Saturday, November 28, 2015

Encourage Students to "Bee" Brilliant in the National Geographic Bee

How well does your child know the planet we live on?  The National Geographic Bee provides students in fourth through eighth grade the chance to "bee" brilliant and win up to $50,000 in scholarship money.  Is your child's school participating in the 2016 Nat Geo Bee?


Schools have until January 18, 2016 to register to hold local competitions.  The winners at local schools than take a qualifying test for the chance to compete at the State Bees which are held in every state and Washington D.C during the month of April.  The winners from each of these contests than face off in the National Championship in May which provides more than $85,000 in prizes to contestants.  The top 10 contestants from the preliminary rounds of this Bee conclude the competition in a final round face off televised on the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild.

Don't think your child would have a chance to win? You never know unless you try.  Last year's second-place winner who took home a $25,000 college scholarship was 11-year old Shriya Yarlagadda who lives just a half hour's drive from our house in the city of Grand Blanc, Michigan.  The third-place winner, Sojas Wagle, is from Springdale, Arkansas, and the $50,000 first place winner of the 2015 National Geographic Bee winner Karan Menon was a fourteen year old eighth graders at John Adams Middle School in Edison, New Jersey. Other finalists included twelve year old Nicholas Monahan from McCall, Idaho, Patrick Taylor a seventh grader from Coralville, Iowa, and Lucy Chae, a thirteen year old seventh grader from Newton Centre, Massachusetts.  You never know where the finalists each year will come from.  Maybe this year it could be one of your neighbors or even better yet your child, grandchild, niece or nephew?


While earning prizes and scholarships is great, the National Geographic Bee also provides all of the children that participate a fun and entertaining way to learn some important lesson about the world we live on.  Does your local school participate?  It is just $100 dollars to register a whole school's eligible grades to participate in its own qualifying competition if they register before December 18, 2015 ($120 afterward prior to January 18, 2016).   Since this is such an incredible event that we'd like to see all our readers' students participating in A Geek Daddy has a little extra incentive to help schools participate.  Schools can use our special code BEE10 when registering for the National Geographic Bee to get 10% off their cost to participate in the event.  Use BEE10 by December 18th and a school's registration fee is only $90.

It is really easy to sign a school up for the National Geographic Bee.  Designate a teacher as the event coordinator than visit NatGeoBee.com.  Just follow these 5 simple steps:
  1. Find your school by zip code;
  2. Sign up as the School Bee Coordinator;
  3. Pay by credit card or check;
  4. Use the BEE10 discount code to save 10% on your registration fee;
  5. Download the event materials and let the Bee begin!


So do you think you have what it takes to be a Nat Geo Bee Champ!? Try out these 6 sample questions to test your mettle:
  1. It takes 65 tons of paint to cover the Eiffel Tower.  It's weird but it's true!  This landmark is located in Paris, France, on which continent?
  2. In which ocean are the South Sandwich Islands, which are important breeding grounds for chinstrap penguins?
  3. The world's tallest waterfall, called Angel Falls, is taller than five Washington Monuments stacked up.  This waterfall is located in Venezuela on which continent?
  4. The Inuit and other First Nation peoples practice subsistence hunting, gathering, and fishing in settlements in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, which are located in the far north of what country?
  5. The Dry Tortugas, named by Ponce de Leon after the numerous found there, is now a national park in which state -- Florida or Oregon?
  6. Singer Carrie Underwood, recently named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, performed in Sydney on the Tasman Sea in which country?
Don't peek until you've answered all the questions!
ANSWERS: (6) Australia; (5) Florida; (4) Canada; (3) South America; (2) Atlantic; (1) Europe.

Think your student might need a bit of help studying up for the Bee?  Pick up the book, How to Ace the National Geographic Bee which aims to help kids in grades four through eight prepare for the Society's annual competition.  Featuring maps, photos, graphs, a variety of questions actually used in past bees, plus an extensive resources section, this guide not only reviews geographic facts but also helps readers recognize themes, identify relationships, and understand how geographers think.  it is a 128 soft cover book featuring 200 black-and-white photographs that is available for $9.95 on the National Geographic Society website.


The National Geographic website also features a FREE study guide section online that can help teachers prepare lesson plans to help prepare students for the Bee plus provides tips, sample quizzes and other useful information to help contestants beef up their geography IQ.   The website also provides a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section and posts the official rules for the competition.

Nat Geo Bee is a renowned education program that challenges kids in grades 4-8 to learn about the world and how it works.  If your local schools aren't participating ask your principals and teachers why not?  Challenge your students to bee brilliant!

For more information, visit NatGeoBee.com

Photographs courtesy of National Geographic Society. All Rights Reserved.

FTC Disclosure: I am part of the National Geographic KIDS Insider blogger program. In partnership with the National Geographic Society, I receive free products and promotional information to review. I am not required to blog about them or write any positive reviews.

#‎NatGeoBee‬ ‪#‎BeeBrilliant‬ ‪#‎NGKInsider‬

4 comments:

  1. We homeschool, but this sounds like a pretty neat program for children. Thank you for sharing this information.

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    Replies
    1. Homeschool associations can participate if they can pool together at least 6 eligible students to compete in a local contest.

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  2. Great program for kids indeed! What a fun and entertaining way to spread awesome knowledge! Kudos to the organizers.

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  3. Such a great opportunity to win scholarships! I sometimes enjoy watching the Spelling Bees! It amazes me to see what these children know.

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