In Lesley Kotlanger's combined fourth/fifth grade magnet class, the children were researching world holidays to be read over the radio and writing short stories to be entered into a young author's contest.
Guyton Cade, 9, sat alone at a long white table in the back of the classroom writing his short story.
"We're only allowed to write 50 to 75 words and I'm already over," Cade said.
Andrew Creager, 9, was typing up his mother's biography on Alphasmart, a mini-laptop that connects to the main classroom computer, before he tied up his own short story, "The Man with Too Many Lego Sets."
Kotlanger said the magnet program's theme is "Building a Nation." The children began the year writing about themselves and will end it writing about the world.
Principal Elaine Semler said having the gifted students in combined classes doesn't inhibit their learning level because gifted students need to socialize and have opportunities to lead. In that environment they get both, she said.
Semler said as far as the fine arts curriculum, other students aren't missing out either. A member of the Moscow Ballet and a bagpipe player have already come to the school to teach, she said.
"We want more excitement on a day-to-day basis to be in school," Semler said.
Kari Kitt, music teacher at the school, taught a song to a fourth-grade class called "Autumn Leaf."
The difference between Kitt's class and a regular music class is that Kitt taught the song specifically to their curriculum that currently focuses on chlorophyll, which gives plants their green color, Semler said.
The same holds true in the art room, where art teacher Tina Condon had students make clay figures of animals they studied in their regional unit.
"There's not one child, in whatever range, whose needs can't be met here," Semler said.
