Valdosta State University presents Gifted Summit
The Center for Gifted Studies at Valdosta State University invites the public to its Gifted Summit, to be held on the university campus on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011.
Dr. Thomas Hébert, Ph.D., will present morning and afternoon keynote speeches. Dr. Hébert is professor of educational psychology at the University of Georgia, where he teaches graduate courses in gifted and creative education. He also is author of the newly released book, Understanding the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Students.
The morning keynote will focus on the social and emotional needs of gifted students; the afternoon remarks will address how to create classroom environments that support gifted students’ social and emotional development. The program’s agenda also includes afternoon breakout sessions to discuss particular concerns and interests.
The program is free, but requires preregistration by e-mailing the Center for Gifted Studies or by calling (229) 249-2777.
Application season is under way for Governor’s Honors summer program
Each summer, the state of Georgia welcomes its highest achieving students to Valdosta for four weeks of high-level academic enrichment at the Governor’s Honors Program.
Students currently in 10th or 11th grade who want to attend GHP in 2012 need to get to work now. The application process is long and thorough, and begins with securing a nomination from a teacher at their school.
If you’re not familiar with GHP, an online brochure gives an overview.
Home schooled students may apply. See the GHP web site for details.
DeKalb County Schools seeks community input on the future
DeKalb County Schools is hosting what it’s calling a “community engagement session” on Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 6-9 p.m. at the school system’s headquarters in Stone Mountain.
My source tells me the meeting will begin with remarks from the newly hired superintendent, Dr. Cheryl L. H. Atkinson. Then, those attending the meeting will be broken out into smaller groups to discuss what they think the future should look like in DeKalb County Schools.
The school system hosted similar meetings last year, but those were focused on infrastructure and facilities. This week’s session promises to focus on curriculum and learning.
Whether you think your school is doing a great, mediocre or lousy job in gifted education, I believe it’s worth coming to this meeting so that the gifted community is represented. If you can’t attend the meeting, you will be able to complete a survey on the school district’s web site Sept. 21-30.
Creative writing classes for middle-schoolers
Emerging middle-school writers can learn from a pro in a creative writing class at the Little Shop of Stories, an independent children’s bookstore in downtown Decatur.
The instructor is Terra Elan McVoy, author of three novels for young readers and program director of the Decatur Book Festival. The class will meet on Mondays from 4:30-5:45, beginning on Oct. 3, 2011. The cost is $200.
(Parents, if you’d like to model lifelong learning for your kids, they’re offering a writing class for adults, too.)
More information is available on the Little Shop of Stories blog.
University of West Georgia offers science enrichment on Saturdays this fall
The University of West Georgia in Carrollton has opened registration for its fall 2011 Saturday science classes.
The IMPACT (Improving Motivation, Performance, Attitudes of Children and Teachers) science program offers classes for students in kindergarten through 10th grade. Each Saturday class is just $10 per child.
Sessions will be held on Oct. 15, Nov. 5 and Dec. 3, 2011. Classes and topics are separated by grade level, but they offer classes for all ages concurrently, which is great if you have two or more kids of different ages. For example, on Oct. 15, your 1st grader could learn about bats, spiders and insects, while at the same time, your 4th grader could learn about earthquakes and volcanoes, and your 7th grader could take a class on the neurological system.
The fall season will kick off with a chemistry demonstration on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Admission is just $2 per person.
If you’ve never been to the West Georgia campus, it’s out I-20 quite a ways. Figure about 45 minutes from where I-20 and I-285 meet on the west side of town.
Fall session of parent group focused on gifted kids’ emotional needs
Two local women trained in helping parents and caregivers support their gifted children are forming a new discussion group for fall.
Muriel Knope and Kathy Courchene are trained facilitators with SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted). Their regular parent groups discuss such hot topics as perfectionism, social relationships and managing intensity.
The upcoming session will meet on Monday nights from 7-9 p.m. in Dunwoody, from Sept. 19 through Oct. 24. There is a fee.
To register or for more information, contact Muriel Knope.
Explore the animals of the Galapagos Islands in Fernbank’s newest IMAX film
You can get a larger-than-life look at marine life in Galapagos, opening today at the IMAX theater at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. This 40-minute film follows a marine biologist as she explores the marine life around the Galapagos Islands.
But you might not want to rush out to see this film right away. I say that because on Sept. 24, the museum will open a new exhibit on Charles Darwin, and since the Galapagos Islands played such an important role in his research, the exhibit and the film should make a nice complement to each other.
Galapagos and Darwin both will run through Jan. 1, 2012.
Sign up now for K.I.D.S. Club Saturday classes at Georgia Tech
I’ve been keeping an eye on the K.I.D.S. Club web page, and they’d said they were going to open registration tomorrow, but I just checked and registration is open NOW. This is one of those great programs that fills quickly, so I wanted to let you know right away instead of waiting until morning.
K.I.D.S. Club (Kids Interested in Discovering Science) exposes kids to the fun side of science, math, engineering and technology. The program is open to students in 2nd – 12th grades.
Kids in 2nd – 5th grades do a variety of hands-on activities. In past classes, these younger students have built water rockets, rubber band cars, zip lines and high rises, to name a few. Older kids — grades 6-12 — are offered an introduction to developing applications for the iPhone without programming.
Fall sessions will be Nov. 12 and Dec. 3, 2011; spring sessions will be March 3 and March 24, 2012. Both fall dates and both spring dates are identical programs, so you should only sign up for one class per season. All sessions are held from 9 a.m. to noon at Georgia Tech.
UGA – Duke TIP Scholars weekend for gifted kids in grades 8-11
Registration is open for the first UGA – Duke TIP Scholars Weekend of the 2011-12 season.
The program will take place Oct. 22-23, 2011 on the University of Georgia campus. Students stay at an on-campus hotel (the Georgia Center for Continuing Education), although parents who prefer can pick up their children at the end of the program day.
Courses for this session include creative writing, robotics, film making, forensic anthropology and more. Program cost is $450, although you’ll get a $25 discount if you register before Sept. 16 — which is advisable, since spaces in popular classes fill quickly.
The program is open to any student who has participated in a Duke TIP Talent Search or has been identified as gifted according to the criteria of their local school. This would include any student taking honors, accelerated, AP or IB classes.
Sample a free taste of museum culture on Sept. 24
Visiting a museum with your gifted child is a great way to let them delve into art, science or history. And on Sept. 24, it’ll be free.
That’s when select museums around the country will let guests come in the door at no charge as part of Smithsonian Magazine’s annual Museum Day.
Like fine art? Try the High Museum. Free.
Interested in Georgia history? Take a trip to Milledgeville to visit the Old Governor’s Mansion or Georgia’s Old Capital Museum. Free.
All told, there are 10 participating museums in the metro Atlanta area, 33 throughout the state of Georgia.
Three things you need to know:
1) You can’t just show up at the door. You have to register and print out your tickets before you go.
2) There is a limit of two free admissions per household.
3) This is a popular event. Be prepared to stand in line. (We went to the High Museum last year and waited about an hour to get in the door.)
Gifted Atlanta 