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GP Mission Statement : Our Vision is to lay the learning foundation for a rapidly changing future.We will use a global perspective to think critically,collaborate and solve problems affecting our world. 

 

Welcome to the Gavilan Peak SAGE Program

 

 

Having  an ability or an aptitude significantly above what is expected at a given age.A POTENTIAL for high performance.

Gavilan Peak is a gifted friendly campus! We have one of the highest numbers of identified gifted students in the district. We cater to students not only with SAGE, but through honors/flex groups, HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), Thinking Maps, , JGB (Junior Great Books), PBL, sports, fine arts, and world languages (Mandarin Chinese) while they are with their  homeroom teachers.We provide gifted strategies for all students!

SAGE students an accelerated and enriching curriculum,social emotioanl support,Passion Projects and participate in leadership seminars provided by guest speakers.

Besides using JGB (Junior Great Books), award winning novel studies, SAGE Reading students use comprehensive language arts materials provided by the College for Gifted Education of William & Mary and participate in research Passion Projects.

SAGE math students move at an accelerated rate, at least one year ahead of the basic curriculum. Six grade SAGE math students receive instruction from a highly-qualified middle school Algebra teacher. We continuously work on problem solving skill by using the ACE strategy (answer,compute,explain), Math Investigations, Math in the Real World (applying mathematics to real world situations),problem of the day, problem of the month as well as Exemplars. Students have the opportunity to work in math stations,with partners and in small groups and always have to defend their answers with explanations of the applied strategies as well as use math academic vocabulary where fitting.

All SAGE students are a part of a program that involves acceleration, enrichment, individualization, choice, and leadership development. Their individual progress is documented and kept in their own personal mailbox within the SAGE classroom. Student-led conferences and private conferences with the SAGE teacher (by appointment) are available throughout the year.

Typically, young gifted students come to us with a great deal of knowledge, yet they enter our classrooms with a variety of intellectual and emotional needs, strengths, weaknesses and learning styles. Just because they are gifted,it does not mean that they are always ready to be accelerated,that they have organization skills,work ethic and are straight A students.Servicing gifted students is not just a matter of pure acceleration,a constant feeding of content and lost of work.They have needs just like any other students,different levels of readiness and development and I believe in meeting their individual needs where they are at the moment.They are hungry to make sense of the world around them and desire to exercise and expand their minds intellectually and creatively. I believe that when gifted students feel recognized and accepted their motivation to achieve increases and they become more likely to seek challenging learning opportunities.


I plan to encourage and foster my students’ unique talents, to provide them with opportunities to experience intellectual challenge, leadership and a sense of accomplishment as well as delight in learning. By incorporating my knowledge and resources of gifted strategies like curriculum compacting and acceleration ,problem based learning, planning lessons that provide rigor and relevance to the students’ real life experiences, opportunities for project based learning that incorporate personal interest and novelty enabling them to produce original and creative work I hope to encourage them to :

*discover new possibilities for themselves

*experience delight in fresh challenges and the excitement of learning

*think of school as an exhilarating adventure of intellectual and aesthetic discovery

*thrive in a setting created to foster their individual needs

*lead themselves and others

*play an active role as community helpers and leaders

*take pride in their academic progress

*set individual goals and strive to meet them

*use technology as a productivity tool (AZ K-12 Standards)

Parents, I value your input and I believe that by communicating and working together as a team we can ensure your child’s academic success and growth as well as meeting all of their emotional and social needs.

I am thrilled to start another spectacular year at Gavilan Peak.

Sincerely,
Carmen Giurgiu


Carmen.giurgiu@dvusd.org