Students at John Cline are getting more opportunity for enrichment activities

Extended Learning Program teacher Kari O'Hara will soon begin her second year with a new program used to engage all John Cline students in enrichment activities.

O'Hara realized a need for a new program when she noticed many students were being identified as "gifted" at the beginning of kindergarten but were not showing the same level of skills by the time 3rd grade rolled around. In addition, some qualified students were mistakenly overlooked because of the evaluation process.  Previously, only 2% to 5% of students qualified for ELP.

Alongside fellow teacher Sarah Zbornik, O'Hara implemented the Primary Education Thinking Skills, or PETS, program in the spring of 2019.

Every 8 weeks, O'Hara teaches an enrichment activity to students in their own classroom. With the classroom teacher's observations and results from the activity, students are then selected to participate in an 8-week program with O'Hara. After the 8 weeks are completed, O'Hara revisits the classroom and begins the process again.

O'Hara says there are many benefits to using this new strategy.  First, all students in each classroom are involved with at least 30 minutes of enrichment activities. Secondly, because of the 8-week program cycle, students have many opportunities throughout the school year to qualify for ELP. Another benefit is the positive outcome from working collaboratively with classroom teachers.

According to O'Hara, "One of the best things is getting away from identifying kids too early and helping kids develop their talents as they learn and grow."

Currently, O'Hara is using the new program with kindergartners and first graders.  Second graders will be added this coming fall.