Kindergarten Gifted and Talented Program Revised

Last week’s Marlboro Board of Education meeting brought curriculum revisions to the district’s Kindergarten Gifted and Talented Program.

The G&T Program for kindergarten students will focus on an interdisciplinary unity through discovery and research, in line with elementary programs within the district.

The guide will also be an enrichment model for all kindergarten students.

The guide focuses on four levels, in which students will study whales, the rain forest, the desert, and the Arctic as well as a fun and fantasy through a project-based curriculum.

Technology integration and problem-solving are priorities of the new curriculum, as well as arts and music.

Board member Bonnie Sue Rosenwald said having a G&T Program for kindergarten concerns her.

“You could be a genius one year and not so much the next year...We all think our children are brilliant,” she said.

Rosenwald said the curriculum is well-thought out, but should be offered district-wide.

“It’s a fabulous curriculum, and I just don’t understand why this can’t be implemented across kindergarten,” she said, adding the new would be a perfect place for a new curriclum model.

Karen Kondek, Director of Curriculum, said the kindergarten G&T program is state mandated since the 1990’s. She said reading levels are a priority when students are being considered.

“We’re trying to keep it as soft as we possibly can at that grade,” she said.

The new curriculum will be a year-long study.