As we near the end of November and begin December, much is happening in PA.

Second grade continues to learn and write about figures of speech such as metaphors and idioms.  In problem solving students are learning about attributes of groups and how to apply their knowledge to collections.

As third grade finished writing about The Green Book, they will soon begin working on various plays by the Brothers Grimm.  In addition they have an "Identity Bag" assignment that is due on Friday, December 14.

Fourth grade begins The Secret Garden book this week.  Since it is very challenging, we will be reading this book for awhile.  In addition, students continue on their brain disease/disorder posters.

Fifth graders were assigned a book to read and write responses about.  Each book is an author's autobiography about his/her childhood.  This assignment is due on Monday, December 10.  Students are also working on a culture presentation about a particular country.

An event of interest sponsored by Mathnasium:

 

Indian Prairie Project Arrow PTA (IPPA-PTA) invites ALL District 204 students and families to a presentation by Mike Byster, founder of Brainetics. 

 

DOORS WILL OPEN EARLY AT 6PM FOR IPPA PTA MEMBERS ONLY; GENERAL PUBLIC WILL ENTER AT 6:30PM.

 

Mike “the Walking Calculator” Byster created Brainetics, a system that uses mathematics to teach you how to use two parts of your brain at the same time; one part processes information while the other part stores information.  Mike Byster will show students and parents his incredible ability to solve complex math problems in a matter of seconds.  Paper and pencils will be available.  45 minute presentation.

 

When:   Monday, December 10, 2012

Time:     7pm

Where:  Metea Valley High School Auditorium, 1801 N. Eola Rd., Aurora, IL

 

The event is FREE, but RSVP is required for entry into the event.  Please email your RSVP to ippa.pta@gmail.com

 

RSVP should include:
-First and Last name

-# of family members

-name of D204 school the student attends

 

Looking to join IPPA PTA?  http://ipsdweb.ipsd.org/uploads/PA/IPPA_PTA_Membership_Form.pdf

 

This event is sponsored by Mathnasium with locations in Naperville and Aurora.  Any questions for this event, please contact ippa.pta@gmail.com

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Parents,
Please email me if you wish a conference time and haven't requested one yet.  I still have a couple of times available.

Also, FYI

FREE PARENT SEMINAR THIS SATURDAY at PATTERSON – 2:00 – 5:00pm  - Enter Door 2 - Joan Smutney is doing a free, informal parent seminar for PA parents that are interested. She's always fun to hear. Feel free to share with PA friends. FYI Patterson is 3731 Lawrence Dr. Naperville 60564

 

- Meeting the Needs of Your Bright, Talented Child: The Role of the Parents
In Discerning the Talents and Abilities of Their Child and How to Best Serve Them in the Home and in the Community
- Presented by Joan Frankiln Smutney, Director of the Center for Gifted; N.L.U.
- Joan Smutney has authored over 21 books on bright and gifted students. Her newest book, Teaching Advanced Learners in the General Ed. Classroom, just received the 2012 Legacy Book Award! Some of Joan Smutney’s books will be available for purchase on Saturday.

SCIENCE SPECTACULAR THIS WEEKEND AT PATTERSON -SPONSORED BY THE CENTER FOR GIFTED
•         Students in grades 1-5 can sign up to participate in the Center for Gifted Science Spectacular this weekend.
-  Each student will rotate through 3 one hour courses:
-  Crazy Chemical Concoctions; Chocolate-Ology; and Physics Fest
-  Each class will be one hour long and will reflect creativity and critical thinking as applied to science. All are designed to challenge thought and ignite creativity of advanced learners.
- This Saturday, November 3; 2:00pm-5:00pm at Patterson, enter door 2
- Tuition $45 Register at www.centerforgifted.org  
- For more information, call 847-901-0173 or see WWW.CENTERFORGIFTED.ORG/CFG_SCIENCESPEC.PDF

 

 

 

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Grade two is working on personification, similes, and metaphors in poetry.  With a partner each child wrote a poem comparing something in nature to an animal.  Each had similar characteristics that were portrayed in the poem. 
The moon now is the subject of metaphors and similes  as the children read the selected moon poems, determine the figurative language that is being used, and draw a picture of the poem.
Grades three, four, and five have finished their respective novels and are working on post-reading activities.
Grade three has completed a graphic organizer answering the question:" Besides Patty, who is the most important person on Shine?" The children are going back into the text, quoting from it, and writing the impact of their character on Shine. 
After completing Call It Courage,  the fourth grade is discussing the concepts of conflict and change in the book.  Later they will be completing an organizer similar to what third grade did.  In addition, students will continue their study of the brain.
Fifth grade students finished The Corn Grows Ripe and wrote a response dealing with change in characters.  They continue to focus on the study of cultures in the Mimi.

The beginning of the year has been busy as usual with second and third grades reviewing reading strategies, fourth grade exploring the Neuroscience for Kids website, and fifth grade working on an inquiry project.
During the week of September 24th, third, fourth, and fifth grades will be assigned the following book to read:
3rd  The Green Book
4th  Call It Courage
5th  The Corn Grows Ripe

They should have the assignment written in their assignment notebooks. The books will be finished sometime during the month of October.

The following is a letter to parents of Project Arrow students from the Indian Prairie Project Arrow-PTA:

 

 

Hello Project Arrow Parents,

 

On behalf of the IPPA-PTA Board, we would like to welcome you back to the new school year after a long HOT summer.  We have scheduled our General Membership meetings for this coming school year and have several events in the planning stage.  

 

Schedule of IPPA PTA general meetings:
Location: Crouse Education Center (CEC), 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora, IL 60504

Time: 7pm start

 

Tues, September 25th **

Tues, November 27th

Tues, February 5th

Tues, April 16th

 

**Jeanine Buishas (Instructional Specialist-Gifted/Differentiation) and Allison Sherman (Director, Core Curriculum K-8) will be providing an update on how they have aligned the Common Core Standards to the elementary and middle school Project Arrow programs, a more detailed synopsis will go out before the meeting.  This is great opportunity to learn about your child’s Project Arrow curriculum.

 

Attached please find our 2012-2013 Membership form.  We have revised our dues to family instead of individual membership.  Membership needs to be renewed every school year.

 

Legislation:

We were busy this summer working on Legislation on behalf of Gifted and Talented.  Representatives from local Gifted and Talented organizations, Oswego's PACE and D203's STAGE, joined us in meeting with Congresswoman Judy Biggert, who serves on the Education & Workforce Committee.

 

 

 

We discussed funding and the reauthorization of the TALENT Act, which replaces the Javits Act.  In 2011 Federal funding was cut to the Javits Act and is in need of attention.  We learned that the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and the Education & Workforce Committee do not interact.  We asked if Gifted and Talented was a topic of discussion during her meetings in EWC, her answer was NO.  She has a staffer dedicated to Education and he will now be getting to know us since we want to change that.  Representative Biggert suggested that we also approach the office of Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

 

We didn’t waste time in asking Representative Biggert if she would join in sponsoring the TALENT Act, she didn’t decline, but didn’t accept.  We left the meeting with direction on our next step and that would be to follow up with her office to further push the discussion of having funding for gifted and talented.

 

The goals of the Indian Prairie Project Arrow PTA are to:

• Work with the school district to provide the best educational experience for gifted and talented children and help them reach their full potential
• Provide a local community support group for parents, guardians, families and educators of gifted and talented children
• Inform legislators, school board members, educators, and the community about the unique challenges of giftedness and the importance of gifted programming
• Be a resource of information on gifted services and community programs

 

Please don't forget to visit and join our new Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/IPPAPTA/ 

 

Please feel free to email us at ippa.pta@gmail.com if you have any questions.  If you would like to be removed from this group, please email your request to ippa.pta@gmail.com.

 

Respectfully,

Laura Swanson, President

Brian Prince, 1st Vice President

Greg Smith, 2nd Vice President

Sridhar Krishnaswamy, Treasurer

Suchitra Sharma, Secretary

Rebecca Burns, Legislation