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.

December Tournament in Jackson

35 Clague students participated in the Region B Saturday tournament in Jackson on December 10.  Clague won both Top 5 (with a perfect score of 100) and Team Average (15.83).

Congratulations to everyone who participated -- top scores (18 and above) from Clague were earned by Matthew, Karinne, Aarnav, Jason, Henry, Alex Z, Alex V., Evan, Catherine B.L., Marisa, Kaiwen, and Zihao.  

The tournament also included a practice round of Propaganda while the cube games were being set up in the next room.  Congratulations to Natalie and Aarnav who each got a perfect score of 28 from the 7 questions in the practice round.  

As you can see from the blog post below, we are looking forward to the State Tournaments in March in Grand Rapids.  57 team members have now participated in at least three Saturday tournaments, which is the Clague expectation towards preparing for States.  Another 11 have competed in two tournaments, and can get their third tournament on January 21, at 8:30AM, at St. Lawrence in Utica. 

Clague at the Super Tournaments in March

Time once again for the December looking-forward-to-States post...

If you are reading this blog, you hopefully know that the Clague teams will be competing at the Michigan Super Tournaments (“States”) in Grand Rapids in March. You might not, however, know how the tournament works.

The State Tournament is something the team looks forward to all year. The team members have a lot of fun at States but also are working very hard. Hundreds of students from around the state come to demonstrate the academic skills that they have developed all year.

The “Elementary” teams (this group includes 5th and 6th grades, so yes, we have Clague players playing "Elementary") will compete March 1-3 and the “Middle” teams (7th and 8th grades) will compete March 8-10. Both tournaments are similar in structure.

• We take a bus to Grand Rapids and then the entire tournament takes place in the hotel. Competition and meals all take place in the hotel’s meeting rooms.
• Players compete in teams of five. We form these teams in late January. Last year, we had four Elementary teams and eight Middle teams.  Of course, we will all be rooting for all Clague teams, but if you have a team member in the family, find out what the team name is so you can follow along. 
• We compete in two types of games. First, “cube” games include Equations, On-Sets, Linguishtik, and Wff ‘n’ Proof. Each of these competitions consist of four “rounds”. We play two rounds of each game on Wednesday and two on Thursday. Results are posted each day, so you can see first the scores after the first two rounds and then the final standings. Teams that do extraordinarily well go to playoffs either Thursday evening or Friday morning to determine champions.
• Second, “reading” games we compete in are Presidents and Propaganda (there is also Current Events and World Card Theme, but Clague sticks to six games). We play Propaganda on Wednesday and then Presidents is either Thursday (Middle) or Friday (Elementary).
• We will try to keep our twitter page @clagueag updated with results.  Results also appear on the instagram page @eric_nelson_ag.
• No matter the results, we are all proud of every member of the Clague team for their hard work and the integrity they show in competition. 

Families will be getting more information on the technicalities of signing up soon. We will also need some chaperones to help out.  There is no extra cost to being a chaperone (although you still pay for your student).  The cost per student includes registration for the games, transportation, the three days and two nights in the hotel, food, a t-shirt, and a share of the cost of chaperones.  If you are a team parent and have the time to be a chaperone, it is a great way to spend a few days seeing what the teams from around the state can do. 

November Tournament in Northville

Our November Saturday Tournament was held at Hillside Middle School in Northville.  Clague had a strong tournament, with a 15.41 average just barely ahead of Northville Meads Mill, and both Clague and Meads Mill having Top 5 scores of 95. 

Top scoring Clague players (18 and above) included Sophie, Simon, Claire, Matthew, Derek, Nana, Karim, Kaan, Nico, and Daniel W.

The State Tournaments are held in Grand Rapids in March.  Clague expects players going to States to prepare by going to at least three of the six Saturday Tournaments.  Since this was the third Saturday Tournament of the year, it is the first one at which players can have met that standard.  37 Clague players have competed in all three Saturday tournaments so far.  For a little slightly-outdated information about the State tournaments, check out this blog entry from last year. 

The next Saturday Tournament is on December 10 at Jackson Northeast Elementary School starting at 8:30AM. 

October Tournament at Pioneer

It's been a while now, but there was a Saturday Tournament in October at Pioneer High School. We enjoyed competing against teams from around Region B, including the new team at Ann Arbor Pattengill.

Clague's 63 players had a great tournament, with a tournament-leading average score of 15.48 and a perfect Top 5 score of 100.

Excellent individual scores (18 and above) were earned by 18 (!) Clague players including Claire, Simon, Derek, three Daniels (Daniel H., Daniel L., and Daniel W.), Karinne, Matthew, Angie, Rumei, Anthony V., Kevin Z., Natalie M., Aleko, Gerald, Kaan, Jonathan, and Scott.

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 will not be printing out the worksheets, 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, specifically worksheets 9G, 9H, 9I, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M, 9N, 9O

October Tournament tomorrow, 10/15

Quick reminder that our October Tournament is tomorrow at Pioneer High School, not Huron High School as was listed on the original schedule sent out.  All students should be there no later than 8:30am, and plan on being done by around 12 or 12:15pm.

Another reminder that if you haven't already done so, please fill out a registration form for this year at http://www.a2ag.org/registration-form/ Having all Ann Arbor AG students registered with up to date contact information is crucial for us as we begin to plan for the State and National tournaments at the end of the year.

Next Monday we begin On-Sets!  Equations Worksheets will be posted next week as well.