Gifted Matters- March 2014

Welcome to the March 2014 edition of Gifted Matters. We hope you had a wonderful spring break and are ready to take on the last few months of the school year.

The CISD math curriculum has undergone some significant changes at all levels due to revised TEKS. CGA’s Elizabeth Chappell had a chance to speak with Mary Kemper, Director of Mathematics at CISD and has put together a sneak peek of some of the important changes. Read about it in the article CISD Math Update.

Two seats on the CISD School Board are up for general election on May 10, 2014. Incumbent Thom Hulme is seeking the Place 4 seat without opposition. Place 5 incumbent Amy Dungan will be challenged in the election by Jeff Jordan. Want to meet our School Board Candidates and get your questions answered? Learn how to do that here.

Our current 8th graders are making some very important decisions regarding their high school options. One consideration which has been the source of great discussion among parents and students alike, is which high school  would suit their learning style better- should they go the Project-based learning  (PBL) route at  NTH@C or the more conventional route at CHS? Application forms for NTH@C have already been submitted, and final commitment letters are due at NTH@C later this month. If your learner has applied to NTH@C but is still undecided, we have just the article for you (and for everyone else who is just curious about PBL)- Wes Vanicek, facilitator at NTH@C has to shares some valuable insights about PBL in his article The Nuts and Bolts of Project-Based Learning.

Another consideration for our students going into high school is the path they would chose. Our learners at CISD are fortunate that they have a variety of choices available that can suit every learning type. However, more choices mean more decisions to make, and that can seem overwhelming for a 14 year old. On Feb 13, 2014, CGA had hosted, as part of our ongoing speaker series, a panel discussion, facilitated by Deana Harrell, director of Advanced Academics. The  topic of the discussion was “Advanced Academics: What is the right choice for you?” If you  would like to hear some of the “tips” offered by these awesome high school students, read the article Advanced Academics- Student Panel Highlights.

CGA is proud to host an Arduino event on April 11 and 12 for our middle school learners. This is an exciting opportunity for your students to learn the basics of building electronics with Arduino. Learn more here.

The CGA Speaker Series event, featuring Lisa Van Gemert, Gifted Youth Specialist at Mensa (originally scheduled for Thursday  April 24, 2014) has been RESCHEDULED . The new date is Thursday, May 1st @ 6:30 p.m. at New Tech High @ Coppell. Please join us as Lisa Van Gemert speaks about Gift of Self: Developing Self Concept in Gifted Youth.

This month, guest writer, Dr. Audrey Kteily, Coppell parent and psychologist talks about Bullying and the Gifted child.

Join us as we celebrate the first place and honorable mention winners of our 6th annual Creative Writing Competition at the Book Release party on April 3, 2014. All information on the book launch event can be found here. Also special guest: Todd Storch of Taylor’s Gift.

Are you a CISD educator or administrator (and CGA member) interested in gaining additional gifted education training and enrichment? CGA is offering a limited number of educator and administrator scholarships for professional development programs offered during the 2014 summer months. Deadline for applications is May 2, 2014. For more information on how to apply and for a list of potential summer conferences, visit the Educator Scholarships link on the CGA homepage.

If you have not already registered for Summer Mosiac, now would be a great time to do so, Our popular summer enrichment program for students entering Grades 4-8 will take place June 9-13 & July 28-Aug 1, 2014. We are offering a host of brand new classes available this year including coding, duct tape creations, kitchen science, rainbow loom, woodworking. Hurry and register now as space is limited and classes will sell out.

We hope that you will enjoy the information included in this newsletter and find it useful. We’d love to have your feedback on how we are doing, and what you’d like to read about in the future. Email us, comment on the blog or Facebook, or contact your campus rep. As always, we would love to hear from you.