TAG
Talented and Gifted
State Bridge Crossing
Elementary School
TAG Teachers
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Mrs. April Adriansen has been teaching for fourteen years now. Her
first three years were teaching third grade here at State Bridge. This
is her eleventh year teaching TAG.
 Ms. Cary Beth Garretson is in her sixth year of teaching. She spent 3
years teaching Georgia Pre-K and two years teaching 5th grade. This
is her first year teaching TAG and she is very excited to join the SBCE
TAG team.
 Mrs. Patsy Kendrix has been an educator with Fulton County Schools
for 30+ years - as a classroom teacher, CST, and TAG teacher. She’ll
be teaching 4th grade TAG on Wednesdays this year. This is her
fourth year teaching TAG at SBCE.
 Mrs. Carol Evans has been teaching for 20 years. She spent her first
four years teaching first grade in DeKalb County. She has been
teaching gifted students for the past 16 years. She currently teaches
TAG four days a week at Creek View Elementary and she will be
teaching 5th grade TAG at SBCE on Thursdays.
TAG in Elementary School
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Students are served one
day per week
Class size is limited to 22
students
Program includes
challenging units linked to
science and social studies
Collaboration and higher
order thinking skills are
emphasized throughout the
TAG units
Program Overview
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Provide enriching learning
experiences for the
intellectually advanced and
the exceptionally creative
student.
• The TAG curriculum is
differentiated to challenge the
gifted learner by focusing on
interdisciplinary enrichment
and extension.
• Gifted students need choices.
• Gifted students need their
work to be validated.
Program Goals
Students work to:
• develop advanced
research methods and
independent learning
• develop and practice
creative thinking and
creative problem-solving
skills
• develop higher order and
critical thinking skills
• develop advanced
communication skills
(collaboration and
technological literacy)
Creativity in Students
“Many people assume that creativity is an inborn talent that
their kids either do or do not have… But actually, creativity is
more skill than inborn talent, and it is a skill parents can help
their kids develop.”
We encourage risk taking through activities by focusing on four
aspects of creativity- originality, fluency, flexibility, and
elaboration.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happiness/post/7_ways_to_foster_creativity_in_your_kids/
TAG Strategies
 Decision
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Making
1) Identify the problem
2) brainstorm possibilities
3) decide on criteria
4) actual analysis using a matrix
5) determining best solution
6) justify solution using artifact and matrix
7) brainstorming questions and other info needed to
make the best decision possible
TAG Strategies
 Creative
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Problem Solving
Similar to decision making
Students are given a big “mess” that they
need to sort through and determine which
problem they want to solve; then the process
is similar to decision making
TAG Strategies
 Inquiry/
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Mystery Lessons
Stories with Holes
giving them a picture, object, or situation
students ask questions to narrow down what
the object is
works on generating good questions and
adjusting theories as more information
becomes available
TAG Strategies
 Deductive/
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Inductive Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning: Evaluating information
and eliminating the irrelevant; Perplexers
Inductive reasoning: sorting words into selfcreated categories; often related to unit
vocabulary
TAG Strategies
 Metaphorical
Expression
(Analogies)
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direct analogy- comparing fire and
ice, how are they alike and different?
personal analogy- comparing
themselves to a concept
• you are a wild fire burning- what does it
feel like? Look like?
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compressed conflict- brainstorm 5
words that describe a topic, come up
with antonym for each word, look for
word pairs that describe the topic
• fire can be devastatingly beautiful;
glowing darkness
TAG Strategies
 Comparing/Contrasting
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a good way to narrow down what they are
learning
focused on the process more than the content
holds everyone accountable for their learning
because they are responsible for teaching
someone else
TAG Strategies
 Question
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Generating
read an article and come up with questions
about what else they would want to know that
is not explicitly stated in the article
TAG Strategies
 Brainstorming
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5 rules of brainstorming:
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1) lots of ideas
2) don’t judge yourself or others
3) piggyback on other ideas
4) wild ideas are encouraged
5) say anything that comes to mind
Evaluation of Student
Performance
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A Unit Assessment is given at the end of
each TAG unit.
• The TAG Progress Checklist is provided at
the end of each unit.
• A parent-teacher conference is held at the
end of each year to discuss the student’s
progress.
• If a student has difficulty in the gifted
classroom, a conference is held with the
parent to discuss continuation options, such
as probation or dismissal.
TAG Units
Focus of each unit
 1st
 2nd
 3rd
 ALL
unit for each
grade is a
RESEARCH unit
unit for each
grade is A
HIGHER ORDER
THINKING UNIT
unit for each
grade is a CREATIVE
PROBLEM SOLVING
UNIT
units focus on
ADVANCED
COMMUNICATION
First Grade and
Second Grade
Rainforest
Essential Questions: What is the importance of the rainforest? What are
the layers of the rainforest and how are they unique? What plants can
be found in the rainforest? How are they different from plants we see in
our area? What unique living things can be found in the rainforest? Why
should we save the rainforest and how can our TAG class do it? What
would life be like without rainforests? What kinds of things would we
have to live without?
In this unit, the students will…
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Participate in a metaphorical expression
Create a tropical rainforest model
Research, create, and present a technology enhanced project
Participate in several analogy carousel brainstorming activities
Sample fruits of the tropical rainforest
Compare and contrast
Participate in a creative problem solving/decision making lesson
America the Beautiful
Essential Question:
What impact do American
symbols, songs, holidays,
geography, economics, and
government have on us today?
Ocean Discovery
Essential Questions: What impact do oceans have on human
survival through balanced cycles? How do the opposing forces
of humans and nature impact the cycles within the oceans?
In this unit, the students will:
-Compare and contrast the different ocean zones and then research
animals that live in the zones
-Participate in several scientific demonstrations such as observing
aquatic plants creating oxygen, investigating why there is more
pressure in deeper water, and investigating how fish use their
senses
-Discuss the Gulf oil spill, analyze the difficulties of cleaning up oil
spills, and then research various oil spill clean up methods and
create a PowerPoint showing what they have learned
-Investigate and analyze the concept of food chains
-Compare and contrast the characteristics of fish and people
-Analyze why oceans are important to people and the importance of
protecting them
Third Grade
Greece
Essential Questions:
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What was life like in ancient Greece?
How did the world of the Ancient Greeks differ from our own?
In what ways has ancient Greek civilization impacted our lives
today?
In this unit, the students will
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Participate in a debate of whether or not the ancient Spartan warlike society was the best way
to live
Research ancient Greek architecture, sports, and government and then compare them to
modern day America
Compare and contrast the Minoan and Mycenaean societies of ancient Greece
Analyze ancient Greek artifacts through a weekly mystery lesson and then create their own
mystery artifact lesson
Explore Greek mythology such as Pandora, Athena, and Heracles
Participate in an end of the unit symposium, just like ancient Greek philosophers , pondering
the questions of life such as: What makes one truly happy? What is beauty? What is the
meaning of life? while trying traditional Greek foods like pomegranates, figs, boiled barley,
and olives
Endangered Species:
Where is the Dodo Bird?
Essential Questions:
 Why are so many of our animals threatened/endangered?
 Why is it important to save endangered animals?
 How can we become care keepers of our environment?
 What impact does extinction of animals have on our world?
In this unit, students will Participate in an inductive activity
 Research why animals become endangered and create a
product showing what they have learned
 Participate in a Creative Problem Solving lesson about the Bee
Crisis
 Participate in several SCAMPER activities
 Participate in several metaphorical expression activities
American Heroes
Essential Questions:
 What is a hero?
 What personality traits attract or repel people to/from each
other?
 What makes a lasting hero?
 What happens when history meets Hollywood?
 How can one person make a difference?
 What makes a human being become involved in a heroic act?
In this unit, the students will participate in:
• Carousel brainstorming activities
• Metaphorical Expression lessons
• Decision Making lessons
• Research and create a Fakebook page
• Compare and contrast American historical figures
• Alternative Decision Making lesson
• Research, create, and present a technology presentation on a
chosen hero
Fourth Grade
Museum
4th Grade
Essential Questions What is art?
 How does art impact your world?
 How would life be different if art did not exist?
 What impact do current events have on art?
 How does the past impact the present?
In this unit, the students will Participate in carousel brainstorming activities
 Generate questions to guide their research about a modern era artist
 Learn about various note taking strategies, Boolean code, etc. to
conduct research and write a formal research paper
 Create several pieces of artwork that represent different art periods
such as the ancient art period, Renaissance, Early American , and
Impressionist movement.
 Participate in a Creative Problem Solving lesson
Robotics/ Space
Essential Questions•How do we build and program a
robot?
•How do light, sound, ultrasonic,
touch, and rotation sensors work?
•How can light, sound, ultrasonic,
touch and rotation sensors be used to
program a robot to complete simple
tasks?
•How are robotics used in space
exploration?
•What are the similarities and
differences between Earth and Mars?
•Is it feasible to send people to Mars?
Camp Interdependence
Essential Questions:
What does it mean to be interdependent?
What is the difference between dependence and interdependence?
How did western expansion lead to the establishment of National Parks?
How does the establishment of National Parks illustrate interdependence
amongst people?
How do destructive forces play a role in interdependence?
In this unit, the students will:
• Participate in decision making lessons
• Research national parks and create electronic products
• Compare and contrast national parks/ landmarks
• Participate in metaphorical expression lessons
Fifth Grade
Flight
Essential Questions How have discoveries and inventions related to flight impacted
the history of the United States?
 How might we prepare for future air travel problems, including
increasing demand for air travel and space tourism?
In this unit, the students will Participate in a carousel brainstorming activity
 Analyze primary sources
 Analyze how birds fly and design their own bird
 Discover the four forces of flight though hands-on investigations
 Participate in a Creative Problem Solving lesson about modern aviation
 Design their own paper airplanes for a competition
 Research a famous aviator and write a formal research paper
 Generate questions to guide research
The Brain
Essential Questions What is learning?
 Why are neurons called the basic building blocks of the nervous system?
 How does the brain control the body?
 What is the difference between the right brain and the left brain?
In this unit, the students will
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Participate in an inquiry lesson, SCAMPER activity, and several
carousel brainstorming analogy activities
Take several surveys determining their learning style, left/right brain,
multiple intelligences, optimist/ pessimist, introvert/extrovert
Research historical figures from their SS curriculum and determine if
their figure is left or right brained, etc.
Create models of the brain
Create a metaphorical diagram of a neuron
Research in depth one of the five senses and create a novel product
teaching the class about that sense
Epidemic
Essential Questions:
• What are viruses and bacteria and how do they affect
humans?
• How can a virus spread around the world?
• How are symptoms used to make a diagnosis?
• How do government organizations and individual citizens
protect themselves from public health disasters?
Topics of study will include viruses vs. bacterial infections, epidemics such
as typhoid, Ebola, & the flu. Students will participate in the diagnosis of a disease
that has caused an epidemic and develop a plan to reduce or eliminate the
possibility of a similar outbreak.
While learning about these topics, students will have opportunities to think
critically, develop criteria for making wise decisions, engage in research skills, and
develop the skills to become young scientists.
10th Annual
Technology Fair
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3D Modeling
Robotics
Digital Video Editing
Multimedia
Non-multimedia
Digital Photography
Project Programming
Web Applications
Animated Graphic Design
Non-animated graphic design
Video Game Design
Mobile App Design
Technology Fair
 Early
November
 All 4th and 5th grade TAG students are
required to participate
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Though all 4th and 5th graders are encouraged
 Registration
form is on the TAG website
What does our day look like?
 Specials
 Lunch
 Recess
 Reflection
TAG day? With whom?
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
3rdOwens
Smith
4th
Vena
5th
Scheifflee
Mattke
1/3 Walden
2nd
Hathaway
Payne
K/1st
All
Classes
3rd
Lee
Corkern
Black
McWilliams
4th
Schlich
Cameron
5th
Showfety
1/3 Walden
2nd
Tyson
Toothill
Moses
N/A
N/A
4th(Kendrix)
Poole
Haggerty
Clary
5th
(Evans)
1/3 Walden
Hopkins
Nusnbaum
N/A
Garretson Collabor
-ation
Adriansen
Kendrix
or Evans
When’s lunch?
The following grades eat with their homeroom
classes:
3rd (Tues.), and 4th (Wed.)
( Please see your child’s homeroom schedule for details)
K/1st (Mon), 2nd (Fri.) and 5th (Thurs.) eat lunch at the
following times:
Adriansen: 11:02-11:32
Garretson: 11:06-11:36
Evans: 11:08-11:38
TAG Supplies
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ALL TAG Students½” inch binder (Not a one inch binder!)
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Pack of dividers
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Black and white composition book (new students only)
3rd-5th Graders- Flash drive to leave in TAG
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Any of the below supplies would be GREATLY appreciated:
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Clorox Wipes
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Hand Sanitizer
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Glue sticks
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Index cards
Fulton County Supporters of the
Gifted (FCSG)
An information and support group for parents, teachers
and advocates of gifted children in Fulton County
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www.fultongifted.org
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www.gagc.org
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www.nagc.org
We look forward to working with your child and with
you throughout this year!
Thank you for joining us today!
TAG Website http://sbcetag.weebly.com
Our contact information is:
adriansen@fultonschools.org
garretson@fultonschools.org
evansce@fultonschools.org
kendrix@fultonschools.org