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PACE Weekly Newsletter Date: October 18, 2007

Upcoming PACE Events:

1) **OCTOBER 23, TUESDAY, 7pm - PRESENTATION ON ACADEMICALLY TALENTED (AT) & ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP) PROGRAMS Covering Grades 3 - 12** ~ Join us at Churchill Elementary Community Room, 520 Secretariat Lane, Oswego (Wolf Crossing & Secretariat Rds.), for the Presentation on the whole AT program / AP Program. Mrs. Cathi Mundsinger, Director of Teaching & Learning - Elementary, and Dr. Carla Johnson, Director of Teaching & Learning - Jr. High & High School, will be our featured speakers along with the grade-level leaders for the AT elementary, AT junior high, and AP high school program.

Come find out about the AT elementary program from 7:00-7:45 PM, and the AT secondary/AP program from 7:45 -8:30 PM. This program is open to ALL families in the district interested in learning about the AT/AP program in District 308. Question & answer time will follow each part of the presentation. For questions on this event, contact Allison Boldridge at (630) 551-1857 or boldridge@comcast.net.

2) October 29, Monday, 7pm - Math Renewal ~ Any AT parent that is interested in finding out what is happening with the Math Curriculum Renewal project and would like to give input to the AT representative on this committee, please join us. Location will be confirmed in next week's update, but we will probably meet at Churchill Elementary School - Community Room. Please contact Judy Hansen at thehansens@sbcglobal.net with any questions.

Events happening in our district and nearby:

1) October 17, Wednesday - October 20, Saturday, Fall Play at OEHS ~ Support our high school students and enjoy OEHS play, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. For more information and to reserve tickets, go to http://www.oswego308.org/oepac/index.php.

2) October 20, Saturday, PSAT Test ~ Good luck to 6th-11th graders taking the PSAT this Saturday! If students couldn't sign up this year, they can get an early start on next year's by looking through prep books like "Kaplan PSAT NMSQT" or "Cracking the PSAT/NMSQT" by Princeton Review.

3) October 22, Monday, 7pm, Board of Education Meeting ~ Meeting is held at Oswego High School Community Room. Agenda can be found closer to the date at http://www.oswego308.org/districtinformation/boardofeducation/boardmeetings.htm

4) October 23, Tuesday - October 27, Saturday, Fall Play at OHS ~ Support our high school students and enjoy OHS play, The Foreigner. For more information, go to http://www.oswego308.org/schools/ohs/news/htm/101507_fallplay.htm

5) Meet author Lemony Snicket on October 28, Sunday, 2pm ~ This event is limited to 200 ticketholders. Tickets are available with the purchase of any Lemony Snicket book from Anderson's Bookshop, www.andersonsbookshop.com/index.php, in Naperville, and he will sign only the one book you purchase to receive your ticket. Books can be purchased over the phone by calling Anderson's at (630) 355-2665.

Meet author Tomie dePaola on November 12, Monday, 7pm ~ Mr. DePaola has written and/or illustrated over 200 books for children! His website is www.tomie.com. Call ahead Anderson's to purchase his book and get a number in line for book signing.

Grab Bag of Information:

1) Scholarship Information: Davidson Institute Seeks Extraordinary Achievers to Receive $50,000, $25,000 And $10,000 Davidson Fellow Scholarships ~
The Davidson Institute for Talent Development is offering high achieving young people across the country the opportunity to be named as 2008 Davidson Fellows in recognition of a significant piece of work in Science, Technology, Mathematics, Music, Literature, Philosophy or Outside the Box. To be eligible, applicants must be under the age of 18 as of Oct. 1, 2008, and a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident residing in the United States. There is no minimum age for eligibility. The deadline to apply is March 26, 2008. Applicants must submit an original piece of work recognized by experts in the field as significant and it must have the potential to make a positive contribution to society. The scholarship must be used at an accredited institute of learning. For more information on the Davidson Fellows scholarship, or to download an application, please visit http://www.davidsonfellows.org/

2) FERMILAB EVENTS for the entire family ~ Fermilab also offers exciting Scientific Lecture series, Arts Performances, and Gallery Chamber Music series. See their upcoming events at www.fnal.gov/culture/NewArts/index.shtml

3) ONLINE VOCABULARY GAME ~ Interested in a cool vocabulary website for kids? Check out www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_vocab.htm. Website pronounces words, gives instant feedback on whether answer is correct, provides online flashcards, etc.

4) Solar Decatholon ~ Check out the solar decatholon happening this week in Washington D.C. at http://www.solardecathlon.org/news.html Check out the many energy-efficient solar-powered houses.

5) Museum of Science & Industry - Star Wars Exhibit in Chicago from October 5 to January 6, 2008 ~ www.msichicago.org/index.html, (773) 684-1414, Check out the totally-awesome Star Wars exhibit.

6) Thank You's ~ We’d like to thank parents who have contributed to the PACE weekly update with news items in September & October: Stephanie Alvendia, Pam Nagel, Judy Hansen, & Allison Boldridge. We would love to receive news items from PACE parents; please share with us any event, workshop, interesting places to visit, website, etc. We'd also like to thank Larry Johnson for his website consulting, and Henry Gillen for helping us with the PACE library. We are very glad to welcome Tom Griffin as new PACE treasurer, and thank Joyce Fornek for her many years as treasurer.

Please send items you'd like to share, questions, & suggestions to Jill Ko at ko7@sbcglobal.net. Visit us at www.pace308.org. If you know someone who may find the weekly updates helpful, please pass it along.

"A fundamental goal of the People of the State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities." - Illinois Constitution, ARTICLE X, SECTION 1.