Summer Reading information for incoming 7th graders:  Book Recommendation List:  Check out this Link

AT - 7th Grade - Summer Reading

7th Grade AT students are asked to choose two mystery books as part of their summer reading.  One of them needs to be an Agatha Christie Mystery, the other is your choice - but it must be a mystery and must be something other than an Agatha Christie!  These are instead of other books, not in addition to.

We will be doing several activities with the mystery books next year - you will need to be pulling information from the books, so read carefully and thoughtfully.

Have a fun summer!!

Suggestions:

Miss Peregrine’s Series by Ranson Riggs

Kingdom Keepers - Disney at Dawn series

The Blackthorn Key series by Kevin Sands

Serefina & The Black Cloak by Beatty

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Other mystery writers:  John Grisham, Stephanie Oaks, Gennifer Choldenko, MT Anderson, April Henry and Karen McManus

 

You can also check out the CFPMS Library web page - under books by category there is a link to Mystery Books.  

The Gifted Support/Academically Talented (AT) program at Charles F. Patton Middle school is one that offers enrichment and challenge that focuses on providing new learning experiences for gifted students in accordance with District, State, and National Standards.

 

While we feel it is important for gifted students to have a time to meet and interact together, we also feel it is important to challenge them in the regular classroom. The Gifted Support teachers work with regular classroom teachers to help them provide differentiated and academically appropriate curriculum for gifted students.

 

Students identified as mentally gifted are offered the opportunity to participate in enrichment and challenge activities through Gifted Resource, also known as AT (Academically Talented). The AT rooms are located within the regular school building in room 218 and 254 and students are grouped with other children in their grade levels who have also been identified as gifted. Sixth and seventh grade students are enrolled in a compacted Literacy (6th grade), or Non Fictional Writing Class (7th grade) for 4 days of the cycle and then meet for AT the other two days of the cycle for a total of 90 minutes per cycle. Eighth grade students participate in AT in place of another enrichment area class for a total of 180 minutes four times out of the six day cycle, for each marking period they elect to attend.

 

See the competitions page for a brief look at many of the competitions available to students.

 

Two Gifted Support teachers at the middle school develop curriculum around integrated units of study and project-oriented tasks.  Assignments, activities and projects are expected to be completed during class time. Unfinished work is done at home.

 

Active class participation is encouraged through individual/partner work and cooperative grouping. Grouping is designed according to the activity and students may have the opportunity to change groups on a regular basis. Through appropriate group and peer interaction, students may strengthen interpersonal skills while building self-awareness and self-acceptance in a safe and comfortable environment.

 

Gifted education at the middle school level is a supportive intervention enrichment program designed to develop complex thinking practices such as creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. Curriculum is developed by establishing thematic integrated units of study and providing activities which focus on hands-on learning. Students and parents offer help developing the curriculum for Gifted Seminars by offering to share their interests and ideas. This amalgamation is implemented yearly according to grade level (6, 7, 8). A variety of teaching strategies are employed to accommodate the diverse learning styles of the students.

 

Students are assessed through teacher, peer, and self -evaluation. We emphasize the self-evaluation piece because we value self-reflection as an effective assessment and developmental tool. We ask our students to draw conclusions and make judgments about his or her performance and development in the AT classroom. Learning logs, observation, and spoken and written response are some of the methods implemented. Sixth and seventh grade AT students receive Pass/Fail grades on their quarterly report cards and eighth grade students receive letter/number grades on their quarterly report cards.

News

Pencil Points - Newsletter from Mr. Kelley

 

Math Madness - October 2021 - March 2022 (invitation only)

AMC 8 - January 2022  and AMC 10 - November  2021 (invitation only)

Science Fair - January 2022 - Please note, this is not a school wide Science Fair - students will need to present ideas and a selection will be made of the 15 projects that will participate in the County Competition.  More information will be passed along through science teachers. 

 

Science Bee - January 2022

Spelling Bee  - Practice words

TCQB - Fall 2021, Spring 2022

 

Forensics - Speech and Debate - May 2022

Knowledge Bowl - May 2022 (invitation only)

 

Also, students will be able to register for a maximum of two events with the exception of debate and discussion.  If a student is participating in either debate or discussion, that will be their only event.

Forensics Events Overview

Umbrella topic:  Check back - topic will be announced soon

(All events must pertain to the umbrella topic)

Debate: OPEN ONLY TO 7TH & 8TH GRADE STUDENTS: Public Forum Style, 2 person teams. Involves lots of research. Need to be organized. Requires the ability to present speeches on specific topics, ask questions, think and respond spontaneously. Must be very well prepared.

Debate topic:  The US Federal Government should increase it's quota of H1B Visas. See link for more information.

Discussion: Individual event. Involves research and organizing information. Present ideas, and facts to back up ideas, on a specific topic among a group of students.

Discussion topic:  Building the Wall on the southern US border will do more harm than good.

Original Prose or Poetry: Present original work incorporating facial and voice expression, as well as hand gestures. (minimum 5 minutes in length - may not exceed 8 minutes).

Oral Interpretation of Poetry: Present poetry, incorporating facial and voice expression, as well as hand gestures. (minimum 5 minutes in length - may not exceed 8 minutes).

Oral Interpretation of Prose: Present literary works, other than poetry, incorporating facial and voice expression, as well as hand gestures. (minimum 5 minutes in length - may not exceed 8 minutes).

Declamation: Memorize and present a speech written by a famous person, incorporating facial and voice expression, as well as hand gestures. (minimum 5 minutes in length - may not exceed 8 minutes).

Original Oratory: Write and present your own speech, incorporating facial and voice expression, as well as hand gestures. Must pertain to the umbrella topic (minimum 5 minutes in length - may not exceed 8 minutes).

Impromptu: Individual event. Involves speaking about a randomly selected topic. Need to be organized and have the ability to write and present a speech “on the spot”. (may not exceed 5 minutes).

Areas that the impromptu topics will be  related issues.

NEW EVENT: Duo Interpretation: 2 person team memorize a script from plays, movie scripts, short stories or novels.

 

GIFTED SEMINARS/COMPETITIONS ARE OPTIONAL OFFERINGS OF INTEREST FOR AT STUDENTS: Sign up in the AT Classroom!

TBD - watch for announcements on Canvas