Boon Elementary

This is the time of year where we begin recruiting students who would like to enter the UIL Contest.  UIL stands for University Interscholastic League, an organization that governs all athletic and academic contests in the state of Texas.  UIL academic programs are designed to support basic curriculum and allow the students to apply what they learn in the classroom.  Students do this by selecting a contest to enter, there is a  tryout selection period,  if chosen they will spend a couple of months practicing the concepts before, after or during school under supervision of a coach, and then compete at the district-wide contest. 

The UIL contests are as follows:

 Creative Writing, Grade 2:  December 5, 2019 actual contest day (at school)

Contestants will be given a prompt with several captioned pictures. From these pictures, the students will create an original story based on their selections in 30 minutes. The stories must contain at least one of the pictured items, but it is not required that all items on the page be included.

Storytelling, Grades 2 & 3: 

Contestants in Second and Third grades will listen to a storyteller read a brief story (between 600-1100 words long) only once, and then retell that story in their own words before a judge or judges. There are no time restrictions on the length of the story the student creates.

Ready Writing, Grades 3,4,5,6: December 5, 2019 actual contest day (at school)

A standard dictionary or thesaurus may be used during the contest. Contestants are given a choice between two prompts which define the audience, and provide 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.  Some of these include:

1. Description to inform- describe the happening or person/object from imagination or memory;
2. Narration- Write a story
3. Persuasion- describe and argue just one side of an issue; describe both sides of an issue then argue only one side; write an editorial; write a letter to persuade, etc.
4. There is no minimum or maximum number of words the contestants must write.

Spelling, Grades 3,4,5,6: (Grades 3-6) Each grade will have 3 students on their team. Students will write the word called out accurately using proper punctuation/capitalization.

 Number Sense (grades 4-6) Each grade will have 3 students represented. Students will be given a 10-minute, fill-in-the-blank test which they must complete without doing calculations on paper or on a calculator (the ultimate mental math competition).

 Oral Reading (grades 4-6)- Each grade will have 3 students who will read a selection of poetry to a panel of judges. This category is perfect for kids with lots of personality.

Here is the link so you can sign up directly... 

https://www.allenisd.org/Page/57550

The Allen ISD Elementary UIL Academic Contest will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at Allen High School.  The contests have staggered starting times and specific times will be given at a later date.  For general time purposes, the first contests begin at 8:30 and the last one ends around 12:00.

For more information, the UIL website is www.uil.utexas.edu, or call your child’s school.