Academically High Aptitude Program, AHAP

1. Chestnut Hill Signal Hill Forest Park Academically High Aptitude Program,AHAP Half Hollow Hills Central School District Renée Clarke rclarke@hhh.k12.ny.us Vanderbilt Sunquam Paumanok Otsego

2. Agenda • Introductions • Academically High Aptitude Program • Our goals • Curriculum • 3rd • 4th • 5th • Housekeeping

3. Our Goals • Develop higher order thinking processes • Facilitate in depth learning within an area of study through investigation and exploration • Promote creativity and critical thinking skills • Empower your children to take ownership and leadership roles in their learning • Develop the ability to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of ways

4. Curriculum • Designed with an over-arching theme • All curricular areas are integrated into our study • Allows for in-depth learning through investigation and exploration • Instruction in productive thinking skills is integrated to help students develop their ability to problem solve and think critically, creatively, and analytically. • Encourages the production of products that challenge existing ideas and produce new ideas

5. Productive Thinking • Engage with challenging problems that provide opportunities to explore productive thinking • Learn to understand how ‘productive struggle’ helps us as learners • Engage in self-monitoring

6. Third Grade Aqueous Adventures • Explore the importance of freshwater around the world • Explore the properties of water and how humans use water as a natural resource through scientific investigation • Create a project that applies our learning about challenges with the Earth’s clean water supply while offering solutions

7. Fourth Grade Mystery - Taking a Closer Look • Explore multiple ways in which the word mystery can be interpreted • Solve a variety of literary, mathematical, and scientific mysteries • Uncover the history of mystery as a genre • Stimulate divergent thinking, problem solving, critical thinking skills and deductive reasoning abilities • Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations about forensic science

8. Fifth Grade Lego Robotics • Learn fundamentals of engineering • Learn principles of design and programming  • Apply knowledge of science concepts, such as motion and forces, speed and motion  • Strategically solve problems Please note that LEGO Robotics will run in the fall for our Group A AHAPers and in the spring for our Group B AHAPers.

9. Fifth Grade Collaborative Projects • Pursue areas of interest through investigation, guided and independent research • Students decide on topics that they would like to explore or projects they would like to embark upon • Propose a plan, gather resources, and conduct research • Developing collaboration skills, research skills, and project skills • Learn larger life skills like managing goals, managing time and being self-directed learners • Understand the role of reflection and evaluation to project success Please note that Collaborative Projects will run in the fall for our Group B AHAPers and in the spring for our Group A AHAPers.

10. Fifth Grade Civic Literacy
& Service-Learning Projects • Understand that how we live today will effect how others live in the future • Increase awareness of and interest in current events • Design and implement service learning projects that address current real world issues • Engage students in generating ideas for the planning, implementation and evaluation of a service-learning experience • Develop interpersonal skills through group decision-making and communication of ideas to a larger audience

11. Thank you for coming and for your support!We are all looking forward to an AHAPpy year!