Here are some of our favorite resources. Tell us about your favorites!
If you want an overview of gifted traits and best practices…
A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children
Often used as a textbook for gifted education classes, Growing up Gifted is an information-filled, research-based, slightly dry read. This would not be the first book you’d pick up to understand gifted education, but it adds a deeper understanding of teaching gifted learners.
Gifted and Talented Learners, Joyce Van Tassel-Baska (editor)
A classic for TAG educators, this book is also helpful for parents who seek to understand best practices in gifted education. VanTassel-Baska contributes to and edits this collection of essays covering topics such as the nature of giftedness, program development, highly and exceptionally gifted persons, organization of curriculum and instruction, and excellence in education. Contributors include Linda Silverman, John Feldhusen, and Camilla Benbow.
If emotions and intensity are a theme in your family…
Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students: Helping Kids Cope With Explosive Feelings
For 2E (Twice Exceptional) and Learning Differences
For all gifted individuals, it’s important to understand Dabrowski’s
Classics for All Parents
Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers (3rd Edition)
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
The Five Love Languages of Children: The Secret to Loving Children Effectively
Especially for EG/PG (Exceptionally to Profoundly Gifted)
5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options
I’m not a proponent of categorizing children in general, but EG/PG kids have some differences that are important to understand, particularly in the emotional/social space.
Sensory Support
Bouncy Bands for School Chairs
Resistance Bands (Cut to size)
Fidget Toys
As a teacher, I have a love/hate relationship with fidget toys. They can easily become distracting, messy projectiles. Most cheap fidget toys from Dollar Tree or Amazon will fall apart quickly. But some kids need to fidget. What to do?
If you want to make your own fidgets, try filling balloons with a baking soda/water mixture. This is a great project for the kids to do themselves. They can experiment to find the baking soda/water proportion that feels best to them. And it’s very economical! Some people add food coloring to the mixture. Yes, it creates a super cool effect. NO, NO, do not do it! Some kids will fidget until these balloons fall apart. What a mess!
If you want to buy some fidgets, I like Crayola Gobbles. Better quality than most, and the balls wash easily. Look on Amazon Warehouse Deals for better prices.
Whenever possible, I combine the need to fidget with a learning activity. Try a mini Rubik’s cube, Magic Snake, or other mini mind puzzles. Metal wire puzzles are inexpensive, last forever, and teach important visual-spatial skills.
Awesome Articles
Why Kids Need to Tinker to Learn
Creating Classrooms We Need: 8 Ways Into Inquiry Learning
How to Trigger Students’ Inquiry Through Projects
The Challenges and Realities of Inquiry-Based Learning
Websites
SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted)
Curriculum & Educational Materials
Differentiated Curriculum Kit for Grade 4 – Systems
Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician’s Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks
Prealgebra, the Art of Problem Solving
Spatial Reasoning: A Mathematics Unit for High-Ability Learners in Grades 2-4 (William & Mary Units)
Invitation to Invent: A Third-Grade Physical Science Unit (William & Mary Units)
Beyond Base Ten: A Mathematics Unit for High-Ability Learners in Grades 3-6 (William & Mary Units)
Differentiated Projects for Gifted Students: 150 Ready-to-Use Independent Studies
Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing Elementary Series Bundle, Grade 4, Lucy Calkins
Videos
Diana Laufenberg’s TED Talk on the importance of Learning from Mistakes