Night at the Museum (Musical Instrument Museum)

 

Celebrate Phoenix Elementary Night at the Musical Instrument Museum!

Click here for additional information.

First Week of ALPS

Gifted education "Pull-Out" Services begin this week at Monterey Park. We were happy to see all of the returning students and welcomed 10 new ALPS students.

Your assistance is needed in reminding your students of their ALPS Day as well as releasing students in time for the bus.

Please remind students to return Parent Contact Card.

Thanks to all for a great week!!

School's Out!

It's hard to believe another school year has come to an end. We had an awesome year here at Monterey Park.  Our units of study this year included: Global Citizenship, Financial  Literacy and  Natural Disaster . The units provided students opportunities to increase their research, presentation and leadership skills. Student were given opportunities to take ownership of their own learning. They became experts  on their selected topic and took great joy in sharing what they had learned with others.

Thank you so much for a great year. Be safe and have a fun filled summer!

Spring Break

Enjoy and Be Safe. ALPS classes resume, Monday, March 23

Shark Tank

We used the idea of a ‘Shark Tank’ to help the students learn the fundamentals of financing a product or service.  Based on the reality TV show called ‘Shark Tank,’ which involves a panel of sharks or entrepreneurs who are presented.  Next, they  designed story boards, business plans, marketing strategies and explained investments Sharks could make.

Students displayed their products/services and presented their marketing campaigns to class, peers, and teacher. Students who made it through this round then continued and presented to the adult investors (Sharks:  ALPS staff and guest Shark, Assistant Superintendent,Tom Lind). The final phase included the investors offering a monetary amount (math and negotiation skills) and possible additional incentives to entice the students to choose their company.

Shark Tank Winners:

Monday

1st Place:  Cassidy Randles-The Brain and Four Brawns-video game

2nd Place:  Samia and Kiauna-Precision Bookmark-product

3rd Place:  Mayra and Victoria—Sound Loud Speaker-product

Tuesday

1st Place– D’Angleo and Merced – Galaxy Ball-product

2nd Place– Sophia and Yadira – Volleyball Shooter-product

3rd  Place:  Tie– Martin, Leslie, and Michael – Shiny Glasses-product

                              Lily, Max, and Hope – Cleat Adapterproduct

Thursday

1st Place:  Myah, Samantha, Alexandra – 73.25 – Duke the Dino, video game

2nd Place:  Sebastian and Dorothy – Classy Glass, product

3rd Place: Tie- Amy, Marissa, Karla -Toaster Cooker, product

                        Fernando and Philippe -Amusphere, product

District Spelling Bee

ALPS  students participate in the District's Annual Spelling Contest on Thursday, January 22.
Congratulations go out to the following students who participated in the recent contest and represented their school well.

• Alexander Iriondo-8th grade -Capitol
• Leslie Ceballos-6th grade-Edison
• Maria Macias-4th grade-Herrera
• Amelia Reyes-4th grade-Kenilworth
• Paul Montoya-4th grade-Magnet Traditional
• Myah Bacon-5th grade-Magnet Traditional
• Liliana Velazquez-8th grade-Whittier

Kenilworth's ALPS student Amelia Reyes was the 2nd Runner and will represent the district at the Regional Spelling Bee Contest on February 20. Good Luck  and Best Wishes for we know Amelia will represent the district well.  The entire ALPS Team will be cheering for you !

Amelia Reyes-Middle

2nd Trimester Parent Open House

Annual Gifted Education Conference

 

When: February 5 and 6, 2015
Where:  Black Canyon Conference Center in Phoenix, Arizona

Two full days of learning, networking, and gifted education synergy! This year's theme  is ‘Advancing Gifted Education’. Sessions on differentiation, technology integration, the common core standards, social/emotional needs of gifted individuals, and much more will be offered.

NOTE: ALPS classes will be cancelled Thursday, February 5, so the ALPS teachers may attend and participate in this annual professional development opportunity.

The ABC's of Challengening Gifted and Talented Students

Accelerate

Once a gifted child grasps a concept, move on! The drill and repetition used to reinforce learning for most students will only frustrate a gifted kid.

Broaden

Encourage your student to make mental connections and draw conclusions by using broad, guiding questions. You might ask, “What is friendship, and why do we value it?” after watching The Lion King. A walk in the woods might be a great time for questions like, “What role does a dead tree play in its ecosystem?” Teachers use this technique to encourage class discussions, but you can also apply it to spark lively conversations about books, movies, local or national news, family events, and more!

Curiosity and Creativity

Often gifted children generate a seemingly endless stream of questions. While this behavior can be exhausting to an overworked parent, try to encourage the curiosity and creativity behind it. Don’t feel that you must always have all the answers—that’s more pressure than any parent deserves! Instead, coach your child on finding his or her own answers in books and on Internet sites you’ve found to be child-safe. Or, the next time your child asks, “What would happen if…” encourage your budding da Vinci (or Picasso) to show you what he or she imagines!

Deepen

When a subject captures your talented student’s fancy, let him or her dig in! If your young mathematician is fascinated by infinite possibilities of pi, let the calculations begin! Or if your future historian is fascinated by George Washington, suggest a biography to read, researching the clothing, food, and lifestyle of his era, or tracing his genealogy.

Encouragement and Exploration

While parents of gifted children dread the science experiment gone awry—or even scarier, a kid who can outwit them!—it’s important to keep that fear hidden. Your encouragement and support of your gifted and talent child’s explorations of the world are critical to his or her confidence and future success.

Free Time

Although signing up your shining star for nonstop enrichment activities may seem like the right course of action, resist the temptation to over-schedule! While your child’s brain may be years ahead, remind yourself that your scholar is still young emotionally, socially, and physically. So provide a healthy dose of mental stimulation, but be sure to allow time for your child to play, goof off, make friends, and just be a kid.

 

Barrett Summer Scholars 2015

Barrett Summer Scholars(BSS) is a unique summer program at Arizona State University for gifted, honors and academically-talented 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th grade students.  This residential program invites students to live on campus, engage in college-level coursework, and participate in a community of peers from across the state. The program helps to prepare students for enrollment and success at ASU and Barrett, the Honors College.

Program dates are officially set and the application is  available online at https://eoss.asu.edu/bss Applications are due March 6, 2015. 

• 9^th grade program – May 31-June 12, 2015 at ASU Tempe
• 8^th grade, Session One – June 14-19, 2015 at ASU Polytechnic
• 8^th grade, Session Two – June 21-26, 2015 at ASU Polytechnic
• 7^th grade, Session One – July 5-10, 2015 at ASU West
• 7^th grade, Session Two – July 12-17, 2015 at ASU West

*Students in 7^th and 8^th grade are invited to participate in either Session One OR Session Two.

Visit BSS's website https://eoss.asu.edu/bss - for additional information.

 

Virtual Field Trip: AZ Cooper Mine

Thursday, November 13 the  ALPS students took a virtual field trip to an Arizona copper mine through Discovery Education.  They discovered different professions within the field of mining and where copper is found and used.  After they completed an activity discovering the cost  and potential profits of mining.