January 2013
 Educational Options
& TalentIgniter Newsletter |
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Keeping Up With Dr. Ruf
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 Besides her years of expertise as an educational consultant, Dr. Ruf also is well established as a national and international speaker on all issues of giftedness. Dr. Ruf will have a booth at the Cyprus Schools Open House, as well as speak about Levels of Giftedness, on Sunday, January 13, from 12 to 3 p.m.
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Greetings!
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We hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season with your families and now are heading into 2013 refreshed!
We have a lot of things we want to particularly point out to you in this month's newsletter. To begin with, the Ed Planner on our TalentIgniter website is up and running, and if you have kids in middle school or high school, you will want to check it out. It's a free tool that will help you organize your child's academic and extracurricular activities, and much more.
Also, please note that Dr. Ruf will be speaking at Cyprus Schools' Open House this weekend - Sunday, January 13.
In addition, we wanted to let you know that Dr. Ruf is now using the new WPPSI-IV for testing your young children.
We hope you will always feel free to write if you have any questions!
Best wishes,
Kathy Hara, Editor
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Ed Planner
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As parents reading this newsletter, you know your children have the potential to succeed in life, including getting into good schools. You also know that getting involved in your children's education will help them on that journey (see article below, Parent Involvement Affects Student Achievement). The Team at TalentIgniter believes that one of the things we can do is help you develop a strong educational game plan. To that end, we have developed the Ed Planner, an invaluable tool focused on educational planning and tracking.
Over the next few weeks, a series of emails will be sent out from the TalentIgniter Team explaining how to get started in using the Ed Planner. This will be sent to you if you are signed up for the TalentIgniter Newsletter. If you don't get the first letter by next week and you wish to receive it, simply subscribe to the newsletter at www.TalentIgniter.com. We hope you will read and benefit from the series.
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WPPSI-IV Ready for Use
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Last winter, about 50 of you participated in the updating and standardization of the Wechsler  Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Fourth Edition, by allowing Dr. Ruf to test your children on this instrument. We are happy to tell you that the WPPSI-IV is now available for use. Recognized as one of the most complete intellectual diagnostic tools available, it is appropriate for testing children ages 4 to 7.
Families who may be interested in having their bright, young children work with Dr. Ruf for an intellectual assessment should contact me at Kathy@educationaloptions.com.
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Tweeting the Civil War
|  Want the Civil War to really come alive for your children? Then have it Tweeted to them! That is what the Minnesota Historical Society is doing in "real time." Letters and diaries written by 12 Minnesotans from the Civil War-era will be posted on Twitter in 140-character increments over the next three years. The 12 real Minnesotans were soldiers, wives, former slaves and journalists, and they write about the mundane aspects of their lives, as well as more dramatic events such as battles. To read more about this project, see Katie Humphrey's story in the Star Tribune, as well as the website of the Minnesota Historical Society. In addition, TwHistory.org is an educational website that has been hosting other, varied re-enactments by Tweet. |
| Apply Now for Math Camp |
A few spaces are still available for Epsilon Camp. This 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. 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 2013 will be held Sunday July 28 - Saturday August 10, 2013, at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO.
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Parent Involvement Affects Student Achievement
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It can probably go without saying that when parents are involved in their child's education, that child will do better in school. But what do we mean when we say "parent involvement?" Well, now there is research that shows what kind of involvement leads to the more substantial results. Read the report from the Center for Public Education on Back to school: How parent involvement affects student achievement.
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Webinar on Anxiety
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Does your gifted child suffer from anxiety? You are not alone, as anxiety is the most common mental health problem experienced by children. Learn more about this issue and find out about strategies to combat anxiety-related disorders in SENG's upcoming Webinar on Thursday, January 17. P. Susan Jackson will present Laying Waste to the Elephant in the Living Room: Solutions for the Anxious Gifted Child. Learn more by clicking on the link for Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted.
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Life's a Zoo
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Alice & Kizzie - Life's a Zoo! This is a new webshow for kids who like animals. Alice is Elizabeth Alice Mule, a teenager with a life-long interest in and love for animals of all kinds. Kizzie - short for Kismet - is her Grand Cayman Blue Iguana hybrid. Together, they are working to help kids become more appreciative of nature and become better pet owners. The series will be including a lot of real science as the episodes progress.
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IN MINNESOTA: Cyprus Open House
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This Sunday, January 13, from noon to 3:00 p.m., Dr. Ruf will be participating in Cyprus Schools Open House at 13560 County Road 5, Burnsville. You are invited to attend and learn about what Cyprus has to offer your child: Child Care, Preschool, Gifted Elementary Education, Music and Art education.
Dr. Ruf will be speaking from 1: 30 to 2:15 p.m. on Levels of Giftedness. Prior to that, from 12:15 to 1:00 p.m., Dr. David Stussy and Dr. Semerit Michele Strachan will speak on Alternative Solutions to Behavioral Issues and Learning Difficulties. In addition, the Cyprus Young Musicians and iKids Band will perform at various times.
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Educational Options
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Visit www.EducationalOptions.com to learn about how Dr. Ruf's 4-Step Process will empower you to get your bright child's needs met. The website also includes many articles written by Dr. Ruf and others about gifted issues; categorized lists of books recommended for those seeking more information about their gifted children and themselves; Dr. Ruf's speaking schedule; an archive of this monthly newsletter, beginning in 2006; and more.
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TalentIgniter
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TalentIgniter invites you to browse the many features offered on its website, including the following: |
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5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options
|  Formerly titled Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind), 5 Levels of Gifted, published in 2005 by Great Potential Press, combines four years of data gathering from 50 families
78 children with nearly 30 years of research and experience in the field of giftedness, individual differences, and high intelligence. The book is aimed primarily at parents and vividly describes the upper 10 to 15 percent of the intellectual continuum in human beings from birth to adulthood as manifested in their behaviors, thoughts, accomplishments, and test scores. She introduces the concept of Levels of Giftedness and makes it very clear how many factors contribute to a person's intellectual levels and achievement. |
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Keys to Successfully Raising the Gifted Child
|  You know your child is gifted. But how does that impact day-to-day life and your role as a parent? Written by Deborah L. Ruf, Ph.D., and Larry A. Kuusisto, Ph.D., Keys to Successfully Raising the Gifted Child is for parents who are new to the idea that their children might be intellectually advanced or gifted. This ebook addresses important parenting issues, including what to actually tell your child about his or her giftedness, how schools approach learning differences, best ways to provide emotional support, sibling rivalry, and more. The book delivers lots of provocative information that will lead to hours of good discussion, debate, and further investigation and research by group or class participants studying the gifted and talented. |
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