Here's an article from CNN online that looks at Hodgkins Elementary School in Westminster, CO, which has done away with grades and grade levels. Deb Feyerick and Dana Garrett, in School Teaches by Ability, Not Grade Level, discusses how the school has gone to "standards-based learning," which is based on every child learning in different ways and at different speeds.

We at TalentIgniter and Educational Options have always believed that the best way to educate all children, no matter what their IQ Level, is to put them in the class where what they are ready to learn is already being taught. We know of a few schools in the Twin Cities that use this approach, and are encouraged to see this idea catching on elsewhere.

We know that intellectually gifted people often are also gifted in the realm of music. But not everyone has an opportunity to perform in groups. Here is a new option, which is also 

The way that The Virtual Orchestra Project works is that musicians from around the world download sheet music provided for them online, then record their individual parts while following the same conductor on-screen. Then they submit their work and Rhodes pieces it all together.  

Rhodes, who is a two-time Emmy nominee for his music, is also a software developer and author. His project will be bringing together musicians to play his composition, Ancient Sands. He is still accepting submissions, and the deadline is June 1.

Here's a good article about teaching the 25 manners that every kid should know. Presented primarily as a list and therefore a quick read, there are also links for further information and ideas.

David Brooks starts out his article in the New York Times, Tools for Thinking, by citing a question by Harvard's Steven Pinker: What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?

It's a little hard to describe the ensuing article, but suffice it to say he discusses different ways of looking at different things.

I just read about the website iCivics.org in our local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  This site was founded by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who wanted more effective tools for teaching students and preparing them for civic participation. In fact, this is very timely in the face of nationally declining scores that measure what students know about civic, legal, and political concepts. The disturbing news is that only a quarter of high school seniors are proficient in their knowledge.

So here is a way to make learning fun. Besides student and teacher forums, numerous games and activities cover such topics as Citizenship and Participation, Separation of Powers, The Constitution and Bill of Rights, The Judicial Branch, The Executive Branch, and the Legislative Branch. After learning about real Supreme Court justices, for example, the player participates in deciding some of the Court's hardest cases.