THINKING CORNER

Our goal of this newsletter is to provide parents with supplemental resources to enrich their students' daily learning. Quality enrichment is often more about diving deeper into content rather than simply adding extra content. Our hope is that these resources can be used to challenge students and add some excitement and interest to their educational journey!

Description:
SCAMPER is a creativity strategy that challenges students to look at an existing idea and transform it by asking questions such as:

• Substitute — What could you change?
• Combine — What could you put together?
• Adapt — How could you change it for a new purpose?
• Modify — What could you make bigger, smaller, faster, or different?
• Put to another use — What else could it do?
• Eliminate — What could you remove?
• Rearrange — What could you put in a different order?

Challenge: Give students an everyday object—such as a paper plate, cardboard box, paperclip, or spoon—and ask them to redesign it for a completely different purpose.

Give students a familiar historical story and challenge them to investigate whose voice is missing.

For example, while studying the Thanksgiving story, students could compare the perspectives of:

• Wampanoag people
• English colonists
• Children
• Leaders
• A person who disagreed with the decisions being made

Challenge: How might the same event sound completely different if another person told the story?

Students then write a first-person journal entry from one perspective using evidence from their research.

Resource:
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian — Native Knowledge 360°

Give students a fictional budget:

You have $75 to feed 8 people for Thanksgiving.

Students must plan the meal while staying within budget.

They calculate:

• Cost per serving
• Fractions of a whole
• Quantities
• Unit prices
• Percentages
• Total cost
• Remaining money

Challenge:

Now change the problem:

Your family has $75, but prices increase by 20%. How will you redesign the meal?

Then:

Can you create a meal that costs less but feeds more people? Prove it.

This turns a basic budgeting activity into optimization and mathematical reasoning.

Resources:
Thanksgiving Math Actvities for Kids

Thanksgiving provides a great opportunity to investigate yeast and fermentation.

Students ask:

Why does bread rise?

Have students investigate variables such as:

• Temperature
• Amount of yeast
• Amount of sugar
• Time
• Liquid temperature

Challenge

Instead of giving students a procedure, give them the question:

How could you make bread rise faster without changing the recipe?

Students design their own investigation, identify variables, collect data, and defend their conclusion.

Activity:
Exploratorium — Science of Cooking

Have students investigate the difference between:

Historical evidence → Traditional story → Modern interpretation

Students research the 1621 harvest gathering and ask:

• What do we actually know?
• What comes from later traditions?
• What information comes from primary sources?
• What perspectives have historically been emphasized?
• What perspectives have been left out?

Challenge

Have students create a “Myth vs. Evidence” chart.

The important GATE component is that students must cite evidence and explain how they know something is historically reliable.

Resource:
Plimoth Patuxet Museums — Thanksgiving Resources

And for Native perspectives:

Native Knowledge 360° — Thanksgiving Resources

Challenge students to turn an abstract idea, gratitude, into a physical work of art.

Students choose something they're thankful for and represent it using:

• Shape
• Texture
• Color
• Symbolism
• Recycled materials

Challenge: They cannot simply draw the thing they're thankful for.

For example:

Family → interlocking shapes

Friendship → two objects connected

Freedom → an open doorway

Students then explain:

“What choices did I make as an artist, and how do they communicate my idea?”

Art inspiration:
The Kennedy Center — Arts Education Resources

Renzulli Learning is an enrichment platform designed around the needs of gifted and advanced learners. Instead of simply giving students additional assignments, Renzulli's approach helps students explore their individual interests and strengths and then move from exploration into deeper research and creative projects.

Students can:

• 🔎 Explore new topics and interests
• 🧠 Develop critical-thinking and creativity skills
• 🔬 Investigate questions independently
• 💡 Complete interest-based projects
• 🌎 Participate in virtual field trips
• 🎨 Create original products and presentations

A particularly valuable feature for GATE students is the progression from exploring an interest → developing skills → conducting an in-depth investigation and creating something original. This reflects Renzulli's Enrichment Triad Model.

Family Tip: If your child has already mastered the material being taught, consider replacing some repetitive practice with an interest-based investigation. For example, a student fascinated by trains could research the engineering behind high-speed rail, compare transportation systems around the world, calculate travel times, and design a future train system.

Explore:

Renzulli Learning — Gifted & Talented Resources

https://sengifted.org/product/sengconnect-gifted-graduating-now-what-exploring-life-beyond-high-school-in-an-uncertain-world-11-7-2026/SENGconnect: Gifted, Graduating… Now What? Exploring Life Beyond High School in an Uncertain World Date

November 7, 2026 (Saturday)
*NOTE: Registration closes November 3, 2026*

Time:
8:00 am – 9:30 am PST

Location:
This session meets virtually via Zoom.

Live event only (no recording to ensure safe space for authentic conversations)SENGconnect November Topic: Gifted, Graduating… Now What? Exploring Life Beyond High School in an Uncertain World

About:

High school is ending—what’s next? Join a live-only SENG Connects exchange with board members Lin Lim, parent of two profoundly gifted young adults (20 and 18); Melissa Marsh, grandparent of two grown gifted adults; and Cherin Escher, parent of five gifted daughters, from ages 21 to their early 30s. Their family experiences span homeschooling, radical acceleration, public and private schools, military college, early college, and dual enrollment. Bring questions, share experiences, and explore possibilities for life beyond graduation.

Price (log in to receive member prices):
Champion: Complimentary
Pioneer (including Student/Senior): $25
Explorer: $50
Non-Members: $50 (registration includes a complimentary Explorer membership)

Hosts: Dr. Lin Lim, SENG Past-President with SENG Board Members Cherin Escher and Melissa Marsh