Rainy Day? No Problem.

by Dana Turner Thomson One of the purest delights of parenthood is observing my children's passion take hold as they engage in the process of exploration, the delight on their faces as they make new discoveries and connections, and the self-satisfaction they exhibit as they find creative ways to apply their new "knowledge." Most of the time, these explorations and discoveries take place in the everyday free play that I try to make sure my kids have plenty of.  But sometimes my kids hunger for more.  Sometimes they hunger for activities that stretch their imaginations and challenge them to contemplate their world in more and more complex and nuanced ways.  This is why my children choose to participate in Center for Talent Development programs time and time again. But, alas… it’s often hard for them to decide between the various course offerings; or there’s a topic that really interests them but is aimed at students several years older; or sometimes… well, sometimes Saturday doesn’t come around often enough and the Summer program has flown by before I know it.  That’s when I’m left to my own devices.  I want to be ready to help them to explore their passions with the sort of depth they crave and also allow them the opportunity to investigate and develop new areas of interest, but while I have a background in gifted education, I do not always have the subject matter expertise or years of experience that our CTD teachers have. And so,Victoria and I are very excited to introduce to you the first of what we hope to be a regular Talent Talk feature: monthly Rainy Day Activities, expertly designed by our very own CTD instructors adapted from their CTD courses to help curb those insatiable little minds while they are at home.  Personally, Victoria and I plan to create a file of these activities as they accumulate, and pull them out on rainy days that drag on and on, summer days when the kids have asked a dozen times already when school will start up again, or those days where the kids just seem to need a little something more. For our first installment, CTD instructor Christine Cheung will explore Experiments with Baking Soda and Vinegar, an activity geared towards children ages four and up. On Saturday mornings this Spring, Christine Cheung can be found amidst a dozen first and second graders exploring poetic forms and their connection to music and movement.  Over the past four years, however, she had taught a wide variety of courses in CTD’s Gifted LearningLinks and Saturday Enrichment programs, as well as Project EXCITE. In a recent interview, she told me, "I love teaching at CTD because I feel that the program sets both teachers and students up for success. The administrative staff is amazingly supportive, the parents are extremely appreciative and the students are so enthusiastic.  I think this combination creates an incredible environment for teaching and learning," "Attending the Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC) conference in the summer of 2009 had a huge impact on my teaching style and my understanding of best practices for gifted students.  I guess the main thing that I focus on at CTD is on differentiating the curriculum.  I love that the teachers are not given a set curriculum to follow, but that they are given the opportunity to create their own curriculum based on their expertise.  I spend a lot of time preparing activities of various difficulty levels to cover a common theme.  When each session starts I take time to pre-assess students to match them with activities at the appropriate level.  I feel that because of the small class sizes, the availability of a TA, the opportunity to purchase supplies/curriculum materials of our choice, and the support of the CTD administrative staff, I am able not only to adapt my curriculum to challenge each of my students academically but also to create an environment that is socially and emotionally appropriate for the students in my class," Among Ms. Cheung’s (most recent!) favorite courses to teach have been the Physics Fun and Kid Chemists for Pre-K/K students.  She see students at this age in particular as incredibly hungry to really understand the inner workings of the world they encounter day in and day out, and so grateful to have the vocabulary and concepts to be able to talk about it.  Parents would regularly regale her with stories of their four-year-olds talking excitedly about “gravity,” “buoyancy,” and “Isaac Newton” at the dinner table! When Ms. Cheung is not passionately preparing for her classes, she enjoys playing the piano, cello and guitar.  Last summer, she played piano for a production of The Sound of Music put on by The King’s Players.  She also loves reading and being part of a book club with her friends, traveling with her family, and spending time with her kids, Hannah and Jenna. Experiments with Baking Soda and Vinegar Introduction: These experiments are taken from my class Kid Chemists for Pre-K and K students.  A chemical reaction is when you mix substances together to form something new.   The first experiment is simply to mix baking soda and vinegar together and observe what happens.   The next experiment is to make a balloon blow up by using the gas created from the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar. Materials Needed: 1.     1 box of baking soda 2.     1 bottle of vinegar 3.     Measuring spoons 4.     Measuring cups 5.     1 balloon 6.     1 plastic water bottle 7.     Funnel 8.     Large plastic cups Instructions: Activity #1: Mixing Baking Soda and Vinegar Put 3 tbs. of baking soda into a plastic cup Add ¼ cup of vinegar Discussion Question: How do you think you can make more bubbles? Activity #2: Blowing up a Balloon with Baking Soda and Vinegar 1.     Use the funnel to fill the balloon with baking soda 2.     Fill the plastic water bottle half-way with vinegar 3.     Flip the balloon over and attach it to the mouth of the plastic water bottle 4.     Observe what happens       Note: I would NOT try this experiment with students younger than age four. Additional Resources: The Magic School Bus Gets Bakes in a Cake by Linda Beech Experiments with Chemistry by Helen J. Challand What did you think of our first Rainy Day blog? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.