Storybird

CiaraG75

Hi all,

I'm just wondering if any of you have used the Storybird website? I'm thinking of using it to help challenge some very able students next year. Or if you haven't heard of Storybird, can anyone recommend a good resource for literacy activities for gifted students?

Thanks.

byhookorbycrook

What age group? Have used storybird now and again, they seem to get fed up of it soon enough. Do you do the "Write a Book" project? Have you a traveling bear or similar -if so maybe an international exchange?

CiaraG75

I'm in learning support & we're trying as a school to put something in place for the very able students. I haven't heard of the Write a Book project but will do a bit of research on it now - thanks for that.

byhookorbycrook

Have a look at giftedkids.ie Do you plan to withdraw children and how will you define who is exceptionally able ? (Minefield!!)

CiaraG75

I agree, it is a potential minefield! We're at the very early stages, so nothing is concrete just yet. We are probably going to have to stick with the "safest" means of selecting students - only those with Stens of 9 or 10 in their standardised tests. Most of the support will be in-class in station-teaching blocks, with perhaps the odd slot of withdrawal to ensure that the children are being challenged. We are not a huge school and this year's tests have identified only 3 students who would qualify. I'm also thinking of putting an info pack together for these children's parents, with websites etc on it - giftedkids.ie was one I was thinking of. Thanks for that.

byhookorbycrook

Standardised tests are not a good way of identifying exceptionally able children, to be honest. I have had children score badly on these, yet obviously have high ability in other areas. Children may also be "twice exceptional"- I had a child who was severely dyslexic whose standardised results were poor, even in maths ,as they couldn't read the questions, for example. Then you are into the whole area of multiple intelligences!

Mission V is going to be run next Sept again and if your school were to be interested, I think it's well worth it.
http://missionv.ie/

The yard stick we use is to look at scores in all tests , including the VRT and NVRT, talk to the class teacher and parent and decide if it is thought the child should be put forward to sit the CTYI entrance exam, which costs about €45. If the child qualifies for CTYI ( but doesn't have to attend) then we use that to help differentiate between the highly able and exceptionally able. It's objective and tests ability better- and can't be coached/studied for.

We run two kinds of groups- the "stretchers" for high ability and the other group for those accepted for CTYI. There is, of course a lot of overlap.

Of course a full scale psycho-educational assessment would be the "gold standard" but neither parents or schools have those kind of resources available, as a general rule. Imagine too, that if a parent paid €600 for a psy-ed assessment, only for the group to be cancelled due to cut backs in the GAM

Some things we have found of use as starting points have been teaching the children to type (Nessy Fingers is great, as there are cups/awards to be won and this drives the child to set higher and higher goals) Scratch, Lure of Labyrinth, Brain Snack (Prim-Ed) and a few books from Outside the Box

byhookorbycrook

Some links we have found of use:
www.sumdog.com (We register the children at school and they can then play at home. Some games have to be paid for but much of the content is free.

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/ Comprehensive site for exceptionally able children and their parents.
http://www.mathplayground.com/
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/sumadd.html Addition games.
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/sumsub.html Subtraction games
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/summulti.html Multiplication games
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/sumdiv.html Division games.
Games on history,geography, English, science etc. http://www.kidsknowit.com

Ordnance Survey Ireland The free viewer on this site will allow you to zoom right in on your area, well worth a look.

Excellent school site with loads of great games http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive


Coding/Make your own games
www.scratch.ie

http://www.sploder.com
http://learn.code.org/hoc/1 (Angry Bird Coding game)
http://light-bot.com/hocflash.html

http://www.teachingtreasures.com.au/teaching-tools/kids-only/main.htm
http://www.thatquiz.org/
http://www.classmaths.com/
http://www.kidsspell.com/
http://www.spellingcity.com/
http://www.mbgnet.net/ "What's it like where you live?"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ancient_greeks/ Ancient Greece
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/ Ancient Rome
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html Ancient Egypt

http://www.castlesontheweb.com/ Castles on the web

And of course Twitter projects between schools and getting the children involved in writing for the school blog.