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=An ALP Team=

//A place Brandi, Lisa, and Karli can collaborate on the K-8 ALP Program//
Began April, 2008

=__**ALP Misson Statement**__= lets add our mission statement here as a reminder of our goals and to keep on block for editing. then, let's share that as a guiding force with parents all next year.

The Idaho Virtual Academy recognizes that Gifted and Talented students thrive in a non-traditional setting and welcome challenging curriculum and the ability to work at an accelerated pace and/or dive deeper into the curriculum. We respect parents who are schooling their gifted students and we strive to offer them training and support so they may set each and every child up for success. It is our mission to provide curriculum and experiences that are appropriate for all of society’s children and offer the greatest opportunity for excellence and learning for each child based on where they are today and where they have the possibilities of going tomorrow.

Documents we are collaborating on


 * Giftedresources website
 * Ning Social Networking Site
 * Wikispaces

Middle School Planning Section- survey, program ideas, etc.
Meeting April 22nd
 * proposal for 2008/2009 school year-
 * Scheduled April 9 at 2pm MST

Ning Social Networking Site

 * Plan for Roll-out to 7th and 8th graders

=What's in it for me- Gifted fact sheet=

Cool things we have done this year!
==Brandi will pull classes off of the gifted site and include some of those Created a social networking site for gifted Your ALP student will have access to web 2.0 tools to reach a wider audience (their classmates) and "network" with others who may share the same interests and/or passions== An opportunity for motivated students who are natural leaders to create their own classes Opportunities to write for our ALP program newsletter

Cutting edge technology brought into the "classroom" and used to harness the potential of advanced learners
Classes geared for the age/ability level of your child Leadership 101 classes A convenient virtual training library so you can access trainings provided by the ALP team 24/7--when it is convenient for you

=__Wednesday Night Parent Night Session Plan__= I think if we go skinny with this and open it up for questions that is what parents are wanting. I say we try to keep the program to 20-25 minutes before questions.

I. intro
 * //Brainstorm what it means to be the parent of a "gifted" student//
 * //Interesting facts about GT kids- Brandi can offer these//

II. body
 * //How we select students for the program//
 * //Once selected what we offer (maybe we can do a series of slides of stuff that we have offered in the past//

III. Closing
 * //Break into grade level groups//

IV, Questions
 * Maybe this could be in grade level groups

=__Proposed Changes for Grade Level Specialty Areas__ //Brandi proposes MS students go to Lisa and Karli and Brandi Split K-5--based on Region and then break them into K-3 and 4-5 for specialty groups. My pros and cons reflect this idea.//=
 * Pro List of advantages of changing classes to reflect grade level specialty areas**
 * ability to focus more tightly on meeting needs
 * easier to monitor attendance/progress and needs because of tighter diallogue
 * //Easier to monitor children and stay on top of all off the duties associated with that age group.//
 * //We can still schedule IRI students in our regions with a few one offs from the Boise areas//
 * //We will be serving more of our own students directly and we will get to know our students better//
 * **Only have 1 area that we have to focus on. This is especially nice and will help us better serve these kids instead of being spread too thin.**
 * **We will need to be sure to be on the dist. list for the other area community relation teachers.**


 * Con List of changing classes to reflect grade level specialty areas**
 * will lose some of our beloved students
 * will lose some family groups potentially- //One family could have 2 teachers//
 * some parents will not like the change
 * some parents may consider withdrawal-
 * we posed more as a choice earlier
 * Parents overwhelmingly wanted this---Maybe we need to go back to them and offer this as a choice. The only trouble with that if we do offer a choice then we are back to the situation we have now.
 * **I'm not sure I want to even keep K-5. I think we AND the students would receive more of a benefit of our services by tightening things up even more by staying within our grade specific levels. Yes - we'd loose some local families, but families will get over it. I think they were fine with Lisa and I taking over Brandi's class while she was out. We still kept them very informed. We would just need to make sure the local community relations manager is in good contact with us to share out all local stuff. Other than that - I look at it that we are a "virtual" school and really don't see these families all the time anyway. If it would be the benefit to both the students and us, we should consider this more and not just say no because families aren't open to change. Now is the time to do it if we are going to lean this way. With the middle school making this same change (not having local teachers) we have the support of the school moving this way as a whole. I just think it will be easier for all 3 of us to focus on 1 area, rather than 6 (Brandi and me). That is the whole reason we are moving to this model in the first place. It makes more sense for Lisa to do this with our 6-8th grade kids. And, it makes more sense to me for a K-3 and 4-5 grade teacher as well. Think of all the things we do for each of those levels if we are still spread out over 6 levels. It would involve all IRI's, DMA's, DWA's, ISAT's, possibly YPP for the 5th graders? and added work samples to keep track of for a number of grades, rather than having a focus of a compounded kind of work samples that we'll receive. I don't know - that is my thoughts and I'm open to both of your feedback upon this.**

__SPRING NOMINATION BREAKDOWN-__
K- 0 1- 5 2- 7 3-1 4-2 5-0 6-1 7-5 8- 2
 * Frost Region New Nominations:** (may not all get in)

So Far I am only have 1 confirmed withdrawal via the Kelly E. spreadsheet. 4 8th graders leaving 2 withdrawals that are not yet marked but the parents have talked to me about them I think it will be 4-6 withdrawals total
 * I think I will have 41 returning students**

My returning totals are as follows: k-? 1- 8 2-2 3-9 4-5 5-4 6-4 7-4 8-5

1- 3 2- 3 3-0 4-3 5-5 6-1 7-0 8- 1
 * Maynard Region New Nominations:** Next year's grade levels

My returning totals are as follows: k-? 1- 0 2-5 3-5 4-4 5-9 6-2 7-1 8-5
 * Thompson Region New Nominations:** Next year's grade levels
 * K= 1 ||
 * 1 = 0 ||
 * 2 =2 ||
 * 3 =4 ||
 * 4 = 2 ||
 * 5=2 ||
 * 6=7 ||
 * 7=1 ||

My returning totals are as follows: 6=0 ||
 * K= 3 ||
 * 1 = 1 ||
 * 2 =2 ||
 * 3 =5 ||
 * 4 = 3 ||
 * 5= 4
 * 7 =1 ||