Elementary Academic Team
Dear Parents and Students,
This school year, 4th and 5th graders will have the opportunity to join the Elementary Academic Team. The Elementary Academic Team practices weekly on Thursdays starting in October and will have competitions from December through February. During competitions a team of four players from Villa will complete against other local schools using a buzzer system to answer questions (sort of like Jeopardy, except you don't answer in the form of a question). The team that buzzes in first with the correct answer gets a point for their team and the opportunity to earn another point with a bonus question.
Information about practices and competition dates and times are on the web site, but I wanted to let you know about something that your child will need to do if they would like to try to join the team. To prepare for competition, any interested student should read at least two Newbery Award books. Please choose books that you have not read yet. The reports will be due the first week of October 2007. You should also be familiar with fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and Kentucky history.
The Newbery Award list can be found at the following web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/newberymedal/newberywinners/medalwinners.htm
For each book, the child will need to prepare a typed, double spaced report in the following format:
Book Title and Author (Also list 2 other books by each author)
Short Summary (No longer than 12 sentences. Be sure to mention the main characters and setting)
Prepare 3 questions and answers about each book that you think could be asked as quick recall questions. (For example: Name the Newbery award book by Louis Lowry in which a girl and her family help Jews escape to Sweden . Number the Stars)
We have talked to all of last year's 3rd and 4th graders about this information and placed a flyer in Family Folders in the spring.
Mrs. Janet Dwyer
Elementary Academic Team Coach
P.S. A good place to find practice questions is at www.kaac.com . Click on the link and go to “Question of the Day”. Listening in class, playing trivia type games, reading novels, and reading fairy tales will help you become better at answering the questions at the matches.
Junior High School Academic Team
For students interested in the middle school academic team:
Quick Recall:
Students engage in a Jeopardy-like format using a buzzer system. Competition is with local schools in the Northern Kentucky Academic League (NKAL) on Wednesdays on October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5, 12, 19 and December 3, 10. There are three teams - varsity, junior varsity and 6th grade. Governor's Cup participants are chosen by the coaches. The competition dates are listed below.
Governor's Cup Written Test competition:
Students take practice tests to determine who would be interested in participating. The categories are: math, language arts, science, social studies, written composition and arts and humanities.
Future Problem Solving (FPS):
Four to six students try to find innovative ways to solve problems facing us today. Practice begins before Christmas and competition is with the Governor's Cup program.
The focus work for middle school for 2009 is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Details about how the focus work is used can be found at kaac.com.
Important dates for 2009 for middle school competition are:
District Competition: Tuesday, January 20 & Saturday, January 24
Regional Competition: Tuesday, February 10 & Saturday, February 14
State Finals: March 14-16 in Louisville