Capable Kids

 

A drawing of a skull with a striped background As a Talented and Gifted specialist I had the privilege of working with some amazing kids.

Often a teacher suggested additional students join our small group sessions because they seemed to be very capable but hadn’t yet qualified as a TAG student.

I found these kids were often hard workers or very interested in a subject like reading or math.

I welcomed them to our groups and we found they enriched our activities.

 

 

Do you have a gifted child? A very capable, hard working, “interested in this subject” child?

Here are resources I’d like to share with you!

 

MATH

Virtual Manipulatives at Utah State University let you try out math with a variety of online hands-on materials. Choose from Numbers & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis & Probability for these grade levels:

 

Visit Calculation NationNCTM – log in as a guest to play the computer OR log in for free and play against other students in other schools, states, or countries. Pick your favorite games, here’s mine:

 

Play with Coordinate Graphs

 

  PUZZLES

Arrange a few toothpicks into shapes and then rearrange them to solve puzzles. Print this file two sided. One side has the challenge and the back has one solution to the challenge.

 

For an online page with toothpick geometry check out what Hye Jung Kim and John Rader posted from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

 

Play SET online, a new game every day and the answers are posted the next day. My 8 yera old niece took great delight it finding more sets when challenging her father (with a PhD in physics from Stanford 😉

 

Bloxorz is a three-dimensional puzzle that requires you to move blocks along ever more changing paths. It’s especially a challenge for me (I have very little spatial sense), It’s great fun for kids.

 

SuperKids has logic and reasoning games to play online, including:

Important: Classic 21 is a version of Black Jack.

 

Lateral thinking puzzles from Rinkworks.com. These are great for the kiddo who loves to think outside the box, is there even a box to consider? Caution: some of these can be pretty dark. 

  LANGUAGE ARTS

Write Wacky Web Tales – print and illustrate, change the words in the tale, print again, maybe make a book. This was a favorite of one of my kindergarten students.

 

Word of the Day SuperKids posts a daily word as a vocabulary builder that’s suggested for 4th to 6th grade. Not challenging enough? Choose from other suggested grade levels

 

Rinkworks has Word Boxes, puzzles with solutions that overlap vertically and horizontally. Choose from 

 

Create crossword puzzles to share with friends or classmates. Maybe of the current spelling list if there’s one in your child’s classroom?

 

Instead of a crossword puzzle, make a find a word puzzle.

 

Brain Food from rinkworks.com