The New Year Approaches

Preparations for the new school year are in full swing.

Middle School
Pre-AP assignment letters are going out through the mail for 7th and 8th grade students. You should recieve this letter before schedule pick-up day, which is August 6-7 for Bob Courtway and August 7-8 for Carl Stuart.

Intermediate School
There are new facets to the 5th and 6th grade GT program, so parents of those students should expect letters as well. You should also recieve the letter in advance of schedule pick-up day which will be August 7th for Simon 5th graders, the week of August 11-15 for Simon 6th graders, August 8th for Ruth Doyle 5th graders, and August 7th for Ruth Doyle 6th graders.

The dates above are correct to the best of my knowledge, but it might be a good idea to contact your school to confirm.

GT is NOT...

Tamara Fisher, a GT specialist in Montana has written a great article on the misconceptions of what Gifted and Talented education is or is not.

In a nutshell she proposes that "GT is NOT a surplus offering for kids who have surplus knowledge. Rather, it IS an academic intervention for kids who don’t learn like other kids do. ACADEMIC INTERVENTION. Let’s start calling it what it IS so that we can help those who misperceive begin to understand what GT is really all about."

Unwrapping the Gifted: GT is NOT...

Local student qualifies for Duke TIP

TheCabin.net ·· Bumpers qualifies for Duke TIP 07/13/08: "Ryan Bumpers, a home-schooled student from Conway, recently qualified to participate in the Arkansas Recognition Ceremony of the Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP). Bumpers was one of the seventh-graders in our state who received a medal for earning a high score on the ACT college entrance exam."

National Parenting Gifted Children Week

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) has registered the third week in July as "National Parenting Gifted Children Week."

The Texas Association for Gifted and Talented (TAGT) will be participating by posting a new summer enrichment activity at txgifted.org each day from July 14-20.

SENG is devoting each day during the week to different important topics that highlight some the challenges in teaching and raising gifted children (Go to http://www.sengifted.org/ for more information).

Additional fact sheets, articles, and background information on the needs of gifted children are also available in the parent section of the NAGC website.

National History Day honors

TheCabin.net ·· Going the extra mile 07/01/08: "When the bell rings at the end of the school day, most students rush home to take a break from seven straight hours of learning, but there are some who go home to learn even more.

Students who compete in History Day competitions, whether it's on the local, state or national level, spend months and months dreaming up their project, bringing it to life and then perfecting it.
Three students in the Conway School District once again got pretty close to perfection this year.

For the second time, a team from Conway High School-East placed fourth in the nation in the National History Day competition, which is the current record for the district, according to William Richardson, history teacher at Conway High School-East."

There is also an article that lists all of the students' names and some of the topics they presented. http://www.thecabin.net/stories/070108/loc_0701080005.shtml