If you enjoy receiving our newsletter, please become a fan of our Facebook page. We send out information on a regular basis about gifted issues, including good books, interesting articles, and talented people. 

New this year, the Epsilon Camp is a summer residential camp for the exceptionally and profoundly gifted, age 8 to under 11 years, who love math. Epsilon students will be exposed to mathematics enrichment not available anywhere else at this time for their age.   

Begun by the founder of the MathPath camps for older students, this camp will be held in Colorado Springs July 24 to August 14 (with an option to attend just the first two weeks). 

The camp also has a parent workshop to help parents to manage parenting issues of EG/PG children. Parents reside with their children during the course of the camp, to make this a family vacation experience.

Epsilon Camp is limited to 30 students this year, and there are only a few available spots left. So check this out now if your child would qualify and you are interested.

You may have heard of Doodle 4 Google, the contest to embellish the Google logo according to a yearly theme. Now we have recently become aware of Google's Science Fair. They are looking for the brightest, best young scientists from around the world to submit interesting, creative projects that are relevant to the world today.

This contest is open to students who are 13 to 18 years old on April 4, either working alone or in teams of two or three. But hurry, April 4, 2011, is the deadline for submissions!

For more information, go to  http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/ .
 

One of our young clients has been involved in the FIRST Robotics Competition through his school at Spring Lake Park, the Lighthouse Program. A recent news article  describes how this competition challenges teams of students and their mentors to build a robot within six weeks. The team used a 140-pound standard kit of 622 individual parts that included motors, batteries, a control system, a PC, and a mix of automation components. Included in the news article is a link to a short video.

Described as "the varsity sport for the mind," the FIRST Robotics Competition combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources, and time limits, teams of 25 students or more are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," develop teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. 

Founded by Dean Kamen, other FIRST programs include FIRST Tech Challenge from Grades 9 to 12, FIRST Lego League for Grades 4 to 8, Junior FIRST Lego League for Grade Kindergarten to 3, and FIRST Place for ages 6 to adult. FIRST's aim is to transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.

Are you concerned that your young children are spending too much time watching TV or playing computer games? Then take a look at  www.StoryTimeForMe.com to see some of the free books that this organization has published. There are different series for different ages, and the online public library will encourage children to read entertaining, animated stories with socially relevant themes, such as 'Not to bully', 'Sharing', 'Being responsible for the environment', 'Helping your neighbor', etc.
 

Concerned with the fact that TV viewing, video gaming, and net surfing has replaced reading as a "fun" activity among young children, Andrew Gitt was inspired to develop an alternative form of children's entertainment that would also be educational.  He put together a team of children's literary experts and multi-media specialists, resulting in Story Time For Me. Their mission is to instill in children a love of reading and creative thinking.  Their free online book library is not designed to take away from traditional reading, but instead to replace the time kids are spending watching TV and playing video games.

Here is another free online library for children. The focus of this library is to make books available to children, parents, teachers, librarians and others from all over the world and from all walks of life.

The mission of the International Children's Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community. By making the best in children's literature available online free of charge, and in many different language translations, they hope to promote tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas.

Children can expand upon the stories in the digital library to create games; parents can extract themes to help explain important lessons; teachers can utilize the multicultural nature of the collection to teach languages; librarians can enrich community outreach programs with tales from around the world and; of course, anyone can just open a book to read for pleasure.  

This Saturday, March 12, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, the Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented (MCGT) is sponsoring a seminar on differentiation. The speaker will be Steve Schroeder-Davis, Ph.D and the event will take place in room 350 in the Edina Community Center, 5701 Normandale Road in Edina.

Learn what differentiation is and why it's a good gifted and talented educational teaching tool, how to tell if your child's teacher is differentiating, how you can support both your child and his or her teacher, and what your options are if your child's teacher can't or won't meet your child's needs. The presentation will be followed by an opportunity to ask questions.

Please register on-line at http://mcgt.net/coming_up.html (scroll down to the bottom of the page) by this Thursday if you plan to attend. A $5 fee will be charged, payable at the door. If you should have any questions, please call 952-848-4906 or email info@mcgt.net. This seminar is open to both MCGT members and non-members. 

On Saturday, March 19, Dr. Ruf will participate in the Seventh Annual Gifted Education Resource Fair sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Gifted Children (MCGT) and the MCGT Homeschooling Chapter.  

We have discovered that nearly half the people who attend these events aren't sure their children are gifted. If you are in the same boat, or know someone who is, here is a chance to hear Dr. Ruf address precisely that topic. She will speak on what giftedness is at 9:00 a.m., and she will discuss educating the gifted at 1:00 p.m.

The Resource Fair will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Edina Community Center, 5701 Normandale Road, Edina, Minnesota. The cost for MCGT members is $5.00 for just the fair or $10 for both the fair and talks given by Dr. Ruf. For nonmembers, the cost is $10 for the fair and $15.00 for both.

If you live in the Twin Cities and have kids between the ages of 5 and 12, here's a great spot to have some interactive fun. The Works is located on the third floor of the Edina Community Center (5701 Normandale Road, Edina), and it's a "hands-on, minds-on" museum where its unique, participatory exhibits make learning about science and engineering interesting and understandable. Take a look at their website for more information.