The seventh and eighth grades Gifted and Talented students at Stone Middle School presented their semester projects to classes at Bailey Intermediate and Higgins Elementary. The seventh graders were given the topic of “Lifestyles of the Fit and Famous” and the eighth graders were given “Endangered Animals”.
Following The Texas Performance Standards Project, the seventh graders were to “investigate various aspects of overall health, including the mathematics and science of sports and the social implications of a healthy lifestyle.” For their final project, students could choose to make a brochure, create a new sport or game, make a learning center, create an informational Google slides presentation or create an informational website.
The eighth graders, also following The Texas Performance Standards Project, were to “investigate and explore an endangered animal and research possible causes of and solutions to endangerment.” For their final project, students chose to work in small groups and create a Google slide presentation over their information. Since the eighth graders were presenting to kindergarten and first grade classes, the groups chose to create coloring sheets and give a gift to represent their animals for students to have after the presentations.
Both GT groups began discussing and researching their projects in January and were to complete the task by April 30.
Projects completed by the seventh grade groups were:
· a Google slides presentation over volleyball created by Adyson Blount, Hazel Estes, Kelsey Jackson and Emmah Klingler.
· a Google slides presentation over football created by Tyler Antonio-Silva, Wiley Quillen and Donald Williams.
· a Google slides presentation over ping pong created by Dane Dillen and William Trenchard.
· a website over hockey – https://colstonfendley.wixsite.com/northlamar (mobile and online) created by Colston Fendley and Ava McMonigle.
· a life-size brochure of Aikido created by Ansley Fisher, Agatha Klassen and Brinlee Shaffer.
· a new board game about baseball created by Braden Collar and Gavin Lassiter.
Projects completed by the eighth grade groups were:
· a Google slides presentation over the Cross River Gorilla created by Ryder Anderson and David Lee Jr.
· a Google slides presentation over Tigers created by Kylie Crawford and Kaeley Chivers.
· a Google slides presentation over the Goodfellow Tree Kangaroo created by Mia Davis, Roselyn Spencer and Avery Spencer.
· a Google slides presentation over the Indus River Dolphin created by Jack Kirk and J.T. Franklin.
· a Google slides presentation over the Rusty Patch Bumble Bee created by Alaina Still, William Flood and Stacia Coulter.
· a website over the Aye-Aye – https://aye-ayeprojectbyautumn.weebly.com/ created by Autumn Marie Gantt.
“Because of COVID, we did not know how their presentations would work, or even if they would be allowed to present until two weeks ago,” said seventh grade GT advisory teacher Julie Laughlin. “When we found out they would be able to present their projects, they were very nervous but excited! They got back together with their individual groups last week and discussed how their presentations would work and who would say each part.”
