Lesson Eleven Teaching Guide:
Suggested timings for today’s 1 hour class:
Get seated and settled - Class Intro (5 mins)
Read/Listen to Lesson/Story and review Demo board exercises (20 mins)
Students play on individual boards with partners. (25 mins)
Cleanup (5 mins)
Regroup/Debrief for review and awards for daily challenges completed. (5 mins)
Summary: Briefly review of last week’s lesson + chess challenge. Cover today’s story, demo board exercises + review questions, and the daily challenge.
Story + Demo Board Exercises/ Puzzles:
Story: When twin giraffe sisters Queen Sofia and Queen Zaziwe leave their home in the Serengeti to answer a royal SOS, they embark on the adventure of a lifetime.
Demo board: Demonstrate how the Queens move, capture, and block. How she uses force fields. How she attacks and defends. Show why she is considered the most important and powerful piece apart from the K. Do "How many moves?" puzzles. "Where is her force field?”
Game Instructions: 1st game: Q + P's vs Q + P’s. 2nd game: Add K’s + R’s. 3rd game: Add N’s + B’s (Full Board)
Game Objective/How to Win:
Capture the King a Queen to Win!
Practical Skills Learned:
How to use the Q effectively and efficiently. How to slow things down in your mind, exercising self control and not moving her on impulse. We stop and think before we act. Also understand how to speed things up during an attack. How to see into the future by recognising patterns.
Emotional Skills Learned:
Creativity of movement in open play. Respect, kindness, wisdom, generosity. Bravery (leaving home, responding to an SOS). Empathy (understanding the needs of other kingdoms). Leadership (making choices with consequences, protecting others). Self-confidence and Identity (knowing your strengths; “spotting” as a gift). Collaboration and Inclusion (sharing their culture's chess variant, learning new ones).
Daily Challenge:
Capture a Q! Bonus: Capture the K with a Q!
Review Questions for Lesson Eleven: (Suggestions)
What makes the Queens so special? What superpowers do they have? (“Spotting”, force fields and finding shortcuts)
How do these powers help them?
How do the Queens move through life and in chess? Fast, slow, travelling great distances or taking tiny steps? What does this teach us about their flexibility and power in a game?
Why did the Queen’s want to leave their home? How did their father, King Baruti react?
Why did he change his mind about letting them go? Have you ever changed your mind about something important?
Why do you think it was important that the Queens leave to help King Mateo?
Introduce Game:
Who is ready to ready to play Knight’s Tour? Let’s go!
Post Game Debrief:
Review how the game went, if there were any problems/successes. Reward students for challenges completed.
Piece Abbreviations
Kings = K, Puppy Pawns = P, Bull Rooks = R, Pony Boy Knights = N, Billy Goat Bishops = B, Queen Giraffes = Q
Piece Values: (See lesson 3 & 10)
K = Infinity Q’s = 3 pts each
P’s = 1 pt each
R’s = 5 pts each
N’s = 3 pts each
B’s = 3 pts each
Demo Board Setup and Explanations:
Board 1: Today we’ll learn how to move and sprint like the Queen Giraffes!
First, let’s see where they begin their adventure on the chess board. Can you find D1 and D8?
Now let’s give them some space to move around the board. Remember, each Queen is incredibly valuable, both as a teammate and as a person (or in this case, giraffe). That means we want to be careful or intentional in how we use her. In real life both Queens are capable and adventurous, ready to run and explore but only after they’ve decided on the best course of action. Keep this in mind when you are in charge of her. You wouldn’t want to lose her early in your game!
Board 2: Now, let’s practice using force fields! Each Queen has one. And, just like with our other pieces, if anyone from the opposing team steps into their force field… they’re could be captured! This is why our Queens take their time and “spot” the dangers. Can you “spot” any dangers for our Queens on this board? Can you help them avoid or escape the danger?