Winter Park AIG
Overview of the School-Wide AIG Program
Overview of the School-Wide AIG Program
Welcome to the 2026-27 school year! My name is Tara Mulvey, and I am the Gifted Education Specialist at Winter Park Elementary. This newsletter is designed to give you a brief overview of the AIG program at Winter Park. AIG is a school-wide program, and I want every family to feel informed and invested!
Kindergaren - 2nd Grade Nurturing Program
In kindergarten through 2nd grade, the AIG nurturing program is designed to explore ability and nurture talent among ALL students. The AIG teacher works with EVERY student in grades K-2. Throughout the school year, I will visit all K-2 classrooms to provide whole group lessons to encourage critical, creative, and higher-order thinking skills.
Each higher-order thinking skill is presented through a "character," such as Isabel the Inventor. Some of the thinking skills we explore include divergent thinking, convergent thinking, visual-spatial awareness, and evaluation. Each character guides students through a story and a series of activities to introduce and reinforce their type of thinking. You can learn more here!
Meet Isabel the Inventor
Students will first be introduced to Isabel the Inventor. Isabel is a squirrel that lives in an imaginary place called Crystal Pond Woods. Isabel’s specialty is divergent or inventive thinking. Characteristics of divergent thinking include the ability to brainstorm many ideas and solutions, generate original ideas, exhibit flexible thinking, be effective problem solvers, and elaborate on ideas.
Divergent thinking is explored and nurtured through hands-on activities. Students learn that in divergent thinking, we can:
• brainstorm many responses
• make ordinary things extraordinary
• see one thing in many ways
• solve problems/invent solutions
Be sure to ask your child about his/her “brainfocals” and how they can help them think like Isabel the Inventor!
3rd Grade Nurturing Program
Nurturing lessons include analogies, math, language arts, critical thinking, and non-verbal activities. We will begin our program with nurturing lessons by learning what an analogy is, different types of analogies, and how to solve analogies. All lessons are aligned with the Common Core Standards.
AIG Nomination & Identification
Identification for gifted services typically begins in 3rd grade. A student can be nominated for gifted services at any time throughout the year and can be nominated by a parent, a teacher, a peer, or they can nominate themselves. If you would like to nominate your child for gifted services, please complete this nomination form and return it to Mrs. Mulvey.
Once nominated, data will be collected from the parents, teachers, and students. Once the data is collected, the Winter Park Match team will meet to determine if gifted services are appropriate or if additional data is needed.
The Match Team is composed of the Gifted Education Specialist, administrators, and teachers. The team uses multiple criteria to evaluate gifted potential. Students must meet at least two of the three criteria listed below to qualify for gifted services:
- Aptitude: Indicator of a student's capacity for learning (measured by standardized test scores)
- Achievement: Indicator of a student's knowledge (by standardized test scores)
- Artifacts - Indicators of a student's potential to perform at substantially high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, and/or environment. (ex: work samples, observable behaviors, etc.)
Once a determination regarding the level and delivery of services has been made, the Match team will notify parents. Please visit the Winter Park web page to learn more about the nomination process and service delivery options.
4th-5th Grade Enrichment
In grades 4-5, the curriculum may be enriched, extended, and/or accelerated to meet the needs of children performing above grade level.
Students can be identified in one or more of the following areas: Reading, Math, and/or Intellectually Gifted. Students are pulled in a small group in their area of identification daily. AIG small group instruction is designed to enrich and extend the NC standards taught in your child's classroom. AIG at WPES provides different work for students to meet their readiness levels, not more work.
In addition to small group instruction, the classroom teachers and I work closely to be sure that our instruction is directly aligned and to differentiate student learning.
Contact Information
Tara Mulvey
Gifted Education Specialist
Email: tara.mulvey@nhcs.net
Winter Park School Website
Winter Park AIG Website
910-350-2159 ext. 76786