When Brooke was tested at the beginning of this school year along with all of the Second Graders, they were tested on material they had never been exposed too. This allowed her teacher to know what concepts her class would need the most attention on. Brooke was in the 98th percentile on the reading portion of the MAP test, not just of her class but of all Second Grade schools that use this test format. She scored at 80the percentile on the math portion, which is not that awesome, but her teacher reminded me this was a test on math problems that she had never been exposed too in any class. Brooke's reading score showed that she could actually walk into the Third Grade and take their end of the year tests and pass with flying colors.
Here are the examples that I was able to come up with for Brooke's submission letter:
Advanced Language
Uses words that seem advanced for the age-level expectations
Rewords own language for younger or less mature children
Explains how unrelated things are similar
Uses words for time concepts (clock and calendar) accurately
Uses similes, metaphors, or analogies; " A_____ is really like a _____ because_____"
Asks questions about words ( in print or oral language)
- When explaining to her little brother what happens to people who break the law Brooke explained,
" If you break the law the Police man could put you in a cage." Brooke knew her little brother would not understand what jail was, so she used her ability to make an analogies, and explained the consequence of breaking the law in language for a younger child.
- We received a flyer in the mail for a gym membership. Brooke exclaimed to me, " The annual cost for this gym membership would be____, so how much do you pay a year? Maybe this one is cheaper." I looked all over the flyer and it said nothing about an annual cost, as well her math was correct and she did it in her head!
- When pulling up to a parking spaced that had a sign that read " Reserved For Expectant Mothers" Brooke said to me, " What can the Mom who parks there expect to receive?
Analytical Thinking
Demonstrates complex or abstract thinking
Analyzes house hold or school tasks
Notices a surprising depth of details about surroundings
Takes apart and reassembles things or ideas with skill
Expresses relationships between past and present experiences
Makes up songs , stories or riddles about experiences
-When going to a performance and parking in a parking garage for an event, a friend called me surprised that Brooke was the one who explained to her what turn to take to get to the event grounds, as well which direction to turn in the parking garage, in order to get to the particular entrance they needed to enter. Brooke had been there a few days before and remembered every turn.
- Often when at the grocery store Brooke reminds me that we parked on the opposite end of the store when we head out to the parking lot.
- When driving one day Brooke recalled a time we went to this particular city and reminded me of the time we went there before. She had not been to this city , and she had not been reminded of that day ever, and the time we went was a year prior.
- At Christmas time my husband and I know to leave gifts in packages because Brooke enjoys looking at and saving the instructions to her toys, as well she does not allow us to put them together when they require assembly, because she enjoys putting them together herself.
Meaning Motivation
Is philisophical
Asks surprisingly intellectual questions
Is curious; experiments
Demonstrates an unexpected depth of knowledge in one or more areas
Exhibits intense task commitment and energy when pursuing interests
Remembers!
Is independent
- Brooke told me that she knows that God is real, because she is real, and she didn't come from nothing, but then asked, " But, who created God?"
- When going to vote with me Brooke quizzed me for at least ten min. afterwards asking me questions about how our government is any different than having a king? When I explained that we have a choice in our country about how our country runs, more than those places that may have had a king or currently live with a Totalitarian government. Her response was then, " If we have more of a choice then why are we choosing to pay so much to war? Because Daddy doesn't like war?"
- For Christmas Brooke asked for a microscope so that she could perform her own experiments at home. She gathers leaves and looks at them under her microscope. She also keeps a journal of her findings.
- Brooke independently does her homework right when she walks in the door from school. When I tell her she needs to put it down while we attend to something time sensitive she complains and does not want to put it down.
- When Brooke was three-years old we had ants in her room in our old house. The ants were there for about a week until we could get rid of them. Brooke remembers this event and she does not like food in her room or a mess because I have explained to her that is what brought the ants.
Perspective
Explains another's point of view
Shows dimension, angle, or perspective in art, writing, math solutions, or problem solving
Creates complex shapes, patterns or graphics
Applies left and right without prompting
Adds interesting detail to enhance products
- Brooke has explained to me that she doesn't like her friend who doesn't read as well to see what book level she is on, because she doesn't want her friend to feel like she is bad at reading.
- Brooke understood that she could not have a lemonade stand without supervision, as she saw the perspective of us, her parents, that we did not want her alone outside for safety reasons, Brooke suggested that we could cut a hole in the back yard fence that was shaped like a rectangle. She explained the hole would be large enough for her to see out and pass out lemonade to customers, but small enough that no one could pull her out of the hole. She also explained that she planned to put a sign on the outside of our fence so that passing neighbors would see that lemonade was sold there.
Sense of Humor
Says or does something indicating an unexpected , sophisticated humor
Catches and adults subtle humor
understands and uses puns and riddles
" Plays with language"
Develops humorous ideas to an extreme
- Brooke thought it would be funny to make make a cape and sew it to her little brother's diaper, so that when he ran around with just a diaper on, he would have a flying cape off the top of his diaper. Brooke actually made this herself. She sewed some fabric onto the top of her brother's diaper. She thought this was so funny that she actually then sewed more fabric to the top of her underwear. She kept her shirt on but staged a performance she thought would be funny of her and her brother running around without pants on, but capes flying in the wind off their underpants!
- Brooke thinks it is funny to pretend she misunderstands what someone said, and replace words in their sentence with something she finds humorous. For example I will say, " We need to go to the store." Then she will say with exclamation, " You think I am a door? "
Sensitivity
Cares deeply; intense concern for human issues
Tries to take action to help someone in need
Expresses feelings through words or art
Explain's others feelings
Displays a strong sense of fairness
Expresses high expectations of self and others
Seems to overreact at times
- When feelings concern for her group of friends that were fighting at school Brooke began to create her own solution. As she recognized the problem being that everyone wanted to decided themselves what they would play on the playground that day, Brooke created a calendar and made a rotation with each of her friend's name on a certain day of the week, in hopes that all of her friends would agree to take their turn on the day assigned for them to choose what game they would play as a group.
- It is not uncommon for me to find Brooke with a bag she has brought into her room. As I ask what she is doing, she explains that she is collecting some of her toys to take them to the homeless shelter, for kids who don't have many toys.
- When Brooke feels that her brother received more treats than her she completely overreacts at times, and cries hysterically that it wasn't fair that her brother got a treat that she didn't.
Accelerated Learning
Learns new things quickly with minimum practice
Uses multiple characteristics when discussing items
Reads passages at an advanced, fluent reading level for the age-level expectations
Explains the meaning of what has been read
Demonstrates an unexpected mastery of math or science concepts
Uses a dictionary, encyclopedia, map, atlas, or computer to gain advanced information
Creates products which seems advanced for the age-level expectations
- Brooke keeps a map of the United States handy in her room. Whenever I talk about a new place that she doesn't know, she pulls out her map of the United States and finds it on her map.
- When I bought a world globe for Brooke at a garage sale she was excited for weeks, and continues to study her globe. She does remind me that she needs a new one because a new island has now appeared because of a recent earthquake.
- Brooke can read the Bible and Book of Mormon passages with little help. As well, Brooke understands what these passages mean, as she relates her own life experiences to me while we are reading them. If we are reading about a group of people that has began to worship idols, she begins talking about how she has friends that love certain movie stars. When she reads about boasting in the scriptures, Brooke begins telling me of stories when a friend was bragging about something that they did.
Here are two of the high contributing genes Brooke got that made her so smart! Grandpa Pack and Grandpa Turano...The first picture is of Brooke and Will with Grandpa on his birthday, Dec.29th this past year. The other picture was taken this past weekend when we were visiting KC, MO to see the Turano side of the family. Brooke was enjoying sitting under the piano as Grandpa Turano played. She said that the sound was perfect down there, and she tried to get Will to join her, but he was too busy to take in the art at the moment..
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