Jenna Geography Challenge -- First Place!!

Jenna had the District Geography Challenge coming up and studied almost everyday for the past month. She put in MANY hours! I also put in many hours printing off maps and lists of nations and capitols for her to study. I put together maps and quiz questions for her to fill out and often quizzed her on the information she was learning. This is what she was tested on: 

Level 1: 150 Geography Questions 

Level 2: Landforms and Geography Terms (2 pages)

Level 3: Nations and National Capitols (Europe's Western and Eastern Nations, Middle Eastern and Northern Africa)

Level 4: Europe, Northern Africa, and Middle Eastern Mountain Ranges, Peninsulas, Rivers, Seas, and Oceans

Level 5: Various Geography Questions

It was A LOT of information -- including lots of long names that were difficult to pronounce! We were told that the competition would be online this year over Google Meet. (So I couldn't go watch like I did in past years.) However when Jenna finally had the competition she didn't see any kids from the other schools on the Google Meet -- just the kids from her own school who were there with her.

There was a proctor with them and a facilitator from another school asking the questions and showing the PowerPoint, but that's it. This was supposed to be a district competition with the winners from all of the intermediate schools in the district. She said it was done differently this year -- through a point system. Anyway, the good news is she got first place!! We just don't know how many kids she was actually competing against besides those from her own school. She was happy that she won but disappointed in the trophy and sent me this email:  

hi mom so i got the trophy but i'm really disappointed because it is just like i said it's really small and plastic it looks like it would snap if i dropped it but im happy i won and now we can celebrate. i love you so much! 

(Now that she has Geography down maybe she can work on her grammar, haha!) She was hoping it would be a BIG trophy like Janelle got in sixth grade when she won second place in the Geography Challenge. Oh well. We are both glad that it is over! 

Below shows a picture with Jenna's sister, Janelle, with the trophy she got when she got second place in District. This is more along the lines of what Jenna was expecting and hoping for! I told Jenna that a lot probably depends on who is in charge that year -- and honestly, the competition seems to have garnered less and less support through the years. Her older siblings received nice prizes in elementary school for being in the top three in the Geography Challenge. But when Jenna was one of the winners in the fourth grade she didn't get anything. She was told that she would get a nice Geography book but they hadn't ordered them and told her that she would get it later. They never did order them and she never got one. So that was disappointing! 

Fifth grade she got first place in her grade and didn't get anything besides a paper certificate. She then went on to District and got third place, but again, she didn't get anything besides a participation certificate. Sixth grade at least she got a medal for her grade and now this trophy and certificate, albeit not quite what she was hoping for. I know it isn't all about the externals rewards, but it sure is nice to feel like you get rewarded for your efforts! At least she learned a lot and hopefully she will be able to retain a lot of that information! I told her that I would take her out to celebrate! Way to go, Jenna, we are so proud of you! 

Jenna Geography Champ!!

Jenna has been practicing diligently the past few weeks for the Geography Challenge and the test was today. It was a written test of 150 Geography Questions. Jenna has all 150 answers memorized! She felt good about the test and said that she thought she got all of them correct! A few days later Jenna emailed me this picture from school! I asked what place she got and she said that they just chose the top three students -- they didn't say which came in first, second, or third. All three will represent their school in District in a few more weeks. That means -- more studying! 

She already knows the answers to level 1: (150 geography questions), and level 2 (landforms and geography terms), but now she needs to learn level 3 (Nations and National Capitals -- Europe's Western and Eastern Nations, Middle East and Northern Africa), level 4: Europe, Northern Africa, and Middle Eastern Mountain Ranges, Peninsulas, Rivers, Seas, and Oceans, and level 5: Various geography questions. Level 1 and 2 contains a lot of memorizing, but at least the students know exactly what to expect. The tricky thing about levels 3-5 is that they don't give out specific labeled maps or anything and so there is no way to know what exactly they will ask!

 

Jenna District Geography Bee

I went to watch Jenna participate in the District Geography Bee at Lava Ridge Intermediate. She qualified to go since she got first place in the fifth grade at Arrowhead. She did so well! I am so proud of her!  It is always so nerve wracking because you never know what question will come up! Jenna made it through several rounds until there was only her and two other kids left and then she finally got out. We didn't stay until the end since I had to go to work in Cedar City and so I dropped her back off to school. I am SO proud of this girl -- way to go, Jenna!! 

Happy Valentines Day!!

It was a GREAT day today!!  Rick got up early and fixed his traditional Valentines breakfast for the kids.  He made hashbrown, eggs, gluten free biscuits, pancakes, orange juice, and hot chocolate.  He left sweet love notes on everyone's plates along with a bag of candy.

The kids' got ready and I curled Janelle's hair for her talent show today.  Rick ended up taking work off today because he did something to his back yesterday and it was really hurting him all day.  I also took off work so that I could go watch Janelle in her Geography Bee and Talent Show.  It was nice having Rick home because he was able to fix breakfast and bring the kids to school and clean up all of the breakfast mess while I was gone.  So he was a big help -- even with his hurt back.  I dropped Jenna off at Williams and headed to the school while Rick rested his back.

They have the Geography Bee in the lunch room and the participants are on the bleachers and come up to the microphone one at a time to answer the question given to them.  Meanwhile the whole fifth grade watches, so it can be pretty intimidating!  There were only a few parents there -- you can usually tell who is going to win by which parents are in attendance -- ha ha!  You can also tell right off which kids have studied and which kids haven't.  Janelle told me that if they do the Geography Challenge then they don't have to do book report for that month -- or the Science Fair (unless they want to of course).  So a lot of kids probably sign up just for that but then don't study, which doesn't work since they have to get to a certain level in order to get the benefits described above.

It is really a lot of work and a big time commitment to learn and memorize that much information!  These are the levels:

Level 1:  150 Geography Questions
Level 2:  Landforms and Geography Terms
Level 3:  Political Maps (Her grade was U.S. States and Capitals)

This is as far as they got in this competition.  There are two more levels which I am sure they will get to in the District Competition:

Level 4:  U.S. Mountain Ranges, Rivers, Lakes, and Bodies of Water (for fifth grade)
Level 5:  Championship Round of various Geography Questions.

I was relieved when they announced that it was double elimination. She studied for many many hours and was very prepared but it was still nerve-racking!  She did great though and answered all of the questions correctly until level three.  She had studied a little of the states and capitals but had mostly focused on level one and two.  She ended up getting third place!  And two of her good friends won also -- Layla Purdy got second place and Heidi Wakefield got fourth.  Jacob Moody got first.  Janelle was very happy about third place and so was I.  I just wanted her to do her best and felt like she did!  

 
Janelle's class talent show was right after the Geography Bee and so I stayed and watched her perform "First Time in Forever" from Frozen.  She really sang out and was animated and did a great job!  It was nice having Rick home when I got home so that we could have a little quality time together!

The girls went to activity days and made learned how to make fondant and decorated cupcakes.  They turned out so cute -- I should have taken a picture.  Rick and I went out to dinner for Valentines.  We left early at 4:30 at beat the Valentines Day crowds.  We went to 25 Main and there was no wait at all.  We enjoyed a nice dinner and visit and then went grocery shopping to several stores.  Rick offered to take me out to ice-cream but we decided to just pick a bunch up at the store instead so that everyone could have some.  We got home about a half hour before my brother and sister-in-law, Shane and Alicia, and their kids arrived.  They were coming for the long weekend and our kids were ecstatic!  It took a while to get beds situated in the basement and get the kids calmed down enough to actually go to sleep.  They went to bed at 11:00 and woke up bright and early the next morning before 7:30 a.m.!! 

Geography Challenge

Jase was the top fourth grader in his school in the Geography Challenge and was able to go on to District to compete. This is a picture of the kids from the Fourth Grade District Competition. (Jase is the second one over on the front row on the left). He was a little disappointed that he had studied the wrong thing in one of the categories but he still did extremely well. (I think I was way more nervous that he was!) He is already looking forward to next year's Geography Bee! Way to go Jase, we are so proud of you!