Tag: School Parties

PTA Reflections Art Contest Ideas

PTA Reflections

Reflections Assembly Ideas

I have been in charge of our elementary school’s Reflections program for many years.  We always kick off the event with an assembly to encourage the kids to participate.  It’s basically the same assembly from year to year, but I disguise it with different costumes.  I use older students as the costumed actors and I am the main narrator.  You’ll notice that I have a slide show at the end of the assembly.  The slide show is always based on the theme for the year.  I take photos and write in text to give them ideas of how they might use the theme to create art. Here are two of my scripts.  

Reflections Assembly #1

Reflections Assembly #2

Reflections Award Ribbons

I don’t have much of a budget for Reflections, so I am always looking for ways to save money.  I decided to make my own ribbons instead of buying them.  I’ve made these the last four years and the kids love them.

Here’s a photo of my templates. I use scrapbook paper for the ruffled circle and card stock for the rest.  I find free clip art for each category.  I paste them all together, laminate them, and they’re ready to go!

 

Prize Ideas

I’ve awarded all kinds of prizes over the years for Reflections. Here are a few examples that might fit your budget.

Book Fair Stuff: My favorite prize is using our Scholastic book fair money. We have a lot of Scholastic Bucks from years of book fairs, so our PTA decided to use some of it for Reflections prizes.  All the kids get a Klutz or Lego activity kit/book for entering Reflections.  Winners receive a medal or small trophy.

Art Supplies: I go to the back-to-school sales in the fall to stock up on cheap notebooks and washable markers.  I put these in a clear plastic bag with freebie coupons the PTA has collected from local businesses. The kids also get a medal or small trophy if they win and a certificate of participation.

Let them choose: Not as many kids enter Reflections in Junior High and High School so I usually have about $10 per entrant. I like to let the kids choose their own prize. I’ll give them a list of places they can choose from for a gift card, or a list of random prizes from Amazon like paints, stomp rockets, and kites. Then I’ll wrap them up and deliver them to the school.

 

 

Elementary School Chess Club Ideas

Every Grand Master was once a beginner!

Chess Board

My kids love chess.  This is due to a beloved uncle, not their parents.  However, as we saw this love grow, we decided to embrace the world of chess and dive right in.  We started a chess club at the elementary school.  My teenage sons run the club and I serve as the adult supervisor (even though 80% of the kids can beat me.)  We have taught over 100 kids how to play chess and have even ran a few tournaments.  Here are some ideas for starting your own chess club.

Shaking hands at chess tourament

Chess Club Strategies

We have one major obstacle at our chess club:  We don’t have enough teachers to keep all of our kids busy.  We have done a few things that seem to work well. The first is to put the kids in teams where they can teach each other.  The teams are a mix of strong players and new players.  The experienced kids teach the newer kids.  We can also use these teams to have team competitions.  The kids rank themselves in their teams and then the number ones play each other, twos play each other, etc.

Little Chess Players

Chess Club Curriculum

The other thing we have used is a self-starter worksheet.  We have a file with the worksheets organized by the kids’ last names.  When they come to club, the kids can pull out their worksheet and begin working on rank advancement.  Here’s a picture of our worksheet:

Chess Worksheet

The back side of the worksheet has a table with 30 squares.  The kids are supposed to sign a square when they play someone.  Our hope is that they’ll play 30 different opponents by the time they reach King Level.  Each number in a level has a requirement to complete.  When a student completes a requirement, we circle the number on their chart.   We are happy to share printable versions of our worksheets:

Chess Club Worksheet Page 1

Chess Club Worksheet Page 2 (Print on Back)

Below is the list of requirements for each level.

Printable Version: Chess Club Worksheet Requirements

Pawn Level
  1. Demonstrate how the rook moves.
  2. Know how to take the other player’s pieces.
  3. Demonstrate how the bishop moves.
  4. Know how to attack and defend pieces.
  5. Demonstrate how the queen moves.
  6. Demonstrate how the king moves.
  7. Know what “Check” means.
  8. Know what “Checkmate” means.
  9. Demonstrate how the knight moves.
  10. Show how the pawns move and capture.

Girl playing chess

Knight Level
  1. Know the names of all the pieces.
  2. Learn the three ways to get out of Check.
  3. Know the number of points each piece is worth.
  4. Show the teacher how the board is setup.
  5. Learn how to castle – including the rules and restrictions to castling.
  6. Know the scholar’s mate (or fool’s mate).
  7. Learn how to defend against the scholar’s mate.
  8. Demonstrate what stalemate is.
  9. Know what it means to draw.
  10. Play 6 games in the club (you can count any you’ve done in prior weeks).

 

Boy Playing chess

Bishop Level
  1. Know the 3 important opening principles (Control the center, develop pieces, get your king to safety). Explain them to a friend or coach.
  2. Complete at least one exercise on each page from pages 18-25 of “Chess Tactics for Students” You can do this with a friend.
  3. Know the rules of En Passant.
  4. Complete at least one exercise on each page from pages 26-33 of “Chess Tactics for Students” You can do this with a friend.
  5. Demonstrate how to checkmate with 2 Queens + King vs. a lone King.
  6. Show an older player or teacher how to checkmate with 1 Queen and 1 Rook + King vs. a lone King.
  7. Demonstrate how to checkmate with 2 Rooks + King vs. a lone King.
  8. Know how to notate your games (Bishop = B, Rook = R, Queen = Q, King = K, Pawn = none).
  9. Notate one complete game.
  10. Play 10 games in the club (you can count any you’ve done in prior weeks).

Boy notating chess

Rook Level
  1. Demonstrate how to checkmate with 1 Queen + King vs. a lone King.
  2. Demonstrate how to checkmate with 1 Rook + King vs. a lone King.
  3. Introduction to forks (or double attacks). Complete at least one exercise on each page from pages 34 – 40 of “Chess Tactics for Students”. You can do this with a friend.
  4. Teach another student about knight forks.
  5. Know the rule of the square.
  6. More forks. Complete at least one exercise on each page from pages 50- 56 of “Chess Tactics for Students”. You can do this with a friend.
  7. Teach another student about forks (using a piece or pieces other than a knight.).
  8. Introduction to pins. Complete at least one exercise on each page from pages 2 – 8 of “Chess Tactics for Students”. You can do this with a friend.
  9. Teach another student about pins.
  10. Play 16 games in the club (you can count any you’ve done in prior weeks).

6th grade chess players

Queen Level
  1. Opposition: Know how to win with 1 Pawn + King vs. a lone King.
  2. Know how to use a chess clock. Play three games using the clock.
  3. Play one game of speed chess. (Two minutes on each clock.)
  4. Play a full game against each of the coaches.

Finn

King Level
  1. Play 30 different opponents. (You should be keeping track on the back of your chart by having each opponent sign a square.)

When you complete this level, you will have reached the King Level and will be declared a Mini Master!

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Chess Club Awards

When the kids complete a level, we award them with a colorful chess piece key chain.  We buy these from wholesalechess.com.  They are inexpensive and the kids love to display them on their backpacks. Everyone can see the level they have reached by the chess piece hanging on their backpack!Chess Piece Key Chains

Chess Club Etiquette

One more thing: Here’s our rules for chess etiquette.  It’s important to teach your students these expectations.  Chess Etiquette

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You are welcome to ask questions in the comment section. We’ve learned a lot over the years and are happy to help others who want to make their schools a great place to learn and grow!

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

Isn’t Christmas so fun?! One of our favorite holiday activities is making little gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.

Last Christmas, I helped A LOT of kids make candy-covered cottages. We made twenty in my son’s kindergarten class, thirty in my other son’s third grade class, and five at home. –So I am feeling like a real pro. Here’s what to do:

Gingerbread Houses

Collect empty milk cartons at school lunch. Rinse the cartons and leave right-side-up and open so they can dry. Once dry, close the cartons and staple the top so they will stay closed.

Milk Carton

Collect lots of sugary decorations and lay them out on plates. Some ideas for decorations include cereal, cookies, licorice, sprinkles, pretzels, gumdrops, candy canes, kisses, gingerbread men cookies, M&Ms, Smarties, jellybeans, coconut, chocolate chips, and gummy bears.  At school, we sent a note home with the students to ask parents to donate candy and decorating supplies.

Decorations

Prepare Royal Icing. You’ll need to double/triple+ recipe if you are making many houses. I have found one recipe will make about five houses. I used 4 lbs of powdered sugar for 20 students and 6 lbs for 30 students when we made the houses at school.

Recipe for Royal Icing

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice or vanilla

2 egg whites

Put the egg whites in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until frothy. Stir in lemon juice. Add sugar. Beat with mixer until thoroughly mixed. The icing should be very thick but thin enough to push through a small decorating tip. 

 

Scoop the icing into quart size Ziploc bags– two large scoops per bag. When you are ready to work on the houses, snip a corner off the bag, then push the icing toward that corner to pipe out.

Before the kids begin, give each child two small paper plates, 6 graham cracker squares, and a milk carton.  One paper plate will be used as the base for the house.  The other will be used to carry candy and other sugary decorations from one location to another.  –At home we didn’t need two plates because the candy was on the same table as the children.  At school, we had a table with all the treats and the students worked at their individual desks/tables.

Royal Icing

Explain to the kids that you and the other adults will be the “gluers”. Divide your group into manageable sections– 4-8 kids per adult. The kids should raise their hands whenever they need more icing. The adults roam around the room, piping out icing as needed, and complimenting the little engineers with great enthusiasm.

Gingerbread House

Happy building and Merry Christmas!