and relevancy)
• Alter the pace and style as necessary
• Use high level questioning (think Bloom’s!)
• Provide guidance to students’ curiosity
• Allow students to choose content, allow group brainstorming
• Allow students to show creativity and encourage perseverance
• Encourage students to show what they have learned through products
• Allow students to prepare and research alone or together

Math 6A

This is a rigorous course that covers all of the Common Core 6th grade Math Standards and part of the Common Core 6th grade Math Standards. A grade level course designed to provide students with a strong mathematical foundation to meet 6th grade Common Core Math Standards. Areas of focus include (1) Ratios and Proportional Relationships; (2) The Number System; (3) Expressions and Equations; (4) Geometry; and (5) Statistics and probability. Successful completion of this course will prepare students for Math 7. It will also cover one of the three critical areas from Common Core 7th grade math standards. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace and with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

Language Arts Honors

Language Arts Honors courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Language Arts courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem solving. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

Social Studies Honors 6

Social Studies Honors 6 courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Social Studies 6 courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem solving. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

6th Grade Science

A grade level course designed to be an introductory lab course for the 6th grade science curriculum. Students will be introduced to science processing skills through hands-on laboratory activities, problem-solving situations, open-ended investigations, and cooperative/collaborative work. The emphasis will be on the study of transformations of energy and matter, the role of the sun’s energy on the Earth’s systems, water in the environment, air and atmosphere, and basic chemistry concepts. A unit in Family Life is also included as part of the curriculum

Math 7A

This is a rigorous course that covers all of the Common Core 7th grade Math Standards and part of the Common Core 8th grade Math Standards. The four critical areas from Common Core 7th grade math standards are: (1) developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships; (2) developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations; (3) solving problems involving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions, and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume; and (4) drawing inferences about populations based on samples. It will also cover one of the three critical areas from Common Core 8th grade math standards: (1) formulating and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation, and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace and with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

Language Arts Honors

Language Arts Honors courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Language Arts courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem solving. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

Social Studies Honors 7

Social Studies Honors 7 courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Social Studies 7 courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem solving. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum. 

7th Grade Honors Science

Science 7 Honors courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Science 7 courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem-solving. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus.  As an advanced life science course, there is a deeper focus on environmental and marine biology to prepare for high school freshman Honors Science (AP Environmental Science). Students also experience project-based learning through a year-long learning opportunity to apply knowledge and skills, allowing students to go in-depth with a real-life science project. Furthermore, in this course, there are opportunities for students to work with professional scientists and other collaborators to expose and inspire students to real-life applications of science.

Math 8A

This is a rigorous course that covers parts of the Common Core 8th grade Math Standards and all of the Common Core Algebra I standards. It will cover two of the three focus areas from Common Core 8th grade content standards: (2) grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships and (3) analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem. Students will cover all Algebra I standards focusing on the four critical areas: (1) deepen and extend understanding of linear and exponential relationships; (2) contrast linear and exponential relationships with each other and engage in methods for analyzing, solving, and using quadratic functions; (3) extend the laws of exponents to square and cube roots; and (4) summarize, represent, and interpret categorical and quantitative data that exhibit a linear trend. Successful completion of Math 7A and Math 8A is equivalent to successful completion of 7th Grade math standards, 8th grade math standards, Algebra I standards, and prepares students for Geometry. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

Language Arts Honors

Language Arts Honors courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Language Arts courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem solving. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

Social Studies Honors 8

Social Studies Honors 8 courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Social Studies 8 courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem solving. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.

8th Grade Honors Science

Science 8 Honors courses will provide students with a rigorous curriculum that teaches to the same standards as the Science 8 courses. At the honors level, however, extended learning activities will require students to increase their use of critical thinking skills to include analysis, synthesis, and problem-solving. Students will be introduced to science processing skills through hands-on laboratory activities, problem-solving situations, open-ended investigations, and cooperative/collaborative work. The emphasis will be on the Physical Sciences as preparation for 9th-grade science. The standards include: safety, measurement, scientific method, the structure of matter, the periodic table, reactions, chemistry of living systems, forces, motions, electromagnetic spectrum, waves, and density and buoyancy. A unit in Family Life is also included as part of the curriculum. The curriculum moves at an accelerated pace with a more concentrated focus. Taught by a GATE certified teacher focusing on depth and complexity in the curriculum.