Dear Chess Parent:

On behalf of everyone here at Kid Chess, thank you for wanting your child to have Fun With Chess afterschool program at Chalker Elementary.

Classes begin on Wednesday, January 15th. 1st hour times are 2:30-3:30, and 2nd hour times are 3:35-4:35. Individual classes are 1 hour in length. If your child is enrolled for both 1st and 2nd hours, class times will be 2:30-4:35.

All classes will be held in the school’s Media Center.

IT IS IMPORTANT to please send a note with your child on Wednesday, September 2nd to his or her homeroom teacher, explaining that he/she will be attending chess class. This is so that the homeroom teacher will know not to send your child home by their usual means of bus, carpool, or whatever arrangement you normally have.

If your child does not know how the chess pieces move, that is not a problem. We teach all levels of students from beginners to champions and we will teach your child the basics of the game in a fun and engaging manner. If you would like to get a leg-up on the rest of the class, however, then we invite you and your child to visit the instructional section of our website athttp://www.kidchess.com/kidchess_learn.html, where your child can pick up the basics of piece setup and movement. (Again, don’t worry; we’ll go over piece movement in class, too!)

If knowing how the pieces move is not a problem, then your child may enjoy playing a game of chess against the computer at our website at http://www.kidchess.com/gamestoplay.html. The EasyChess Computer on the website is great for reinforcing details of piece movement while you play an actual game. For a more challenging game, you can also try the JChess Computer. Also, your child can learn piece movement from friends or family members. It is important to understand that those children who play chess more than simply what they do in the Kid Chess chess program will do better and enjoy chess more than those who only play chess one hour a week. For a child to become proficient at chess, they will need practice, just as they would if they were learning to play a musical instrument.

We are also very proud of our Kid Chess Animated Lessons, and your child has access as a Kid Chess student to our entire range of video lessons, which teach piece movement, chess tactics, and even show example games that illustrate openings and tactics. The video lessons may be found at http://www.kidchess.com/videos.. Your child can come here to review material that is presented in our Kid Chess classes, and if your child misses a class, he or she can come here and review what was presented that day. You as a parent can also come to this resource to see what your child is learning. We’re very excited about these fun and instructive videos and hope you will be, too.

If you have any questions about our classes or website, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Justin Morrison,
Kid Chess