P.S.174 WILLIAM SIDNEY MOUNT
Gifted and Talented Education – GATE Curriculum Guide
Our GATE teachers are truly giving their all to see that our wonderfully gifted students are exposed to the highest levels of learning.
We encourage divergent thinking, creative problem solving, research, and interclass collaboration to support the intellectual needs of each and every student. We encourage all our students to engage in family conversations that communicate their daily class activities and accomplishments.
Our goal in the GATE program is for our students to become independent and active readers and writers. Students strengthen their English Language Arts skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. In writing, students learn to plan, draft, revise and edit their work before it is considered a finished “published” product. They produce various types of writing, including informational, opinion, narrative, and literary essays, as well as stories (fictional or autobiographical). Reading should span different genres within fiction and non-fiction trade books. Students choose “just right” books based on their appropriate reading level, as well as their personal needs and interests. They demonstrate evidence of understanding their reading in their writing pieces, as well as during classroom discussions.
Upper GATE students participate in the annual Ezra Jack Keates Bookmaking contest, brainstorming ideas to create a finished, published book.
Through the Young Writers USA, 5th grade students have submitted work highlighting their creative writing skills with entries for publication in the Crazy Creatures book, and the Once Upon a Dream Young Poets Anthology.
GoMath! is a comprehensive Grade K-6 mathematics program developed to support the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and the NCTM Curriculum Focal Points. The program emphasizes Essential Questions and Big Ideas with depth of understanding as the goal. Interactive lessons utilize research based instructional approaches and differentiated instructional resources to ensure success for all students. Our math program contains extension activities to meet our accelerated students. Teachers use three basic strategies for adding rigor to math instruction for gifted students. They can use more challenging numbers, add additional steps to a problem by combining standards, and they could also introduce the next grade level standard.
Students also have access to online material using the web site, Think Central. Using their own personal log in, students and their families can access all of the mathematical materials they need for mathematical support.
In addition, fourth and fifth grade GATE students participate in two national competitions. First, they play the Stock Market Game, where students gain a fundamental understanding of investing while learning real world skills practice in Math, Language Arts, Economics, and Social Studies. A complement to this amazing competition is the InvestWrite National Essay Contest, where students write about their experiences in investing.
Upper GATE students also participate in the national Math Olympiad competition. In this series of contests, students are introduced to important math concepts beyond that of the scope and sequence of the math curriculum. Students develop flexibility and a variety of strategies in solving problems.
In partnership with JHS 190, students in 4th & 5th grade have the opportunity to join an afterschool math club where they work with Jr. High School students to solve complex math problems.
Students in Grade 5 also participate in an online financial literacy economics program, Everfi, learning the benefits of saving and investing.
For our literacy curriculum, in addition to following our Common Core State Standards through Columbia University’s Teachers College Units of Study, we are going above and beyond by enhancing reading and writing. Read-alouds, accountable talk and analysis of stories are some of the components stressed within the literacy program. These various genres link our students to current issues and real world connections stressing non-fiction and real-life applications in writing.
In addition to the science curriculum, upper grade GATE students participate in the national Exploravision Competition which challenges students to work in teams to research, design and develop a model of their own inventions. This culminates in our own annual Invention Convention which families are invited to.
Students learn hands-on science with the Con Edison Energy-saving Curriculum and Kits.
Students in the upper grade GATE program are exposed to Robotics, Gaming, Coding, Computer Science, 3-D Printing, and Electronics Design.
Each year our GATE students in grades 3–5 are given the opportunity to join the Carnegie Hall Orchestra. Students learn to sing and play an instrument in the classroom, and then perform with a professional orchestra from their seats at a culminating concert at Carnegie Hall. Every year we are all in awe of being able to participate in such an event.
One of our new partnerships is with the The Metropolitan Opera. Grades 3-5 participate in Access Opera which engages our students in an unforgettable experience of watching a performance live on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House. So far we have seen the following dress rehearsal performances: L’Elisir d’Amore, Rusalka, and Turandot. Year after year we have been blown away by the interest our students have shown in this special trip.
Old friends are the best friends. Our partnership with the Joyce stretches back more than 5 years. During that time GATE students in Kindergarten through Fifth have seen beautiful performances in an intimate theater. We also have the opportunity to partner with a teaching artist who works with our students preparing them for their theater visit.
ABNEY Essay Contest
Applied Digital Skills with Google Classroom
Ballroom Dance Residency
Carnegie Hall Music Program
Circle of Dance
Code Monkey Coding Contest
Con Edison Energy Saving Program
Ezra Jack Keates Bookmaking Contest
Everfi Economics Program
Exploravision Design Competition
Future of Technology Essay Writing
Google Classroom Applied Digital Skills
Hour of Code
Inside Broadway
Investwrite Essay Contest
JHS 190 Math Club
Joyce Theater Residency
Khan Academy
Math Olympiad
Metropolitan Opera Music Appreciation
New York City Ballet
Stock Market Game
Young Debaters Program
Young Writers USA