Students should see Coaches, attend weekly practices, and be provided study materials for their events.

Calculator—Tammy Whitaker [email protected]
Chess Solving Strategies— Mark Wilson [email protected]
Dictionary Skills—Jeremy Tillett [email protected]
Editorial Writing—Christina Branch [email protected]
Impromptu Speaking—Colin Wells [email protected]
Listening—Jeremy Tillett [email protected]
Maps, Graphs and Charts— Mark Wilson [email protected]
Mathematics— Kimberly Howard [email protected]
Modern Oratory— Jerry Flemons @mckinneyisd.net
Number Sense—Kimberly Howard [email protected]
Oral Reading—Colin Wells cwells@mckinneyisd.net 
Ready Writing— Gay Slade [email protected]
Science I and II—Christine Fermento [email protected]
Social Studies— Charlene Simril [email protected]
Spelling—Charlene Simril [email protected]

Dictionary Skills-Students will be tested on their abilities to navigate a dictionary and understanding of a dictionary's parts.

Modern Oratory-An evaluation on use of oratory from the 21st century era.


Listening Skills-Students are evaluated on their ability to memorize things listed to them in no particular order.

Oral Reading - Reading Literature out loud provides opportunities for students to analyze the text, to grow and to develop as a performer, to communicate a message to an audience and to perform an artistic creation. Students in grades 7 and 8 read sections of prose or poetry. Each may be a single reading, a cutting from a longer section, or a combination of several selections. The same selection may be read in all rounds, but different selections are permissible. Selections must be published although the author may be unknown or anonymous.

Mathematics-A test on the students' skill with numbers to calculate formulas. No calculator will be provided, but students may use scratch paper.

Number Sense-Another math test, but students must come up with answers without any scratch paper or calculators. This is a mental math test.

Calculator Applications-Calculator Applications is a math test, but students get a calculator and must solve questions at a high speed to succeed.

Ready Writing - Contestants are given a choice between two prompts which defines the audience, and provides the purpose for writing. Students should be encouraged to analyze the prompts for the purpose of writing, the format, the audience and the point of view. The format may be, for example, a letter, an article for the newspaper or an essay for the principal. Various writing strategies may be stated or implied in the prompt. Some of these include: description to inform(describe the happening or person/object from imagination or memory), narration(write a story), or persuasion(describe and argue just one side of an issue; describe both sides of an issue then argue just one; write an editorial; write a letter to persuade, etc.)

Editorial Writing-The editorial writing contest is designed to develop the persuasive writing skills of the participants. Students must advocate a specific point-of-view in response to a prompt. Seventh and eighth grade students have 45 minutes in which to complete their editorials.

Impromptu Speaking-In Impromptu Speaking, students get a prompt and prepare a speech on it. No notes are allowed.

Maps, Graphs, and Charts-The maps, graphs, and charts contest is designed to help students learn to get information from a variety of maps, graphs, and charts including world maps, pie charts, bar charts, and local area maps. Students will be given an objective test containing approximately 75 multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank questions.

Social Studies-Social Studies section is a quiz on knowledge of history.

Science-A quiz on general knowledge of science, science vocabulary, etc.

Spelling - The spelling competition is much like a spelling test. Students write down words that are listed off by a pronouncer. Points are scored by spelling words correctly. This is not a mere test in memory, as there is no study list. In addition to learning to spell proficiently, spell correctly, and capitalize the right words, students should have been taught the rules of the English language. This includes root words, meanings and definitions.

Chess Puzzle-Solving
Contestants in a Chess Puzzle-Solving contest receive a paper-and-pencil test that includes a series of chess boards with pieces in particular positions. The contestant must then determine the fewest moves to checkmate given that particular board layout. Time is also a factor - contestants are scored based on the most puzzles solved in the least amount of time.