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Welcome to the Unit 4 Gifted/Enrichment Programs
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George Stanhope
Director of Elementary Curriculum,
Gifted/Talented, and Assessment
217.351.3752
stanhoge@champaignschools.org
"Champaign Unit 4 offers both an academic enrichment program and self-contained gifted classrooms at the elementary level, honors classes in all middle schools, and honors and AP courses at both high schools. Through our gifted services we seek to identify and develop the high performance capacity of students across all human endeavors through an academic focus. We are committed to identifying and developing children’s hidden or latent talents as well as to further developing the talents of children who have had the opportunities in life to practice and develop their talents both at school and at home."
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Recent News...
Each February, the Cognitive Abilities Test is
administered at the Mellon Administration Center,
703 S. New Street. The test includes three sections;
verbal quantitative, and nonverbal. the test is
given over a two day period, an hour each day. If
transportation is needed, please call the
Gifted/Enrichment Programs office at 217.351.3752.
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About the Programs
Our District believes
that all children have special gift and talents.
Outstanding talents are present in children and
youth from all cultural groups, across all economic
strata, and in all areas of human endeavor. Gifted
and Talented students in Unit 4 are identified as
those with outstanding talent who perform or show
the potential for performing at exceptionally high
levels of accomplishments when compared with others
of their age, experience, or environment. These
children and youth exhibit high performance capacity
in at least one or more of the following areas:
Intellect...Creativity...Artistry...Leadership...
Specific
Academic Fields
 Enrichment -
Identified students are
pulled out in small groups to work on challenging
units of instruction. The Enrichment Specialists
also go into classrooms to co-teach, design special
activities, or work with small groups of students.
Enrichment Specialists may also coach individual
students on independent study projects. School theme
activities vary from school to school.
The Enrichment Program addresses leadership,
creativity, artistry, and intellectual/academic
fields. Skills include critical thinking, problem
solving, creative thinking, technology, and
teamwork.
School-Wide Enrichment Programs
Stratton
Elementary is currently the only Unit 4 school that
offers full-time enrichment services and uses the
Triad School-Wide Enrichment Model based on the
work of Joseph Renzulli, a noted researcher in the
field of gifted education.
Guiding Principals for Gifted Curriculum
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The content of curricula for the gifted/talented
should focus on and be organized to include more
elaborate, complex, and in-depth study of major
ideas, problems, and themes that integrate knowledge
with and across systems of thought.
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Curricula for the gifted/talented should allow for
the development and application of productive
thinking skills to enable students to
reconceptualize existing knowledge and/or generate
new knowledge.
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Curricula for the gifted/talented should enable them
to explore constantly changing knowledge and
information and develop the attitude that knowledge
is worth pursuing in an open world.
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Curricula for the gifted/talented should encourage
exposure to selection, and use of appropriate and
specialized resources.
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Curricula for the gifted/talented should promote
self-initiated and self-directed learning and
growth.
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Curricula for the gifted/talented should provide for
the development of self-understandings and the
understanding of one's relationship to persons,
societal institutions, nature, and culture.
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Evaluations of curricula for the gifted/talented
should be conducted in accordance with prior stated
principles, stressing higher-level thinking skills,
creativity and excellence in performance and
products
Support Staff for
Gifted
Gifted Screening
If you think your child is a good candidate for the
gifted program, please contact the principal at the
Unit 4 school where
your child currently attends. Nominations and
screening is open to all every year from
Kindergarten to twelfth grade. Parents, educators,
and students may submit names for nomination and
screening.
All students are screened in the first grade with the
Naglieri Nonverbal Test
(NNAT). Additional testing is
held each year in February for those students who score
at the 80th percentile or above on the screening test or
who have been recommended by their teacher or parent.
Summer testing is available for students who are new to
the district.
Placement &
Assignment - Student scores
on the NNAT and teacher recommendation determine
placement within the programs. For second
through fifth grade, the Sanford Achievement
test scores are used. When possible, students
are assigned either to locations that are
closest to their home or where they currently
attend. Attempts are also made to have siblings
in the gifted program together.
Students in the self-contained programs at Dr.
Howard and Garden Hills will attend Franklin
Middle School.
Students from B.T. Washington will be assigned
to Edison Middle School.
Student from Stratton will have a choice of
attending any of the three middle schools.
Characteristics
of Primary Gifted Students*
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Memory:
Remembers many details.
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Questioning: Asks many questions
about how things work, what things are used
for, what's inside.
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Precocious language skills: Speaks in
complex sentence patterns and uses advanced
vocabulary.
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Abstract thinker: Expresses
relationships between subjects and or
studies. Makes unusual connections.
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High energy level: Not hyperactivity
but maintains focus as well as pace.
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Reader: May be an indicator but not
necessarily an identifier.
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Task commitment: Becomes totally
absorbed and sits and works for a longer
time than expected for age.
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Creative: Sees relationships,
metaphors, similes that other children of
this age don't see.
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Original problem solver: Examines a
puzzle or problem and solves it without
trial or error. May process in an unusual
way.
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Humor: Sees humor in stories,
situations, etc., earlier than others. Makes
up original jingles, songs, or poems.
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Abstract concepts: Understands cause
and effect, death, love, caring, etc., that
is unusual for students of this age.
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Independent: Works alone and wants to
do things for him/her self.
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Unusual sensitivity to feelings:
Senses and seeks fairness in issues. High
concern level.
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Academically advanced: Understands
language and math concepts.
* Adapted from Garland ISD List of
Characteristics |
General
Characteristics of the Gifted Individuals*
Wide variations exist among the gifted. The
following list of characteristics is a very
general description of the group as a whole.
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Is intellectually curious, innovative, and
playful with ideas.
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Enjoys the challenge and involvement of
intellectual and creative tasks.
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Has a keen and sometimes unique sense of
humor.
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Is an independent thinker and seeks to act
independently.
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Develops at an early age an inner control
and satisfaction which may lead to divergent
and nonconformist behavior.
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Formulates abstractions while very young and
shows facility in moving from concrete to
abstract levels of thinking and of
communicating.
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Prefers complex tasks and processes
information in complex ways.
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Reads at an early age and comprehends with
advanced understanding.
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Reads widely and reads intensively in areas
of special interest.
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Acquires basic skills rapidly and with a
minimum of practice.
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Comprehends advanced ideas, concepts, and
implications.
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Has an unusual ability to memorize.
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Is impatient with detail and drill, which
may result in gaps in basic skills for some.
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Resists requirement of unnecessary detail in
the completion of tasks.
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Explores wide-ranging and special interests
not usually associated with children of his
age and relates well to peers and adults who
have similar interests.
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Expends much energy and time in pursuing
special interests and may be involved in
numerous projects and activities.
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Employs high intellectual and creative
skills in assessing his physical and social
environment, in solving problems, and in
creating products.
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Generates many ideas and multiple solutions
to problems.
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Copes with environment situations in
resourceful and creative ways.
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Expresses himself fluently, clearly, and
forcefully with words, numbers and creative
products.
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Demonstrates richness of imagery in informal
language and brainstorming.
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Has capability for extraordinary leadership
and tends to assume leadership
responsibility.
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Rebels against irrelevant learning
requirements.
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Points out conflicting societal values and
challenges authority.
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Becomes excited about new ideas but may not
carry them through.
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Creates and invents beyond the parameters of
knowledge in the field.
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Can improvise with commonplace materials.
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Has high expectations of self and others
which may lead to high levels of frustration
with self, others, and situations.
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May tend to be a loner at least part of the
time.
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May have a sense of his own uniqueness which
leads to feelings of loneliness.
* Characteristics derived from the CALIFORNIA
REPORT OF THE BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE FOR
EDUCATION OF THE GIFTED TO WILSON RILES, STATE
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
(1974) pp. 12-14 |
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Enrichment
Grades 1-5
Enrichment unit
Curriculum Maps will be posted in the future for
public review.
Resources
National Association for Gifted Children
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http://www.nagc.org
Arizona State University Center for Academic
Precocity -
http://www-cap.ed.asu.ed
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