SMART SCIENCE SERIES:

Theater Science

Friday May 4th, 2012 @ 7PM

At Franklin Community High School

Join us at 7:00pm on Friday, May the 4th, 2012, at Franklin Community High School for our next Gifted Family Program event.  The feature presentation is going to be all about Theater Science.  Franklin recently hired a new stage director who has experience with WISH TV, Ball State, owns his own production company, and does some amazing things with lighting and performance effects.  We’ll get to learn all about robotic lighting, fog machines, and other stage science.  In the biology lab, we’ll be studying the anatomy of crayfish with a dissection lab.  Our third event will be some really fun team building exercises to put our brains to the test!  Want to do it all?  You can because we’ll have three groups rotating through these three activities.

For a pun bonus activity to honor the date, we’re going to have a “dress as your favorite pun” contest.  Winners in each age category (including adults) get a ThinkGeek.com gift certificate.  When we all meet in the auditorium at the beginning, participants will have a chance to come up on stage and announce what their pun is.

If you need some help coming up with pun ideas, Chicago Area Mensa has a lot of fun with the idea at their gathering in late October.  They have a costume contest. Creativity, especially puns, is encouraged.  Start at this link and explore the site for ideas.  http://chicago.us.mensa.org/weem/weem11/costumes/Pages/36.html

Only $5 per student

DATE: Friday, May 4, 2012 TIME: 7:00 P.M

LOCATION: Franklin Community High School (2600 Cumberland Drive, Franklin, IN 46131)

Please come through the front entrance (center) of the building.

This event is open to any child or teen that has been identified as gifted/high ability.

May the 4th be with You!!!

Call David if you get lost: (317) 973-0258

SMART SCIENCE SERIES:

Spooky Science!

Friday October 7 @ 7PM

At Franklin Community High School

Have you ever wanted to know how blood evidence is used to study a crime?

Or perhaps how your favorite gooey slime is made?

Maybe you’re interested in getting to know some creepy, crawly friends…

Or maybe you’d like to see the ULTIMATE flaming Jack-o-Lantern.

Come and enjoy some spooky science experiments with us!

Only $10 per student to cover the cost of materials

DATE: Friday, October 7, 2011 TIME: 7:00 P.M.-9:30 P.M.

LOCATION: Franklin Community High School (2600 Cumberland Drive, Franklin, IN 46131)

Please come through the front entrance (center) of the building.

Come and join us for a scary good time!

This event is open to any child or teen that has been identified as gifted/high ability.

We are using a spooky theme, but all activities will be kid friendly. Little ghosts and goblins are welcome!

Call David if you get lost: (317) 973-0258

2nd Annual

Last Blast of Summer!

Friday August 26 @ 7PM – Saturday August 27 @ 7PM

Back by popular demand, and better than ever, it’s the Last Blast of Summer! School has already started for most of us, but you want one last blast of summer before the weather gets cold. We have the perfect getaway for you and your bright friends and family! Join us on a private family beach in Plymouth, IN as we camp in tents on the bank of Pretty Lake (Yes, that’s the real name of the lake!). Saturday Brunch and Dinner provided ($10/person should cover it). Eat before you come on Friday. Showers and restrooms are at the house. Come rain or shine!

Activities include: Sailing lessons, canoeing, rowboat, swimming, fishing (bring your own gear and bait), Friday night smores around a campfire, outdoor movie at the beach on Friday night, biking, nature hikes, outdoor games, science experiments (electric pickle, pneumatic monkey cannon, water rocket, etc), and PLENTY of hang-out time with fun, smart people!

Bring your own bikes, tent, tarp, sleeping bag, pillow, swimming gear, towel, lawn chairs, camera, fishing gear, change of clothes, snacks (if you want), and sunscreen.

The Mensa Gifted Family Program welcomes students up through age 18 who score in the top 2% on a standardized IQ test (generally an IQ of 130 and above), who have been admitted into a high ability or gifted program at their school or equivalent, and children of Mensa members.  You and your family are welcome to come as our guest so that you can consider the benefits of Mensa membership.

Legal terms in plain English:  Although we make every reasonable effort to ensure your safety, we cannot be held responsible.  Mensa requires that a parent or guardian be present at all times during a family event.  By coming to our events, you are agreeing to these terms.  If you do not agree, you have the option to not come.

Photography:  We take photographs at our events for non-profit promotional use and for you to enjoy in albums.  You have the option to not be photographed for official Mensa use if you make the request to the event host.

Set your GPS to: 10437 Pretty Lake Trail, Plymouth, IN  46563

Call David if you get lost: (317) 973-0258

Cave Capers

Saturday August 13, 2011

There is a serious issue of White Nose Syndrome (WNS).  Our Hoosier bats are dying, and it is unknown as to how it is spread.  So as a precaution, cavers are decontaminating their clothes between caves or bagging them and using fresh ones.  We will have decontamination stations and instructions.  We love our bats.  If we cavers don’t self-regulate, the DNR will.Each person will need 3 sources of light — three little flashlights will suffice.   A helmet.  A bike helmet is ok, but some frown upon that.  Tape one flashlight on the helmet.  Grubby clothes (jeans are great), shoes/boots that can get wet.   Gloves.  A jacket that can get dirty.  A backpack with which to hold your extra two flashlights, a water bottle, a candy bar, two plastic garbage bags, and whatever else you need.  The garbage bags will hold their yucky clothes for the trip home – or – in an emergency, can be used to trap heat and avoid hypothermia.

Please see the Cave Capers web site for registration information.  Our Mensa group will be meeting Saturday morning and staying the day, but you are welcome to join the cavers for the entire weekend event.

Please be sure to RSVP so we know how many to expect.  After you RSVP, we can get more information to you.

Call David if you get lost: (317) 973-0258

Versailles State Park

In a cabin… in a campground… deep in the woods… on Friday the 13th.  Sounds like the plot to a bad movie, doesn’t it?

While the date is circumstantial, the great times certainly aren’t!  Versailles State Park is a beautiful, lush park this time of year.  For many years, Central Indiana Mensa has had a tradition of “camping” (if we may use that term loosely since we stay in comfortable cabins and have access to all the comforts of home), relaxing, playing games, eating great food, and hanging out with some really smart people.

The best thing about this weekend is the traditions that we enjoy year after year.  Dr. Alan Schmidt, a Mensa member, always leads a group hike in search of fossils and sinkholes.  We have our annual “deep thoughts” talk where a deep question is asked, and everyone discusses it.  At night we make smore’s using marshmallow peeps.  If you can get up early enough on Saturday morning, we’ll go on a walk to the base of the dam where we’ll find “mysterious bubbles” .  They are odd enough that they attract a crowd year after year.  You have to see them for yourself to understand.

In recent years we’ve adopted some new traditions that have been a LOT of fun.  One year someone started bringing liquid nitrogen.  On Saturday afternoon we used the liquid nitrogen to rapidly make ice cream.  Yeah, Mensan’s know how to have fun!  Last year one of our members came up with a way to make a hand-powered cotton machine candy from homemade parts, and it actually worked!  We launch water rockets, did Diet Coke and Mentos, tackle mountain bike trails (bring your own mountain bike), tell stories around the campfire, and SO much more.

This is a weekend you’ll never want to see end.

Mensa rents an entire section of the park.  There is a main cabin where everyone stays to eat, talk, play cards, etc.  There are a bunch of sleeping cabins and a bathhouse.  If you bring your family, we can’t promise a private cabin.  In the past we’ve had guys-only cabins, ladies-only cabins, and family cabins.  There are ten beds per cabin, so you’ll probably be able to find another family to share a cabin with.

There is a modest cost for this event to cover our own costs.  When you break it down, you aren’t going to get much of a better deal for five meals and two overnight stays.  The food is fantastic and the view is better than any five star hotel.

The prices aren’t set yet, but for reference you can look at the 2010 flier.

An Afternoon in Bitternut Woods

Time: Starts at 1 PM

Saturday April 23rd (Note that this is a new date)

Click Here For Map

Bitternut Woods is a nature preserve belonging to the Nature Conservancy.  It is home to many plant and animal species, especially a large number of whitetail deer, but also fox and coyote, besides the usual squirrels (red and gray), chipmunks and raccoons.  There are mice too, but they are hard to see.  Birds include owls, three kinds of woodpeckers, cardinals, robins, crows, jays, finches, ruby throated hummingbirds, and a Cooper’s hawk – one afternoon a wild turkey was sighted along Williams Creek there.  Turkey vultures soar overhead.  There are countless insects – invertebrates galore.  Everything is coming alive in the Spring

The land for Bitternut Woods had been donated in two sections, the larger one in the last century and the last acre more recently.  A walk in the property showed that markers are missing at some points along the boundaries and these need to be measured and markers placed, so that people who walk in the Bitternut Wood know when they might stray onto private property.  The Conservancy would like your assistance in surveying those boundaries.  The terms and tools of the surveyor’s trade will be made available to you.

Afterward, you can explore the flora of the woods with the Conservancy experts and then adjourn to the porch of a Mensan for a cookout.  But there’s one request; She would like to know if she has any Plantago lanceolata L. – narrowleaf plantain as neighbors.  It (as do gerardia and stonecrops) provides food for the caterpillar of Buckeye butterflies.

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According to the USDA, this particular plantain is found in Marion County, Tipton County, Hancock County, and Madison County.  It should also be in Hamilton County – possibly even in Bitternut Woods.  When you are looking through the woods, maybe you can find some growing among the may apples trillium, spring beauties, and other wildflowers.  If so, we can report it to the USDA and fill in a blank on their map for this species.

Friday March 11th – 7:00 PM

Franklin Community High School

What’s more fun than super-cool hands on science?  As you ponder that question, let me tell you about a FANTASTIC opportunity that you’re not going to want to miss.  Julie Tennell, the Biology teacher at Franklin Community High School has a brand new science lab with the latest high-tech gear.  Best of all, she’s letting us do some really amazing science activities in her new lab.Unless you’re really lucky, you’ll probably never have a chance to put on a pair of gloves and dissect a real shark.  Does that sound totally gross but really cool?  We think so too, and that’s why it’s going to be so much fun!  We ordered enough sharks for everyone to have a chance to get the full experience.  Do you think you’re smart enough to identify all the parts?  There’s only one way to find out.

While one group is busy exploring the fantastic world of sharks, another group will be plugging in Lab Pro equipment to a computer.  We’ll be using real live computer bugs, crickets that is.  Using the sensitive probes, we’ll measure cricket oxygen consumption and CO2 production at various temperatures.

Don’t worry, everyone will have a chance to do both labs. We’ll have one group doing the sharks while the other does the crickets, and then we’ll switch.

There is a minimal charge (probably around $5) to cover the cost of the consumables.

Perry Meridian Middle School

PLEASE NOTE: This will be a different program than last year.  Kids, bring your instruments!

Music education has a direct effect on how the brains of children interpret and process information.  Studies repeatedly show a correlation between children that study music and those with above-average intelligence.  However, how do we bridge the gap between the logically-minded left brain, which is responsible for activities such as reading music, with the creative right brain, which allows a musician the freedom to interpret, improvise, compose, and create?  Join us as we tackle this topic through a hands-on-instruments presentation. Attendees are encouraged to bring musical instruments!

The evening will be hosted by two accomplished music educators, Shawn Goodman and Steve Goodman.  Shawn and Steve are co-founders of the Symphonic Youth Orchestra of Greater Indianapolis.  For more information on this summer youth orchestra and upcoming auditions in 2011, visit syogi.org

Arrive after 7:00 pm on Friday if you want to camp, see the stars, and join us for brunch in the morning.

Arrive at 1:00 pm on Saturday if you are not camping.

The event concludes between 8:00 -9:00 pm on Saturday

School has already started for most of us, but you want one last blast of summer before the weather gets cold.  We have the perfect getaway for you and your bright friends!  Check it out:

60 acres with trails, volleyball, croquet, paddle boats, two acre pond, swimming, fishing (bring your own equipment and bait), donkeys, outdoor group games for smart kids, crazy science experiments (possibilities include the electric pickle, trebuchets, water rockets, and more), fantastic stargazing (Friday night), deer sightings, WiFi (only if you need it, more for the parents), and lots more!

Friday evening camping in tents or in the house. Only eight spots available in the house, and camping is rain or shine). Eat before you come on Friday or come Saturday at 1:00.  Brunch is only provided for the Friday night campers.

Dinner around 5:00 on Saturday at a picnic shelter near the pond. Beef or vegan burgers, hot dogs, beans, salads, chips, soft drinks, water, etc. Beverages and a basket of granola bars and cheese crackers will be set out all day. Food options for diabetic, vegetarian, low cholesterol, etc.

Bring finger food deserts (like cookies or brownies) to share with everyone.

Optional visit to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center on Saturday to see 210 large animals including tigers, lions, leopards, cougars, bobcats, ocelots, servals, lynx, Asian leopard cats, and tigons. ($10 adult, $5 child under 12).  We may be able to get everyone in for free – we’re still checking on that.

Location is Spencer Indiana at the home of Lew and Laurel Richardson, our assistant GCC (a little over an hour South of Indy).

The address is: 6644 Patricksburg Road, Spencer, IN 47460

You can contact the host for more info or directions: (812) 859-4512

The Indiana Medical History Museum is located in the Old Pathology Building on the grounds of the former Central State Hospital on the near westside of Indianapolis.  The museum represents the beginning of scientific psychiatry and modern medicine while the building itself is the oldest surviving pathology facility in the nation and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The museum maintains a collection of scientific artifacts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a completely authentic setting.  Constructed in 1895 and inaugurated in 1896, the nineteen-room Pathological Department Building, as it was then called, is equipped with three clinical laboratories, a photography lab, teaching amphitheater, autopsy room, and library.

We are also privileged to experience a rare tour of the Medicinal Plant Garden which features over 90 medicinal plants from all over the world.

The museum recommends this tour for 3rd grade students and higher, but because your kid is more capable of understanding the content, use your discretion.

A RSVP before July 16th is highly recommended to be sure we have enough tour guides!  CLICK HERE to sign up for free.

The location is 3045 West Vermont Street, Indianapolis, IN 46222.  The museum web site is http://www.imhm.org

Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) is NOT about horsemanship or learning to ride.  In fact, it is quite unlikely that you will ride a horse.  You are much more likely to walk along side a horse as you do an activity.  You will have fun making a plan with a team that includes a horse!  And then you will learn as you play with your team enacting your plan.   Some of the skills and qualities you may become more aware of during the activities are communication, teamwork, empathy, leadership, self-confidence, motivation, creative thinking, and problem solving.

We look forward to sharing EAL with the gifted students at a demonstration in June.  Please see stridestosuccess.org (for directions) or call Martha Sanborn at 317-889-9037 for questions.

The cost per child to cover insurance is $15.

RSVP (name & age) is requested in order to plan for the horses

Email:  marthaartemis@sbcglobal.net

Depending on the numbers of youth in attendance, it may be necessary to run two separate groups * 6:15PM-7:15PM (young kids up to 10 yo) and 7:30-8:30PM (11 yo and above)

Strides to Success, Inc.

1350 Terry Drive
Plainfield, IN 46168 Telephone: (317) 838-7002

e-mail: Stridestosuccess@aol.com

Parents will receive a tour of the facility and an overview of EAL followed up by discussion on gifted youth presented by Kenzie Carrel, former student life counselor IN Academy, residential GT high school in Muncie, IN.  Parents will be able to walk through and watch for several minutes but EAL proceeds best when parents do not observe the entire time.  The youth and horses get distracted with an audience.

For more information, visit our web site http://kids.indymensa.org or contact David Bonner, Gifted Children’s Coordinator: gcc@kids.indymensa.org  or (317)973-0258

Pilsung ATA Martial Arts
707 South Madison Ave, Suite P
Greenwood, IN 46143
317.881.2762
www.PilsungTaekwondo.com

Children and teens as well as parents are welcome to participate

How do you want to walk through life?

Author, educator and quote collector, Beth Mathers, guides children and teens to reflect on these questions through quotes and writing.

Shaping character is the lifelong learning that occurs through recognizing one’s gifts and the impact those gifts will have on the world!

Concurrent Parent Programming on Intensity, Sensitivity, & Perfectionism: Navigating the Emotional World of the Gifted Child”

Dr. Kristie Speirs Neumeister, professor at Ball State, has extensive experience, study and research with the gifted population

Location (both programs): Sycamore School 1750 West 64th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46260-4417