Check mate! Chess thrives in Idaho grade schools
By JESSIE L. BONNER – 7 hours ago
COUNCIL, Idaho (AP) — The elementary school at the edge of this rural town has a playground that boasts little more than a swing set. That’s no problem — the hot new game is inside.
Chess, once used as a way to teach war strategy, is now being taught to second- and third-graders across Idaho once a week as part of a plan to make students better at subjects like math and reading.
“At first I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,'” said Penny Lattimer, a Council Elementary School teacher. “We already have so much stuff to teach.”
Lattimer didn’t know how to play chess until last year, when she and a dozen other Idaho teachers were trained as part of a pilot program to bring chess into public schools.
The state Department of Education has now invested $120,000 into the project, which was tested in 100 schools last year and expanded this fall to 100 more.
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