Parent & Student Resources

Art of Problem Solving creates educational materials for motivated students in grades 2–12. Our books, classes, and online resources help students become creative, successful problem solvers.

Three different options of resources (pre-tests available for placement):

1. Art of Problem Solving Online Grades 5-12 (online courses and textbooks available)
2. Beast Academy Grades 2-5 (online courses and textbooks available)
3. Art of Problem Solving Academy (in-person after school learning centers)

This is a free virtual STEM program for students entering grades 4-8, hosted by York High School senior, Ava Hollis. Students will submit questions that they have about anything science related. See recordings from her Summer Science HERE. Once or twice a month, she will select a question and answer it in a kid-friendly and fun way with experiments and visuals. Sessions are about 30 minutes and you can tune in whenever you can! 

Middle School teams will be connected with York NHS students for virtual tutoring after school hours.  For more information, ask your teacher, principal or Dave Beedy.

There are many ways to keep your kids reading in summer and throughout the school year! 

• Elmhurst Public Library's Media Match Jr Program is available to match your student to reading material that is right for them. 
•  Join the Elmhurst Summer Reading Program.  It is a fun way to stay motivated and keep reading throughout the Summer.  Go to the Elmhurst Public Library website for more information and how to sign up.
• Be sure to check out the Newbery Medal winner books and the Rebecca Caudill list of books.   Both lists are updated yearly, contain high quality reading materials, and include student input.  Be sure to check grade level recommendations as some of the middle school books contain mature themes. 

ELA Enrichment Information: Thank you to Leanne Rider, Field Elementary School REACH teacher, for sharing the following ELA enrichment information with the Reach Parent Group in Fall 2022:

Reading Recommendations: The best way to improve in all areas of Language Arts is to READ a wide variety of high level books; complex sentence structure, interesting/unexpected plot lines, and challenging vocabulary all help promote student growth. Incorporating multiple genres is another way to challenge students; fiction, non-fiction, poetry and other forms of verse provide students with a rich literature experience. Here are some suggested titles to help:

Fiction (Historical Fiction): Incorporating more Nonfiction through Fiction

• Echo: Pam Munoz Ryan
• The Footsteps of Crazy Horse: Joseph Marshall III
• The War That Saved My Life: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
• The Nerviest Girl in the World: Melissa Wiley
• The Length of A String: Elissa Brent Weissman

Verse: Interpreting Figurative Language

• Locomotion: Jacqueline Woodson (also Brown Girl Dreaming)
• Heartbeat: Sharon Creech 
• Diamond Willow: Helen Frost 
• Closer to Nowhere: Ellen Hopkins
• The Crossover: Kwame Alexander

NonFiction: Incorporating more Fiction through Nonfiction

• The Boys in the Boat: Daniel James Brown
• All Thirteen: Christina Soontornvat
• Amelia Lost: Candace Fleming
• It’s Trevor Noah: Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood: Trevor Noah
• Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math: Jeannine Atkins

Spelling and Grammar: Online games recommended by reading teachers:

• Spelling/grammar games:
  • https://www.spellingtraining.com/about.html
  • Freerice.com
• Typing Games:
  • https://www.free-training-tutorial.com/typing-games/dragon/dragon.html
  • https://www.freetypinggame.net/play14.asp

STEMDuPage.com is a website for Parents, Middle School Students and Educators whose goal is to “provide information, encourage connection and collaboration, and motivate learning and play in the areas of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.”  From projects to do, to resources for learning and teaching, this website is a one stop shop for DuPage residents.  Sign up for their bimonthly newsletter delivered straight to your email. 

Tuesday Technologies ​was created by York Freshmen, Jeffrey Lu and Joe Byrne, and is a web based smart management tool that helps with executive functioning and keeping school work tasks organized and prioritized correctly.

In the summer of 2020, Jeffrey and Joe noticed a huge jump in the amount of independence and amount of school work they had to do as freshmen in high school as compared to 8th grade. Tuesday was created as a way to help them keep school work organized - it started as a spreadsheet and evolved from there into a web based tool. It uses a prioritization system and the Pomodoro technique (small blocks of time dedicated to a certain task). 

Executive functioning skills can be trained and should be trained early, so this tool is appropriate not only for high school students, but even for middle school or late grade school students.  It is free for all D205 students to use, and requires a D205 Google account to access.

Whether you have a math problem, research paper or tough science assignment, Homework Help from Tutor.com can assist you. Students in grades K-12, early college, and curious adults can work with a tutor in English or Spanish. Subjects covered include math, science, English, and social studies.

• Access Tutor.com FREE via Elmhurst Public Library.

The most common question students ask math teachers at every level is “When will I use math?”

WeUseMath.org is a non-profit website that helps to answer this question. This website describes the importance of mathematics and many rewarding career opportunities available to students who study mathematics. 

The Center for Gifted offers an innovative and unique approach to education, providing enriching opportunities for motivated students to explore diverse subjects in a challenging, creative environment free from the pressures of tests and grades. At The Center for Gifted, programs are designed specifically to meet the unique educational needs of advanced learners in an environment that is supportive and nurturing of their individual gifts and talents.

The organization has multiple locations. In addition, it utilizes a number of Elmhurst locations, including Sandburg Middle School and Elmhurst College, among others. In 2019 it opened an Elmhurst branch at 533 West Avenue.

District 205 is excited to announce that Project Lead The Way classes will be available for summer 2021 for middle school students who were unable to fit PLTW courses into their elective schedule during the academic school year. These introductory courses will be in engineering and computer science and will run for four (4) weeks. Please note that space is limited. For more information and to sign up go here.

The D205 2021 Summer Fine Arts Enrichment Program is for incoming students in grades 5 through 9, and runs Monday – Thursday from June 14 - July 15 at York High School. Programs are offered in Choir, Band, Orchestra, Ukulele, and Music Production. Also new this year: Introduction to Visual Arts and Introduction to Dance classes are being offered. For more information and to sign up, go here.

Dominican University Summer Gifted and Talented Program
The Summer Gifted and Talented Program at Dominican University provides academic and social enrichment to its community of exceptional learners, and is intended for motivated students entering grades 2-8 in the Fall. The Summer Gifted and Talented Program exposes academically gifted and talented students to like-minded peers, challenging learning experiences, and an opportunity to become lifelong learners and leaders in a tightly knit and supportive environment. Please contact Program Director Janie Wu, jwu@dom.edu, to join the email list and receive email blasts announcing program updates.

The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) is a nonprofit organization that has served over three million academically talented students in grades 4–12 since it was founded in 1980. Collaborating with educators and parents, TIP helps gifted students assess the extent of their academic abilities with above-grade-level testing, recognizes them for their achievements, and provides them with a variety of enrichment benefits as well as accelerated face-to-face and online educational programs.

During Covid, the following options are available:

• Virtual Course Offerings from Duke University Youth Programs (Grades 6-8)
• Virtual Course Offerings from Duke University Pre-College (Grades 9-12)

Elements of Mathematics: Foundations (EMF) is a complete secondary school online curriculum for mathematically talented students that uses a foundation of discrete mathematics to launch students into modern proof-based mathematics.

• Suggested for ages 10 and up
• All courses online
• Free Aptitude Test
• Secondary Math Curriculum
• First course free (due to Covid-19)
• Fees Apply for additional courses

The IMSA Center for Teaching and Learning programs provide an inquiry-based experience for students, with a goal of encouraging all students to see themselves as capable scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Currently there are both virtual and in-person offerings.

• IMSA STEM Enrichment Programs 

• Summer @ IMSA

The Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA) is a non profit organization, serving children between the ages of 2 and 18 nation-wide.  It provides the following services:

• Customized programs that match each child’s unique talents with appropriate mentors, schools and other learning resources
• Advocates for all children regardless of race, culture, socioeconomic status, gender, age, geography or educational background
• Gives a voice to gifted youth, “dispelling myths and educating the public on the facts about gifted individuals”
• Consulting for parents, families and educators
• Gifted resource center

The world leader in gifted education since 1979, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) is a nonprofit dedicated to identifying and developing the talents of academically advanced pre-college students around the world. We serve bright learners (K-12) and their families through our research, advocacy, and counseling, as well as our signature gifted and talented summer, online, international, and family programs.

To join this program, do the following:

1. Complete the Talent Search application
2. Register to take an above-grade-level test
3. Take the test at a local test center / remote testing is available

Northwestern’s Center for Talent Development 2022 summer program offerings are posted on its website and the application is open!

• CTD is excited to have programming available on the Northwestern campus this summer and to introduce an array of program options, both in-person and online, for students age 3 through grade 12. 
• Explore courses in science, engineering, writing, mathematics, and more!
• Apply for an advanced enrichment course to explore a subject of interest in-depth or an accelerated, credit-bearing course that can help your child advance on their academic pathway. Best of all, CTD programs are a great way to connect with a community of peers and inspirational educators.

Things to Know:

• The application is open for in-person day and residential programs, live online courses, and online family courses. Online honors and online AP courses in the accelerated summer online session; online enrichment; and online core essentials courses opened for application on January 28, 2022.  
• Select courses based on the grade your child will enter in the fall of 2022 (rising grade).
• In-person academic day and residential camps will be following Northwestern University and program site policies and protocols based on current public health guidelines.
• Financial aid is available for students who qualify.

Questions? Contact the CTD Admissions Office at ctd-admissions@northwestern.edu.

The Northwestern Center for Talent Development is dedicated to helping academically talented students, age 3 through grade 12, realize their full potential. There are eligibility requirements and an application process. Over 175 online courses are available in Math, Science, Technology & Engineering, English & Language, Arts & Humanities and Leadership & Service. Offerings include family-oriented live, cohort-based and self-paced models.

• Talent Search Assessment (NUMATS test grades 3-9)
• Current Program Course Descriptions

• Online Programs (K to 12th grade)

• Service Learning Programs (7th to 12th grade)

The Acceleration Institute at the Belin-Blank Center at The University of Iowa provides information on research and practices concerning academic acceleration. Also includes ways of moving a student ahead to more challenging coursework. You can download two free publications from the site.

• "A Nation Deceived," which is a report summarizing research and best practices on academic acceleration. Includes practices for challenging academically talented youth.
• "A Nation Empowered," which is an update of the previous. It tells how we have applied what we have learned from the research.

Sponsored by the University of Iowa, this site is for parents, educators, policymakers, and researchers.  The Acceleration Institute was first established under the name "The Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration (IRPA)." It explains 18 different methods of academic acceleration, including Early Admission to Kindergarten and/or First Grade, Grade-Skipping, Subject-Matter Acceleration, Curriculum Compacting, Telescoping, Curriculum Correspondence Courses, Advanced Placement Courses, and  Concurrent/Dual Enrollment."

The Chicago Gifted Community Center is a volunteer-based, non-profit organization created by parents of gifted children. The mission of the Chicago Gifted Community Center is to facilitate educational and emotional support for gifted children and their families. This organization helps to unify different local organizations whose sole purpose is to serve directly the needs of local gifted families and to link them all together in a community.  

Hoagies is the "All Things Gifted" resource for parents, educators, administrators, counselors, psychologists, and even gifted kids and teens themselves! Your kids will love it as much as you will.  

The Illinois Association for Gifted Children empowers educators, families and communities by advancing effective practices, programs and policies to promote the development of gifted and talented children throughout Illinois.

It is the vision of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children that the diverse expression of gifts and talents of all individuals are valued by society. Responsibility for nurturing, encouraging, and supporting the full development of potential in gifted children is accepted and shared by their families, educators, and communities. The association offers various parent education opportunities throughout the year, including participation in an annual conference and a summer workshop.

Priorities of the IAGC include:

• To advocate for all children with gifts and talents.
• To support educators in aligning professional practice with NAGC standards.
• To provide opportunities for professional learning related to all children with gifts and talents.
• To engage and empower families and communities to support the needs of children with gifts and talents.
• To increase understanding throughout the State of Illinois regarding topics that impact children with gifts and talents.
• To address the excellence gap through diversity, equity and inclusion.

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is an organization of parents, teachers,educators, other professionals, and community leaders who unite to address the unique needs of children and youth with demonstrated gifts and talents as well as those children who may be able to develop their talent potential with appropriate educational experiences. Parenting for High Potential is the quarterly magazine designed for parents who want to make a difference in their children's lives, who want to develop their children's gifts and talents, and who want to help them develop their potential to the fullest. 

SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) is dedicated to fostering environments in which gifted, talented and twice-exceptional people, in all their diversity, understand and accept themselves and are understood, valued, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, and workplaces by offering the gifted community support and guidance through education, research, and connection.

Basic Recipe for Parent Advocates

As parents, we are our children’s first advocates – their first voice. Most parents advocate for their children in some way, but for those of us with gifted children, we often come to that point quite by accident. Parents seek ways to guarantee that their child’s needs are appropriately addressed. So how does a parent approach the teacher, principal or counselor and share concerns that affect their child within the confines of a classroom?  This article is one basic recipe called for Homestyle Advocacy that the author has found successful.

Best, Brightest — and Saddest? 

Article Excerpt: Between May 2009 and January 2010, five Palo Alto teenagers ended their lives by stepping in front of trains. And since October of 2014, another three Palo Alto teenagers have killed themselves that way, prompting longer hours by more sentries along the tracks. The Palo Alto Weekly refers to the deaths as a “suicide contagion.” And while mental health professionals are rightly careful not to oversimplify or trivialize the psychic distress behind them by focusing on any one possible factor, the contagion has prompted an emotional debate about the kinds of pressures felt by high school students in epicenters of overachievement.

Bullying Prevention Guide and Resources

Unfortunately, bullying is something that sometimes happens at schools. This article gives a good outline of what bullying is and the effects of bullying on kids. It also gives advice for both parents and students dealing with bullying, and provides a list of helpful resources for further reading on the topic.

Educating an Original Thinker

How can teachers and parents can identify and cultivate children who think creatively and unconventionally? In his new book, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, the organizational psychologist and bestselling author Adam Grant explores the circumstances that give rise to truly original thinkers.

Existential Depression in Gifted Children  

Gifted and talented persons are more likely to experience a type of depression referred to as existential depression. Although an episode of existential depression may be precipitated in anyone by a major loss or the threat of a loss which highlights the transient nature of life, persons of higher intellectual ability are more prone to experience existential depression spontaneously. This article by James Webb, recognized as one of the most influential psychologists nationally on gifted education, explores depression in gifted children.

The Gift of Emotional Overexcitabilities

Recent vulnerability research by Brene Brown (Brown, 2010) has shown that the origin of all creativity, innovation, and authenticity is vulnerability. For many gifted individuals it is their emotional overexcitabilities that are the source of their greatest vulnerabilities. This article by Regina Hellinger, a professional coach who specializes in working with gifted individuals and their families, shows that we need to reassess our perceptions on these overexcitabilities and how we address them in our young gifted.

Harnessing the Power of Productive Struggle

Article Excerpt: Some teachers build in productive struggle into the student's educational experience. To ensure plenty of time for puzzling and reasoning, some start their lesson with independent work time, moving into the teacher-centered portion of the lesson only after students had been studying the problem, first independently and then in pairs, for more than half of their study block. Why would a teacher decide to structure a math lesson this way?

How Parents Can Support Girls' Academic Success in STEM 

Article Excerpt: Helping our daughters recognize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in their daily lives, even in tasks like feeding the dog, baking a cake, or packing a suitcase, supports and encourages their STEM interests and abilities. Often young girls, even those who are very bright, aren’t accustomed to thinking of themselves as being good at science or math.

How parents of talented children hold the line between supporting and pushing

Article Excerpt: How can well-meaning parents tell the difference between supporting and pushing? Writing a chapter in How to Bring Up a Genius!, psychologist Carol Bainbridge defines the difference this way: “Basically, nurturing is child-centered while pushing is adult-centered. When we nurture we follow the child’s lead, but when we push we want the child to follow us, to do what we want him or her to do.”

How to Raise a Creative Child. Step One: Back Off

Child prodigies rarely become adult geniuses who change the world. We assume that they must lack the social and emotional skills to function in society. When you look at the evidence, though, this explanation doesn’t suffice; less than a quarter of gifted children suffer from social and emotional problems. A vast majority are well adjusted — as winning at a cocktail party as in the spelling bee. What holds them back is that they don’t learn to be original. This article from the New York Times by Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and bestselling author, explores how to raise a creative child.

The 2019 ThriveD205 kickoff featured the fantastic and exuberant author of How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims. During the 2019-2020 school year, REACH parents met to discuss this book and incorporate many of her "words of wisdom" throughout the school year. REACH parents highly recommend this book!

‘Impossible’ Homework Assignment? Let Your Child Do It

Article Excerpt: It would have been so easy, so justifiable, to involve myself more, and under different circumstances, I would have. After my unintentional hands-off approach, I am questioning my own judgment on when my help is really necessary, and when it’s only in the service of smoothing a path that should stay a little rough. 

Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics: Initiating Critical Conversations (Executive Summary) is an article that was put out in 2018 by the NCTM - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Rather than pushing (most) students into advanced and tracked math courses, the article suggests that students complete a deeper, rather than wider, study of mathematical principles.

Many of the organizations that focus on gifted students - linked below - provide a recommended reading / library section, or newsletters on their website that focus on a variety of topics such as learning about gifted, social and emotional issues, and parenting the gifted. Be sure to check them out!

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) - Library

National Association for Gifted Children - Resources for Parents 

Institute for Educational Advancement - Articles and Media

Two Lessons on How to Support Gifted Kids

This article is written by By Steven Pfeiffer who has worked with high-ability kids for more than 35 years in a variety of capacities in his clinical practice as a psychologist. 

Underachievers under-the-radar: How seemingly successful gifted students fall short of their potential 

Research has shown that many gifted children are underachievers who fail to reach their potential. Some mask their abilities so they can fit in with peers, some stop caring and receive barely passing grades, and some drop out altogether. Academic achievement becomes meaningless and their intrinsic love of learning seems to vanish. This article address 3 tips to help the underachieving gifted student. 

Watch Carol Dweck's Speech: The Journey to a Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck, the Stanford University professor and author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success is renowned for her research that shows individuals with a "growth mindset" — an understanding that their talent and abilities are not "fixed" and can be developed — are more likely to achieve. Her work has gained traction and led many educators to rethink the way they teach.

Why I pulled my son out of a school for 'gifted' kids 

One family's perspective on gifted schooling and why it is important to consider how they are learning and not just what they are learning.