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START (Strategies for Teaching and Reaching Talent) is a
program for potentially gifted students in kindergarten through
third grade. These students are more advanced than their peers and need
acceleration and enrichment,
as well as opportunities for creative and critical thinking. The START goals are to challenge students to
develop their skills in thinking critically, creatively and
reflectively. Students are offered a variety of
educational opportunities that extend and enrich the
county curriculum and support the Virginia Standards of
Learning (SOLs).
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The
START resource teacher and the regular classroom teacher
work together to
identify potentially
gifted students, to assess the needs of those students,
to provide differentiation in the regular classroom and
to offer enrichment and acceleration. In addition,
the START students come to the resource room each week
to work directly with the START teacher. During this
time, students work on units that involve above-grade
level concepts as well as opportunities to study topics
more deeply.
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Kindergarten students
come to the resource room for one hour every other week,
while first grade students come to the resource room for
one hour each week. During this time, they are
engaged in studies of accelerated and enriched lessons
from all areas of the curriculum. Students also work to
develop creative and critical thinking skills.
Second and third grade START students come to the
resource room for ninety minutes per week. Along with group lessons, students work independently on
self-selected topics at a variety of learning centers.
These centers provide students with options and choices
based on their personal interests.
They complete hands-on activities and independent
investigations that help develop valuable research
skills. These learning centers are also designed
to accommodate different learning styles.
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All START
students in each grade level complete the same
units of study. That is, a child who is
placed for language arts strength studies the
same units as the child who is placed for
mathematics. Each student receives
enrichment in all areas of the curriculum.
Participation in START is not graded. This
provides for a more supportive risk-free
environment. Children are encouraged to
try something new! Parents receive progress
reports two times per year. |
When students are placed in START,
they remain in the program until the end of third grade.
There is no need to reapply each year. At the end
of third grade, students are evaluated again for
placement in the SIGNET program. Participation in START
does not guarantee placement in the SIGNET program.
The Ashland START teacher is Mrs. Melissa
Edmonds. Mrs. Edmonds grew up in the small town of
Greencastle, PA. She moved to Huntington, IN in junior
high and lived there until college. She went to college at
DePauw University in Greencastle, IN where she majored in
Physics with minors in Spanish and Math. After college, she
finished her teaching certificate work at Shippensburg
University in Shippensburg, PA. She got married and
moved to Virginia in 1994. She
has lived in Woodbridge since 1997.
Mrs. Edmonds previously worked in Fairfax
County at West Potomac High School where she taught both
Gifted and Talented Physics and Advanced Placement Physics. Following the birth of her son,
Lucas, she became a stay-at-home mom and earned her master's
degree in gifted education from the University of Virginia.
She went back to work in Stafford County where she taught Advanced Placement
Physics at the Commonwealth Governor's School. While
teaching there, Mrs. Edmonds earned her National Board teaching
certification, the highest level of certification teachers can
attain. Following the birth of her second son, Quinn, Mrs.
Edmonds again became a stay-at-home mom. Now that Quinn is
older, she decided to return to work again.
Mrs. Edmonds lives in the Winding Creek
neighborhood and was an Ashland parent for
several years before becoming a faculty member. She is a
den leader and Cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 35 at Ashland. In her free time, Mrs. Edmonds likes
to read, solve Su Doku, do crossword puzzles and watch American
Idol. You can email Mrs. Edmonds by clicking on the image
below. |
