District Overview
The Gifted program prepares students for active and imaginative intellectual life by fostering analytical and critical thinking as well as self-expression and reflection. In the elementary years, students learn to apply logic, reasoning and analysis. This focus on questioning transitions into personalizing a method for inquiry. Student interests and modes of working are nurtured as students become more aware of their knowledge development. In the middle school years, students explore world cultures, mythology, communication, research, and metacognitive skills while building an awareness of the humanities. In the high school years, students will follow Socrates’ dictum that “the unexamined life is not worth living” by engaging in seminars that focus on philosophical theory and analysis of literary and visual texts.All in all, instruction is designed to meet their individual needs.
Grade 7 Description
Students in the seventh grade gifted class continue to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills through investigation of cultures and civilizations. Students explore units on Pre-Historythrough the Renaissance time periods. These units incorporate components of the humanities by examining art, literature, philosophy, theater and music related to the regions of the world. Students engage in activities related to fiction and non-fiction comprehension, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. They examine characteristics of communities and how they shape people’s perceptions, attitudes, values, and modern worldviews. The physical, human and cultural geography of places throughout the world is analyzed through weekly discussion seminars. The curriculum is designed to foster the growth of their individual interests and set a foundation in the communication art areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Skills taught extend from the regular curriculum and challenge the students by improving their fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality (P. Torrance’s taxonomy of creative thinking). Overall, the main goal of the course is for students to extend their learning through enrichment activities developed to meet their GIEP needs.
Grade 7Units:
The units should equate to a full course (full-year/semester) of instruction.
  • Unit 1: Elements of Literature
  • Unit 2: The Prehistoric Past
  • Unit 3: India and China: Society and Mythology
  • Unit 4: Greece: Society and Mythology
  • Unit 5: The Roman Empire
  • Unit 6: Research Project
  • Unit 7: Touchstones Discussion Project – Volume A

Subject: Gifted / Grade:7 / Suggested Timeline: 6 weeks
UnitTitle:
Elements of Literature
Unit Overview/Essential Understanding:
Students will demonstrate knowledge and apply skills related to comprehending and analyzing fiction and non-fiction text. Students will identify and analyze literary elements, literary genres, and figurative language. They will learn how to collaborate and discuss information related to text with peers. Their discussions will lead to development of written an oral presentation of ideas.
How do literary elements enrich one’s understanding of literature?
How does purpose influence one’s understanding?
Unit Objectives:
  • Students will engage in critical reading and analysis of fiction and non-fiction text.
  • Students will analyze fiction and non-fiction text according to types, structure, plot, conflict, point of view, setting, theme, author’s purpose and style.
  • Students will identify elements of fiction and non-fiction text.
  • Students will collaborate and discuss with peers both fiction and non-fiction text.
  • Students will examine the style of the text.
  • Students will present their ideas and interpretation of fiction and non-fiction text using written and media formats.

Focus Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 1.2.7 Reading Informational Text A –C
  • 1.3.7 Reading Literature A – C

Important Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 1.2.7 Reading Informational Text D, E, F, H, K
  • 1.3.7 Reading Literature D, E, F, I
  • 1.5.7 Speaking and Listening A, C, D

Misconceptions:
  • Vocabulary does not matter
  • Body language is important when presenting
  • Analysis of text requires discussion and re-reading

Concepts/Content:
  • literary elements: plot, theme, characterization, setting, motif,tone, point of view, text structure, style, atmosphere, dialogue, author’s purpose, documentary, history, formal essay, news story
  • figurative language: idioms, alliteration, exaggeration, imagery, consonance, assonance, irony, allusion, symbolism, dialect, rhythm, rhyme
  • analysis of text
  • analyze narrative features
/ Competencies/Skills:
  • identify and define literary elements
  • identify and define literary genres
  • identify, define and use examples of figurative language
  • acquire fundamental listening, speaking and thinking skills
  • identify literary devices
  • determine author’s claims and arguments
/ Description of Activities:
  • read short stories, poetry and non-fiction text
  • small group discussion
  • talk to the text analysis
  • create and analyze plot diagrams
  • highlight and illustrate text
  • written book report
  • formal presentation
  • interpret poetry
  • create a media project illustrating elements of story

Assessments:
  • Evaluate a given story using a plot diagram and narrative response
  • Analyze the given story’s literary elements and their meaning
  • Present one’s interpretation and understanding of a story using appropriate public speaking strategies

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Technology
3.5 Reading Informational Text CC.3.5.6-8.G; CC.3.5.6-8.I
Arts and Humanities
9.3 – Critical Response / Additional Resources:
  • Forms and Elements of Literature, McDonald
  • Figurative Language, McDonald
  • Literary Genres, McDonald
  • Touchstones –Volume A
  • Novels

Subject: Gifted / Grade: 7 / Suggested Timeline: 5 - 6 weeks
Unit Title:
The Prehistoric Past
Unit Overview/Essential Understanding:
Students will learn about archeological studies and other scientific methods that have provided historians with a view of human development that began millions of years ago. They will examine development of man from Prehistory eras described as Paleolithic, or Old Stone, Age to early civilizations that began in the Middle East and Eastern Africa. As they read primary sources and view documentaries on these topics, students will discuss and debate their ideas. They will engage in discourse with peers to formulate their own opinions. They will analyze current events and archaeological findings in sources to write an argument essay. Finally, students will demonstrate an understanding of history and about the world’s earliest peoples.
Why do scholars study the people, events, and ideas of long ago?
How did humans’ ways of living change as they interacted and adapted?
What is the purpose of art to civilizations?
Unit Objectives:
  • Students will understand the challenges involved in studying the distant past.
  • Students will define key characteristics of civilization.
  • Students will identify prehistoric time period achievements and accomplishments.
  • Students will identify factors that shaped the earliest cities.
  • Students will compare prehistoric time periods.
  • Students will write an argument essay.
  • Students will apply literary elements to ancient literature documents.
  • Students will research fossil findings.
  • Students will define content vocabulary and use terms appropriately in context.

Focus Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 1.2.7 Reading Informational Text A – I

Important Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 1.3.7 Reading Literature A – F
  • 1.4.7 Writing G – L

Misconceptions:
  • Hunters and gathers lived a life of hard labor and near starvation
  • Art work is more than just a drawing on the wall
  • Writing an argument takes time to develop, revisions are necessary in the writing process
  • Cave men were not smart
  • The first natives traveled as a single group from Siberia to North America

Concepts/Content:
  • history characteristics
  • geography characteristics
  • identifying literature elements within myths and stories
  • early humans
  • Stone Age tools
  • hunter-gather societies
  • migration of man
  • beginnings of agriculture
  • argument writing
  • vocabulary development
  • cultural connections to myths
  • meanings of myths
/ Competencies/Skills:
  • read myths/stories from different cultures
  • analyze the meanings of prehistoric art / fossils
  • discuss origins of man
  • examine maps of migrations
  • research early man
  • apply literary elements to stories
  • reflect in weekly writing journals
  • define content vocabulary and use terms appropriately in context
  • write an argument essay
  • use scholarship to interpret the meaning of text and images
/ Description of Activities:
  • read myths and excerpts related to early man
  • collaborate on meanings history and geography
  • research and locate sources to support ideas
  • create a time line of events related man’s development
  • locate regions on a map to trace facts
  • create a fossil print

Assessments:
  • Prehistory Unit Test
  • Written argument essay
  • Fossil print with oral presentation

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Technology
3.5 Reading Informational Text CC.3.5.6-8.G; CC.3.5.6-8.I
Arts and Humanities
9.2 – Historical and Cultural Contexts
9.3 – Critical Response
Social Studies
8.5 - Reading Informational Text / Additional Resources:
  • EdTechTeacher
  • Gilgamesh Play
  • Ancient History Activators, Interact
  • World History, Holt- McDougal
  • Novels

Subject: Gifted / Grade: 7 / Suggested Timeline: 6weeks
Unit Title:
India and China – Society and Mythology
Unit Overview/Essential Understanding:
The unit provides students with an in-depth look at two of our world’s largestAsian civilizations, Ancient India and Ancient China. Students will read early forms of literature and writing excerpts. They will examine vivid illustrationshelp form connections between geography and history using landmarks and early art forms. In addition,students will analyze the impact of river valleys in relation to settlements. They will also discuss the advances in science, art, and learning. As students learn about the civilizations giving rise to new spiritual traditions, they will examine two of the world’s major religions – Hinduism and Buddhism – and its influence in literature.
How do India’s rich history and culture affect the world today?
How do the people, events, and ideas that shaped ancient China continue to influence the world?
Unit Objectives:
  • Students will read fiction and non-fiction text related to Indian and Chinese society.
  • Students will apply map skills by identifying significant locations in ancient India and China.
  • Students will analyze the challenges and benefits of living along the Ganges and Yangzi Rivers.
  • Students will analyze and compare the ancient myth to the video.
  • Students will create a detailed storyboard illustrating the main events of the story.
  • Students will write a detailed summary.
  • Students will examine the characteristics of major religions in ancient India and China.
  • Students will diagram the impact of ancient achievements and their impact on the world.
  • Students will select and analyze information from a variety of sources to gather facts for their mandala.
  • Students will create a mandala related to a character of their choice.

Focus Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 1.2.7 Reading Informational Text A – I
  • 1.3.7 Reading Literature A – I

Important Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 9.1.D Production, Performance and Exhibition
  • 1.5 Speaking and Listening A - F

Misconceptions:
  • India was always a poverty stricken country
  • The Indian writing of Sanskrit
  • Sketching will be easy and take only a little bit of time
  • The importance of religion in the culture and lifestyle of the people
  • China was always oppressive

Concepts/Content:
  • geography, resources, and climate of ancient Indian and China
  • origins of Hinduism and Buddhism
  • Indian Empires and Chinese dynasties
  • achievements of ancient India and China
  • The Ramayana
  • vocabulary
/ Competencies/Skills:
  • read and analyze Indian and Chinese myths
  • think critically about cultural facts and myths
  • apply research techniques to art design
  • examine similarities and differences of religion in this region of the world
  • research characteristics about ancient societies and compare findings to today’s culture
  • analyze and discuss achievements of India and China and its importance to today’s world economy and lifestyle
  • debate the importance of cultural interactions to India and China’s development over time
  • reflect in weekly writing journals
  • define content vocabulary and use terms appropriately in context
/ Description of Activities:
  • read myths and excerpts related to creation, Hero and Heroine, and natural disasters
  • collaborate on meanings of myths
  • research and locate sources to support ideas
  • create a comic strip of their interpretation of The Ramayana
  • prepare and follow the research process to create a mandala to characterize a person in The Ramayana
  • research and design an Indian mandala

Assessments:
  • Evaluate the literary elements used in The Ramayana
  • Present one’s interpretation and understanding of a story using appropriate public speaking strategies
  • Presentation of Indian mandala detailing the research and facts about the design

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Technology
3.5 Reading Informational Text CC.3.5.6-8.G; CC.3.5.6-8.I
Arts and Humanities
9.2 – Historical and Cultural Contexts
9.3 – Critical Response / Additional Resources:
  • World Mythology, McGraw-Hill
  • World History, Holt- McDougal
  • Ancient History Activators
  • Novels

Subject: Gifted / Grade: 7 / Suggested Timeline: 6 weeks
Unit Title:
Greece: Society and Mythology
Unit Overview/Essential Understanding:
Students will learn how the Hebrews and Greeks shaped the world we live in today. They will analyze the foundations of Western civilization and trace them back more than 2,000 years to the eastern Mediterranean region. As they trace, students will learn how the ancient Hebrews and Greeks developed many of the ideas and traditions that have shaped the world today. They will examine the Hebrew religion, Judaism, and its belief in one God and its basic ideas about right and wrong. Next, students will understand the world’s first democracy and its influence on U.S. history. Finally, students will collaborate and discuss how the Greeks revolutionized science and mathematics and created some of the world’s most famous art and literature.
What advances did the Greeks make that still influence the world today?
How did Hellenistic culture impact world civilizations?
What factors shaped government in Greece?
Unit Objectives:
  • Students will engage in critical reading and analysis of Greek mythology.
  • Students will read and examine primary sources related to ancient philosophers.
  • Students will cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says.
  • Students will collaborate and discuss myth interpretations and meanings.
  • Students will read and interpret early forms of Greek writing.
  • Students will examine the cultural changes among the Greek city-states.
  • Students will research how Greek’s goods and ideas influenced other parts of the world in past and present times.
  • Students will evaluate evidence presented in Socrates trial to determine whether the outcome was justified.
  • Students will debate ideas related to the trial of Socrates.

Focus Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 1.2.7 Reading Informational Text A – I
  • 1.3.7 Reading Literature A – I

Important Standards Addressed in this Unit:
  • 1.5.7 Speaking and Listening A – F
  • 1.4.7 Writing V – W

Misconceptions:
  • The Greek and Roman mythology are the same.
  • Pandora opened a box that let all evil out into the world.
  • The Trojan War really happened.
  • Spartans only focused on warrior training.
  • The Greek theater was just a part of daily life and entertainment.
  • Greek statues were only white because they were made from marble.
  • The Greeks were not advanced in technology.
  • The difference between Athenian democracy and what we institute today.

Concepts/Content:
  • history and culture of Jewish people
  • geography, resources, and climate of ancient Greece
  • government in Athens
  • social classes and city states
  • Greek mythology and literature
  • Alexander the Greek
  • Greek Achievements
  • Greek philosophers – Socrates, Plato, Pericles
  • The Illiad
  • vocabulary
/ Competencies/Skills:
  • read and analyze Greek myths
  • collaborate, organize, and decide plans for research
  • think critically about cultural facts and myths
  • identify and locate key places on a map
  • apply literary elements to reading selections
  • listen purposefully and take notes
  • function actively independently and / or cooperatively to attain objectives
  • reflect in weekly writing journals
  • define content vocabulary and use terms appropriately in context
  • create a presentation of research findings on past and present
  • design and create a replica of a selected art work
  • examine the ideals of democracy
/ Description of Activities:
  • read myths and excerpts related to creation, Hero and Heroine, and natural disasters
  • collaborate on meanings of myths
  • research and locate sources to support ideas
  • research, plan, organize, design and illustrate presentation related to customs and traditions of Greek life
  • map out physical and human geography of the Balkan region
  • create a comparison chart on major religions
  • participate in a debate related to the trial of Socrates

Assessments:
  • Unit Test
  • Presentation on novel connection to content skills and objectives that demonstrates research beyond the text.
  • Debate arguments based on research findings related to the trial of Socrates.

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Mathematics
2.2 Algebraic Concepts
2.4 Measurement and Probability
Social Studies
8.5 Reading Informational Text
Arts and Humanities
9.2 – Historical and Cultural Contexts
9.3 – Critical Response
Science and Technology
3.6 Technology Education / Additional Resources:
  • The Greeks: Interact, Learning Through Experience
  • Socrates: Interact, Learning Through Experience
  • Ancient History Activators, Interact, Learning Through Experience
  • Folklore, Myths and Legends: A World Perspective, Rosenberg
  • World History, Holt- McDougal
  • Novels

Subject: Gifted / Grade: 7 / Suggested Timeline: 4 - 5 weeks
Unit Title:
The Roman Empire
Unit Overview/Essential Understanding:
In this unit, students will read about the development of Roman society. They will learn how Rome grew from a small town in Italy to become the center of one of the world’s greatest empires. Students will compare and contrast the Roman influences to those of the Greeks. As they examine the legacy of Rome, students will identify the advances in engineering and architecture, and the advance systems of written laws and government. In addition, an examination of the spread of Christianity and the ultimate division and decline of the empire will be debated.