Welcome to Discovery! This year we will focus on project based, hands on learning. I hope that your child will find my classroom to be engaging and creative. My goal is to provide a learning environment where my students will feel comfortable taking risks and thinking outside the box.
We will follow both gifted standards and the state standards. Discovery will meet daily for 45 minutes. Austin uses the state-recommended gifted program delivery model, known as Resource/Enrichment Class. The gifted curriculum has an academic content foundation based on the Georgia curriculum standards, but its focus is on interdisciplinary enrichment activities and not any one content area.
My email and school phone number are listed above. It is easiest to reach me through email. If you have any questions about the Discovery program or concerns about your child at any time during the school year, please do not hesitate to email, call, or set up a conference. If you have an emergency during the school day, please contact the front office at 678-874-8102.
Your child will have Discovery homework. Sometimes I will send home a project and other times it will be something that must be completed on a particular night. I will often send home unfinished work to be completed at home. Students will bring their agendas to class daily and they will be responsible for writing any homework in their agenda. Additionally, I will use this as a means of communicating celebrations and concerns.
Please become familiar with my website. Austin is in the process of “going green”, so this means that most of the information that you need will be posted here. Please use my website as a means of keeping up with the wonderful learning going on in our classroom. I have added many good links that your child may explore in his or her free time. I have also added a tab for each class. Additionally, I post all directions and newsletters sent home here. Please check my website frequently, so that you can be aware of what is going on in our classroom.
I am looking forward to a wonderful year with your child!
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Please visit my website tonight. Bring this slip back signed tomorrow.
Parent signature ______
Please provide me with a good email to get in touch with you. Please let me know if it changes.
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Syllabus for Discovery Education
All classes will begin with a brief review of William’s Taxonomy. Discovery students will review valuable higher level thinking skills that will help them to think outside the box and encourage them to go above and beyond.
Please note that all topics are subject to change. We will be going above and beyond the standards listed, since students will learn most of the standards in their science and social studies classes.
First Grade
Mammals/Bats
S1L1. Students will investigate the characteristics and basic needs of plants and animals.
Second Grade
Georgia and Cherokee and Creek Native Americans
SS2H1 The student will read about and describe the lives of historical figures in Georgia history.
SS2H2 The student will describe the Georgia Creek and Cherokee cultures of the past in terms of tools, clothing, homes, ways of making a living, and accomplishments.
SS2G2 The student will describe the cultural and geographic systems associated with the historical figures in SS2H1 and Georgia’s Creeks and Cherokees.
SS2CG3 The student will give examples of how the historical figures under study demonstrate the positive citizenship traits of honesty, dependability, liberty, trustworthiness, honor, civility, good sportsmanship, patience, and compassion.
Space
S2E1. Students will understand that stars have different sizes, brightness, and patterns.
S2E2. Students will investigate the position of sun and moon to show patterns throughout the year.
Third Grade
Ancient Civilizations
SS3H1 The student will explain the political roots of our modern democracy in the United States of America.
Fossils/Dinosaurs
S3E1. Students will investigate the physical attributes of rocks and soils.
S3E2. Students will investigate fossils as evidence of organisms that lived long ago.
Fourth Grade
Native Americans
SS4H1 The student will describe how early Native American cultures developed in North America.
SS4H6 The student will explain westward expansion of America between 1801 and 1861.
SS4G2 The student will describe how physical systems affect human systems.
Economics
SS4E2 The student will identify the elements of a personal budget and explain why personal spending and saving decisions are important.
Inventions/Simple Machines
S4P3. Students will demonstrate the relationship between the application of a force and the resulting change in position and motion on an object.
Fifth Grade
Animal Classifications
S5L1. Students will classify organisms into groups and relate how they determined the groups with how and why scientists use classification.
S5L2. Students will recognize that offspring can resemble parents in inherited traits and learned behaviors.
S5L3. Students will diagram and label parts of various cells (plant, animal, single-celled, multi-celled).
S5L4. Students will relate how microorganisms benefit or harm larger organisms.
Economics
SS5E1 The student will use the basic economic concepts of trade, opportunity cost, specialization, voluntary exchange, productivity, and price incentives to illustrate historical events.
SS5E3 The student will describe how consumers and businesses interact in the U. S. economy.
SS5E4 The student will identify the elements of a personal budget and explain why personal spending and saving decisions are important.
SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.
Natural Disasters
S5E1. Students will identify surface features of the Earth caused by constructive and destructive processes.
Discovery Supply List
1 box of sharpened pencils
1 bottle of liquid glue
1 glue stick
1 package of washable markers
1 folder with prongs and pockets (any color)
1 package of colored pencils
1 package of lined wide ruled paper
1 box of tissues
1 container of Clorox Wipes
1 package of crayons
Erasers (white or pink)
Are you interested in donating a classroom item?
I will have some items on Signup Genius, so please feel free to visit and sign up to bring an item to class.
We are recycling! Throughout the year I will ask you to collect some recyclables to bring in. We will be able to create some amazing works of art with all that you can help us to collect.
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Also, we will need several parent volunteers throughout the year. Please let me know if you would be interested in helping out.
I would be interested in helping in the following areas:
_____ classroom projects
______supply donations
______chaperoning field trips
______copy parent
Name ______
email ______