Turtle Lake Chess Club information--9/1/10

What: Turtle Lake Chess Club, grades K-5.

Who: Any student who knows how the pieces move

When: 7:40am Fridays, starting Sept. 24

Where: Turtle Hall

Why: It's fun, and it develops mental abilities used throughout life: concentration, critical thinking, abstract reasoning, problem solving, pattern recognition, strategic planning, creativity, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, to name a few.

How: Fill out the sign-up sheet and deliver with payment of $10 to school office or Mrs Bell. Please make checks payable to Turtle Lake Elementary. (The sign-up sheet will be in the first edition of Turtle Tales; hardcopies will also be available at chess club meetings; when it's ready, I can also email you a copy).

Other notes:

--you don't have to attend every Friday. If you're not sure about signing up, feel free to visit a time or two to check it out.

--new chess players are welcome to join at any time of the school year.

--chess sets are provided.

--Parents are welcome to watch or help out any time, no chess experience needed--encouraged to help with supervision, setup, recording games, keeping kids focused, etc

--we'll offer some chess instruction, and the kids can also work chess puzzles and read chess books.

--New this year: We'll have a "chess ladder" system where we record results of Friday chess games, and "standings" will be posted each Friday. This helps to keep students motivated, and has worked well at other area chess clubs.

--Chess tournaments:

1. Schoolchess events: Generally two per month, October through April. You're usually guaranteed five games; there is both individual and team competition. (see schoolchess.org)

2. District chess tournament: In late spring, Turtle Lake competes against several other elementary schools for team and individual trophies (The Turtle Lake team has been a strong one, winning the team championship for the last three years).

3. In-house chess tournament: Held over several weeks later in the school year, students can win trophies or medals in one of three categories: K-1st, 2nd-3rd, or 4th-5th grade.

Coach contact information:
Tom Nelson
Turtle Lake Elementary chess coach
tomanelson@mac.com
Check out the Turtle Lake chess website: turtlelakechessclub.blogspot.com
cell: 612-308-8334