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Our Mission
With a focus on the individual student, we aim to challenge and enrich every child's education by facilitating both academic and affective learning opportunities to build a foundation for critical thinking, achievement, innovation and success. Through the 3 E's of Enjoyment, Enthusiasm, and Engagement all students can learn at high levels.
All of our teachers are trained in gifted education.
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Our Focus
- Enrichment for all students through high levels of engagement.
- Enjoyable and challenging learning experiences constructed from students' interests, passions, learning styles and preferred modes of expression.
- Enrichment for all students through high levels of engagement.
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Our Philosophy
Acacia's Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) engages all students in memorable activities to enhance the existing curriculum.
SEM is based on a model for gifted education developed by Dr. Joseph Renzulli and Dr. Sally Reis at the University of Connecticut.
Through SEM we provide enriched learning experiences and deeper learning opportunities for all children via three goals:
1. Develop talents in all children
2. Provide a broad range of advanced-level enrichment experiences
3. Provide advanced follow-up opportunities for children based on their strengths &interests -
Homework Philosophy
As part of SEM, Acacia has a unique and student-centered Homework Philosophy. Our students read, pursue their interests and passions, and work toward personal learning goals.
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Our Enrichment Model in Action
Type I - General Exploratory Activities
We infuse our curriculum with deeper learning opportunities designed to expose students to a wide variety of disciplines, topics, hobbies, events, persons and occupations to cultivate new interests.
Type II - Group Training Activities
In this type of learning, we develop students' critical thinking, feeling, attitude, and process skills. We promote creativity and inquiry as well as thinking like a practicing professional. We also focus on research-based Character Strengths from characterlab.org, and we recognize students who demonstrate these important strengths through our Trimester Awards.
Type III - Individual & Small Group Investigations of Real Problems
We encourage students to become problem finders and inquirers who can apply their interests, knowledge, creative ideas and task commitment to self-selected problems or areas of study. In this high level type of self-directed learning, students take on investigative and artistic endeavors to think, feel, act, collaborate and have an authentic impact like a professional in the real world.
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Enrichment Clusters
We run three rounds of enrichment clusters each year. These are far more than electives or mini-courses but rather small groups of like-minded students with a facilitator who pursue a shared interest on Friday mornings.
Enrichment Clusters strive for 5 key components:
1) Advanced Content
2) Authentic Methods
3) Creation of a Product or Service
4) Authentic Audience
5) Student DrivenIt is these components that make an enrichment cluster very different from a traditional elective or project. Clusters are designed to be authentic and promote thinking like a practicing professional to have an impact in the community – beyond learning for the sake of learning.
Joyful learning at its best!
