ABC PEEL CURRENT EVENTS

ABC Peel -Children's Playshops 

CTW LEGO Robotics  

Saturday, April 19th, 2008 

1:00 PM - 3:30 PM 

9 - 16 years, GRADE 3 to 8 

The Church of the Holy Spirit, 

1170 Tynegrove Rd, Mississauga 

(North of Burnhamthorpe, just west of Dixie, off of Golden Orchard Rd) 

Cost : $ 30.00 for members ($ 40.00 for non-members) 

Space is limited

RSVP by April 12th to reserve via the activities@abcpeel.org  AND send your cheque to P.O. Box 10010 Watline Postal Outlet, Mississauga, ON L4Z 4G5 

If you are interested in a CTW Day Camp August 18-22, 2008, Email your interest to activities@abcpeel.org 

MANNERS & ETIQUETTE 

(Introductions, Self Esteem, Pride in Appearance, Telephone, Table Manners, etc.) 

Saturday, May 31st, 2008 

9:00 AM - 12 Noon for ages 6 - 9 years 

1:00 PM - 4:00 PM for ages 10 - 13 years 

The Church of the Holy Spirit, 

1170 Tynegrove Rd, Mississauga 

(North of Burnhamthorpe, just west of Dixie, off of Golden Orchard Rd) 

Cost: $ 30.00 for members ($ 40.00 for non-members) 

Space is limited

RSVP by April 12th to reserve via the activities@abcpeel.org  AND send your cheque to P.O. Box 10010 Watline Postal Outlet, Mississauga, ON L4Z 4G5 

Annual Catharsis Night

Come to our annual Catharsis Night, at the Peel DSB office (details below) 

CA-THAR-SIS, noun, from the Greek, katharsi 

There will be a panel of speakers, including Claire Zeller, Dr. Ed Blackstock, and Joan Dinnin. 

Claire Zeller is a retired math teacher who helped develop the entire gifted special education model for Peel, starting over 20 years ago. 

Dr. Blackstock is a registered psychologist who was Chief Psychologist for the Peel District School Board for over 15 years and now runs the Wings Development Centre in Toronto. 

Joan Dinnin is a Co-ordinator with the Special Education Department at the Peel District School Board. 

Bring your concerns and get the answers to any and all questions about gifted education. (You do not have to be a member of ABC Peel to attend) 

Please, join us for coffee and conversation at 7:15 pm; we start at 7:30 pm, ending about 9 pm or a little later, Thursday March 27, 2008.   Any questions? email support@abcpeel.org or call our ABC hotline at 905-782-0055 (yes, there is voicemail there)

Date:  Thursday March 27, 2008. 

Time: When:  7:15 pm or coffee and conversation; 7:30 pm for the panel.

Location: Mississauga Room, ground floor, Peel DSB Offices at 5650 Hurontario (at the south west corner of the Hurontario/Matheson intersection; enter parking off Matheson)

FEBRUARY PARENTS' NIGHT MEETING - date and room change!

YES, IT REALLY IS ROCKET SCIENCE!! 

February 2008, our Parents’ Night will be held on a Tuesday a week earlier than usual. 

The new date will be Tuesday February 19, 2008 at 7:15pm in the Mississauga Room at the board offices. 

The date change is to accommodate our speaker Dr. Jason Lassaline, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at Ryerson University in Toronto. Dr. Lassaline will give a presentation about Ryerson University’s exciting aerospace engineering program that provides only one of two undergraduate degrees of its kind in Canada. Many of you may not realize that Canada has the third largest aerospace industry in the world! The professor will also be available to answer your questions about this program and advise on the prerequisite courses needed to apply to this amazing program. 

The evening is geared towards high school age students and their parents. Tell all of your friends to join us and please RSVP at support@abcpeel.org as we will be providing refreshments.

JANUARY PARENTS' NIGHT MEETING 

Our Parents’ Night this month will be held on Thursday January 31, 2008 at 7:15 pm in the Inglewood Room at the HJA Brown Building. 

Our topic will be Advocacy and CCAT tests. 

Those of you with children who are about to take the CCAT test or have just received the results from last year’s CCAT test will have your results explained and receive information on the next steps in advocating for your gifted child. Have you ever wondered how to ask for testing from your school, or how to ask to have your child placed in a congregated gifted class? This meeting will help to answer all of those questions, and show you the process. 

Please tell your friends who may have these similar questions to join us on January 31, 2008. We would like to provide information to parents who may not be aware of ABC and may not understand the process of getting a child tested and placed into a contained gifted class. Please pass along the date and time of this meeting to anyone who may be interested. "

November 2007 Parents' Night is rescheduled

New date - Thursday, December 13, 2007

Attention all parents. 

Our regularly scheduled Parents' Night meeting on November 29, 2007 has been rescheduled to December 13, 2007.  This change has been made due to the fact that Nov. 29th conflicts with Parent Interview night at many schools.  We are sorry for the inconvenience but hope to see you on Thursday, December 13, 2007 in the Inglewood Room at the PDSB at 7:15pm.  (see map on our Parents' Night page)

We have invited the 5 Regional Gifted High School Coordinators to give a short presentation and answer questions about choosing the enhanced program in high school.  The evening will be geared towards children in grades 6 through 8 and their parents.  

Please tell your friends with children in grades 6-8 to bring them along and join us for an informative evening. We hope to see you on December 13th!

October 2007 Parents' Night is cancelled due to unavailability of the room.

FAMILY GAME Day

Saturday, October 20, 2007, 

1:30 pm - 3:30 pm 

Brampton West Alliance Church,

1 Regan Road, Brampton 

(near the car dealerships on Van Kirk Drive - North of Bovaird, first street on the left) 

Please join us for an afternoon of fun and games. 

All ages (0-99) welcome and are encouraged to take part in a game or two and have some fun too! 

CLASSICS: Scrabble, Monopoly, Chess, Checkers, Euchre, Poker, match, puzzles, ?. NEW: Cranium Cadoo, Mind?s i, Boggle, Blokus, DaVinci, Labyrinth, RichMan, ?.

 * Bring your favourite board game and a deck of cards Please bring a snack to share or a toonie. Invite your friends.

 RSVP: contact gheisz@sympatico.ca 

SEPTEMBER PARENTS' NIGHT MEETING 

This month, our Parent's Night will be held on Thursday, September 27,2007. Since there are usually many open houses at each of your children's schools, there will not be a speaker for the evening. Please bring along your coffee, tea or juice drink. We will be having an informal discussion. You can talk about anything you wish, talk to other parents, or ask questions. We hope to have executive members available to answer your specific concerns, or you can just come out to mingle with other parents like yourselves. If you have any friends who are "new" to the gifted community, please feel free to bring them along. 

As always, the meeting will be held at 7:30 pm in the Inglewood Room on the 3rd floor of the Peel District School Board offices at 5650 Hurontario St. (at Matheson). - see map on our Parents' Night page

ABC Peel's 'Bring Your Own Basket' Picnic Day 

Family Picnic Sunday, June 24th, 2007, 10:00am - 3:00pm 

Join us at ABC Peel's Family Picnic 

Date: Sunday June 24, 2007 

Time: from 10 am to 3 pm. 

Location: Inglewood Park - (Village of Inglewood, in Caledon) -  on McLaughlin Rd., west of Hwy. #10 and north of Olde Baseline Rd. (parking at Lloyd Wilson Arena) 

Directions: Take Hwy 401 to Hwy 410 traveling north, Hwy 410 turns into Heart Lake Rd, turn left on Old Baseline Rd, continue past Hwy 10 to McLaughlin Rd (formerly Dufferin St.), turn right on McLaughlin Rd. The park is on the east side of the road just over the bridge. Park your car at Lloyd Wilson Arena, 15549 McLaughlin Rd. 

Food: Be sure to bring your own food. Please note that ABC Peel is NOT providing the food. 

RSVP: Let us know if you hope to attend and the ages of the kids coming so we have some idea what kind of activities to plan. Email activities@abcpeel. 

This year's picnic will be held in the Historic Village of Inglewood, in Caledon.  A branch of the Credit River is next to the park. There's access for fishing and wading. Hiking and biking can also be done on the trail. 

Historical Background: Inglewood, once known as Sligo Junction, was a boom town in the late 1870's when the tracks of the Hamilton and Northwestern Railway and the Credit Valley Railway converged and crossed over one another at this point, making it a union station. Eight passenger trains a day and numerous freight trains kept the station busy. Today, one railway remains, offering train excursions between Orangeville and Brampton, with a stopover in Inglewood. The other has been converted into the Caledon Trailway. The Caledon Trailway connects to the Trans Canada Trail and the Bruce Trail. If you travel east on the trail from Inglewood you can cross over the newly erected Caledon Trailway Pedestrian bridge taking you safely over Hwy. 10. If you go west you'll come across the famous Caledon Badlands. Inglewood is also where the Oak Ridges Moraine butts against the Niagara Escarpment. The Inglewood Railway Hotel, built in 1877, once popular with travellers and residents as a place to eat, drink and socialize, is now the Inglewood General Store. Still a popular place to eat and socialize, the store has a gift shop, deli, imported grocery items, an ice cream parlour and, in the summer, an outdoor lunch spot serving barbequed hamburgers, hotdogs and sausage.  

MAY PARENTS' NIGHT 

This month's ABC Peel Parents' Meeting 

Date: Thursday May 31, 2007

Time: 6:30 pm - NOTE TIME CHANGE

Place: The Inglewood Room, 3rd floor Peel DSB offices, 5650 Hurontario St (enter off Matheson), Mississauga - see map on our Parents' Night page

• 6:30 pm - Opening remarks by Gina Heisz followed by a light sandwich dinner.
  

• 7:10 pm - Brief remarks to provide the participants with an overview of the issues. The participants will then break into three or four small groups and work to develop suggestions and recommendations using a discussion guide. Members of the ABC Peel Executive will serve as the discussion leaders and takes notes of comments and input.

• The final portion of the meeting will be used to report back to the full group on the proposed suggestions and recommendations.
  

• 9:00 pm End

APRIL PARENTS' NIGHT 

This month's ABC Peel Parents' Meeting 

Date: Thursday April 26, 2007

Time: 7:15 pm for conversation;  7:30 pm for the meeting

Place: The Inglewood Room, 3rd floor Peel DSB offices, 5650 Hurontario St (enter off Matheson), Mississauga - see map on our Parents' Night page

We will discuss end-of-year review IPRC and reviewing IEPs. 

Some questions might be  

• Your child's principal suggests that the IPRC meeting will be routine and mostly administrative, and there is no need to come. What do you do? 
• The in-school withdrawal support person (for ISELP) has suggested that the congregated program might be good for your child. The principal say that everything will be covered at the home school IPRC. Is that the best approach?
• Your child is in a congregated class, say grade 6, and getting far ahead in math. The teacher will be the same for next year, but says he cannot consider subject acceleration. How do you prepare for the IPRC? Is that the best place to deal with it?
• Your grade 4 son took the CCAT in January, but you have not heard back on the results yet. What do you do?

And many more ..................

So, come with your suggestions and questions.

CATHARSIS NIGHT 

This month's ABC Peel Parents' Meeting is our Annual Catharsis Night!

Date: Thursday March 29, 2007

Time: 7:15 pm for conversation;  7:30 pm for the meeting

Place: The Inglewood Room, 3rd floor Peel DSB offices, 5650 Hurontario St (enter off Matheson), Mississauga - see map on our Parents' Night page

There will be a panel of 4 speakers: 

Claire Zeller, a retired math teacher who helped develop the entire gifted special education model for Peel

Dr. Ed Blackstock, a registered psychologist who was Peel's chief psychologist for over 10 years and now runs the Wings Development Centre in Toronto

Lois McGinn,  a teacher at Glenforest Secondary who is also the co-ordinator for the gifted program at that school, and

Lori D'Aquila, a parent and ABC Peel executive member, who handles the telephone and email support for ABC Peel.

This is a night for parents to come out and ask for advice and express concerns in gifted education in Peel.  Please bring a friend.  As always, you do not have to be a member to attend our meetings. 

ABC Ontario Annual Conference 

This year the annual general meeting for ABC Ontario will be held on April 13-14, 2007. The two day event will be held at the Michener Institute on 222 St. Patrick St. in Toronto, and will feature Dr. Karen B. Rogers as the keynote speaker.   

The Friday session will run from 8:30am until 4:00pm and will be of interest to teachers and other educational professionals. The fees for the Friday session are $175 for members, $225 for non-members. Sessions will include lectures, professional development, discussion panels, and participation for educators (and parents).

The Saturday session runs from 9:00am until 4:00pm and is geared towards the ABC family with many interesting children's programs for grades 1 to 7 available in the morning and afternoon.  You can book for one session or mix and match.  The fees for the Saturday session is $50 for members and $100 for non-members.  The actual voting session on April 14, 2007 is free for ABC members. 

ABC Peel has organized the children's programs and will be providing 3 morning and 3 afternoon programs to choose from for grade 1 to 7. They are: 

NEURON TICKLER by Spirit of Math, 

VERMICOMPOSTERS by Earthrangers, 

LEGO ROBOTICS by Little Scientist, 

WHIMZ an interactive animal program, 

STOKING YOUR CREATIVE FIRES by Penn Kemp, and 

HOW TO GET PUBLISHED by Gavin Stairs. 

The fee for the children's programs are $45 for the 1st child and $40 for each additional child in the same family. These programs are open to conference attendees and ABC members only, with priority to the conference attendees, since space is limited.

For more information go to  ABC Ontario.

Parents' Night for Thursday February 22, 2007 

Please note room and time change 

Our topic will be "Cognitive Science Program at U of T".   

Professor John Vervaeke will be joining us along with 2 senior students to discuss this fascinating interdisciplinary program that combines studies in cognitive psychology, philosophy, linguistics and computer science (artificial intelligence). Prof. Vervaeke was nominated in 2006 for TVO's Best Lecturer Challenge in Ontario, and received one of the five teaching awards at UofT in 2000/2001. 

Children in grades 7 and up are welcome.

This meeting will be held in conjunction with the Toronto ABC chapter.

Place :   The Mississauga Room at the Peel District School Board building at 5650 Hurontario St. in Mississauga.

Time :  The meeting will begin at 7 pm instead of our regular 7:30 start

Date :  Thursday, February 22, 2007

JANUARY PARENTS' MEETING 

Parents' Night for Thursday, January 25, at 7:15 pm.

Why choose Regional Gifted for Secondary? 

There are lots of choices in both the Dufferin Peel and the Peel boards for secondary students. And students from both schools boards can access many of each other's programs in their area. Students might stay in their local secondary for their home area, going on through the regular academic or applied programs for the four years of high school. Or they might think about the arts, business, technologies, extended or immersion French, co-op programs and, even, yes, a continuation of or move to an enhanced program. Gifted students take those all of those options, but did they review and understand the choices, before they committed? 

Many secondary schools with specialist programs put on road shows in the late fall or early winter. So, the Mayfield and Cawthra Park arts schools of the Peel DSB, like the four International Baccalaureate programs in the region, do a great job of letting intermediate age students know how good they are. With those road shows, and later open houses, they demonstrate how their students learn and benefit from their programs in so many ways. So, with all those other excellent choices, why should gifted students think about the regional enhanced learning classes (RELC)? 

ABC Peel will present information that will help you understand what's on offer, and how to make the choices. Parents and students are all welcome. Though students at grade 7 and above might benefit most, some grade 5 students would also (as some choices are made in grade 5 to go to an IB, sci-tech or arts/IBT program). You do not have to be an ABC member to attend (though we would like you to join soon). 

Speaker: Come and hear Lois McGinn, who leads the regional gifted program at Glenforest Secondary in Mississauga. Lois will present and speak about how the enhanced programs are flexible, challenging, responsive, and lead to great academic outcomes. Look into the choices, and make wise choices, with the facts. 

Place: Inglewood Room, 3rd floor, Peel DSB at 5650 Hurontario Street, Mississauga

Time: get there by 7:15 for coffee and a chat; presentation and talk start at 7:30

Date: Thursday Jan 25, 2007

NOVEMBER PARENTS' MEETING 

NOTE: DATE CHANGE for this event only! 

This month's ABC Peel Parents' Meeting 

Topic: "Building and Maintaining Positive Parent-Teacher Relationships" 

This topic and timing is arranged so that you are ready to attend your child's parent-teacher meeting at the end of this month 

Speakers: Vera Teschow M.Ed., a former teacher of enhanced classes in Peel for a number of years and now on staff at the Peel DSB West Field Office, and Joan Dinnin, a Co-ordinator of Special Education Support Services at PDSB.    

Vera and Joan will discuss the importance of maintaining positive relationships with your child's teacher and will give tips on how to get the best for your child. They will also give us information regarding contacts at the school board level. 

Location: Mississauga Room (not the Inglewood Room mentioned in the Parents' Night map) at the Peel DSB offices. 

Date: Thursday November 23, 2006; gather at 7:15 p.m., the meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.

NOTE: that this meeting has been timed to take the place of our usual meeting of the last Thursday of the month. 

Bring your questions on this important subject. See you there! 

ABC PEEL FAMILY GAME DAY

Saturday, November 25, 2006

10:00 am to noon

At Holy Spirit Church, 1170 Tynegrove Rd, Mississauga
(West of Dixie, North of Burnhamthorpe, off of Golden Orchard Rd)

Please join us for an afternoon of fun and games.

All ages (0-99) welcome and are encouraged to take part in a game or two and have some fun too!

CLASSICS: Scrabble, Monopoly, Chess, GO, Checkers, Euchre, Poker, match, puzzles, ….
NEW: Cranium Cadoo, Mind’s eye, Boggle, Blokus, DaVinci, Labyrinth, RichMan, ….

* Bring your favourite board game and a deck of cards

Please bring a snack to share or a two-nie. Invite your friends & neighbors.

RSVP: contact Karen at activities@abcpeel.org

This is a community family social sponsored by ABC 

OCTOBER PARENTS' NIGHT MEETING

NOTE: LOCATION CHANGE for this event only!

How should IEPs support learning and provide clear guidance on the programming for your child?  Become well informed about the whole process and the ways to prepare and implement a good IEP. 

Speakers: Becky Hurwitz and Rosann Lacalamita 

Becky and Rosann will be discussing how IEPs should suit individual gifted students. They will lead us through the modification of content, pace, instruction, and outcome. They are the research team and authors of the Ministry sponsored document "Developing Individual Education Plans" for the gifted.   

Parents' Night Sponsors: ABC Peel with ABC Toronto 

This month we are having a joint parent night with ABC Toronto.  

Location: Brentwood Public Library (upstairs meeting room) at 36 Brentwood Road North, Toronto, off Bloor Street West, It's not far: 200 metres west from Royal York TTC subway; about 8 minutes drive east from 427, with on street parking. Why not car-pool?  

Map  to Brentwood Library showing closest TTC subway locations

Click Here for Google Map to Brentwood Library

Meeting date: Thursday, October 26, 2006

Gather at 7:15 for coffee and conversation; starts at 7:30, for about 90 minutes This is a workshop format. 

ABC PEEL FAMILY GAME DAY

Saturday, September 23, 2006

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

At Holy Spirit Church, 1170 Tynegrove Rd, Mississauga
(West of Dixie, North of Burnhamthorpe, off of Golden Orchard Rd)

Please join us for an afternoon of fun and games.

All ages (0-99) welcome and are encouraged to take part in a game or two and have some fun too!

CLASSICS: Scrabble, Monopoly, Chess, GO, Checkers, Euchre, Poker, match, puzzles, ….
NEW: Cranium Cadoo, Mind’s eye, Boggle, Blokus, DaVinci, Labyrinth, RichMan, ….

* Bring your favourite board game and a deck of cards

Please bring a snack to share or a two-nie. Invite your friends & neighbors.

RSVP: contact Karen at activities@abcpeel.org

This is a community family social

The first Parents' Night of the 2006/2007 school year will be held on Thursday, September 28, 2006. It will be a casual coffee night with no scheduled speaker. All are welcome so drop by and visit. For location, time and directions go to the Parents' Night page.

The Spirit of Math

ABC Peel Parents’ Night of May 25, 2006 featured a presentation about ‘Spirit of Math Schools’, an after-school school program for high performance math students.

Spirit of Math Schools provided ABC Peel with several brain bogglers which are math problems for each grade for parents and students to try.

Selected Questions from Grade 1 Competition 2006 click here (73KB PDF)

Selected Questions from Grade 2 Competition 2006 click here (68KB PDF)

Selected Questions from Grade 3 Competition 2006 click here (75KB PDF)

Selected Questions from Grade 4 Competition 2006 click here (70KB PDF)

Selected Questions from Grade 5 Competition 2006 click here (23KB PDF)

See the Things To Do page for activities and programs that may be of interest to bright and gifted children

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Peel Summer Academy

Peel Summer Academy is a unique residential program for intellectually gifted students. It is offered by the Centre for Education and Training, Peel District School Board.

The program provides intellectual stimulation, a variety of recreational and social activities, and an opportunity to live away from home, in a well-supervised context, with a wonderful group of peers who share the same intellectual gifts.

2006 will be our 22nd year! Detail on each of the four programs being offered in 2006 can be found under the individual program tabs at The Centre for Education and Training.

To be eligible for Peel Summer Academy students must currently be in grades 4 to 10 and be formally identified as Intellectually Gifted. Students participate in the program for the grade they are attending in the 2005/2006 school year. Parents of a child who has not been formally identified may submit, for consideration, a letter of reference from the school principal with a copy of the most recent report card.

For further information go to The Centre for Education and Training

2006 Parent Catharsis Night

This month, on March 30th, 2006 we are having our annual parent Catharsis night.

CA-THAR-SIS, noun, from the Greek, katharsi; it may be Greek to some (Αυτό το μήνα, στις 30 Μαρτίου, έχουμε το μας ετήσια νύχτα Catharsis με την ομάδα πολύ πεπειραμένων εμπειρογνωμόνων μας:).

Or even

jährliche Katharsisnacht (German)
연례 카타르시스 밤 (Korean)
notte annuale di catharsis (Italian)
每年净化作用夜 (Chinese)
noche anual del catharsis (Spanish)
однолетняя ноча катарсиса (Russian)
noite anual do catharsis (Portuguese)
annual Catharsis night (English)

This month, on March 30th, 2006 we are having our annual Catharsis night with our team of very knowledgeable experts:
Ed Blackstock, psychologist
Claire Zeller, educator of the gifted
Barb Murck, parent of gifted and a long term active member of ABC Peel

Bring your concerns and get the answers to any and all questions about gifted education. (You do not have to be a member of ABC Peel to attend)

Join us at:
Timing: 7:15 pm, ending about 9 pm or a little later, Thursday March 30, 2006.
Place: Mississauga Room, ground floor, Peel DSB Offices at 5650 Hurontario (at the south west corner of the Hurontario/Matheson intersection; enter parking off Matheson)

‡Special Notice: The meeting place has being changed to Mississauga Room, ground floor, Peel DSB Offices at 5650 Hurontario for this meeting only. Please refer to the map provided above for the building location only.

Any questions? Email support@abcpeel.org or call our ABC hotline at 905-782-0055 (yes, there is voicemail there)

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