1) Rook mazes for beginners. After Dr. Root gave a sample maze on the demonstration board, students set up a mazes for each other then captured each chessman in the maze with a rook. From Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving.
Dr. Alexey Root showed the moves and Vanessa wrote the notation for this line of the Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation.
For the first meeting of Greenhill Chess for 2013-2014, chess club sponsor Cathleen Garcia went over the rules and procedures. Dr. Alexey Root taught the Classify activity (from Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14) to the beginner group. She taught the Scholar’s Mate activity (from Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities) to the intermediate and advanced groups.
While some chess club members played for fun, the officers, Dr. Alexey Root, and chess club sponsor Fred Mueller planned for fall semester 2013. Curriculum was also planned through meeting nine.
September 6: First meeting; planning and PLAYING FOR FUN and ANNOUNCEMENTS.
Dr. Alexey Root will tour the Pacific Northwest, featuring her books including her latest Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14.
Presentation #1
Portland Chess Club
7 p.m. on Wednesday, August 7
8205 Southwest 24th Avenue Portland OR 97219 USA
Dr. Alexey Root will teach at the July 15-19 and 22-26 chess camps for UT Dallas. Lesson plans will be taken from her books.
On May 25, 25 middle and high school students competed in a non-rated chess tournament at Denton Public Library, North Branch. Dr. Alexey Root served as tournament director. The tournament raised money for Denton High School chess club. Results are posted on the Denton High School chess club Web site and on its Facebook page.
Friday, May 17, was the last Denton High School chess club meeting of 2012-2013. Dr. Alexey Root announced that the June issue of Chess Life for Kids would feature a story on Denton High School chess club members at SuperNationals V. She also collected quotes for her upcoming Chess Life article. There was food and bughouse. An officers’ meeting followed.
Dr. Alexey Root welcomed twenty four Newton Rayzor Elementary School students, one teacher, and four parent chaperones to Denton High School. The group visited 10 Denton High School chess club members. The Newton Rayzor students were divided into three groups of eight. Denton High School chess club members further divided the groups of eight into pairs (in the room that had 4 Denton HS students) or one group of four and two pairs (in the other two rooms).
Mr. Fred Mueller, chess club sponsor, ran elections for next year's officers. For 2013-2014, officers will be President: Alex Elizalde. Vice President: Shawn Joss. Secretary: William Root. Treasurer: Vanessa Jimenez.
Dr. Alexey Root appointed instructional leaders (William, Luis, Alex) and their teams for next week's visit by Newton Rayzor elementary school chess club.
William R. presented his last-round game from SuperNationals V. Pairs of students followed along on their boards as he showed the moves on the demonstration board (Smart Board). William halted the game at critical points so that the pairs could spend five minutes figuring out what happened next.
Austin showed the finale of his round 2 win (which he began showing last week) over a player rated between 1500 and 1600 USCF. Luis showed the first 20+ moves of his win over a 1595-rated player. Both Austin and Luis paused their games on the demonstration board at various points so that the others (following along on their chess boards) could analyze what they thought would happen next. Dr. Alexey Root discussed plans for the remaining meetings of the year (April 26, May 3, May 10, and May 17).
