Gifted Atlanta

Current fifth and sixth graders who have participated in the Duke TIP 4th-6th Grade Talent Search can sign up now for the Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 session of Academic Adventures at the University of Georgia.

Academic Adventures students choose a single topic to study during the full-day program on the UGA campus. There are more than a dozen subjects to choose from, including myths, sharks, biology, improv, and aircraft / spacecraft design.

Registration officially closes Oct. 17, but popular courses will fill up quickly. Cost for each day is $145. Need-based scholarships may be available.

If you haven’t registered your child with Duke TIP, it’s an easy process, and it gives you access to programs like Academic Adventures as well as useful information about raising gifted children.

K.I.D.S. Club (Kids Interested in Discovering Science) at Georgia Tech is now accepting registrations for its 2014-2015 sessions.

This year, K.I.D.S. Club will offer three different sessions — fall, winter and spring — instead of just two as they did previously. As in the past, there are two dates for each “session,” but both dates will offer identical classes, so kids should only be signed up for one date in each season.

K.I.D.S. Club offers hands-on science activities to students in grades 2-5. Older kids — grades 6 to 12 — are offered an introduction to developing mobile apps. Middle-schoolers also have the option of taking a class in LEGO Robotics.

Each Saturday morning session costs $40 per child. There is no registration deadline, but spaces are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

High school students interested in learning about the cybersecurity business are invited to 1NTERRUPT, a seminar on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. Students will get an introduction to the industry, see some of the technologies used in cyberdefense, and hear from local and national experts.

It doesn’t appear that any computer skills are taught at this seminar; rather, this seems to be focused on providing an overview of what cyberdefense is and what professional opportunities exist in the field.

The 1NTERRUPT event will be held on the Georgia Tech campus. The event is free, but registration is required.

Some would say the history of the city of Roswell, Georgia, began with the gold rush in North Georgia, but geologist Bill Witherspoon would say it began millions of years earlier, when the continents of Africa and North America collided, setting up the geologic events that led to the formation and discovery of that gold.

Witherspoon, a retired science educator and one of the authors of Roadside Geology in Georgia, will lead a walk along Vickery Creek near the Roswell historic district, this Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, at 9:30 a.m. The walk will go down into the gorge and to the mill dam dating back to 1854. At 11:00 a.m., Witherspoon will present a talk at Bulloch Hall examining the geologic history of the area.

This weekend’s session is the first of many that Witherspoon will present this year. Register for this event and see a full calendar of events through next May at the Georgia Rocks web site.

Registration has opened for the first fall session of Georgia State University Saturday School.

The 2014 Fall A session will begin Sept. 13. Classes are held on five consecutive Saturdays in the mornings and afternoons on the GSU campus, with a variety of topics in science, math, art, and more.

Saturday School also will continue its newly established satellite program at Lambert High School in Suwanee. Registration for classes at that location “opens soon,” according to the Saturday School web site.

Saturday School is open to children in kindergarten through 8th grade. The program is geared toward students who have been identified as gifted by their school, but kids who haven’t been formally identified can be granted provisional enrollment for one year.

The registration deadline for downtown campus classes is Sept. 6. If you register prior to August 14, you will receive a 10 percent discount.

East Point Tech offers a computer programming program for teens ages 13 to 16, starting next month.

Saturday Coding School is a four-week course which teaches HTML, CSS and front- and back-end web development. No previous coding experience is needed. The teens also get an introduction to a bit of entrepreneurial training, with a look at how to market their own design business.

Classes are limited to ten students each.

The Intro to Web Development course begins July 12.

Tellus Museum in Cartersville has two upcoming events for kids:

The annual RockFest rock and mineral show will come to Tellus June 14-15, 2014. Visitors will see a range of minerals, gems and fossils. If your child has a special rock find they haven’t been able to identify, take it along and let experts have a look. The museum will also offer activities for the kids. Admission to RockFest is part of the general ticket price.

Then, on June 25, the museum brings back past guest Joe Turner for his lunchtime “Magic of Science” show. If you want to pre-order lunch (and have a reserved seat), call (770) 606-5700, ext. 431 by June 18.

I’m letting my eight-year-old daughter, who just joined Bookopolis, write today’s post. She says:

Bookopolis is a good program for children who like to read. It lets them give and get recommendations for good books. You can earn badges for letting everyone else know what books you liked.

I’ll add a bit myself. . . . Bookopolis is a free web site aimed at elementary and early middle-school readers. Kids can write reviews of books they’ve read. They receive suggestions for other books they might like, and can read other kids’ reviews of books recommended for them. They can also actively share book recommendations with friends they’ve connected with through the site. This is a great way to encourage and track summer reading.

I can’t write any more now, because my daughter just said, “Let’s go to Bookopolis now.”