 |
| The Australian national team in Cornwall for the 2014 world final |
The 2015 World Final will be hosted by Kids' Lit Quiz, USA in Connecticut in July next year.
2015 Dates, Times and Venues
QUEENSLAND
Ipswich heat, Thursday 5 March at Ipswich Girls Grammar School from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
Brisbane heat, Friday 6 March at Bulimba State School from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Orange heat, Tuesday 10 March at Kinross Wolaroi School from 10am to 1pm.
Sydney heat, Friday 13 March at Cerdon College Merrylands from 10am to 1pm.
ACT
Canberra heat, Wednesday 11 March at Canberra Grammar School from 10am to 1pm.
NATIONAL FINAL
Saturday 14 March at the Monkey Baa Theatre Company's Lend Lease Darling Quarter Theatre, Darling Harbour, Sydney from 1pm to 3pm.
Registration is now open and interested schools can contact Australian National Coordinator, Nicole Deans at kidslitquizaustralia@gmail.com with enquiries. There's also more information on this site at 2015 Australian Quiz and FAQ: Kids' Lit Quiz Australia. Also see this letter to teachers, librarians and teacher-librarians from Nicole Deans and the quizmaster and founder of Kids' Lit Quiz International, Wayne Mills explaining how the Kids' Lit Quiz can build literacy in schools in a fun and exciting way.
After the jump there's some helpful information about the Quiz from Nicole Deans as well as links to reports on the 2014 regional heats and Australian final.
 |
| 2014 Orange heat |
Helpful Information by Nicole Deans
Each heat has a unique set of questions with ten short answer questions on each of ten categories with the children answering a total of 100 questions. In the heat the children write their answer as generally the answers are usually only one or two words. The children find out the ten categories when they arrive at which point they choose the category they want to be their ‘Joker’ round where they can earn double points. This became very important in all our heats, but especially in NSW where there was only a point between first and second. A wise choice for the Joker round can make a big difference!
 |
| Some of the teams, including the authors team, at the 2014 Queensland heat in Ipswich |
So how does Kids’ Lit Quiz work?
Heats are run locally where there is a coordinator willing to organize a venue large enough to hold a minimum of 12 teams of four students as well as ‘spectators’ that can include teachers, parents, other students and members of the community as well as authors there to cheer along their team (in the UK in 2013 they had to turn teams away as there were already over 50 teams taking part in one heat.)
Wayne Mills comes along and runs each of the heats that take three hours. This ensures consistency, while at the same time, each of the heats has a unique set of questions.
When teams arrive for their heats they are allocated a table and are given the opportunity to see the ten categories that the questions will be based on. (In NSW in 2012 the categories included Aliases, Bears, Birds, Book Knowledge, Cars, Dogs, Gods, Harry Potter, Symbols and Music.) The children have the opportunity to choose one category as their ‘Joker’ round where they can double their points.
At the end of each round of ten questions, while the scores are being marked, Wayne asks the audience questions and a member of the audience has the opportunity to win a book or book voucher or even cash by answering a question usually based on the category the team has just done.
The winning team of each round wins a book each for its members. Each team can only win a round once, so 40 children will go home with a book!
 |
| Winners at the 2014 Sydney heat |
The National Final has less rounds, but more questions per round and instead of writing the answers the children press a buzzer to answer. The questions are also longer and start harder, getting easier as the question progresses, so team work is really important. The children also receive two points for a correct answer, but lose one point for an incorrect answer, so some strategic thinking comes into play.
The winning team of the National Final is invited to take place in the World Final which, in 2015, will be held in Connecticut, USA in July 2015.
So, who can take part?
Children in Years 5, 6 or 7 (year 8 children can be included if they are of an eligible age) from any school. Children need to be aged from 10 years to 13 years (Children need to be under 14 as of 1st July 2015) Schools can enter two teams of four students in each heat.
How can we train?
Read, read, read!
 |
| Having fun at the 2014 ACT heat in Canberra. Copyright, William Hall Photography, 2014. |
Use the pre-test questions to get a feel for the types of questions you might get asked at the heat.
Start a Kids’ Lit Quiz club at your school where children can discuss a range of books and practise working in teams to answer questions.
Visit www.kidslitquiz.com and explore the questions, including samples of questions asked in the Finals.
Visit readingforaustralia.blogspot.com.au and share your reading with our Kids’ Lit Quiz community, find out about lots of fantastic authors and ask questions of other readers.
Run your own Kids’ Lit Quiz at your school and get lots of kids involved in the Sport of Reading. (The children might like to bring a gold coin to enter and this could be used to help fund entry for your team.) Some schools do this to help select their teams.
Take part in the Premier's Reading Challenge and other read-a-thons to expand the range reading taking place.
Explore a range of books from a range of genres including award-winning books, books that have been made into movies and don’t forget your classics including fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
Have some knowledge about authors and illustrators as well as general facts about books.
Give your enthusiastic readers an area to be an ‘expert’ in and get them to share their knowledge.
Give children the opportunity to write their own questions to test their peers or to use in your own quiz.
And last of all KEEP READING!!
 |
| 2014 Australian national final |
No comments:
Post a Comment