Past Events

Still working to get your family into that back-to-school rhythm?  Jen Zacharias, REACH parent and Founder & Principal Coach at Beyond the Classroom, presented a session called "Help Your Family Better Manage Their World!PDF". Jen discussed immediately applicable strategies to help your family:

• Build consistent & predictable routines
• Integrate productivity tips & tricks
• Get (and stay!) organized

She also shared some upcoming programming to help further build executive function and self-management skills for you and your students.

D205 "New to REACH" Parent Info Meeting

The D205 "New to REACH" parent info meeting with Kerry Leuschel, Executive Director Secondary Education for D205 and Amy Baker Zaleski, Assistant Director of Language Pathways & Programs took place 2 separate times during summer 2023. See the presentation here.

• EDUCATE:  Wednesday, February 15th, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
  • Replay Zoom Video (Passcode: 5&82zeU!)
  • Presentation Slide Deck
• ENGAGE:  Wednesday, March 15th, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
  • Replay Zoom Video (Passcode: Dhi!02m#)
  • Presentation Slide Deck
• EMPOWER: Wednesday, April 19th, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
  • Replay Zoom Video (Passcode: E0t^ETVT)
  • Presentation Slide Deck

Thank you to the PTA Council, Foundation 205, REACH and SERG Parent Groups for bringing this event to our community!

Key learnings/takeaways from the Illinois Association for Gifted Children's (IAGC) Annual Conference - Fall 2022

1. IAGC Notes and Presentations:
   • IAGC Notes
   • IAGC Parent Networking / Q&A Advocating for Advanced Learners
   • Parents as Partners - Advocating for Advanced Learners in Illinois
2. Lots of great resources were shared, especially books:
   • “Get gifted students talking”
   • “Counseling gifted students”
   • “Gifted At Risk: Poetic Portraits”
   • “Bright, Complex Kids”
   • “Building Resilience in Children & Youth”
   • “Coding as a Playground” - IMSA (Illinois Math & Science Academy) strongly recommends this book
3. Recommendation to create student “mental health first aid kits”
   • Assemble personal artifacts, photos, mindfulness apps, list of calming activities, toys/clothing to help calm nervous systems under stress

Guest Speaker ~ Dave Beedy, Director of STEM

• Presentation - Using Eureka Math to REACH our Most Advanced Learners

• The presentation provides an overview of D205 Math Curriculum (Eureka), why it is taught the way it is, and how parents can support student math development at home.

• In addition to Eureka, teachers also add much to the math curriculum - but Eureka Math is part of what teachers use

• Q&A

  • Praise for Math Lab in High School (math lab is a room in the school that is always staffed by math faculty and students can stop by for help).

  • Question about how can parents get more information about when tests are happening at school and/or where the students are in the math workbook, etc? Communication with the teacher is always best.

  • Question about math in the dual language program - how to help kids with math homework that is in Spanish? D. Beedy taking this question back to the district.  Will be answered in 10/20 meeting.

  • Question about should we keep using NOETIC/Mathletes or is there something else we should be using? Continue using NOETIC and try to make it into a long term math club. Limitation at the elementary level is usually finding a teacher to do it. Discussion about how we can do this across elementary and middle school.  Need to discuss early with principals re. stipends.

  • Parents should feel free to reach out to Dave Beedy with STEM related questions at any time.

8th Grade Parents: MATH Information Meeting

An overview of the York pathway was shared from District 205 Director of STEM Education, Dave Beedy and York HS Math Department Chair, Erik Westerberg.  You can review the slides from the meeting here and see the Zoom meeting chat here.

Also, here are some district resources you can access: York math pathway chart, Incoming Freshmen Info (incl. PSAT), and York Math Course Offerings. 

Keeping Math Fun! with Dave Beedy

Held on Friday at 8:30 am in Sandburg’s Maker Space. Guest, Dave Beedy, Director of STEM Education. Topic - "Keeping Math Fun! Math programs, links, games, for now and summer break."

Study Skills Workshop A Success!

On Saturday, Sept. 28, a group of 8^th and 9^th grade students participated in a pilot program centered around study skills presented by the REACH Parent Group. The program was led by Theresa Robinson, PhD, Elmhurst College.

Initial feedback from the participants was largely positive. The large majority of participants — 88% — said they would take action on at least one thing they learned during the session and that the program provided them with new information on how to improve their study skills.

The Reach Parent Group will discuss the results and ideas on how to further the conversation as part of the next Reach Parent Group meeting on Thurs. Oct. 17 at 1:30 in the Sandburg Maker Space. All are invited to join the discussion.

Click here for details on the presentation.