LifeSmarts Sign Up Information

Coaches,

Welcome to the new LifeSmarts season! I hope you all are starting to get into the swing of things now that you are all back to school (in whatever model). I wanted to send you this email with a few important updates for this year.

First, I want to welcome Linda Cumpton, former LifeSmarts coach, to our team this year. Linda will be assisting on the state level throughout the year in a variety of ways. Linda has a true passion for LifeSmarts and real hands on experience with what it can do for students. Feel free to contact her at lifesmarts@mofccla.org if you have any questions about how to implement and use LifeSmarts with your students. She will also be assisting us with our annual state competition.

I am sure one of the big questions you may have is “will we be having a LifeSmarts competition this year?” The answer is YES! It will look a little different though. Because of COVID we have made the decision to have a virtual state competition. We know that many schools are not allowing students or staff to travel, and the nature of our competition does not allow for adequate social distancing unless we limit the number of teams, and I don’t like the idea of taking that opportunity away from students. We are still working out all of those logistics so be patient and we will release them when we have our final plan.

With all of this stuff going on, we have not finalized an actual timeline for the online competition to qualify, but I can share that we have decided to move the state competition to January so that we can allow teams a little more time to get organized and qualified. As that information is ready I will share it, but for now, focus on creating your teams and getting the students familiar with the platform and content.

Remember if you or your students have a log in from last year that still works. The only thing that was cleared from the system were teams. Also keep in mind that the team type can and will change where those teams are eligible to compete. If you are wanting to be part of the FBLA or FCCLA competitive events you need to select that team type. If you want a chance to compete in the in person state competition you need to select JV or Varsity. There are a few other team types (4-H, HOSA, and SkillsUSA) available but they will not qualify you for the state competition. Students may be a part of more than one team, but they must be a different type. Example, Bobby can be a part of a Varsity, FCCLA and HOSA team, however they may not be a part of 2 Varsity teams.

Want to win a little $$? The monthly TeamSmarts quizzes are the key to possibly winning $100 for your school/chapter. The top team in each team type (JV, Varsity, FBLA, FCCLA, JV 4-H, Varsity 4-H, HOSA, and SkillsUSA) for the TeamSmarts quiz will win $100. Each team can only win once per year, but it doesn’t stop you from having the bragging rights! This is an area where Missouri teams often forget they have the opportunity to compete. You can find more information here: https://lifesmarts.org/teamsmarts

Feel free to share this information with others who may benefit from the program. This year is the first year to offer HOSA and SkillsUSA specific team types and we want to engage as many students as possible in this amazing opportunity.

If you have any questions or we can help in any way, please let myself or Linda know and we will be happy to assist you.

I look forward to a great year!

Donna Taylor

Missouri FCCLA State Adviser

Missouri LifeSmarts Coordinator

Chair, Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition

Family Consumer Sciences & Human Services

Office of College & Career Readiness

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

PO Box 480

205 Jefferson Street

Jefferson City, MO 65102

Phone: 573-522-6543

donna.taylor@dese.mo.gov

Looking for the MO FCCLA Adviser Weekly Newsletter? You can view the archives here!

Coaches,

I am just sending you an email with a few reminders as you continue through the competition.

Team Types:

·         The team type you select will change what quizzes you have available for your players.

o   FBLA/FCCLA team types will only have quizzes/tests to participate in those specific competitive events. They will also have access to the TeamSmarts monthly test.

o   Varsity/JV and 4-H teams are the only team types that will see the prequiz, category quizzes, and capstone quiz which are necessary to qualify for a chance at the state competition.

o   SkillsUSA/HOSA will only see the TeamSmarts monthly tests.

·         A player can be a part of one of each of the different types of teams (as eligible). Any quizzes they take will count in all necessary places, they don’t have to take quizzes multiple times. Players on the FBLA, FCCLA, SkillsUSA, HOSA or 4-H teams should be an official member of those respective organizations in order to compete as one of those team types. Junior high schools are only eligible to be on a JV team.

Competition/Quiz Types:

·         TeamSmarts- this is a monthly 100 question quiz that is available only to the team captain, however the team should complete this together. The top score in each team type gets $100 (only once per year, but bragging rights any other time).

·         State Competition/National Competition- at least 4 players must complete all 7 quizzes (pre-quiz, 5 category quizzes, and capstone quiz) to generate a team score to make them eligible for a place at the state competition. Only players who have completed all 7 quizzes are allowed to compete. Up to 5 players can participate in the state competition (4 players and an alternate). The winning varsity team has the opportunity to advance to the national level competition in April.

·         Practice quizzes can be taken as many times you desired. It will not record the score, but it is a great way to reinforce information and prepare for the competition quizzes.

·         FBLA Competitive Event- this is a 2 person team to participate in the FBLA competition. The fall competition window is currently open. It closes on November 13^th. The spring competition is available from February 1-26^th.

·         FCCLA Competitive Event- this is a 5 person team to participate in the FCCLA LifeSmarts/Knowledge Bowl competition. The qualification window for this has already closed, but keep it in mind for next year!

Resources:

·         Check out LifeSmarts U. These are lessons that can be used in the classroom, or as an online module for independent learning. (https://lifesmarts.org/lifesmarts-u/)

·         Retired competition rounds are a great way to simulate the state/national competition. (https://lifesmarts.org/resources/resources-by-type-top-level/resources-by-type-practice-rounds/)

·         Daily Quizzes allow more practice for students. (https://lifesmarts.org/daily-quiz/)

·         Every day national LifeSmarts posts a word and question of the day. (https://twitter.com/LifeSmarts_org?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

·         Question of the day calendars work well for bell ringers (https://lifesmarts.org/resources/resources-by-type-top-level/question-of-the-day-lifesmarts-calendars/)

·         There are a variety of other resources you and your players might find helpful, so take some time and explore the website (https://lifesmarts.org/resources)

State competition will be held virtually this year in January. I have not set any deadlines or dates yet as I am trying to finalize specifications for regional FCCLA STAR Event competitions which will also be taking place virtually in January. Once I get that timeline solidified I will be able to solidify this timeline J I hope to be able to provide you that information by the end of this month or early November. The selection process to compete in the state competition is based off of the team score, which is the average of the 4 highest players on a team who have completed all 7 qualification quizzes. We then take the highest scoring teams. We traditionally take 12 Varsity and up to 12 JV. I anticipate we will be able to allow at least that many to participate again this year, but it may be altered to accommodate the virtual competition (we will allow more teams to compete if feasible). We also traditionally only allow one team per school to participate in the state competition in order to offer as many schools as possible the opportunity to participate and see the competition. We have made exceptions to this especially for JV if we have open spots or to need a specific number of teams in order to allow the competition to flow easily.

Remember LifeSmarts is a great program to use in the classroom. There is lots of content available for students and they make excellent substitute lesson plans or something for students who may be ahead of the others and need sort of activity. There are also Jeopardy style PowerPoints on each of the different categories that can easily be used in the classroom.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to myself or Linda Cumpton (lifesmarts@mofccla.org). Linda is a great resource when it comes to using LifeSmarts in the classroom and how to prepare students for competition if you are needing ideas.

Keep up the great work!

Thank you,

Donna Taylor

Missouri FCCLA State Adviser

Missouri LifeSmarts Coordinator

Chair, Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition

Family Consumer Sciences & Human Services

Office of College & Career Readiness

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

PO Box 480

205 Jefferson Street

Jefferson City, MO 65102

Phone: 573-522-6543

donna.taylor@dese.mo.gov

Looking for the MO FCCLA Adviser Weekly Newsletter? You can view the archives here!