Knowledge Bowl

Dry Creek Elementary doesn't participate in Knowledge Bowl, but Mark is attending Highland with Dad, so we decided to sign him up. We weren't thrilled when we found out the topic was Arts & Humanities, rather than Science, History, or Geography. But Mark didn't seem to care. In no time, he was learning about Manet and Monet, Beethoven and Bach.

The Arts turned out to cover a lot more than just music and famous paintings, though. Mark also had to learn about Caldecott winning picture books, sculptures, and even musicals. This was Mom's favorite part, because it meant that each Sunday we watched the Sound of Music, Music Man, or one of her other favorites.

Every Wednesday after school, Mark stayed for an extra hour and a half and studied painters and composers and other things. He worked really hard, and one night he answered a trivia question during Family Game Night about Paul Cezanne, and everyone was really surprised.

We were so proud of Mark when the competition finally rolled around. We all went to watch him participate. He was clearly one of the top players on his team, and he was designated co-captain. They ended up winning all four of their matches and placed in the top ten in the district, which is the highest award (they only announce "These are the top 10 teams" without any ranking.)

There were two teams from Highland, but 4 out of the 12 kids were from Mr. Ockey's class.

Mark was one of the team captains, and he was a great leader.

They were so excited that they won all their rounds!

This is Mark's team!

Mark was far more excited for the teacher competition, though. As a bonus, there was a battle against the teachers, and Dad was the team captain. The kids jumped out to a big lead, but Dad brought his team roaring back (he was clearly the strongest player on his team, too). It came down to the last question, and the kids won!

Randy and Mark were very serious about this competition.

Can you see Mark over on the far end? He is so excited. Randy is plotting with his fellow teachers. 

The competition begins. Randy is so serious!

I love this picture. Randy is determined to get this question, but look at the teacher who has no clue? Ha ha!

Mark and the kids after they beat the teachers!

Knowledge Bowl was really great for Mark. So now Mom is considering bringing Knowledge Bowl to Dry Creek next year!