After classroom discussions and activities to exemplify positive relationships through fair play and friendship, the higher level students in the class will each make their own ABC books to illustrate many ways to play fairly and how to treat friends. 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 independent project provides students who have demonstrated mastery of required material to extend their knowledge and understanding of the role of American women over time. Working from a model (A Street Through Time), students create a visual history of women’s changing roles. 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.

Higher-level students will work to solve analogies that relate to how location impacts supply and demand. They will also write their own analogies, and then they will write 3 ways that location affects supply and demand. 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.

After the whole class has learned about different cultures in the community through books and internet articles, higher level students will work collaboratively in groups to research and gather more detailed information about different cultures within their own community. They will create a PowerPoint or Prezi and present it 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.

After the teacher has read books about banking, how banking helps people save money, and how banks work within our market economy, the teacher may invite a professional banker to come to class to talk with students about banking.  The teacher may also plan a field trip for students to visit a local bank (and possibly open an account with parents’ permission).  Then higher-level students will work on a Think-Tac-Toe to produce writing, math, and arts projects to demonstrate their knowledge of banking.  Students may need to use the internet to look up banking terms.  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.

After the teacher has read books about trading and bartering and discussed situations in our history when bartering was extremely important for survival (for example when the Pilgrims traded with the Native Americans for survival/needs/wants), she will lead the higher level students in a game of bartering. 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.

After reading books about obeying the rules and discussing the positive results that occur when rules are obeyed and the negative consequences when rules are broken, all students will help produce a Cause and Effect chart like the one I have attached as an example for obeying rules at school. Then higher-level students will extend their learning by working in a small group to create a Cause and Effect chart of obeying rules in the neighborhood and one for adults obeying rules/laws in the community. Their charts that they create will actually provide an opportunity for all students to be challenged to think about rules further. 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.

After reading books about changes in people’s lives, students will discuss some changes (causes) and the effects of those changes. The class will create a Cause and Effect chart to list some effects of various changes (moving to a new home, moving to a new school, getting a new sibling, losing a pet, etc). Higher-level students will then take the class Cause and Effect chart and expound upon it, adding new causes and their effects, but also thinking more deeply to find other effects that were not thought of in the whole-class lesson for causes already listed. 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.

Higher-level students will be divided into 7 groups so that they may collaborate with their peers to complete projects regarding how their school can contribute positively to the environment using 7 of Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Musical, Naturalist, Spatial, and Logical-Mathematical).  If your students have never taken an inventory to know their M.I. strengths, allow them to go take the assessment and print off their M.I. strengths for use in this lesson as well as others. 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.

After reading books about diversity in people (ethnicity, interests, culture, dress, language, physical, etc.), the teacher will lead a discussion about how any two people are alike in some ways and different in others. After the class has worked on this concept, all students will use a Venn Diagram or other compare/contrast graphic organizer to compare themselves to one other person in the group. Then higher level students will extend their thinking by getting into groups of 3 and creating a triple Venn Diagram to compare/contrast themselves with 2 other students. After that they will write a few sentences about how their two classmates and they are different and alike. They will use the triple Venn Diagram to help them with their writing. 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.

In this lesson, students begin by discussing the meaning of “common good” and the impact of this concept on rights and responsibilities in the lives of US citizens. They then examine the Bill of Rights and other amendments to the US Constitution, focusing on how amendments over time have focused on the common good and have responded to current issues and problems. Finally, the students apply their understanding of common good and individual rights and responsibilities to the proposal of a new amendment to the US Constitution. 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.

Higher-level students will answer questions on a cube to show that they understand how people adapt to, change, and protect the environment to meet their needs. Students should be allowed to view the cube and research any unknown information before “cubing” with a group of higher-level students. Students will then have a high level discussion together. Each student will take turns rolling the cube and answering the question that comes up. 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.

Higher-level students will collaboratively construct a classroom newspaper, “Diversity Matters” or “Diverse Times” etc.  Students will learn about different cultures within their community and region via the internet, videos, books, and local newspaper articles about local and regional cultural festivals.  Then students will compare and contrast the cultures (traditions, celebrations, dress, food, language, etc.).  Students will work together to make analogies and metaphors to compare/contrast different cultures.  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.

After discussing how people have different perspectives on the same topic/event/movement in a fun way by using a familiar fairy tale, higher level students will be asked to read portions of a book or articles from the internet to find out at least 2 differing perspectives of a historical event/movement. Students will get a R.A.F.T. so they may write with different ROLES in mind to different AUDIENCES in a particular FORMAT and on a TOPIC.  Next students will share their writings with other students in the class. I am giving examples of how to use this activity with the attacks of 9/11, but other historical events/movements could be used (Civil War, prohibition, American Revolution, Civil Rights Movement, etc.). 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.

After the teacher has read books about earning money and benefits of saving, disadvantages of borrowing, and decisions about saving versus spending or giving, the teacher will lead a discussion with students about how they have personally earned money and what they did with it. She will allow them to think about whether or not they think they made wise decisions when they saved, borrowed, spent or gave money and why they feel this way. Then the teacher will introduce the students to the “store” they are going to have in class. Higher level students will create scenarios for classmates to consider what they would do in different situations involving earning money, saving money, spending, or borrowing. 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 lesson precedes students’ exploration of the US Constitution and gives them a foundation for their study of it. Students begin by discussing some trivia related to the Constitution and then, through Jigsaw grouping, read and summarize three documents that share basic principles with it. Once they have shared and discussed the connections among the three documents, they consider how democratic ideals are addressed in the documents, the Constitution, and everyday life. 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.

During this lesson, students compare and contrast economic factors in the US colonies/states of the 1780’s and present day US. The students explore and discuss issues and problems related to these factors as they compare and contrast these two time periods. This lesson gives students a context for understanding the development of our government as they learn about the time period in which it was first developed and discuss the problems that the founders faced. 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.

After exploring ways that people use resources from our environment to provide for basic needs and wants, students will generate an inclusive list (using brainstorming and research) of many natural resources that people use to meet their needs and wants.  Students will create a poster to illustrate their generated ideas.  Then students will present their posters to the class or a small group.  The teacher may also ask students to consider the use of one natural resource over another in a given situation.  Students will consider the best natural resource (s) to use in various situations based on wants/needs, sturdiness, usefulness, sustainability, durability, accessibility, availability, cost, etc.  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.

During this lesson, students begin by exploring several ways in which humans have changed their physical environment and evaluate whether those ways might be considered positive or negative. The students then take a close look at erosion on the Outer Banks and decide whether or not it should be prevented. 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 lesson gives learners the chance to delve deeply in to the lives of the Founding Fathers and Mothers to discover the personal characteristics that enabled them to become leaders and revolutionaries. This would be a good assignment for students who compact out of a portion of a unit on early American history. 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.