December 2013: Upcoming Events and Gifted Education in the News

Upcoming Events

• January 6 We are thrilled to co-sponsor with BPS Gifted Services a parent and educator seminar in early January! Guest speaker Elizabeth Hutchins, retired BPS101 Gifted Coordinator and current instructor for the gifted seminar at Aurora University, will give a talk entitled "How Well Do You Know Your Gifted Child?" and discuss some of the key and common characteristics of gifted children. This free event is from 7-9 p.m. at Rotolo Middle School LMS. All parents and educators are invited and welcome!

• February 8 is our second event of the winter. We are sponsoring an Author Fair at the Batavia Public Library on February 8 from 1-3 p.m. This event is open to all families. For more details on the authors and their books, please see our News and Events page.
• February 9-11 in Naperville will be the IAGC annual conference. See their conference website for registration information, schedules, meetings for parents, membership information, and more.
  

• Also this winter: Local math and science events at IMSA! IMSA runs FUNshops, 3-hour events in the fall and spring for children in grades 3-6. Students can register for individual FUNshops, scheduled for 2 different Friday evenings and 2 different Saturday evenings in March and April of the new year. The spring topics include circuitry, web design, and flight.
  

Have you seen ... ?

• As part of a series on math and science education, the New York Times Editorial Board recently published an opinion piece about gifted education in our country. They write, “It is vital that students in the middle get increased attention, as the new Common Core standards are designed to do, but when the brightest students are not challenged academically, they lose steam and check out.” Read that Op-Ed here. The editor of the Editorial Page sums up reader reactions, both pro and con, here, in his Editor's Blog.
• The blog Teach a Gifted Kid is written by a teacher of gifted students in Texas. Her entries provide resources and food for thought for both parents and educators.

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