Sunday, December 17, 2017

This Month In Academic Games: Closer To States

About a month ago we blogged about what was going on in Academic Games.  At that point we were playing four of the six games.  We have since added LinguiSHTIK (a grammar game) and started on Propaganda (a game about rhetorical methods) so we are playing all six of the games (Equations, OnSets, WFF 'n' Proof, LinguiSHTIK, Presidents, and Propaganda) that we will be playing at the State Tournament.


A blog entry from last year tells a lot about what happens at the State Tournaments which happen this year on March 7-9 (for 6th graders) and March 14-16 (for 7th and 8th graders) in Grand Rapids


Academic Games families will be getting signup information for the State Tournament this week.  Payment is due the first week we return to school.  The State Tournaments are a lot of fun and a lot of work and are something the team looks forward to all year. 

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

December Saturday Tournament

The December Saturday Tournament was held on December 9 in Jackson with 180 players participating. 

Clague finished first both with an average score of 15.68 and a perfect Top Five score of 100.

Congratulations to the whole Clague team, including the following people who earned scores of 18 or higher:  Catherine X., Arav, Amy, Claire, Natalie, Aarnav, Alex V., Peter, Simon, and Karinne. 

This was the fourth tournament of the year.  15 Clague students have attended all four tournaments so far.  A total of 42 students have attended at least three tournaments already, which is part of the preparation Clague expects for those participating in the State Tournaments in March.  Another 13 have attended two tournaments.

The next Saturday Tournament is on January 20, at Northville Hillside Middle School. 



Friday, November 24, 2017

November Saturday Tournament

The November Saturday Tournament was held in Oxford.  28 Clague players playing Equations and On-Sets came in third in Average and Top Five.

Congratulations to Simon and Ethan for scoring 18 or higher out of a possible 20!

Clague expects those planning to participate in the State Tournament to be prepared, including by participating in at least three of the Saturday Tournaments.  Since this was the third Saturday Tournament of the year, it was the first chance for players to complete this qualification -- and 21 players have indeed competed in the first three tournaments.  

The December tournament is coming up soon -- December 9, at  Jackson Northeast Elementary


Sunday, November 12, 2017

The Academic Games Year: Competitions

The year in Academic Games is a combination of learning and competing.   Particularly for new families and those considering joining, it might be useful to have an outline of how the year fits together.  Some of these details are specific to Clague. 

Clague practices twice a week in the school cafeteria.  Generally, Mondays are devoted to learning new things and Fridays are mostly about competition.  (Of course, competition is a good way to learn as well).  Our "Friday Tournaments" give players a chance to compete with their teammates.  When the rules are different for 6th graders, then the 6th graders compete against other 6th graders while the 7th and 8th graders have a separate competition.

We also compete once a month (September through February) on Saturday mornings with other schools in the area.  These "Saturday Tournaments" are hosted by schools around Southeast Michigan. 

The big event in Michigan Academic Games is the "Super Tournament", also known as "States", held in Grand Rapids in early March.  This is a three day tournament with a lot of great competition open to schools across Michigan.   Competition at States is in five-player teams, which means Clague generally has a number of teams at States.   At Clague, we expect any student who wants to go to States will prepare including by going to at least three of the six Saturday Tournaments.  There is a cost to going to States -- last year it was $365 -- which includes the bus, the hotel, the food, tournament registration.  We will need chaperones (parents) to join us on the trip.  Chaperones do not pay themselves (although they still pay for their children).  Making sure that students who work hard all year do not miss out on the tournaments for financial reasons is important to us so we do raise funds during the year to provide some scholarship aid to families in financial need. 

Families make the decision whether to go to States in January and coaches then put the players on teams. 

Those who do particularly well at the State Tournament may also be given the chance to compete at the Academic Games National Tournament in late April.  The location of this tournament varies but is generally somewhere in the eastern United States.  In 2018 it will be in Knoxville. 

Clague Academic Games is proud of our record including winning many State and National Championships and we are also proud of having so many players compete with integrity at the tournaments.  At the same time, we welcome players who do not wish to travel for the major tournaments but who are dedicated to working on the games to join us on Mondays and Fridays developing skills and enjoying the competition. 

Friday, November 10, 2017

October Saturday Tournament Results

The second Saturday Tournament of the 2017/18 year was held at Pioneer High in Ann Arbor, with over 250 students competing in the Region B tournament.  Most players were playing Equations with a few playing OnSets as well.

Clague's average score of 15.60 was strong but Northville Hillside and Meads Mill finished even higher.  Our top nine players each had a perfect score of 20, adding up to a top five score of 100, which left Clague in a two-way tie for first.

Congratulations to the team.  Players scoring 18 or higher included Nana, Claire, Jerry, Henry, Hassan, Sonya, Nathan, Qaurtney, Tony, Kevin, Karinne, Kaan, Amy, Arav, Aarnav, Alex K., and Alex Z. 






What's Going On At Clague Academic Games?

We are now a couple months into the Academic Games season and are already playing four of the six games that we play during the year.

The first game we started was Equations, which is a game in which our players demonstrate their amazing mathematical skills.  For a slightly outdated version of the basics of this game and a cat, check out this youtube video by Clague alumna Claire Fishman.

We have also added On-Sets, a game of set theory that is explained earlier in this blog at this link. We have been playing On-Sets and Equations at our Friday Tournaments and will be playing them at this month's Saturday Tournament on the 18th.

We have also started playing our U.S. History game, Presidents.  To learn about this game, there is also a blog post from earlier. This year we learn about the terms of the first 24 presidents (Washington through Cleveland).

Finally, we have started learning WFF 'n' Proof, a formal logic game.

The two other games Clague competes in -- Propaganda and Linguishtik -- will be started in the coming months.  


First Saturday Tournament Results

Alright, time to catch up on some blog entries...

The first Saturday tournament of the 2017/18 year was held ... a while ago ... at Clague with over 200 students playing Equations in the warm-but-we're-thankful-for-the-ceiling-fan cafeteria. 

Clague posted a strong average score of 15.10 and our top five scores added to 98 out of a  possible 100 both of which were good for second place to Northville Hillside. 

Congratulations to all the Clague players -- players scoring 18 or higher (out of a possible 20) included Jackson, Amber, Nico, Peter, David, Jason, Alexandra, Evan, Alfredo, Brian, and Daniel H., Daniel L., and Daniel T.  

What has already happened at the October tournament?  Find out on a future blog post about the past. 


Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Equations Worksheets

Equations worksheets are linked on the right. There is a packet for Elementary players (6th graders) and one for Middle players (7th and 8th grade). We distributed the first couple of pages for the students and distributed them at the last two practices.  We will not be printing out further copies, so it is up to each student to print them out on their own. Worksheets are due before Thanksgiving break.

For every page completed, students will get one point added to their Friday tournament score, regardless of the number of problems they get correct. The idea is to reward effort. Students are encouraged to bring their worksheet packet with them to all practices, as we will often have times when they can work on them with other students.

6th and 7th grade students can get a maximum of 20 points from the worksheets, while returning 8th grade students can only get points for the worksheets that have not been in previous years' packets (we printed out the 11 pages they can get points for and distributed them).

Friday, September 22, 2017

First AG tournament of the year, September 23 @ Clague

The first Saturday tournament is tomorrow at Clague. Students need to be at Clague no later than 8:30 am.  They will have about an hour to practice as we set up the tournament before they will be asked to leave the cafeteria so we can complete the setup.  Play will begin around 10 am and the students will play three rounds (35 minutes) of Equations against other students from Ann Arbor, Northville, Utica, Jackson, and Oxford.  The tournament will end and students will be dismissed between 12 and 12:15.

We encourage all students to attend the tournament, even if they are beginners.  We try to group students in their matches by experience level, so hopefully no student will be too out of their depth.  Students should bring pencil paper, and their AG notebook.

Good Luck to all!

Sunday, September 10, 2017

New Academic Games Year

A new year of Academic Games is underway at Clague.  If you know someone who is a Clague student and might be interested in Academic Games, encourage them to join us at a practice!  September is the best time to join the team as we will be learning our first game -- Equations -- and can we bring anyone who is new to Academic Games up to speed.
We had our practice Friday for returning players which included voting for captains.  Captains are students -- usually 8th graders -- who lead the team.
The votes are currently being counted, miscounted, and recounted
and we look forward to introducing the captains for the 2017-18 Clague Academic Games team. 







Monday, February 27, 2017

State Tournaments Are Here

The State Tournament season is finally here!   The tournaments will be held in Grand Rapids March 1-3 for 6th graders and March 8-10 for 7th and 8th graders.   Tonight the team had their last practice together before the tournament. 

See our earlier blog entry for an outline of how the state tournament works. 

Remember at the State Tournament students compete in teams of five.  Clague will be sending six teams each week.  Obviously we will all be rooting for all twelve Clague teams, but if you have someone special you want to follow, find out what their team name is so you can see how they're doing on twitter @clagueag or on instagram @eric_nelson_ag 

All competition at the State Tournament is the team (the team, the team), so you will not see any individual scores. 

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Practice Time Changes: State Tournament Ahead

The Clague team is looking forward to the State Tournaments happening in Grand Rapids in March.  Due to those tournaments and the school calendar there are a few changes for the weeks ahead.


  • This Friday (February 17) practice goes ahead as usual
  • Next week there is no school (and no practice) on Monday (February 20).  We will have a makeup practice for those who can make it the evening of Wednesday, February 22 and our normal practice time on Friday, February 24.  
  • Monday, February 27 is the last practice before states and it is important that those going to states be there, since it is our chance to prepare as a group for the tournaments.  
  • The "elementary" (6th grade) tournament is March 1-3.  Since most of the coaches and games will be in Grand Rapids, there is no practice on Friday, March 3.
  • Monday, March 6 the 6th graders get the practice day off after a busy tournament: the March 6 practice is for Middles (7th/8th grade) only.  
  • The "middle" (7th/8th grade) tournament is March 8-10, so for the same reason as above there is no practice on Friday, March 10

February's Saturday Tournament

Clague finished up the year of Saturday tournaments with a successful trip to Fenton last Saturday in which a total of 159 students participated.

Clague led the way in team average and top five, and top Clague performers (scores of 18 or higher) included Kaan, Derek, Ismael, Darius, Alfredo, Alex, Kristian, Kaiwen, and Matthew.

There are six Saturday tournaments during the school year, running from September through February.  Six Clague players competed in all six tournaments: Natalie, Jerry L, Alfredo, Nana, Aarnav, and Derek.  Congratulations to all who competed in the AG spirit of friendly and fair competition.

Our next stop in competition is Grand Rapids, where the State Tournaments will occur in March.


Thursday, February 2, 2017

January's Saturday Tournament

The penultimate Saturday tournament of the year was held on January 21 in Utica.  170 students from 16 schools took part.  Congratulations to all who competed. 

Clague had a successful competition.  Clague narrowly won in team average over Meads Mill (15.52 to 15.38), and Meads Mill returned the favor by winning Top Five 97 to 96. 

Top Clague results (18 or higher) included Natalie, Nana, Jason, Yaseen, Caleb, Simon, and Raayan. 

Seven Clague players have attended all five tournaments so far this year.   How many will complete the set by attending all six Saturday tournaments?   Find out next week as the last Saturday tournament of the 2016/17 season is played at Fenton High School on February 11. 



Monday, January 2, 2017

January in Clague Academic Games

Happy New Year!

The Clague team has now started all of the games we will be playing at the State Tournaments in March (March 1-3 for 6th graders and March 8-10 for 7th and 8th graders).

We posted what happens at the State Tournament in December.  The big news for now is that those Clague players who are going to the State Tournament need to turn in their permission forms and payment during practice the first week after break (January 9 or 13).  Information was distributed at practice and emailed to families; contact a coach if you need more info.

Other things going on in January include: the penultimate Saturday Tournament on January 21, our usual Friday tournaments, and learning more about all the games in preparation for States.   And of course, the boisterous Choosing Of The State Team Names.