Snow Day!!!

Due to the snow day toady, there will be no Academic Games practice this afternoon. On-Sets worksheets that were due today can be turned in after the winter break. Additionally, I will post the Elementary and Middle Ling packets here over the weekend. Those will be due in mid to late January.

To tide you over, a round worth of propaganda examples from section A. Leave your answers in the comments. i will post the suggested answers there before the end of the weekend.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable and peaceful winter break, and we will see you in the new year.

1) I don't know whether that statement is "prejudice" or "tabloid Thinking," so I'll pass on this one.

2)Assistant Football Coach: "I would like to show you some new plays I came up with"
Head Football Coach: "I'm not interested in new plays. we haven't changed a play in ten years, and we've done ok."

3)Tin Man: "But suppose the Wizard doesn't give me a heart?"
Dorthy: "Oh, but he must; we've come so far."

4)Mrs. Pratt knows she was rationalizing. Before we criticize Mrs. Pratt, we should ask ourselves if maybe we rationalize sometimes too.

5)The rioting by Catholics in Northern Ireland is a direct result of the government allowing Protestants to march through the Catholic neighborhood.

6)Superintendent Mollie Pitchford: "I am not going to appoint Ronald Brown as principal of Adams High School. All these men think of is sports, and they pamper the coaches.

7)We have already sent 150,000 troops to Iraq. We have committed ourselves. If things worsen, we will have to send more.

8)So what if I didn't pay taxes on my second job? My employer didn't declare me as an employee of his firm.

9)Buying a house in Beverly Hills is easy. All you need is a lawyer, a real estate agent, and a winning lottery ticket.

Saturday Tournament Results

At Saturday's tournament at Detroit McNair, 37 students from the Clague team competed in our monthly regional tournament. Once again, we finished first in the Top 5 category, with a score of 99 , 10 points ahead of the closest challenger. We also finished first in the Average category, with a 15.46 average. For the year, Clague is first in both categories, leading top 5 by 20 points, and average by about 0.32

Individual top scores (18 or higher) included:
6th grade: Shwetha & Topher
7th grade: Jillian, Andy N., Kevin Y. & Renee
8th grade: Sagar, Daniel F., Valerie & Edith

Congrats to all of the students for another great tournament.A reminder that On-Sets worksheets are due before Winter break.

Friday Tournament results, Dec 12

At our Ling tournament on Friday, we played two rounds, with students keeping their best score from the two rounds. Students who earned two sixes got a bonus point.

Friday's Tournament:
No Names: 91 points, 5.35 average
Get Smart: 85 points, 5.31 average
Next Prime Suspects: 75 points, 5.00 average
The Smurfs: 76 points, 4.82 average

Overall Standings:
No Names: 1090 points, 66.35 average
Get Smart: 949 points, 60.12 average
Next Prime Suspects: 1035 points, 59.96 average
The Smurfs: 980 points, 56.29 average

Top Individuals:
Shwetha 86 Points
Lorna 81
Renee 81
Alan X. 80
Andrew G. 80
Luke 79
Caleb 77
Chelsea 76
Anthony 75
Wendy 74

Linguishtik Challenge Match

In a challenge match, the students work with their Friday tournament teams for the first half of practice. In second half, all of the students, except the captains, are matched up into games against students from the other teams. The captains are allowed to float around from game to game and help their teammates. At the end of the night, the team with the highest average over all its players wins the match, and every player on that team receives a 6.

Tonight was our Ling Challenge Match, and the battles for first and third were very close, with a large gap separating the top two teams from the bottom two teams.
The averages were as follows:
No Names 4.67
Next Prime Suspects 4.54
The Smurfs 3.67
Get Smart 3.57

Each member of the No Names who was present received a six added to their Friday tournament score. Members of the Next Prime Suspects all got 5 points, The Smurfs 3 points, and Get Smart 2 points each.

Friday, December 5

We had our second Linguishtik tournament on Friday. Results are listed below. Overall standings also include points earned from Equations worksheets. Answers are posted on the side. Also posted on the side are the On-Sets worksheets which were passed out on Monday. They are due before winter break. Students may complete any ten pages of the On-Sets worksheets for credit.

Finally, a reminder that our next tournament will be this coming saturday at McNair middle school in Detroit. As per usual, all students should be there by 8:30 am at the latest.

Friday's Tournament:
Next Prime Suspects: 74 points, 4.35 average
Get Smart: 68 points, 4.25 average
The Smurfs: 63 points, 3.83 average
No Names: 63 points, 3.71 average

Overall Standings:
No Names: 903 points, 55.66 average
Get Smart: 834 points, 53.05 average
Next Prime Suspects: 890 points, 51.27 average
The Smurfs: 859 points, 49.06 average

Top Individuals:
Lorna 75 Points
Shwetha 73
Renee 69
Anthony 69
Alan 69
Andrew G. 68
Luke 67
Chelsea 66
Caleb 66
Wendy 65

Friday November 21

We had our first Linguishtik tournament on Friday, with each sixth grader and new 7th and 8th grader pairing up with an experienced player to play as a team.

Friday's Tournament:
The Smurfs: 84 points, 4.50 average
Get Smart: 64 points, 4.27 average
No Names: 69 points, 4.06 average
Next Prime Suspects: 67 points, 3.72 average

Overall Standings:
No Names: 685 points, 43.35 average
Get Smart: 671 points, 43.21 average
Next Prime Suspects: 700 points, 41.40 average
The Smurfs: 712 points, 41.23 average

Top Individuals:
Wendy 54 Points
Lorna 52
Valerie 51
Jiaao 51
Topher 50
Renee 47
Shwetha 47
Chelsea 46
Miheer 46
Anthony 45
Sagar 45

Reminder that Equations worksheets are due at Monday's practice, so expect scores to take a big jump when we return from break with students being awarded points for completed work. If you can't make it to practice Monday, please give the worksheets to someone else to turn in for you. Answers to the worksheets will be posted here after the worksheets are turned in.

Clague tournament results (revised)

Over 300 students showed up at the tournament at Clague on saturday, 63 from Clague.
Once again, we finished first in the Top 5 category, with a perfect score of 100 , 6 points ahead of the closest challenger. In the Average category, we finished in second place with a 15.70 average.
Individual top scores (18 or higher) included:
6th grade: Kolapo, Shalini, Malay, Harith, Amol & Alan
7th grade: Justin, Michael, Richard, Anthony & Renee
8th grade: Sharath, Ying, Jiaao, Graham, Leon, Miheer, Edith, & Zibo

Congrats to all of the students for another great tournament.
A reminder that Equations worksheets are due before Thanksgiving. At Monday's practice we begin Linguishtik.

Friday tournament results

A reminder about tomorrow's tournament: students need to be at Clague no later than 8:30am. We should be done by 12:30pm. We are also in need of more donated food to sell at our bake sale. Please drop it off when you drop off your students.
Thanks
Eric


Friday's Tournament:

No Names: 77 points, 4.81 average
Next Prime Suspects: 80 points, 4.21 average
Get Smart: 58 points, 3.63 average
The Smurfs: 71 points, 3.55 average


Overall Standings:

No Names: 616 points, 39.29 average
Get Smart: 607 points, 38.94 average
Next Prime Suspects: 633 points, 37.68 average
The Smurfs: 628 points, 36.73 average


Top Individuals:

Wendy 49 Points
Lorna 46
Renee 45
Valerie 45
Jiaao 45
Topher 44
Chelsea 42
Shwetha 42
Edith 41
Anthony 41
Orion 41
Daniel F 41

On-Sets Challenge Match

In a challenge match, the students work with their Friday tournament teams for the first half of practice. In second half, all of the students, except the captains, are matched up into games against students from the other teams. The captains are allowed to float around from game to game and help their teammates. At the end of the night, the team with the highest average over all its players wins the match, and every player on that team receives a 6.
Tonight was our On-Sets Challenge Match, and the match was very, very close, with all four teams finishing within a quarter point of average. In other words, if any one of the 22 matches had gone the other way, the order of the teams might have completely flipped around.

The averages were as follows:
Get Smart 4.27
No Names 4.13
Next Prime Suspects 4.05
The Smurfs 4

Each member of Get Smart who was present received a six added to their Friday tournament score. Members of the No Names all got 4 points, Next Prime Suspects and Smurfs got 3 points.

Halloween Friday Tournament

A somewhat smaller crew turned out for our Friday tournament on Halloween, many ready for trick-or-treating in their costumes. To reward those who attended, we gave a 2-point bonus to all those who were there. Team and Individual standings are listed below.
A few announcements:

• No Practice next Friday (November 6)
• On-Sets Challenge Match on Monday
• We need a parent willing to coordinate our Pizza/Bake sale for the November 15 Clague tournament. Please contact Eric if you are available to help.

Friday's Tournament:

No Names: 102 points, 6.38 average
The Smurfs: 91 points, 6.19 average
Next Prime Suspects: 88 points, 5.87 average
Get Smart: 47 points, 5.22 average

Overall Standings:

Get Smart: 477 points, 31.32 average
Next Prime Suspects: 485 points, 31.06 average
No Names: 489 points, 31.03 average
The Smurfs: 441 points, 30.32 average

Top Individuals:

Topher 38 Points
Renee 38
Wendy 37
Valerie 36
Chelsea 36
Shwetha 36
Edith 35
Jiaao 35
Amol 35
Lorna 35
Caleb 35

On-Sets Friday & EQ Worksheets

Our first On-Sets Friday Tournament saw the Next Prime Suspects with a dominating performance, averaging almost 5 points per player.

Next Prime Suspects: 83 points, 4.83 average
No Names: 78 points, 4.33 average
The Smurfs: 77 points, 3.85 average
Get Smart: 54 points, 3.38 average

Overall Standings:
Get Smart: 430 points, 26.09 average
Next Prime Suspects: 397 points, 25.19 average
No Names: 387 points, 24.66 average
The Smurfs: 350 points, 24.13 average

Top Individuals:
Wendy 31 points
Topher 30
Renee 30
Valerie 30
Brenna 30
Michael 29
Amol 28
Chelsea 28

We also passed out the Elementary EQ packets to the 6th graders. 7th and 8th graders will get theirs on Monday. 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 encourage 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.

Saturday at Bates

For the second straight month, we won the tournament, finishing first in both the Top 5 and Average categories. In Top 5, we got a perfect 100 score, 4 points ahead of the closest challenger. We finished with a 15.98 average, a full point better than the 2nd place team.
Individual top scores (18 or higher) included:
6th grade: Julie, Brenna, Deniz, Max, Malay, Conrad, Orion, & Topher
7th & 8th grade: Sagar, Lorna, Caleb, Andrew G., Sylvia, Andy N., Valerie, & Acer

Congrats to all of the students for another great tournament. At Monday's practice we begin On-Sets.

Friday tournament results

Team results from Friday's tournament:

No Names - 74 points, 4.62 average
Next Prime Suspects - 69 points, 4.06 average
The Smurfs - 72 total points, 3.80 average
Get Smart - 67 points, 3.72 average

Overall Standings:

Get Smart - 376 points, 22.72 average
No Names - 300 points, 20.53 average
The Smurfs - 273 total points, 20.28 average
Next Prime Suspects - 321 points, 20.16 average

Top players:
Wendy 29 points
Topher 26
Anthony 25
Renee 25
Valerie 25
Brenna 24
Luke 24
Young 24
Deniz 24

We look forward to seeing all of you at the tournament at Bates tomorrow

Parents Night

Thanks to all the parents and students who attended Parents Night tonight.

A few items from the meeting:

-Game Order Forms are linked at the left. They are due before the November tournament, and games will be distributed after Thanksgiving.
-Phone lists were distributed. I will make revisions to the list and pass out at practice.
-We plan to have a bake sale / pizza sale at the November tournament at Clague. We still need someone who would be willing to coordinate our volunteer efforts on the 15th. Please contact me if you are interested.

Friday tournament results

Team results from Friday's tournament:

Next Prime Suspects - 82 points, 5.15 average
No Names - 67 points, 5.15 average
Get Smart - 70 points, 4.67 average
The Smurfs - 63 total points, 4.31 average

Remember that next Monday is Parents Night, where students bring their parents to practice and teach them how to play Equations. Brothers, Sisters, and other family members are also welcome to attend. We do ask, however, that students not attend practice if they cannot bring their parents.

Equations Challenge Match

In a challenge match, the students work with their Friday tournament teams for the first half of practice. In second half, all of the students, except the captains, are matched up into games against students from the other teams. The captains are allowed to float around from game to game and help their teammates. At the end of the night, the team with the highest average over all its players wins the match, and every player on that team receives a 6.

Tonight was our Equations Challenge Match. The averages were as follows:
Get Smart 4.37
Next Prime Suspects 4.01
The Smurfs 3.95
No Names 3.31

So each member of Get Smart who was present received a six added to their Friday tournament score. Next Prime Suspect and Smurf players all got 4, the No Names 2.

Friday tournament results

Team results from Friday's tournament:

The Smurfs - 86 total points, 4.30 average
No Names - 68 points, 4.25 average
Next Prime Suspects - 65 points, 3.82 average
Get Smart - 63 points, 3.70 average

After the tournament, the kids worked on two worksheets, one for the elementary students, and one for the middle students.

We also announced that next Monday will be our first challenge match of the year, and Monday September 13 will be our annual Parents Night.

Saturday Tournament Results

Over the weekend we had our first tournament at Tappan Middle School. 51 students competed for Clague against students from other schools in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Lincoln. The team finished first in both average (15.02 per student, 20 is perfect) and Top Five (98 out of a possible 100).
Top scorers (18 points or higher) for the team included: Jiaao H., Wendy L., Shwetha R., Richard W., Topher W., Keeley E., Young L., Valerie P., and Paulina T.
Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the tournament.
Our next saturday tournament will be October 18th at Bates Academy in Detroit. Students need to attend at least three saturday tournaments to be eligible for the State tournament in March.

First Tournaments

We held our first Friday tournament today and the kids did well. Competition was crisp, the questions asked were on point, and for the most part all of the students seemed comfortable with the procedures of the game of Equations. The team results of the tournament are as follows:
Get Smart (Captains Wendy and Patrick) -- 74 total points, 4.63 average
No Names #1 (Captain Jiaao) -- 63 points, 4.5 average
No Names #2 (Captain Graham) -- 52 points, 3.87 average
Next Prime Suspects (Captain Val) -- 41 points, 3.15 average

The two no names teams have yet to pick a team name but will do so in practice next week.
In addition to the tournament, the kids were given an Adventurous Equations worksheet dealing with O wild, UD, SW and !.

We also discussed tomorrow's tournament at Saturday. Students should be at the Tappan cafeteria no later than 8:30am and we will be done between 12:15 and 12:30pm. While at the tournament the students will play three rounds of Adventurous Equations against students from other schools in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Lincoln, and possible Grand Rapids and Jackson. Students should bring paper, pencils, and their Academic Games notebooks with all of the worksheets that have been handed out so far.

Look forward to seeing all of you bright and early!

Exponents, Roots & Captains

Monday's practice included a review of basic exponent rules for sixth graders (worksheet) and a lesson on how to deal with negative and fractional exponents for 7th and 8th graders (worksheet). It should be noted that students in the Elementary Division (6th grade and below) are not allowed to use negative or fractional roots or exponents. Additionally the sixth graders played a practice round, learned about team scoring and began to learn variations.

After practice this year's team captains were announced. Congratulations to 8th graders Valerie, Wendy, Graham, Jiaao, and Patrick. The Friday tournament teams will be revealed on Friday, and the students will pick names for their teams.

Finally, we will have no practice next Monday, September 22. We will have practice as regularly scheduled on Friday, and have our first tournament on Saturday the 27th at Tappan.

First Practice

Over 60 kids showed up Friday afterschool for the first full practice of the Academic Games year. Every new student was paired off with a returning student or two who taught them the basic rules of Equations. After the students had played a few shakes in their little groups they were given a little worksheet designed to see how well the older kids did in teaching them the rules of the games. The new students then went over the worksheet as a group. We ended practice by gathering all of the students together and talking about the plan for the year, and answering students' questions about the Friday, Saturday, and State tournaments. Finally, the returning players stayed behind after the sixth graders were dismissed and voted for this years team captains. The five captains will be announced at Monday's practice.

Welcome

Welcome to Academic Games at Clague for the 2008-09 School Year. We will use this blog to keep all of you updated on practice and tournament schedules, to publicize results from Friday, Saturday tournaments, as well as to let you know what we are working on at practices. When we go to the State and National tournaments, we will use the blog to provide those of you at home with updates from the tournament. If you have any questions or suggestions of things you'd like to see posted let me know.
Thank You, and here's to another successful year
Eric