GDC Newsletter Updates
An Invitation to the Sacred World of Nature
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | The Lost Words: A Spell Book is one of the most exquisite and important books to be published for children in recent years. Beyond its wondrous beauty there is an urgency to its message. It is a book children need now.
Advice for Parents!
In preparation for the coming school year and the probability that distance learning will continue to be a part of the school experience, the Gifted Development Center’s virtual education leaders group continues to meet. Members have pooled their collective wisdom to provide support for families in the coming year.
Look Harder for Gifted Children of Color: They are Everywhere!
By Kathi Kearney | “For the past 100 years, when educators and researchers have really looked, they have found gifted children of color. It is not the IQ tests themselves that are at fault, but the refusal to look in all racial and ethnic groups for gifted children. These children are there. They are everywhere.”
Meet the “New Kid”
Companion Activities for New Kid | Imagine what life is like for others, research new holidays and more.
New Kid
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | The most highly honored work of juvenile fiction in 2020 is Jerry Craft’s funny, poignant, and insightful graphic novel, New Kid. Craft’s novel should be required reading in colleges and universities for participants in teacher education programs, particularly for those instructors destined for middle schools.
Human Rights: The Mission of Giftedness
An article by Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman | From its inception, the person-centered study of giftedness has been built on the mission of protecting human rights. While some still profess that the purpose of gifted education is to foster eminence, there is a more profound need for identifying and supporting the gifted.
Discover Poetry
Companion Activities for I Remember | Write prose, email professional artists, create your own poetry, research poets and more.
Diversity Celebrated
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | In words and pictures I Remember shines a beacon upon the things that are good about life in the USA, but also recognizes wrongs that need to be made right if the USA is to experience the dream of a more perfect Union.
Dreams of Infinity
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | Mathematical precocity is one of the most remarkable types of giftedness; yet, it is ironic that so little is written about it. Amy Alznauer’s picture book biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan is, therefore, a breakthrough book for gifted children of all ages.
Explore Genius
Companion Activities for The Boy who Dreamed of Infinity | Use math in everyday life, research the history of mathematics, explore the Lost Notebook of Ramanujan and more.
Poetry is Delicious
You may live in an age when people turn less frequently to poets in times of trouble such as the world now faces with the COVID-19 pandemic. Poetry instructs. Poetry enlightens. Poetry offers comfort and solace when you most need it. Poetry also expresses joy when it is fitting to celebrate life’s blessings and special moments.
Invent Like Ben
Companion Activities for A Ben of All Trades | Fly kites, draw cartoons, write journal entries, create almanacs and more.
Swimming with Ben
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | … a brief glimpse of the robust and rousing childhood of a man who became a towering figure in his own time as America’s finest printer, best scientist and inventor, greatest statesman and diplomat, and the young nation’s first popular and successful writer.
Create Mystery
Companion Activities for Nancy Drew | Create your own stories, research popular culture and more.
Writing History
Your journal is a record of your experiences since the day the world shut down. The day that time stopped. What will future historians learn about how you were affected by the COVID-19?
Nancy Drew: Women’s History
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | Nancy Drew will never grow old. Nancy Drew is a timeless fictional heroine. She will always be a young woman who is proud to be gifted and who generously uses her gifts to right wrongs at any time and in any place.
We Will remember
In preparation for the coming school year and the probability that distance learning will continue to be a part of the school experience, the Gifted Development Center’s virtual education leaders group continues to meet. Members have pooled their collective wisdom to provide support for families in the coming year.
What Would Happen If We Had No U.S. Post Office?
Thoughts from Dr. Jerry Flack | The importance of the U.S. Post Office
Celebrate Activism
Companion Activities for The Undefeated | Create tributes to those who have sacrificed, explore the authors and celebrate Black history.
An American Masterwork
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack | This remarkable book should be in every school, every library, and every home regardless of geography. The history lesson is exceptional and the artwork is magnificent.