has opportunity to advance to state competition
(Test your skills in the Fifth Grade Geo Questions below)
Leading up to the contest, there was a lot of geographic excitement going on at Valley View. Over the past few weeks, to help promote the event and get students excited about geography, Valley View Librarian Julie Colson and Principal Gary Pflueger established a daily Geo-Clue Program. In this program, the Kindergarten through 3rd grade received a daily clue related to a state, geographical feature, region, river, lake, and so forth, located in the Unites States. The 4th and 5th graders participate in a similar contest on a world map. Students who came up with the correct answers on the daily clues were recognized in the school announcements each day.
Before the December 18 finals contest event, classroom champions were named during preliminary contests. Advancing to the school finals were Fifth Grade Contestants Ethan Hubbard and Colton Hubbell, and Fourth Graders Morgan Moon, Mathew Vaniman and Ricky Blackmore.
The school competition consisted of two rounds of questions. After those challenging rounds, Ethan and Morgan came out as the top two. A tie breaker between the remaining contestants was held to determine third place. After five rounds, Colton Hubbell was named the third place winner.
The Championship round between Ethan and Morgan was nerve wracking. After three rounds, a tie was declared and we went to sudden death. Six tense rounds later, Ethan became Valley View's National Geographic Bee winner!
As school champion, Ethan now has the chance to move on to the state level. To qualify for that level, Ethan
must take a written exam before February 7. If
his score on the written exam qualifies, he will
then be eligible to represent Valley View and
Boundary County at the Idaho State Geographic
Bee Finals in Rexburg, on March 27.Valley View has had past winners move on to the state championship round, including Anna Bliss from two years ago, and Josh Beazer from last year.
The winner of the Idaho Geographic Bee championship will attend the national championship in Washington, D.C. in May.
Here is what is on the line at the national finals: the National Champion will win a $50,000 scholarship, along with a trip to the Galápagos Islands, $500 in cash, and a lifetime subscription to National Geographic magazine. The second place nationwide winner receives a $25,000 scholarship and $500 cash. Third place wins a $10,000 scholarship and $500 cash. The 4th through 10th place winners each receive $500 cash.
Ethan Hubbard--study hard, and Good Luck!
Want to test your Geographic Skills against the fifth graders? Here are some of the actual questions used in the Bee (answers below):
1) Which state is known as the Peach State because peaches are one of its major crops?
2) A trumpet appears on the quarter of which state, known for its jazz music heritage?
3) To take a rain forest tour and to dance at Rio de Janeiro's Carnival celebration, you would travel to what country?
4) To bike around Stanley Park in Vancouver and see the northern lights near Yellowknife, you would travel to what country?
5) To see an acrobatics show in Beijing and walk along the Great Wall, you would travel to what country?
6) The threatened Canada Lynx, which has large feet adapted for walking on top of deep snow, lives near Lake of the Woods in which state?
Answers: 1) Georgia, 2) Louisiana, 3) Brazil, 4) Canada, 5) China, 6) Minnesota