What is the PBES GeoBowl (Geography Bowl)?  

 

The GeoBowl is an enrichment activity for the entire school!  Each year every student gets a packet with geography information and questions from the PTA.  Students complete the packet outside of class over several weeks.  Students who complete the packet by the deadline get a prize and are also eligible to take the GeoBowl quiz and participate on a team of peers at the GeoBowl competitions in the spring.         

 

The goals of the GeoBowl are to complement the social studies curriculum, create enthusiasm in our children for geography, and bolster school spirit through team competition.  The self-contained packet includes maps and questions—a student needs only a pencil and crayons or colored pencils to complete it. This is an enrichment activity and completely voluntary.  While the program is not part of the official curriculum, Piney Branch is encouraging all students to complete the packet by the due date of Thursday, February 1, 2024. Completed packets will be returned to students on February 5th. 

 

The GeoBowl program divides the world’s geography into three parts.  This gives students the opportunity to learn about the entire globe during their three years at Piney Branch.  The rotation is: 1) United States, 2) Africa and The Americas, and 3) Asia and Europe. This year, the students will be studying Africa and The Americas.

 

We need your help to get the GeoBowl running and it can be as little as an hour or two of your time (possibly, even at home, in bed, in your pajamas!). For any PBES parents or caregiver who would like to volunteer, please consider completing this VOLUNTEER FORM

 

 GeoBowl FAQ    Volunteer 

 

2024 GeoBowl timeline:

    • Week of January 8. GeoBowl packets are sent home.  Please ensure that your student writes their first and last names on their packet.  We encourage students to work on their packet with a friend, sibling, parent or caregiver.

       
    • GeoBowl Packet Parties at School.  If your child would like some help working on their packet, PTA volunteers will be available before/after school on these dates:

 

  • Monday, January 8 4pm-5pm: Packet Completion Session

 

    • Thursday, January 11 8am-9am: Packet Completion Session
    • Thursday, January 18 8am-9am: Packet Completion Session
    • Monday, January 22 4pm-5pm: Packet Completion Session
    • Thursday, January 25 8am-9am: Packet Completion Session

 

  • Thursday, February 1st. Deadline to turn in packets to teachers. Students must complete the packet by this date to be eligible to take the qualifying quiz for the GeoBowl.  Students are encouraged to turn in packets earlier—they will get them back earlier and be able to study more!  All students who finish the packet will receive a prize.  The class with the highest participation rate wins a donut party!

     
  • Thursday/Friday, February 8 / 9.  All students who completed a packet are eligible to take a quiz based on the content of the packet. Every student who studies for the quiz and indicates on the quiz that they want to be on a team will be placed on a team.  No one is required to be on a team.  Teams will not necessarily be students within the same class, but they will be made up of students within the same grade and pod.

     
  • Weeks of February 20, February 26, March 4, and March 11.  Each team will have four lunch bunch study sessions (one per week) led by a PTA volunteer to prepare students for the GeoBowl competition.

     
  • March 18 and 19.  GeoBowls!  In-school assemblies for GeoBowl competitions.  Teams will compete against other teams in their own grade and pod.  The competitions are held during the school day.  Parents are welcome and encouraged to attend.  The times for each competition will be announced.  Please note:  sometimes students are worried that they will have to answer questions individually.  No!  This is a team competition, so the whole team will determine the answers to the questions.  No single student is ever asked to come up with the answer for their team.


Thank you for your support of the 2023-2024 PBES GeoBowl!  If you have questions or need more information, please contact PBES parent Justine Lassman at justinelassman@gmail.com.

 

VOLUNTEER FOR THE GEOBOWL!  HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?  

Please fill out this FORM to volunteer and email agarnertn@gmail.com if you have any questions related to volunteering.

 

Since there are several phases of the GeoBowl, it takes many volunteers to make this wonderful enrichment activity happen for all of our kids.  Here are some ways to get involved:

 

1) Help your child and their friends complete their GeoBowl packets.  Work with your student and think about hosting a playdate to work on the GeoBowl packet together with friends.

 

2) Help with a GeoBowl packet party before or after school.  These are held at PBES one hour before school or one hour after school on select dates to help students work on their GeoBowl packets.

 

3) Be a Packet Corrector for your child's class.  Would you like to volunteer more in your child's classroom or for the PTA, but your schedule doesn't allow it?  Here's an easy way to make a big contribution -- on your own time.  This is a PTA led enrichment activity, and we try to place the least amount of burden possible on the teachers since they already have more than full loads.  Parents/caregivers are the graders of the GeoBowl packets.  If you volunteer, you will be given a key and detailed instructions.  Normally, an average of 50-60% of students complete their packets, so it ends up being around 15 or so packets per class to correct over the 3 weeks.  You correct packets and send them back to school as you get them, so you don't have to do all of them at once. 

 

Here's more information on how being a Packet Corrector works:

1) We send you an answer key, red pen, and instructions for correcting packets.

2) The teacher sends home completed packets in a large envelope in your child's backpack as they are turned in.

3) You correct them at home (in your pajamas if you want!), and send them back with your child to the teacher as soon as possible.  (You don't wait to send them all back at once.)  So, again, you won't get all of them at one time.  A few here, a few another day, and you correct and return them as soon as possible, so the students get their packets back quickly.

 

It's probably a total of 2 to 2.5 volunteer hours over the 3 week span that packets are out (Jan 8 - Feb 1) and can be done on your own time.  Volunteering doesn't get much easier than that, and it's a huge help!

 

4) Be a Lunch Bunch Leader.  For four weeks before the GeoBowl competitions, GeoBowl teams meet with a parent/caregiver volunteer one day per week at lunch to study for the GeoBowl.  This is a wonderful opportunity to have lunch with your child once a week for four weeks and coach their team.  We give you a simple study guide for each of the 4 sessions, so you don't need to come up with any of the content.  You show up for the 35 minute lunch period and help your team study.

More information about becoming a lunch bunch leader:

Lunch Bunches are the 4 study sessions leading up to the GeoBowl competitions, so teams (of 8-10 students) can study before the competitions.  

  • You pick one day of the week during the weeks of February 19, February 26, March 4, and March 11 that you can come to PBES during the 35 minute lunch period to help the kids study. 4 sessions total.  (We prefer that you come on the same day of the week for 4 weeks for ease of scheduling, but if that can't work for you and you need to do 2 Tuesdays and 2 Wednesdays, for example, that's ok, too!)  
  • You don't have to be good at Geography!  We give you a simple study guide for the teams, so you don't need to prepare anything on your own.
  • You can be your child's lunch bunch leader (if they turn in a completed GeoBowl packet by Thursday, Feb 1) and see them at lunch (or not - you could also coach another team)!  
  • It's great if you can lead at least 2 teams (or both pods of a grade) or more if your time allows, but we will take whatever time you can give.
  • You go to a designated classroom, so the only students in the room are those assigned to your lunch bunch. 
  •  In order to volunteer, you must complete the volunteer training available at https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/childabuseandneglect/#Volunteer.  This training is required every 3 years, so if you took it in order to volunteer last year or the year before, you're still good.
  • This is a fun part of the GeoBowl process and gets the kids geared up for their team competition.  Please consider helping!
  • Here are the class lunch times: 
    • 10:45-11:20 3A Claxton, Giles, Granados, Hernandez
    • 11:20-11:55 3B Dunlap, Eisenberg, Gillmann, Meyer, Rawson
    • 11:55-12:30 4A Cottrell, Moran, Pendleton, Rumsey
    • 12:30-1:05 4B Plummer, Richie, Scarborough, Serra, Snyder
    • 1:05-1:40 5A Kenney, Luker, Lee, Tolson, Madsen
    • 1:40-2:15 5B Bass, Goldman, Lane, Patrick, Rook

5) Volunteer for the GeoBowl Competitions on March 18 and 19.  On Bowl days we need many parents to run the GeoBowls smoothly.  Can you help by serving as the timekeeper or a judge or question manager or scorekeeper?  All the jobs are already prepared (no advance prep on your part), and all you need to do is show up!  The Bowls are separated by grade and pod, so we actually have 6 GeoBowl competitions (2 per grade).  The days/times for each pod will soon be determined, and there will be a Sign-Up Genius link here to volunteer.

 

Thank you for your support of the Piney Branch Elementary School GeoBowl!