I am now teaching chess at an elementry school (k-5). I teacher beginners and "advanced" players. Today i didn't have one and i just had them play eachother and i would play against anyone who wanted to play. It seemed to work ok but 1 child got bored at the end. (there are 45 minute periods). The kids are obviously really small and full on energy some of not sure if i should show them stuff on the demo board. If anybody has any advice please of me out. i need some suggestions pretty badly so we don't have to do the same thing everytime. thanks.
-confused teenager
I volunteer at my kids school (same age group) and the hour flys by.
They have cards for each of them and they are divided into classes (Rookies, Knights, Bishops and Royals)
They play within thier class and winners play winners, losers play losers each week. (only the first game counts and then it's free for all)
After a few wins a Rookie becomes a knight etc...
I let them all play and walk around butting in here and there. If the Royals are recording thier games I may have time to go over one they played. But mainly I just remind them not to take the king....
Originally posted by briancroncool. ill try that with the advanced. the beginners need to get all the rules stright first 🙂 the knight and pawns and both tricky
I volunteer at my kids school (same age group) and the hour flys by.
They have cards for each of them and they are divided into classes (Rookies, Knights, Bishops and Royals)
They play within thier class and winners play winners, losers play losers each week. (only the first game counts and then it's free for all)
After a few wins a Rookie become ...[text shortened]... y have time to go over one they played. But mainly I just remind them not to take the king....
I teach 1st through 5th graders and have some tips. The more you mix it up the better! Some ideas I use are:
1. I can play blindfolded, so I play the class blindfolded, sometimes with odds if they are bad enough, and have one kid walk up and make a move for the class' team, and just keep going through them until the game ends. I offer them some reward for winning and or good behavior.
2. I break up the class into two teams and set up one board per team, and let them talk over their moves, etc...and then I deliver the move to the other team in chess notation, make them move the piece on their board, and they think it over...etc...It's nice to break up the kids into two(they are normally less loud that way) and kids love trying to compete against the other team.
3. I set up simple chess problems on the demo board and give points to the kids if they solve them. Some teachers I work with start off each week by giving them 3 problems, and next week the kids bring in their solutions and get points for the ones they get right. Then at the end of the program the winner(s) gets rewarded.
I dunno about your kids levels, but most of my 1-5th graders don't understand check, en passant, and castling, so I almost always go over those on the demo board, and make them review the week after. And I am always walking around to check to make sure they are playing the game right. Once they get those (if!), I move on to the simple mates, two rooks, then a queen, then a rook. If I can tell they are getting sick of those, sometimes I move on to how to open the game, with just the very general rules, like controlling the center, developing pieces, castling, then I take real examples of popular openings and show them how the principles apply.
Good luck dude.