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| Gifted-Talented Resource Group |
| JANUARY 2007 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 emailed about the 30th of each 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 2007, and, fortunately, also have lots of active volunteers. But we can never have too much help! If any of our activities spark your interest, please contact one of the steering committee members or subcommittee chairs and offer your time.
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| OUR 2007 CALENDAR (Click here for a printable calendar of events) |
| 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. |
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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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| 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. 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 is exploring academic competitions that we can host for D303 students. If you have any in mind and would like to get involved, please bring your ideas to the steering committee. |
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| Thanks to those of you who participated in our fund-raisers in December. We do not yet have tallies of the amounts earned, so we will report those in the next newsletter. |
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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 we held in December. 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 to run this group. Although we do our best to keep costs to a minimum, we do have some ongoing costs such as website registration and post office box rental. And, each of our events costs money to run. 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 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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| The GTRG just received this news from The Packer Foundation’s Scholars Program |
| Term I will be held on Sundays, Feb. 11-25, 1-3 PM. Term II Sundays, March 4-18, 1-3 PM. No cancellations. No minimum enrollment. All classes guaranteed to meet. Courses include (check out the full course description on our website: www.packerfoundation.org): |
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| Pre-Scholars: Ages 4/5 |
- Primarily Science (Term I)
- Beautiful Vibrations and Sounds of Music - Sunday, March 11th only
- China: Land of the Dragons - Sunday, March 4th only
- Think Like a Scientist (Term II)
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| Early Elem.: Grade K – 2nd |
- Primarily Science (Term I)
- Computers and Books DO Go Together (Term I)
- Kids Cuisine -Saturday, February 17th from 10:00 a.m. – Noon only
- Math Masters -Saturday, February 17th from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
- Beautiful Vibrations and Sounds of Music -Sunday, March 11th only
- China: Land of the Dragons - Sunday, March 4th only
- Think Like a Scientist (Term II)
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| Late Elem.: Grade 3rd – 5th |
- Brain Games (Term I)
- Chess I: Beginning Chess (Term I)
- Fermi Lab and How it Works & Tour -February 11th and Sat., Feb 17th only
- Fun with French (Term I)
- Journalism for Kids (Term I)
- Math Magic (Term I)
- Chess II: Intermediate Chess (Term II)
- Fun with French (Term II)
- Make Your Own Kind of Music (Term II)
- Microsoft Publisher (Term II)
- Physics and Chemistry (Term II)
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| Middle School: Grade 6th – 8th |
- Chess I: Beginning Chess (Term I)
- Fermi Lab and How it Works & Tour - February 11th and Sat., Feb 17th only
- Journalism for Kids (Term I)
- Chess II: Intermediate Chess (Term II)
- Physics and Chemistry (Term II)
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| Just for Adults – offers parents and educators workshops on topics such as: |
- Parent Forum – Sunday, February 25th from 1:30 – 3 p.m.
- Gifted Testing – Saturday, February 17th, 2007
- Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (K – Adult) from 8 – 8:45 a.m.
- ACT EXPLORE Test (3rd – 8th grade with prerequisite) from 9 a.m. – Noon
- Outdoor Scholars Overnight Camp – June 18th – 22nd, 2007
- Camp located at the Aurora University Lake Geneva Campus for current 4th – 7th grade students. Parent information meeting scheduled in April – call for details.
- Registration deadline February 1, 2007
- *REGISTER EARLY and encourage your friends to do the same.
- We will be returning to Fearn Elementary this winter. Printable registration form located on our website: www.packerfoundation.org. You may mail or fax (630-844-8385) in the registration to hold your spot.
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| From National-Louis |
| Dear Gifted Parent Group: |
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| Our first program of Worlds of Wisdom and Wonder begins January 14 at Wheeling and is followed by the program at Homewood, beginning February 4 and running concurrently with the program at Lisle, beginning February 18. Additional information is available on our website, www.centerforgifted.org. Or call the Center for Gifted at 847-901-0173. |
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Very sincerely,
Joan Franklin Smutny, Director
The Center for Gifted at National-Louis University
Worlds of Wisdom and Wonder |
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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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