New Members Welcome Social 

for the Elmhurst Book and Social Clubs

New Members welcome Social.  Great time to join!  Learn about how the book and social clubs are run.  Meet some of the book club members, while eating snacks and watching a movie (can a movie actually be as good as a book?).  

While the kids are entertained, parents will discuss the logistics of the Book and Social Clubs going forward and have a opportunity to influence meeting times and sign up to provide occasional additional support.  

Yes there will be two Elmhurst Book and Social Clubs going forward.  One for gifted 12 - 15 year old middle schoolers who love to read.  One for highly gifted 8 - 11 year olds who have significantly advanced reading skills and a love of books.  The expectation is that both groups are easily reading at the high school level, but perhaps the type of books and the subject matter handled would be different across the different age levels.

Each of the clubs will meet twice a month with a club format that focuses on sharing books of interest, socializing, and being with others who love to discuss books. They will both meet at the Elmhurst Public Library, which has 2 floors, a great lounge, and a lot of books. 

The following items will be covered in the parent discussion:

• Overall structure of the meetings - the role of the facilitator and what gets discussed.  Who is choosing books. 
• Meeting times and locations - these are in flux. We will try to find a time that works for everyone present. 
• Group names - what do we call these two groups?  many of the students in both groups will be attending middle school, so that designation is not useful...  
• Arrivals and departures - The facilitators will have their hands full.  Parents will need to facilitate and supervise arrival and departure.  There is no formal sign in and sign out process.  
• Child supervision - Facilitator will be in the room and will help run the meetings, but will not supervise children when they leave the room, which they are free to do at any time.  The Elmhurst Library has a policy that students must be 12 in order to be in the library without supervision.  This means that the parents of the students in the younger group will need to stay on site and be involved in their child's experience to some degree.  Parents of those in the older group are welcome to stay and it might be helpful to have at least one parent stay each week.  

To participate, you must register on the CGCC website.  

If you have a child who is interested in participating in one of the Elmhurst Book and Social clubs but you are unable to make this meeting, please register for this Social anyway.  You will be given an option to indicate that you are unable to attend.  This way you will receive updates from the facilitators regarding the plans moving forward.