Greater Lawrence Academic Bowl News
April 8, 2010

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Academic Bowl Parent Night
Tuesday, April 6 at 6 p.m.
South Lawrence East

Poetry, Amendments & the Olympics Finish the Regular Season

The last three matches of the Academic Bowl regular season focused on memorization. Students could choose from 22 poems and 10 Constitutional amendments to learn in advance and then recite from memory in the tables section of their match. The poems represented a wide variety of authors including William Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, Roberts Frost, Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, and Shel Silverstein, to name but a few [see the "Content Outline" page for the full list]. The poems were ranked in value according to their length and each student had to decide which and how many poems to try to memorize. The penalty for making mistakes was pretty severe, so they also had to decide when they were truly ready to recite. Virtually every student memorized at least one poem or amendment and most memorized several. The greatest number of points earned by one student was 57, which included a perfect score from reciting "All the world's a stage (from As You Like It, Act 2, scene 7) by William Shakespeare for 21 points, and several others. In general, this activity seemed to be met with a very positive reaction and most students seemed to be quite proud of their individual achievements. Students were well prepared and really pushed themselves. Memorizing the amendments, numbers 1-10, known as "the Bill of Rights," made a fitting end to a season whose focus included the U.S. Constitution and the Federal Government.

Each match this week also included a hands-on "curling" activity (made popular by the recent Winter Olympics) tailored and modified for the space where the match was played. In place of ice sweepers we used wind sweepers who created air currents to help propel their rolling contraptions (home made "curlings stones") to the target.

In the on-stage section of these matches, students were given a variety of types of questions. One question that was used in all three matches this week required squads to patch together the musical notation for "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," given the song in fragments of solfege and staff notation.

The season has two more major activities: Parent Night (April 6) and the Field Trip to the State House (June 2).

Oliver-Timony ties SLE-North Andover in final regular match of tournament

March 12 The final regular match of the ended today in a tie, 131-131, with the home team, Oliver-Timony, winning the table activities but South Lawrence East-North Andover taking the stage activities. The match was played in the library and auditorium of Henry K. Oliver School's new home, the former Lawrence High School.

 

Teams begin to finish. Frost-CGS FrostBites in the lead 2/25/10

After the 15th competition, three of the nine teams have now finished their five match season. Six teams still have one match still to play. Finishing with 12 out of 13 possible tournament points, the Frost-CGS FrostBites sealed at least a tie for first place finish on Feb. 24th with a win over the Phoenix and the HillGuillies. On the 23rd, the Bellisini-North Andover WildKnightKats finished their season with a second place showing in their three-way match, for a total of 8 tournament points, putting them in the middle of the pack. The Leonard-West Western Lions, with 10 points, are guaranteed of at least a second place finish. They still have a two-way match to play in the second week of March with the Parthum-Timony Phantoms of Knowledge, who came in second in today's 3-way match. If they can win that match they will tie with Frost-CGS for first place, but if the Phantoms can play spoiler to Lions, the FrostBites will have number one all to themselves. Third place been secured by the Bruce-Doherty Warrior Owls, who won their last match, a 3-way match, at Tenney today. However, it looks like other teams are poised to move up and tie them for that honor. To see where all the teams stand right now, please go to the Match Results & Standings page.

One third of the way through the tournament

After six matches, all nine team have played their first three-way match and six teams have played their first two-way match. At this early point in the tournament the Bruce-Doherty "Warrior Owls" are in first place, with two teams tied for second. Go to the "Match Results & Standings" page (selected from the Academic Bowl pull down menus) for all the details.

Most of the teams have finished their banners, which can be viewed at the "Teams" page.

The content outline page is the place for students to bookmark. Squad 3, look for one more government study material for your next match. It will be put up very soon (by Friday, January 8).

Parents, we are preparing a newsletter for you. If you would like to receive it as a PDF, please e-mail us and we will send it to you. Otherwise, look for it coming home on the day of the second three way match (January 20, January 22, and a later day not yet determined. See the schedule page, which is the official schedule and is updated frequently.) The message is: there are many ways to get involved, we need your help, and we want you to attend the matches. See the parent page for more information.

Academic Bowl Creative Writing

We are starting a literary section of Academic Bowl poetry and creative writing. Students, send your submissions to us at Enrichment at glec dot org and we will post it on this website. Include your full name, school, grade and team. If selected, we will publish your piece listing your first name, last name initial and school. The pieces have to relate to the experience of being in the tournament. Some of the best pieces will be included in the Academic Bowl yearbook, coming out at the end of the year. Here is our first piece:

 

Academic Bowl Haiku

Four squads but one team
Study hard, press the buzzer
Academic Bowl

by Sammy R. and Chelsea H.
West M.S.

 

 

Practice matches begin

During the week before Thanksgiving week, all the schools had a practice match, meeting their teammates for the first time and coming up with a team name to begin to build their new identity. See the team names.

New Web Site

Please take a moment to check out this new web site for the Academic Bowl and all the other GLEC Multicultural Enrichment programs. Please move your cursor to the above Enrichment header to see more Academic Bowl Pages

 

 

Teams announced for 2009-2010

Seventeen middle schools are participating in this year's tournament: nine from Lawrence and eight from the neighboring communities. Each team is made up a Lawrence school and a suburban school. Since we needed one more school to complete the pairing, North Andover Middle School will be mounting two teams. To see the pairing of teams for this year, and to read more about each team as the year progresses, please go to the teams page (see above Academic Bowl menu or click here).

Focus areas selected

At the planning meeting on October 7, the Academic Bowl advisors selected two areas to concentrate on in this year's tournament: U.S. Government & Constitution and U.S. National Parks. Each squad will focus on different areas of these topics, which will comprise approximately 20% of the question content for this year's tournament. In the coming weeks a study guide will be developed and be posted on the Content Outline page and the Practice Questions & Resources page.

25th Anniversary Celebration

This is our 24th season. We are looking for ideas and people to help with the planning of a special celebration next fall (2010) to mark the 25th anniversary of the Greater Lawrence Academic Bowl. Former parents, former students, and former advisors interested in contributing to the planning process should contact the Quizmaster.

 

Page Last modified: April 08 2010 10:51:10.