Day camps at University of West Georgia
The University of West Georgia in Carrollton has several day camps for kids in kindergarten through age 18. Topics include science, arts and crafts, and a film camp where teens write a screenplay, learn acting skills, and ultimately have their film curated by a film professor.
The university is holding additional STEM summer camps at satellite locations in Paulding County and Douglas County.
Bridge-building workshops for kids 8 to 12
The Museum of Design Atlanta and the Midtown Alliance invite children ages 8 to 12 to a Bridge Building Challenge on May 16 and 17, 2015.
In each of four available two-hour workshops, MODA instructors will teach kids about different types of bridges, then guide them through creating their own. Students will compete to see whose bridge can support the most weight.
The workshops will be held at Cornerstone Village in Midtown.
Geology walk examines role of rivers
Find out how the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries etched the North Georgia landscape in a walk and lecture presented by geologist Bill Witherspoon, May 7, 2015.
Witherspoon, a retired science educator and one of the authors of Roadside Geology in Georgia, will lead an evening walk along Rottenwood Creek in Marietta, highlighting how rushing waters carved the area’s gorges. A lecture and slideshow will follow.
The event is free, but registration is requested via the Georgia Rocks web site.
Summer camp lets kids create an online magazine
Rising 4th to 6th graders will become magazine writers and creative directors in a one-week camp at Georgia Tech run by Katori Education Company.
Campers will choose their stories, write them, and lay out the look of their online magazine, which will be finished at week’s end.
Sketch comedy summer camp for teens
Highwire Comedy Co. invites teens to its acting and writing workshop, a two-week summer program in which kids will write, rehearse and perform an original, live sketch comedy show — like creating their very own “Saturday Night Live.”
Students ages 13 and up will learn both improv and sketch comedy from an experienced faculty that includes a former instructor at Chicago’s Second City theater.
Highwire is located near Decatur.
Introductory programming camp in DeKalb
The CougarBots, a robotics team made up of students at DeKalb County’s Henderson Middle School and Lakeside High School, will run a one-week programming camp this summer for rising 3rd-6th graders.
The camp will be led by the students and their coaches, who will introduce children to the simple Scratch programming language and LEGO NXT robotics programming. No prior experience is necessary.
The CougarBots camp will take place June 29 to July 3, 2015, on the campus of Henderson Middle School. Cost is $180.
To register or for more information, download the PDF flyer.
Open auditions for Spivey Hall Children’s Choir
The Spivey Hall Children’s Choir will hold auditions for young singers on Saturday, April 25, 2015.
Auditions are open for girls and boys ages 10 to 13. Students selected for the program may remain in the choir until they complete high school.
Founded in 1994 and affiliated with Clayton State University, the Spivey Hall Children’s Choir consists of three groups: the Young Artists Choir, where most new singers are placed; the Children’s Choir, a larger ensemble that includes children through age 18; and the Tour Choir, a traveling group that has performed in locations across America and overseas.
To audition, complete an online application.
Robotics camps at Walton High School
Walton Robotics, the Walton High School robotics team, will host three summer camps for kids entering 6th to 9th grades.
Camp topics are:
- LEGO NXT, an introductory class in basic robotics for rising 6th to 8th graders
- VEX Advanced, using robotics to study basic principles of engineering, for rising 7th to 9th graders
- Java programming, for rising 7th to 9th graders
Each camp runs Monday through Thursday, June 1-4, 2015.
* NOTE: The online information says applications are due April 3, but I’ve been told by the organizers that they will continue to accept registrations until all spots are filled.
Summer science and engineering camps in Cobb County
Wheeler Magnet School in Marietta will host three summer camps for elementary- and middle-school students interested in science and technology.
Science Spectrum Camp will be held June 1-5, 2015. The camp is open to rising 7th-, 8th- and 9th-grade students, and will allow exploration in such areas as robotics, chemistry, electronics and drafting.
Camp GAMES, June 22-26, is for girls entering 4th, 5th and 6th grades. It, too, will include a range of science and engineering topics.
This year, Wheeler has added a third camp, STEM Explorers, also June 22-26, for rising 4th, 5th and 6th grade boys. This is the boys’ counterpart to Camp GAMES.
Wheeler Magnet is a science, technology and math magnet program housed at Wheeler High School.
Urge our senators to support gifted research
Would you give ten minutes to support gifted education?
Here’s how: E-mail our U.S. senators in support of continued funding for the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act.
Javits Act funding supports research into how gifted students learn, and how we can improve teaching methods.
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) have written a letter to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education, asking that the 2016 budget continue to fund the Javits Act.
Showing support for Javits funding is crucial, because previous budgets have cut or eliminated it. Although Javits funding was as high as $11 million a year in the early 2000s, it dropped to $7.5 million per year later that decade, and was cut out entirely for the years 2010-2013. In 2014, Congress allocated $5 million to Javits, and in the 2015 budget, thanks to the leadership of Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, gifted research was funded at $10 million.
Don’t let Javits funding get slashed or eliminated again in the next budget.
Your letter to our senators can be short and simple. My suggestion:
- Open with the call to action: to sign the Grassley-Casey letter in support of Javits funding.
- State your connection to gifted education. For example, that you have a gifted child, or you teach gifted children.
- Voice your support for research to ensure that gifted children are well served by our schools.
- Restate the call to action.
Send an e-mail to U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson
Send an e-mail to U.S. Senator David Perdue
We need to take action on this by March 26, 2015.
Gifted kids are a minority. They need our advocacy.
Gifted Atlanta 