On February 9, 2019, 优蜜视频 celebrated its 20^th anniversary! The event took place at Annandale Golf Club with over 100 guests in attendance. Student volunteers played music, facilitated jeopardy and mingled with guests. One family even put on a photo booth for the event! It was truly a wonderful night filled with old and new community members celebrating 20 years of friendship and services for gifted youth.

The evening also honored several key players in 优蜜视频鈥檚 development as an organization: . The honorees flew in from all over the country for the occasion.

Student speakers, Nico and Alondra, shared about their experiences with 优蜜视频 and the impact that the programs, teachers and support have had on their life.

After dinner, a there was a DJ, dancing, desert, more jeopardy and photos.

All in all the evening was a wonderful success. Thank you to all of those who helped support this event, including: Dennis Finnerman, Jill Hawkins & MHP Events, the sponsors and guests. We are so grateful for all of you!

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Giant Sequoia

The Bradley Foundation
The Burke Family

Jeffrey Pine

Betsy Jones & Ted Mergenthaler
The McDonell Family
Teri and John Valentine

Live Oak

The Balbuena Family
Becky and Peter Knell
The Lee Family
Math Academy
Parents of Alexander Miller
Rodriguez, Horii, Choi & Cafferata, LLP
The Tracey Family

Media Sponsor

Pasadena Now

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With the fall season upon us, we here at 优蜜视频 would like offer a guide to festive fall activities for you and your family. But let us set the tone with inspiration from the poet John Keats.

鈥淭o Autumn鈥澛燽y John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss鈥檇 cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o鈥檈r-brimm鈥檇 their clammy cells.

Now that we鈥檙e inspired to indulge in the beauty and magic of Autumn, what better way to celebrate the season than with science, snacks and crafts!

Calling all fall-leaf-lovers:

1. with Scientific American

This project explores chromatography using fall leaves. Discover which pigments make up the beauty of fall!

2. Create with Mr. Otter Art Studio [maybe even embed this video?]

This video demonstrates how to make lovely leaf rubbing with a watercolor wash. Learn how to make

3. Fall leaves are truly one of my favorite things. Here are a few different ways to preserve them:
   1. Try with Tinker Labs
   2. Make a 鈥淲ax Dipped Leaf Garland鈥� with Leah McDermott
   3. Create with Creative Homemaking

How about some spooky science:

4. Explore 鈥溾�� with Amada Morgan

You will not be disappointed by these endlessly interesting opaque bubbles bursting with fog!

One of the best things about fall is the food! Here are some tasty treats to fuel your explorations:

5. Learn with Tinker Labs

Have you ever seen those dried cobs of corn in the market and wondered if they were food or just a decoration? Next time, pick one up, throw it in the microwave and wait for the magic!

6. Make with Yesterdish

This simple recipe is an exploration of perception, food science and American history all in one.

There are so many fun projects out there. Hopefully these activities will lead you on to many more festive explorations! What is your favorite fall-themed activity?

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In celebration of National Volunteer Week, we wanted to highlight a particular volunteer who has been a great help to us. Janet has been coming into the office twice a week since January. She supports 优蜜视频 with everything from organization to developing teacher resource materials for our program. We are incredibly grateful for the work that she does.

Here is a little about Janet:

1. Where are you from?

I am originally from California, but lived in Minnesota for seven years, and recently moved back to this warm sunny state (happily escaping the long cold winters!).

2. Describe your experience with education?

My journey in Education began when I was bitten by the travel bug after participating in Youth for Understanding for a summer during high school. That experience influenced my decision to pursue a degree in TESOL and I was lucky to have briefly taught abroad many years ago. I have always had a passion for the education field and how the brain develops, learns, and achieves creative feats. While in Minnesota, I worked with ESL and Early Education teachers as a trainer, and coach/consultant. These experiences changed my career direction towards Instructional Design.

3. Why do choose to volunteer with gifted kids?

My interest in gifted education began when I did my student teaching in a聽 5th/6th grade G.A.T.E. classroom. I enjoyed the depth, complexity, and exchange of knowledge that can be shared with the students.聽 I choose to volunteer because I believe in making a difference in this world. I feel that one way I can contribute positively is by sharing my knowledge and experiences, and by helping children reach their full potential so they too can make a positive impact on society.

4. What do you like to do for fun?

On my spare time I like to read, write poetry, Zumba, and explore other cultures.

In the words of Program Coordinator, Alexis Hopper: 鈥淭hank you for contributing your time, experience, skill and passion to 优蜜视频 Academy, Janet! Your work to support our students, teachers, and staff has made an impact that is truly appreciated. Thank you for being a part of our team!鈥�

Pour some hot coco;
grab your scissors, tape and glue.
Science + crafts who knew?!

Look no further for a holiday craft bound to brighten the season. Below you鈥檒l find instructions for how to make a light up card using a simple circuit. Before we begin, here is a that will give you a glimpse of the project.

What you鈥檒l need:

• • Did you know ? This tape can be found at your local hardware store under the name 鈥渟lug tape!鈥�
• Cardstock or construction paper
• Tape
• Scissors
• Any and every crafting supply! (Including but not limited to: colored pencils, crayons, markers, tissue paper, glitter, felt, foam, and feathers)

Step I: Fold the card
Start with a full sheet of cardstock or construction paper and fold it in half to make a card.

Step II: Design your masterpiece
Think of how you would like to decorate the front of your card. What part of the scene would you like to be lit up, maybe a reindeer鈥檚 nose, the glowing part of a candle, a star, or lights on a tree? Whether you choose a figurative scene or an abstract universe, draw, cut and glue your heart out. Just don鈥檛 forget to pick a spot for the light!

Step III: Locate the light
Once you know where you want the light to appear, poke a small hole through the front panel of the card with a pen or scissors. On the inside flap of the card, use your pencil and draw a small circle around this hole.

Step IV: Map it out
Open up your card and follow the steps below to draw a map of the circuit directly behind your creation.

1. With a pencil make a medium circle where you want your battery to go. (Consider This: When the card is closed, you will press the battery to make the light come on. Put the battery in a place that correlates with your design. Like right on the stump of your Christmas tree for example.)
2. Now, draw lines to represent the copper tape
   1. Draw a line from the center of the battery circle to one side of your light hole (negative current).
   2. Beginning on the opposite side of the battery circle, draw a line to other side of the light bulb (positive current). Make sure your line does not touch the edge of the circle.

Step V: Where the magic happens

1. Lay the copper tape along the lines you drew in Step IV.
   1. Lay the copper tape over the first line you drew (from the middle of the battery to the edge of the light hole). This is the negative strip.
   2. For the positive strip, fold a half inch tab on one side of your copper tape. Right beneath the fold, lay the copper tape over the second line you drew (from the opposite side of the battery to the edge of the light hole). The tab should hover over the battery when you are finished. This will serve as your on/off switch when the card is closed.
2. Place the battery on your map negative side down. Secure the battery using clear tape. Make sure to only cover half of the battery with tape so that there is plenty of room for the folded tab to make contact with the positive side of the battery.
3. If you are using LED lights like the one鈥檚 linked above, there will be a short leg and a long leg (these are called leads). Push the bulb through the hole and tape the longer lead (positive) to the positive strip of copper tape. Now tape shorter (negative) lead to the negative strip of copper tape. Depending on what kind of LED light you have this part may look a little different.
4. Test your light by pressing the positive folded tab to the battery. Now, close the card and check it out.
5. Don鈥檛 forget to write a note!

Want to learn more? Check out these additional resources:

• 鈥溾��

Check out some and crafts for kids!

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聽鈥淭he world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside by a generous hand. But- and this is the point- who gets excited by a mere penny? But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days.鈥� 鈥� Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

As someone prone to dwell in the weightiness of things, this idea has been a real gift to me. Beauty and goodness in some shape or form abound on this earth. All we need to do is notice. Though there are many ways to nurture 鈥渁 healthy poverty and simplicity,鈥� humility and attentiveness are a good place to start. When we engage our lives and surroundings with humility, we allow ourselves the grace to be surprised and delighted, without presumption or judgement. Learning to be attentive is just a way of showing up.

I find that when I spend a little bit of time looking at something carefully, it helps me see everything else a little bit differently. Blind drawings are one of my favorite ways to practice this.

Blind Drawings
Blind drawings have a two-fold pay off: First, they are a wonderful way of slowing down and examining a familiar object in a new way. Second, they always yield quirky, expressive, and just downright interesting representations of the subject. For this exercise, spend 2 minutes drawing an object without ever looking at your paper. I will demonstrate by drawing one of my hands. (See detailed instructions below.)

Supplies
A piece of paper, a pen and two hands

Set-Up
Grab a paper and pen and set it up so that you only need one hand to draw. Now, rest your non-dominant hand in a comfortable and visually interesting position. Your non-dominant hand (the hand you will be drawing) should be far enough away that you can鈥檛 see it when you are looking at your paper.

Before you begin to draw, take a moment to carefully examine the resting hand; allow your eyes to slowly trace the exterior and interior lines. What shapes do you see? How do the different parts relate to each other? If you were to draw horizontal and vertical lines across your hand, what parts would line up with one another?

Ready, set, draw!
Remember, the trick to this is not thinking about what you are drawing, but focusing mainly on what you are seeing. Now, pick up your pen and rest it on your paper. Fix your eyes upon the object resolving to not look at your drawing hand or paper at all for the next two minutes. Choose a starting point with your eyes, place your pen on the paper (remember, don鈥檛 pick it up for the next two minutes) and begin to draw.

When you are finished, you may look at your drawing and feel disappointed by how much it does not look like your hand. BUT, I want to encourage you to take a moment and look at the drawing, not as a representation of a hand, but as an expression of your observation. People are my absolute favorite subjects to draw this way. If you are up for it, try that next!

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鈥淚sn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive鈥︹�� L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

There are many ways to explore and learn new things. One wonderful medium is the podcast. A podcast is an episodic audio program available via the internet. There are many incredible podcasts out there with themes ranging from science, to current events. Some notable programs you are likely to have heard of are This American Life, Radio Lab, and Serial. This week, I would like to share a few podcasts that I think are great for the gifted learner. Please note that, while I have provided a link to each show鈥檚 website, you should also be able to find each podcast for free on iTunes.

Get your daily dose of podcast with these tiny scientific expositions that manage to squeeze anecdotes, interviews, and a satisfying amount of information into two minute episodes. Episodes focus largely on biological topics about plants and animals, with occasional episodes rooted in other sciences such as 鈥淚s Mars Missing a Moon?鈥� 2-3 min

Aaron鈥檚 World is a very cute 鈥渁dventure鈥� podcast from the imagination of a little boy. Although the narrative structure does not really take off until episode six, each episode features a different dinosaur and some context about its聽environment. To get context for the whole story it is best to start from the beginning. 2-3 min

A science show for kids, Brains On strives to be engaging and educational. The show is very kid-centric, which is great; however, I do feel that it at times lacks substantial content. Nonetheless, for a younger gifted learner, it may provide them with a space where curiosity is encouraged and celebrated. 30 min

There are 18 episodes of Kids Who Code. Knowing little about the world of coding, some of the concepts went over my head, making it more difficult to evaluate. However, I was so happy to come across a podcast for kids with this topic that I had to include it. 25 min

Physics Central is rich in content and well produced.聽 The structure of the show follows a typical radio-story-telling format in that there is a narrator providing context for comments from scientists and researchers in the physics world on a given topic. This is an excellent podcast for kids who have a big appetite for science. 25 min

I like this show because it鈥檚 unique. Short and Curly is a podcast about ethics. The two Australian hosts ask questions like: 鈥淐an you trust a robot?鈥� 鈥淪hould you eat your pet?鈥澛� 鈥淚s Dumbledore as great as he seems?鈥� At times the level of reasoning may feel simple to a gifted child, but they do a good job of asking questions that do not have straight answers and therefore are capable of engaging a broad audience of listeners. Kids are encouraged to call in or e-mail, which I like. 20-25 min

Below are a few podcasts that would be well-suited to family listening, or teens due to mature content.

99% Invisible is a podcast about architecture and design. The show explores the power of architecture and the way spaces influence our lives. It is beautifully done and brings new meaning to the environments we spend our lives within. This podcast is produced by Roman Mars, whose Ted Talk on design has over 3 million views.聽 25 min

FW: Thinking looks into the future of 鈥渢echnology, humanity, and the future.鈥� This podcast covers a wonderful variety of topics and entertains possible outcomes to the way the world is changing. In addition, its聽website hosts a large library of videos I did not look into myself, but appear very interesting. 45 min

Invisibilia weaves together scientific concepts, input from experts, and the stories of everyday people to explore 鈥渢he invisible forces that control human behavior.鈥� This show has a tendency to explore some intense human experiences, and thus can be heavy listening for the more empathetic and sensitive among us. 60-70 min

Radio Lab is a downright amazing podcast. Not only is it a wonderful sensory experience but the content is rich, complex, surprising, humorous, and moving. Its聽“About” page says it best:聽 鈥淩adiolab is a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.鈥� 40 min

The Memory Palace is a historical story telling podcast wherein the narrator explores a place, person, or event and tells a story you probably have not heard before. For such a short show, it leaves a strong impression. 10 min

Other Suggestions: , ,

Please note that I have not listened through every episode of each program. I would recommend that parents look into each podcast before permitting children to listen alone.

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Morgan received a B.F.A in Studio Art from Biola University. She is an interdisciplinary artist committed to cultivating a rich awareness and engagement with the world around her. Morgan is passionate about education and deeply admires 优蜜视频鈥檚 commitment to developing the whole person. Over the past five years, Morgan has worked in a number of different educational and administrative roles. Prior to coming to 优蜜视频 she served as a school group docent for The Getty Center and a nanny to a family with a gifted child. She is exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to work alongside such lovely people and to further 优蜜视频鈥檚 meaningful mission.

NPR ed鈥檚 features several articles that discuss various ways in which our current system fails to meet kids where they are. Right next to an article about 聽(the movement to acknowledge and better accommodate introverted personalities) is an interview discussing a new book called . Preceding both of these is the story of an 11-year-old black girl who grew so frustrated with the lack of diversity in the books she was reading in school that she decided to collect 1,000 texts about black girls. As we evaluate the myriad of educational needs of our students, my question is this: how can individualized, less standardized classroom environments help the gifted student?

Author Todd Rose identifies part of the problem this way: “We’ve come to embrace a way of thinking about ourselves as people that was intentionally designed to ignore all individuality and force everything in reference to an average person.”聽 He goes on to say, 鈥淚f all kids are multidimensional in their talent, their aptitude, you can鈥檛 reduce them to a single score.鈥� These ideas are meaningful for the gifted learner.聽 Gifted kids are far from simple; their worlds are emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically complex. What if, somehow, there was enough freedom in the classroom to indulge, express, and cultivate some of these complexities in the company of other children? It may seem idealistic, but I think it鈥檚 possible.

What I think is most wonderful about individualization is the way it gives people the opportunity to empathize with and truly value the uniqueness of human beings. If a classroom was a space that permitted, even encouraged, the depths of human diversity, children would be free to pursue their personal potentials, while learning to love and respect one another. Chester E. Finn Jr. , co-author of refers to individualization as one educational reform that is already in motion. He has on the subject:

鈥� Without going crazy 鈥� everybody still needs to learn to multiply, to compose a grammatical sentence, to explain the background of the Civil War 鈥� education is ripe to shift from batch-processing to customizing kids鈥� instructional experience, moving from pre-set menus to some version of 鈥済razing.鈥� Not just with regard to what is learned or when, but also the mode of instruction 鈥� and the rate at which a youngster moves through school.鈥�

Individualization is coming to our schools, whether it be in the form of project based learning or technological programming. I have great hope that this movement in tandem with other important reforms (such as school choice) will effect positive change in our school systems.

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