Epic has over 25,000 books, videos and quizzes for students. Elementary teachers are able to sign up for a free account and use the Epic library with their students. Students will learn how to navigate a digital library and use appropriate tools to aid in their reading. In this activity, students will be introduced to fables and will use Microsoft Paint or Google Drawings to illustrate the moral of the story.

Using Wonders Literature Anthology and students Reading/Writing Companion, students will learn “What we know about Earth and its neighbors”.  Students will read about discoveries in space and how we learn more about our solar system.  After reading texts from Wonders using literature anthology and student reading writing companion, students will be placed in 9 groups (representing one planet each) and conduct research on their planet.  Students will create a one pager displaying a drawing or image of their planet with six facts (facts must include size, temperature, and an option of four other facts).  Students will then utilize Makey Makey to conduct an oral presentation of their project by coding and recording facts.  After completion, students will do a Gallery Walk to visit each planet while completing interactive guided note sheet in Google Slides.

This activity for gifted learners might serve as a culminating activity of part of a larger social studies unit or an English language arts unit centered on the concept of culture.  Students will take part in close readings of a variety of fiction (folktales, myths, historical fiction, etc.) and non-fiction (informational books, reference books/materials, maps, magazines articles, original documents, websites, etc.) throughout the unit.   As they read, they will pay attention to the different sections of the books (e.g., - nationalities, religions, languages, etc.) and take notes on what applies to them/where they fit in regard to that topic/category, thus comparing  & contrasting where they stand when considering their place in America & their place in the world. They will then work to create a “self portrait” by crafting their research into a portrait that conveys who they are in America, in the world, and in their own head & heart and present that information to the class.  This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

 This activity is in place of Research and Inquiry project on page 111 and 121 of student reading / writing companion In this lesson, students can choose from a list of historical figures to create a research project. Students will be asked to create a digital timeline of that person, and include images, audio, and/or video on their timeline that they find throughout their research. Each student will be asked to present their timeline to the rest of the class.