Gifted Resource Council

10/05/2026

We had a great kick-off to Fall Learning Labs on Saturday! Kiddos were learning about medieval villages, decoding escape-room puzzles, exploring stethoscopes, learning new strategy games, taking a nature walk and and much more!

10/03/2026

Great hands-on parenting session happening right now with Rick Hasler!

10/02/2026

Fall Learning Labs kick off tomorrow at Wydown Middle School! And at 11:15, we'll have our first fall parenting session, led by Rick Hasler, on why gifted kids need family game night. Some of my kiddos' favorites through the years have been the Catan games, the Forbidden series (cooperative - you win or lose together!), and card games like Phase 10 and Five Crowns. Another fun one (an oldie, but we only recently got introduced to it) is Ingenious.

09/29/2026

It's not too late for a last-minute registration for Fall Learning Labs! We still have some openings in great classes - explore the Middle Ages, learn the strategies behind games, or find out how the 6 simple machines make much more complicated things work! (Link in comments)

09/28/2026

Hi all! We're trying to finalize class rosters, attendance lists, etc. for Learning Labs that start THIS WEEKEND! If you're still interested in signing up your kiddo(s), now is the time! We'll drop the link in the comments. Hope to see you on Saturday!

09/24/2026

Our fall line-up of parenting classes is out! These are FREE to all, thanks to a generous donor. They start at 11:15 on the Saturdays listed below and take place at Wydown Middle School. RSVPs not required but nice! (Link in comments)

Oct 3 - Rick Hasler - Why Gifted Kiddos Need Family Game Night
Oct. 10 - Agnes Meyo - Gifted Kids and Friendships
Oct. 17 - Nancy Bonn-Winkler - Productive Struggle v. Frustration (How to Tell the Difference & How to Help)
Nov. 7 - Catherine Hasler - From Reactive to Proactive: Solutions for Solving Behavior Problems and Enhancing Skills

09/23/2026

Teachers - this is a great technique - check it out!

This is a low-prep, powerful strategy I use when I push into a classroom and see that my students are already done with the work.

This week, they were working on balancing equations in science. They understood how to do it and were finished, so I gave them a different challenge: Teach me the philosophy behind balancing equations using a haiku.

See what I did there?

No additional lesson plan. No extra worksheet. Just a well-placed constraint that had them thinking about what was most important to understand.

They had only 17 syllables, so they had to decide what mattered enough to keep and what they could leave out.

I used to do the same thing as an ELA teacher. I would ask students to capture the theme of a story in a haiku. Seventeen syllables didn't leave much room for plot summary. They had to get to the actual lesson underneath it.

That's the part I like.

Sometimes our gifted students don't need more work when they've already demonstrated understanding. A small constraint can change the kind of thinking we're asking them to do.

Change the thinking, not the workload.

Haiku It can work with almost anything you're already teaching. Ask students to capture the essential idea behind photosynthesis, a historical event, a mathematical concept, a character's motivation, or a scientific process in 17 syllables.

Then put them up.

A collection of student haiku around the room becomes a pretty interesting record of what students understand. You can even have students read one another's and discuss which ones capture the concept most accurately or reveal something others missed.

After all, evaluations are coming up. We need student work on those walls, right?

Steal It Sunday. Use It Monday.

09/23/2026

It's hard to believe that it's almost the end of September! This means Fall Learning Labs start in a week and a half - on October 3rd.

If you've been putting off registration, now is the time - we're boxing up supplies and finalizing details, which means we need to know how many kiddos we're preparing for.

We've got some great classes -- exploring mythology, the medical profession, games from around the world, the Middle Ages, novel engineering (a summer favorite!), and much more. Small class sizes ensure lots of attention and lots of learning!

If you have any trouble logging into the new system, please just give us a call at (314) 962-5920 and we'll get you squared away.

Our website (linked on our main FB page) has all the info about classes - Meta is now limiting the number of links you can post a month to two. (Grrrr. . . .)

09/22/2026

Do you like games? Fall Learning Lab has plenty of them. Beginning and Advanced Chess will introduce and challenge young players no matter where they are in the game. Taught by chess expert Stephen Randoll!
If chess isn't your thing, let's look around the world! "Around the World in 80 Games" will explore games from different cultures and the math & logic strategies underlying them. Learn while playing!

Gifted Resource Council's Learning Labs are weekend classes covering a wide range of high-interest topics in the St. Louis metro area.

09/21/2026

If you're an educator, check out this free webinar!

There's probably a student in your classroom who is working much harder than anyone realizes. Maybe they're ADHD. Autistic. Dyslexic. Twice-exceptional. Maybe nobody has figured it out yet. How do we support the learner instead of simply asking them to try harder?

That's one of the conversations we're having at our free live educator workshop on September 22.

Emily Kircher-Morris + Amanda Morin + Dr. Karen Wilson + Caitlin Kline. 7:30–9 PM Eastern | Free

Link here: https://theneurodiversitypodcast.myflodesk.com/crashcourse2026