I expect many of you who have been through the
Granite Gambit program and are using chess in the classroom are looking forward to the upcoming Summer break. Those of you who have been using chess in the classroom have piqued students’ interest with this amazing tool, but now face the question of how to sustain your students’ involvement with chess when you aren’t around this summer.
We have some ideas on how to inspire your students toward self-learning and building on the chess and thinking skills you’ve taught them over the past school year.
Have you assigned your allocated ChessKid Gold licenses to your students?
Our statistics tell us that some of you haven’t. While CK Golds are not essential for classroom teaching, they are a good way to keep your students connected to chess over the summer.
Action #1: Assign any unused CK licenses to your students now!
If you need a refresher on how to add students to your school group and assign them Gold licenses,
CLICK HERE to watch our ChessKid training video and use passcode k0L*Vt8g to access.
b) Encourage students to improve their skills through self-study!
ChessKid licenses allocated to schools are a powerful way to keep students engaged with chess and working to improve their skills.
Action #2: Before the end of the school year, set a goal with your students to participate in a 1-2 week contest in ChessKid. Set up a contest to see who can solve the highest number of puzzles or who can complete the most lessons – Have fun with it!
To run and download a report of the results, go to your ChessKid school group and click on report card. Select a date range, the activities you’d liked to see and then click submit. You’ll see the results right away to share with the class!
For Educators and Parents
2) Piggy-back on Summer School Programs
Are there summer school or community programs where chess would fit in as a sideline activity? Often just playing a chess game in a public space is sufficient to draw curious onlookers.
Chess in Schools Program Coordinator Karen Deighan (and a Certified Level 1 CIE Instructor based in New Hampshire) is looking into opportunities for connecting chess with youth. She writes:
“This summer Granite Gambit will be integrating free chess experiences into existing youth programs as well as creating new opportunities for youth to learn chess and to have fun playing chess. Plans include offering chess programs as part of summer learning experiences at schools and recreation departments. We will also schedule an event called Chess in the Park, where youth will have the opportunity to play chess with others and celebrate with the movie Queen of Katwe on the big screen.
For more information or for support for your chess event, reach out to Paul Roberts at paulroberts@chessineducaion.us.”
3) Offer Gold ChessKid Licenses to Interested Students
Even if you have not yet taken a Granite Gambit course, if you are a NH K-12 educator involved in chess training at your school or another non-profit organization, you are most likely eligible for free ChessKid gold licenses for your NH students.
Action #3: Request ChessKid Gold licenses now that you can assign to your students. [This is time-critical; you’ll want to get them to students and show them how to use them before the end of the school year. The request process is simple, but don’t delay.]
How to Request CK Gold Licenses
- name and location of your school
- the full name and email address of each participating teacher
- the number of student CK licenses you need to get started
4) Suggest Parents take an active interest in their child’s Chess activities
5) Take part in a local scholastic chess tournament
May 21, 2022 in Harrisville, NH
Parents and teachers are welcome to observe. Complete details and online registration will be posted on
www.nhchess.org.6) Promote Chess in Education (CIE) articles of interest through your own communication and social media channels
We’re passionate about our mission to promote chess and CIE to the next generation.
When you share it helps us with our Mission. That might include sharing one of our videos or blog posts on your Facebook page, or just posting about a good experience you’ve personally had with Granite Gambit’s CIE program. Nothing helps more than you helping us tell our stories of success to your friends and colleagues.
