Need help with scholastic chess

I got talked into helping with an elementary school chess club, grades 2-6. Any suggestions for books with suggested lessons? I know a fair amount about chess, but not really anything about what order to teach basic chess ideas.

Originally posted by wargamer66
I got talked into helping with an elementary school chess club, grades 2-6. Any suggestions for books with suggested lessons? I know a fair amount about chess, but not really anything about what order to teach basic chess ideas.

I found giving them a bit of history helps. I showed them a Morphy game but gave a little story about who he was, the time he lived, etc... It helps get a groups attention if you talk for a little while before getting them to participate. Kids generally arrive quite excited and it gives them an opportunity to calm down and start thinking about the game rather than kids stuff... 🙂

EDIT: Also, if you have new kids who don't know the rules, get the older kids to teach them. It helps keep your attention moving rather than being stuck with one kid who's struggle while the rest lose interest and start playing around. 😉

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
I found giving them a bit of history helps. I showed them a Morphy game but gave a little story about who he was, the time he lived, etc... It helps get a groups attention if you talk for a little while before getting them to participate. Kids generally arrive quite excited and it gives them an opportunity to calm down and start thinking about the game rather than kids stuff... 🙂

I agree. When I was a scholastic player and joined chess club in elementary school, I was fortunate to have a teacher who really made us enjoy the game and enjoy coming to chess club. This often involved telling background stories to make the lesson come to life. It got our attention, and even in middle school when chess club was at 7:30 AM, I never missed a single meeting.

I like those ideas, and it has the added advantage of keeping me interested. Any book ideas on the order to teach kids about stuff?

wargammer, I've been teaching/coaching scholastic chess for a few years now. In the past (almost 30 years ago) I taught chess at summer camps for "gifted' children. Latter this evening I'll post a routine that has worked for me. I'll also list a number of books that I have used. Unfortunately, some of the older books are in English descriptive notation. When I fursy learned I especially like Irving CHernev's "Invitation to Chess". I still use some of the games and examples in it. I'll add another post tonight.

First teach the kids the moves and value of pieces. Setup a piece for one side (bishop, rook, knight, queen) then setup opposing pieces where they can be captured in some number of moves. Have the students see if they can capture the opposing pieces in the fewest number of moves. This helps build their confidence. Teach opening principles, the value of castling, rooks on open files. ABOVE ALL TEACH THEM NOT TO DROP PIECES!! Also, teach them to slow down when they move.
Teach chess notation!
Books I like: most Irving Chernev books.
"Chess Worbook for Children" by Todd Bardwick, "Chess Tactics for Students" by John Bain, the wrokbooks by Fred Wilson and Bruce Alberston.
A must for students taking the next step up are the books by Murray Chandler - "Chess Tactics for Kids" and "How to Beat your Dad at CHess" - both by Murray Chandler. The Chess Tactics book is a favorite of my more advanced beginners. For the next level up I would recommnd the "Chess School' series out of Moscow. I'm very biased towards chess combination books so I like these a lot. ALso Bobby Fischer Teaches CHess is a nice early beginners book.

For fun after a lesson and game play I have the students play double bughouse since most young kids have a lot of energy to burn off!
Let me know if this helps or if you have questions about any other books/resources for scholastic chess.

Originally posted by wargamer66
I got talked into helping with an elementary school chess club, grades 2-6. Any suggestions for books with suggested lessons? I know a fair amount about chess, but not really anything about what order to teach basic chess ideas.

I read that in some school chess clubs the teacher would give a small lesson (about 5-10 min) at the beginning of of every meeting, then let the kids practice and/or play. They normally focused on general opening theory, beginning tactics, rook and pawn endings etc. In grade school it's imporntant to keep the lessons short, fun and for the teacher to be available to answer any questions.🙂