Royal Fireworks Press

Materials Designed to Challenge ChildrenCurricula • Online Courses • Gifted Resources • rfwp.com

[royalfireworkspress]

On this day in 1902, Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski was born. Dabrowski did important work in the field of giftedness, and his theory of positive disintegration is still highly regarded by many today. As a part of this theory, Dabrowski identified five areasin which gifted children exhibit intense behaviors, also known as "overexcitabilities." At Royal Fireworks Press, we recognize the importance of supporting the whole gifted child and offer several resources for parents, teachers, and children to help attendto the unique needs of a gifted child.The books “Mellow Out,” They Say. If Only I Could; Embracing the Whole Gifted Self; and The Essential Guidebook for Parents of Gifted Children are specifically designedto help parents and teachers of gifted kids understand these children better so that they can meet the children where they are, instead of holding them to expectations that are unrealistic and in many cases unreasonable for children who are gifted. Just aswe believe that children will thrive if they are given as much knowledge as they are willing to soak up, adults too will do well to learn as much as they can about these children.For young gifted children, we offer the book The Intenso Family Goes to a New School and the Cheetah series, a set of five books, each one covering one of the five intensities. These illustrated picture books will help gifted kids understand the difficulties that come with their gifts, enabling them to appreciate their strengths rather than focus on their struggles. Self-acceptance is especially important for children who are often so noticeably different from others.Together, these resources will help gifted children and the adults who love them understand the intense nature of giftedness in all its expressions.Order today at rfwp.com!.

[royalfireworkspress]

New Problem-Based Learning Unit! https://www.rfwp.com/series/problem-based-learning-units-by-shelagh-gallagher#book-the-great-debates-teacher-manual

[royalfireworkspress]

Royal Fireworks Press, a favorite for curriculum, draws on the expertise of its authors and other specialists for the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community.   An eclectic range of courses offer individual instruction with online and physical resources. They include Michael Clay Thompson’s English language arts, Sharon Kaye’s Philosophy for Kids, Aubrey Lively’s creative writing, Robert Black’s middle school math. Other courses include American Sign Language, archeology, astronomy and Spanish. These courses aim to challenge and nurture individual students, allowing them to develop their interests or discover new ones, give one-to-one encouragement, and supplement their studies to take learning to new levels.

These elective courses are ideal for homeschooled children, for special needs children, and also for gifted children who may want and need some extra challenges. Go to rfolc.com

[royalfireworkspress]

The #gifted conference season starts next week with the Ohio Association for Gifted Children, Easton, Columbus, from the 16th to the 18th, followed by the annual conference of the National Association for Gifted Children from the 3rd to the 5th of November in Orlando, Florida. Later in November we will be at the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education in Harrisburg on the 17th and the 18th. In December we will exhibit at the South Carolina Consortium for Gifted Education conference in Columbia on the 6th and 7th, and at the Indiana Association for the Gifted in Indianapolis on the 11th to the 13th. Please share so that we get to meet as many teachers and parents as possible.

[royalfireworkspress]

Books for gifted children

We start the autumn conference season next week at the Ohio Association for Gifted Children, Easton, Columbus, from the 16th to the 18th, followed by the annual conference of the National Association for Gifted Children from the 3rd to the 5th of November in Orlando, Florida.   Later in November we will be at the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education in Harrisburg on the 17th and the 18th.  In December we will exhibit at the South Carolina Consortium for Gifted Education conference in Columbia on the 6th and 7th, and at the Indiana Association for the Gifted in Indianapolis on the 11th to the 13th.  Please share so that we get to meet as many teachers and parents as possible.   For the conferences we shall be attending in 2017, see our conferences page.http://www.rfwp.com/pages/conferences-2016-17/

[hendersonlibraries]

In honor of National Punctuation Day.

If you feel like you may need to brush up on your punctuation, just click here and check out all the available materials from Henderson Libraries.

[royalfireworkspress]

Poetry is the victim of false stereotypes and misunderstandings about what it really is. We tend to relegate poetry to the sidelines, doing a few poems in class if we get time, and even then just reading them from a so-called interpretive point of view, ignoring all the technical wizardry that really makes them poems.

Michael Clay Thompson

[royalfireworkspress]

Whether it’s the latest inventions of Apple, or an innovative movie, or Shakespeare’s plays, it is all too easy, and cheap, just to look at the flaws says

[jenwhitebooks]

Where I talk the craft of creating first chapters and how when writing the first draft of "Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave," I had it all wrong.

[royalfireworkspress]

Our author Leslie J. Wyatt visited the ancient cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde, Colorado this past week. Her latest novel for middle grade readers, THE FLIGHT OF THE CLIFF BIRD, takes place at these cliff dwellings when the Pueblo people lived here more than 700 years ago. You can find more about the book here: http://www.rfwp.com/book/the-flight-of-the-cliff-bird

[royalfireworkspress]

The warning signs are plentiful. Do you remember that wonderful paper you wrote, that the professor misunderstood, or criticized not because it was bad but because it jangled his preferences? Do you remember the papers you tried to grade (think about that word)…tried to grade, and part of you knew that the grading process was in very large degree a subjective approximation? Do you remember the student you tried to explain her B to, and something in the conversation made you realize you had gotten it wrong? Do you remember the program you tried to evaluate, but you half-realized that the instrument (metaphor alert, metaphor alert) you were using was only a set of preferences asserted by a representative committee, and that somehow a really extraordinary program wound up with low marks? It is SO difficult.

Author and teacher, Michael Clay Thompson, reflects on the difficulties and responsibilities of evaluating and grading students' work. "Do we really believe that the most important components of education are all objectively observable? Can we count joy? Can we calculate passionate involvement in a subject? It affects people."

[royalfireworkspress]

Today's the release date of our newest novel for middle grade readers, The Flight of the Cliff Bird. Cliff Bird is an orphan girl of the Long Ago People who lives at the ancient cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, Colorado. When a stranger lurks near the mesa, Cliff Bird has to ensure that her friends and family are safe. In order to do that, she has to run faster than her namesake can fly. You can find more information here: Rfwp.com/book/the-flight-of-the-cliff-bird

[bookmania]

I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas: they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind.

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (via bookmania)

[poetsorg]

“Your letter asking me for a favorite poem forces the confession from me…” A letter from Amelia Earhart, in honor of her birthday today, to our founder Marie Bullock.

[c-isnenegro]

[royalfireworkspress]

Teachers’ New Homework: a ‘Watchman’ Plan

The release Tuesday of Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” gave English teachers some tricky summer homework: how to reframe their lessons on “To Kill a Mockingbird” now that its moral center, Atticus Finch, has been depicted as a racist.

[royalfireworkspress]