The START Program

START stands for Strategies for Teaching And Reaching for Talent. 

Young children (grades K-3) who are placed in the Pattie START program for gifted education services participate in classes once a week with the gifted education teacher. The amount of time spent per week depends on the grade level of the student.

• Grade K - 1/2 hour a week  

• Grade 1 -  One hour a week of  in-class instruction, small group or independent activities

• Grade 2 and 3 - Two hours per week in the START resource room     

WARM-UP ACTIVITIES AND UNITS

Students in the START program have a variety of opportunities to excel in all areas of the curriculum. They are encouraged to solve problems and develop skills while thinking creatively and critically.  Many units in START class coincide with their regular curriculum topics and SOLs (Standards of Learning), but extend beyond what they study in the regular classroom. 

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

START students have the opportunity to develop computer skills while writing and preparing reports, making PowerPoint presentations, typing in data on spread sheets and graphs, using a digital camera, and creating web pages. Here is an example of some web pages done by third grade START students.  Click here.

LEARNING CENTERS

START students (grades 1-3) choose an area of the curriculum to study in depth.  A part of START class is devoted to independent learning centers and research.  Parent volunteers assist the gifted education teacher in answering student questions during center time.  Centers are an extremely popular part of the Pattie START program. The centers are differentiated for different ages and grade levels of children. Almost all of the centers offer a computer technology component.

Some of the centers that were developed by gifted education teacher,  Mrs. Chris Miller, are listed below.

• Ancient Civilizations   (Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, Africa)

• Infinity Landing (geometry, problem solving, multiplication,  logic)

• Ocean Resort (oceanography)

• Production Studio (story writing, poetry, research or film making)

• Cartooning

• Newsroom (interviewing and creating a newspaper)

• Tunnel to the Past (Native Americans and Colonial America)

• Tunnel to the Future (imagination and creativity regarding the future)

• Space Station (study of the universe)

• Land of Simple Machines (designing and building of simple machines using Lego Dacta products)

• World of Toy Design and Structure (early structural engineering)

• Tropical Rainforest (research projects involving the rainforest environment)

• Nature's Zoo (research on animals or plants)

• Invention Station (taking apart inventions and making new ones)

• Math and Beyond (fractions, number sense, geometry, statistics, patterns, graphs)

• Game Room (logic and making an original game)

• French

• Art History

• Unexplained Phenomena

• Jurassic Junction (dinosaurs)

• U.S.A. Travel Agency (Planning and budgeting for a vacation)

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