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Thinking Cap News (updated 11/10)
Thinking Cap News (updated 11/10)
Our Thinking Cap team placed 3rd in the Great lakes region! The team finished on a hot streak and ended with exactly 1300/1500. 1300 has always been our benchmark for an excellent competition, so we're very happy with the result!
Monday, 11/18 will be our final meeting before we break through late winter.
We will resume meeting prior to our spring competition. Date TBD. The window for our spring competition is between April 6 - April 17.
To sign up to bring snacks for Thinking Cap practices, go here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B4DABAA23A1F58-thinking2
Thanks!
Thanks!
About Thinking Cap
About Thinking Cap
Thinking Cap is a quiz-bowl-style academic competition club that is open to all Forsythe students. During the fall, this group meets every Monday in my room (401) or in the Media Center from 3:15-4:15. We take a break for several weeks during the winter before resuming prior to the Spring competition. During our "practices" we grab a snack provided by parents (organized through a signupgenius page - TBA), hang out for a bit and get to know each other better. This serves as team-building time as well as time for the students to decompress from the stresses of the school day. After those 15-20 minutes, we start the practice in earnest. Often I will give a short presentation about new topics or skills, including teamwork and effective group communication. Then we do actual practice in small groups or teams using computers in my room or in the Media Center, using the team/group communication skills to answer questions on various topics. This is a great opportunity for students to enjoy being around like-minded peers.
While we practice together, the club is split into two teams: A 6th grade team and a 7th & 8th grade combined team. Each of these teams have their own competitions: a fall regional competition in November, and a spring national competition in April.
This is my 9th year involved with Thinking Cap (formerly known as Knowledge Master Open (KMO)), and 4th year of being the club's sole coach/advisor.
This group has a decades-long history of success. Next time you're in the building, check out Thinking Cap & KMO trophies in the glass display cases near the main entrance!
Competitions
Competitions
This video is from last fall. After 99 questions, the 7th & 8th grade team needed to answer the last question correctly within the first four seconds to get exactly 1300. It was exciting!
Thinking Cap competitions consist of a series of 100 multiple-choice questions on a huge variety of topics. Questions are timed, and up to 15 points are awarded per question for answering correctly and quickly. With the maximum possible score during a competition is 1500 points, we typically set the bar of excellence at 1300 - if the team can reach that, we would generally expect to be at least top-10 in the region/country.
We do our competitions at school first thing in the morning. Students miss their first two classes on competitions days. They know ahead of time that they are responsible for any work they miss. If any teachers inform me that a student in the group is behind in their work, they will not allowed to participate in the competition. The only way we can get out of class for the competitions is if the school's teachers trust that students in Thinking Cap will be responsible and take care of business. This is almost never an issue.
There will be signupgenius pages and additional communication sent out prior to each competition. It's tradition for students to bring in breakfast foods (bagels, juices, fruit, etc.) and have some time to wake up, hang out, and practice before starting the competitions.
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