2009-2010 Parent Information Meetings*

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

* Information presented at these meetings is directed toward parents.

All information meetings will be held at:

Ridgeview Elementary School

Media Center

9400 Nesbitt Ave

Bloomington, MN 55438

6:30pm-7:30pm

DA Frequently Asked Questions

Applications no longer being accepted for the 2008-2009 school year. 

Applications for the 2009-2010 school year will be posted in November.

DA Teachers, District Counselors, Social Workers

and School Psychologist Train in

Executive Functioning of Gifted Adolescent

Nationally known presenter and therapist

Andrew Mahoney, M.S., L.P.C.,

worked with District staff on understanding
the executive functioning issues of gifted youth.

Participants learned about the sub-functions of executive functioning (planning, pacing, initiating, completion, etc.), the difference between helping vs enabling behavior, and how to tailor help and support gifted students.  They were also offered numerous strategies to problem solve current concerns regarding students struggling with executive functioning issues.

Kennedy High School GT Coordinators, Chris Lyons, (L), and Sara Dahl-Wyland (R) discuss with

Andy Mahoney (C) gifted learners.

Dimensions Academy 6th Graders Stump the Delegates

On September 3, 2008, the DA 6th graders from Oak Grove Middle School played "Stump the Delegates" as part of the Mall of America's celebration of the Republican Convention in St. Paul. 

The DA students played well and correctly answered very difficult questions on civics, American history, and goverment, against select Republican delegates.  Our students did a great job of showcasing their social studies acumen. They also displayed great pride in Dimensions Academy, promoted positive Oak Grove Middle School "Husky Pride" and did an outstanding job representing the Bloomington Public Schools.

An interview with a host from ABC's Good Morning America

Watch the video

DA students with Husky Pride!

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2007-2008

DA Students Win National Honors

In May 2008 William Frost and Neetij Krishnan won national honors in the Stock Market Game InvestWrite essay contest. Encouraged by their teacher, Mr. Tim Kaari, they each wrote an essay about a stock they would invest in and the pros and cons of investing in that stock. William, a 5th grader, placed first in the state and ninth in the nation, and Neetij, a 4th grader, placed second in the state and tenth in the nation.

Both students were honored at the BestPrep banquet in May and received $100 Visa gift cards for their national placings. This is the second year in a row that students from Dimensions Academy placed nationally in the essay contest. Congratulations William and Neetij!

DA 7th Grade Community Service Project

The 7th grade DA students purchased and delivered over 300 books to Cornerstone House for their family library. Students raised money during third quarter for this community service project. They decided to approach their goal by using several methods. They held an auction for the entire Middle School 7th grade team, sold raffle tickets for two $100.00 cash cards, solicited the help of an Applebee's restaurant, and held a "gently used" book drive for the entire school which yielded an additional 243 books. This donation will allow each child at Cornerstone to select one book to take with her or him when they leave. Each DA student selected several books and wrote a note in the front of each one for the future recipient.

Teacher: Ms. Letty Lindberg

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DA Elementary students celebrate the end of the school year with a Word Parade.

Students created costumes to represent words or phrases such as:

"claustrophobic" (Claus-straw-phobic)

"lunatic"(loon-a-tick)

"two heads are better than one"

"nephelococcygia" (the act of finding shapes in clouds)

"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" (a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust causing inflammation in the lungs)

DA Middle School Students to Advance to State History Day Competition:

Amelia Elverson - Website
Sam Skavnak - Paper
Bryan Duerfelt - Documentary
Julie Schlichting - Documentary

__________

Rachel Hertzberg,

Dimensions Academy 5th grader Wins REGIONAL!

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

American History Essay Contest 2007-2008

Rachel took top in the region for her excellently crafted essay on this year’s theme:

“I Spy-Espionage During the American Revolution”

________________

DA 8th grade students localizing Brokaw's Greatest Generation

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2006-2007

DA 8th Grade Bio-mechanics Project Pod Cast

click here

Mr. Todd Walsh, 8th grade Physical and Health Education Teacher, developed a Bio-mechanics project in cooperation with Dartfish Technology and the  University of River Falls Physical Education Under Graduate School. 

Students Chase Rumler and Alex Eckberg produced the 3:30 minute video pod cast.

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A SELF-CONTAINED CLASSROOM-BASED PROGRAM
DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF
HIGHLY / PROFOUNDLY GIFTED LEARNERS,
GRADES 4-8.

A program of the Bloomington Public Schools

Placement is made dependent upon available openings and

qualifications of the candidates

What the DA kids are saying about DA:

"I think it is a really great curriculum and I'm really super glad that I was put here.  It has been a lot harder and a lot more challenging.  If I were still in regular class I would be getting in trouble all the time for not paying attention and spacing out because I would get it so fast."

"The curriculum was a great experience for me.  I feel that it has prepared me very well for high school.  I love how the learning takes place in many different ways and forms."

"The curriculum is very interesting.  The teachers do their best to challenge us.  I had a great year!!!!!!!!"

"This program was certainly a challenge, and also a learning experience.  Before I joined DA, I really had nothing to do.  Work would be done in five minutes, and I would be bored for the rest of class.  Thank you for a GREAT year!"

"It's great to be with people that understand you, and have some things in common with you."

What the DA parents are saying about DA:

"I believe the program is well run and that the teachers did a good job of drawing the best performance out of my child, encouraging him to work harder when necessary knowing that he had the capability to do so.  A lot of the subjects he worked on were done in a more challenging way than he had previously experienced and he learning many new skills, including report writing, biographies, researching for reports, and making visual presentations.  He really like his teacher and ended up enjoying Dimensions Academy to the extent that he is looking forward to going back next year."

"This was the first time that my child needed to work, and was encouraged to work hard."

"My child has found many friends who think as he does.  As he puts it, they 'get my jokes.'"

My child benefited from having intellectual peers and caring, intelligent, skilled teachers.  In previous grades, when the work was beneath her, she tended to use the least effort.  But in DA, she was motivated and her work was thoughtful.  She has made huge academic leaps, and feels a sense of community."

Dimensions Academy has expanded to full classes

at the 4th through 8th grade level.

The expansion allows for an additional classroom at the elementary level (grades 4 & 5).  The elementary classrooms will be at Ridgeview Elementary School beginning in the Fall of 2007-2008 and remain 4/5 multi-aged. 

The middle school level (grades 6, 7, & 8) students are placed on a team to be more integrated into the total middle school program.  Middle school students take the four core courses (Science, Social Studies, Math and Language Arts) as a class, with a different content teacher teaching the Dimensions Academy curriculum in each subject.  The middle school students then have lunch and exploratory classes with grade level peers. 

Qualified students whose applications are received after the deadline

are placed when space becomes available.

Applications for the 2007-2008 school year are no longer being accepted.

For more information contact:

Dr. Richard Cash,

Director, Dimensions Academy
(952) 681-6438
rcash@bloomington.k12.mn.us

Dimensions Academy
For the Highly / Profoundly Gifted

Dimensions Academy, a self-contained classroom-based program is designed to meet the unique educational and social/emotional needs of gifted children in grades 4-8 who have exceptional academic skills. Open enrollment option is available to students who do not live within the city of Bloomington.

Dimensions Academy provides a highly rigorous content at an accelerated pace, therefore this program is not for all students. Student selection is based on the Bloomington Public Schools' assessment measures or other professional assessments that deem this program to be educationally beneficial for highly/profoundly gifted children.

Dimensions Academy is framed in an intense curriculum designed to respond to the needs of gifted learners. Key elements of the program are:

Advanced content-based curriculum:

• Advanced content knowledge focuses students on developing new learning & knowledge, as opposed to factual regeneration;
• Concept learning develops student understanding of any discipline and the relationship among disciplines; and
• Process-product facet promotes student opportunities for manipulating information at complex levels by employing generic and specific thinking models.

To learn more about the College of William & Mary's

Integrated Curriculum Model used in Dimensions Academy

click here

For a copy of the

Dimensions Academy

Curriculum Scope and Sequence

click here

Math Sequence:

Grade 4 --Accelerated Grade 5 (Everyday Math series)*

Grade 5 -- Accelerated Grade 6 ( Everyday Math series)*, plus the Stock Market Game

*Both Grade 4 & 5 incorporate extensive enrichment and extensions to the Everyday Math series.  Students are often pre-tested on their knowledge of each unit.  For those students who show mastery of components of the content,          a menu of enrichments and extensions are offered.

Grade 6 --Pre-Algebra (College Preparatory Math series)

Grade 7 -- High School level Algebra I (College Preparatory Math series).  Students receive grade & credit toward High School Graduation*.

Grade 8 -- High School level Geometry (College Preparatory Math series).  Students receive grade & credit toward High School Graduation*.

*PLEASE NOTE: The grade your child receives in these two classes WILL appear on their high school transcripts.  This means your child's high school Grade Point Average (GPA) begins with these two course.

MATH PLACEMENT:

* Current Bloomington Public Schools students will be placed into the appropriate math class based on the prior year’s math program completion.

* Students new to the Bloomington Public Schools will be assessed by program personnel for appropriate placement within the DA program’s math sequence.  Students will complete a battery of assessments that include, but are not limited to, quantitative measures (such as norm referenced standardized tests, end-of-year grade level tests, problem solving assessments and prior course grade/completion) and qualitative measures (such as class discussion participation, daily work, individual conversations with the student, prior teacher recommendation and parent input).  Options are available, outside of the DA program, for math programming, enrichment and/or extensions.  Contact us for a list of options.

Differentiated instruction to meet the sophisticated learning needs of gifted children:

• Acceleration of basic content experiences;
• Construction of meaning as the central goal;
• Use of higher order process models;
• Exploration of substantive content at a conceptual and abstract level;
• Inquiry as a fundamental tool for encouraging learning;
• Open-ended activities and questioning that encourages further exploration or social action;
• Development of creative products to stimulate use of higher level thinking and problem-solving processes; and
• Extensions to pique interest around substantive content.

Social and emotional development and guidance:

• Development of a healthy sense of self through self-knowledge and self-acceptance;
• Development of healthy relationships through understanding of self and others;
• Development of appropriate expectations of self and others; and
• Development of risk-taking behaviors in intellectual contexts.

PLACEMENT CRITERIA:

• Highly Qualified:
  • Computerized Achievement Level Testing (CALT) or other acceptable* standardized achievement testing =>98% on Reading and Math     OR
  • IQ Measure=>140

  * Achievement Testing other than CALT/MAP/NWEA must be approved by the Placement Committee.  Contact the Program Director for more details.

  Plus

  Teacher or other education professional recommendation

• Qualified:
  • Computerized Achievement Level Testing (CALT) or other acceptable* standardized achievement testing =>95% on Reading and Math     OR
  • IQ Measure=>130

   

           * Achievement Testing other than CALT/MAP/NWEA must be approved by the Placement Committee.  Contact the Program Director for more details.

            Plus

Teacher or other education professional recommendation

• Other data considered for placement:
  • parent, outside consultant/psychologist, other school district criteria

Tiered Placement:

APPLICATION DATE LINES:

March 14, 2008: Application Deadline

April 4, 2008: First round notification of placement 2008-2009 school year

August 14, 2008: Late Application Deadline-No applications will be accepted for the 2008-2009 school year after this date

August 22, 2008: Second round notification of placement 2008-2009 school year

Office of Gifted and Talented
Attn: Dimensions Academy
1350 W 106th St.
Bloomington, MN 55431-4126

Site Location:

Elementary 4-5

Beginning in the Fall of 2007

Ridgeview Elementary School

9400 Nesbitt Ave

Bloomington, MN 55438

School hours: 9:00 a.m. - 3:20 p.m.

Middle School 6-8

Oak Grove Middle School
1300 W. 106th St.

Bloomington, MN 55431

School hours: 7:50 a.m. - 2:20 p.m.