AIG Newsletter August/Sept. 2025
Blair Elementary School
Welcome Back to School!
📖“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzai
Welcome to the 2025/2026 School Year and the AIG monthly newsletter. Here you will find valuable information about AIG and what's going on during AIG classes. We have so much learning and fun to be had. It is an honor to work with your students. Thank you for sharing them with me. 😊
The quote above resonates so much with me. As teachers, we are always looking to make a difference, even if it's with just one child. That is one more soul to engage in learning about this beautiful world we live. Let's all strive to make a difference in at least one person's life as often as possible. Our motto for NHCS this year is 1% better every day. Let's look for every opportunity to enrich someone's life 1% better a daily goal. Enjoy the year!
Differentiated Education Plan (DEP)
Your child's Differentiated Education Plan (DEP) is updated yearly. Each student will receive a DEP which outlines his/her AIG service delivery methods for the 25/26 school year. Your child’s DEP is in an envelope along with a letter that explains how to navigate the document. You have been provided with two copies. One for you to sign and return to school and one to keep for your records. Thank you for your quick and timely attention to signing and returning these to me. 😊
AIG Classes
Fourth and Fifth grade students will receive pull out instruction during their grade level's What I Need (WIN) time. I will also push into the classroom at times during the year to work with groups of students. I look forward to working with my returning students and getting to know new students that transfer to Blair and/or newly identified.
All Third grade students will receive whole group instruction from me in September and October to introduce the types of questions that appear on the CogAT- Cognitive Achievement Aptitude Test. The CogAT is a series of timed 10 minute tests that include, Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal sections. Each section has three subsections. There are verbal analogies, sentence completion and classification, number analogies, puzzles and series and finally, figure matrices, classification and paper folding. This testing will be over the span of three days. This will be one measure of data used to help qualify students for AIG services.
The CogAT testing window is October 20 - November 7, 2024. You will receive a letter ahead to time to let you know when the exact testing dates will be.
Once third grade students have been AIG identified, they will be pulled from their regular classroom during What I Need (WIN) time and receive their instruction from me. The identification process will begin after the CogAT scores are released, work sample collection, teacher recommendations etc... There is a lot of paperwork involved on my end during this process.
Kindergarten, First and Second grade students will receive nurturing lessons at some point during their What I Need (WIN) time that feature our friend Dudley the Detective and all of his friends from Crystal Pond Woods. These whole class lessons encourage critical, creative and higher order thinking skills. Start times for these will be staggered throughout the year. I will begin with second grade and work my way down the grades levels. The students 💗 these lessons and getting to know Dudley and all of his friends.
Battle of the Books (BOB)
I will be leading Battle of the Books (BOB) this year. Listed below is the list of books that will need to be read in order to participate. There are 16 books on the list, so starting to read them early would be in the participant's best interest. If you have a student who is interested, please have them come speak to me. Most students know to see me about the book list and what is required, but please remind them to let me know if they have any questions. I will come to each 4th and 5th grade classroom to make a quick BOB presentation and provide any information.
They will need to have at minimum of 6 books read before we leave for Christmas Break/Holidays- that would be by 12/18. They will also need to keep a reading log and complete a book summary for each book read as well. I have plenty of reading logs and book summaries for them to use.
The group we took to the BOB competition last year did such a great job! They came in 6th place out of 25 elementary schools. I am looking forward to an even better year this year. Thank you for your support.
Resources
Be sure to check out my website, there are multiple resources listed by grade level. I will be updating and adding new resources as the year progresses.
AIG Nominations
Students in 3rd-5th grade can be nominated for the AIG program by anyone (parents, teachers, instructional assistants, guidance counselors, or even themselves). I have linked the nomination forms below, the forms can also be found on my website. Please print the form, complete it and return it to Mrs. Gabriel. We have printed forms in the main office, and/or I will be happy to send one home with your child if needed. Please contact me with any questions regarding AIG nominations.
AIG Parent Nomination Form~ English
AIG Nomination Parent Checklist~ English
AIG Parent Nomination Form~ Spanish
AIG Nomination Parent Checklist~ Spanish
Gifted Advisory Council (GAC)
The GAC meetings are listed below. If you would like to be a parent representative, please let me know as soon as possible. These meetings can be shared by multiple parents from Blair, so I will take several volunteers, please, please, please.😊 We can work out which dates work best for each of you who generously volunteer. The first meeting is in two weeks. Thank you in advance for helping with this!
2025 - 2026
NHCS Gifted Advisory Council (GAC)
Meeting Schedule
September 15, 2025
October 20, 2025
November 17, 2025
December 15, 2025
January 12, 2026
February 16, 2026
March 16, 2026
April 20, 2026
All meetings are from 6:00pm-7:00pm at:
Spencer Boardroom
1805 S. 15th Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
Contact Information
Beth Gabriel, M. Ed
Academically/Intelligently Gifted (AIG) Specialist
Masters of Reading and Education K-12
John J. Blair Elementary School
Room 229
P: 910-350-2045 ext-70744