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| Gifted-Talented Resource Group |
| DECEMBER 2006 NEWSLETTER |
| INTRODUCTION |
Welcome, new parents, to the newsletter of the Gifted-Talented Resource Group. For those of you who just joined this group, please check our Web site for specific information about the group.
This newsletter is usually emailed on the 30th of the month. So please email your submissions to the editor, Leslie Mann, by the 25th of the month: LmannJCH@aol.com.
The GTRG was formed by the district to lend support to D303's gifted and talented students and their families. This newsletter keeps you up-to-date on the group’s doings and serves as a source of information for all the parents of gifted and talented students in our district. So, if you know of an activity, program or Web site that serves G-T kids and their families, this is the place to share it with others.
We have lots of activities on our plate for ‘06-‘07, and, fortunately, also have lots of active volunteers. But we can never have too many helpers! If any of the activities below spark your interest, please contact one of the steering committee members or subcommittee chairs below and offer your time.
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| OUR 2006-2007 CALENDAR (Click here for a printable calendar of events) |
| GLIMPSE of the Future Career Night |
| Wow! Thanks to lots of hard work by the GLIMPSE subcommittee and what must have been giant Concentration game at Peg Sanders’ house (she matched the kids with professionals), the event was a huge success. The praise has been rolling in from parents and speakers. About 170 middle-schoolers heard presentations from about 40 professionals. Most of the speakers asked to please be invited next year, so it looks like we have an annual event on our hands! |
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| Thanks to each of you who manned the registration table, escorted speakers, picked up food and generally kept the event from turning into chaos. And, thanks to the members of the St. Charles North girls’ softball team for joining our parent volunteers and manning the speakers’ sign-in table. |
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| Of course, even a successful event can be improved. So the steering committee is collecting suggestions from all involved for next year. |
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| Learning Express Toys Fund-raiser |
| Yes, another fund-raiser! Please print out a coupon for this fund-raiser which is December 10-16 by clicking here. That is, you take the coupon to the Learning Express Toy Store (on East Main St., by Super Target, in St. Charles) and it entitles you to 10 percent off AND it generates a donation to the GTRG that equals 10 percent of your purchase. And here is the best part – although we recommend bringing your flier to make sure all goes smoothly, the store says if you forget the flier, but mention the GTRG, the donation will still be made. |
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| Resource Fair |
| Plans are underway for the 2007 (second annual) resource fair (name TBA), which we will co-host with our counterparts from other Kane County school districts at the new Geneva Middle School on February 28. The fair is tentatively set for late February; we will announce the date and location in the next newsletter. |
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| The fair subcommittee, headed by Karlene Stecher and Yvonne Murphy, will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 10 AM, at Judy Rhoads’ office at Geneva Middle School South. Please come! |
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If you cannot come to the planning meetings but are willing to help out before or during the fair, please tell Karlene or Yvonne. They need volunteers for the following jobs:
- Making signs
- Manning tables at the fair for organizations that cannot send reps
- Manning the fair registration table
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| Barnes and Noble Fund-Raiser |
| Please print out the vouchers by clicking here, and take them to Barnes & Noble (Geneva Commons only) on December 9. You can also email the vouchers to your friends so they can use them, too. |
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| California Pizza Kitchen Fund-Raiser |
| Another painless fund-raiser and good excuse to not cook dinner! Bring your voucher (click here to download now) to the Geneva Commons California Pizza Kitchen on December 10 and the GTRG will receive 20 percent of your purchase. YES, this is valid for carry-out too. But you must bring the voucher. |
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| Steering Committee |
| The steering committee meets monthly on the third Thursday of the month at 11:30 a.m. at the Ragamuffin coffee shop in St. Charles. BUT THE COMMITTEE WILL NOT MEET IN DECEMBER DUE TO THE HOLIDAY BREAK. So the next meeting will be January 18, 2007. You are welcome to attend. We will email you if the date changes. |
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| Please see our website (under Advocacy section) for updates on legislation that affects gifted kids. |
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| The GTRG receives no funds from the school district, so we are on our own to raise money for our programs. The good news is we now have an EIN number, which enables us to do fund-raisers like those above. The bad news is we cannot apply for grants or matching corporate funds until we complete our 501(3)(c) paperwork. So, we are still searching for a volunteer from our ranks to do this. If you are willing to do this for the group, please contact one of the steering committee members. |
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| In the meantime, members of the steering committee are using their OWN MONEY for start-up costs for this group, including registering for the Web site. Please, parents, if you are willing to help out by contributing a few dollars, click the "PayPal Donate" button below, enter an amount and send a payment to the GTRG. Note that you will be taken to the PayPal web site to process your payment. Thanks again for your support! |
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| MISCELLANEOUS INFO FOR PARENTS |
| The Community School of the Arts at Wheaton College offers private and group instruction in piano, violin, viola, cello, flute, and voice for students aged three months through high school. For further information, visit its website, www.wheaton.edu/csa. |
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| You are invited to attend “Parenting the Gifted Child for Achievement,” December 4, Lisle School District 202, 7-8:30 PM, $10. The speaker is Dr. Rimm, who wrote “How to Parent So Children Will Learn.” For more information, go to www.dupage.k12.il.us. |
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| The Davidson Institute for Talent Development is offering high-achieving young people across the country the opportunity to be named as 2007 Davidson Fellows, an honor accompanied by a $50,000, $25,000 or $10,000 scholarship in recognition of a significant piece of work in Science, Technology, Mathematics, Music, Literature, Philosophy or Outside the Box. To be eligible, applicants must be under the age of 18 as of Oct. 1, 2007, and a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident residing in the United States. There is no minimum age for eligibility. The deadline to apply is March 30, 2007. Applicants must submit an original piece of work recognized by experts in the field as significant and it must have the potential to make a positive contribution to society. The scholarship must be used at an accredited institute of learning. For more information on the Davidson Fellows, or to download an application, please visit www.DavidsonFellows.org. If you have any questions, please contact Tacie Moessner, tmoessner@ditd.org or 775-852-3483 ext. 423. |
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| 2007 THINK Summer Institute. The Davidson Institute for Talent Development is seeking profoundly gifted students, ages 12 through 15, who are interested in attending the 2007 THINK Summer Institute, a three-week residential summer program on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno where students can earn up to seven college credits. The 2007 THINK Summer Institute will run from July 14 through August 4. Tuition is $2,700 and covers course credits, room and board, and the cost of planned programs and activities. Financial assistance is available based on need. To qualify, students must be 12 to 15 years old during THINK, and must meet or exceed designated SAT (www.collegeboard.com) or ACT (www.actstudent.org) scores. The deadline fore early acceptance is January 16, 2007. To download an application, please visit www.THINKSummerInstitute.org. |
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If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to help, please contact one of the members of the steering committee:
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