Educators
Why bring The Newark Chess Club to your institution?
The Newark Chess Club is a mentorship program whose mission is to save lives by building critical thinking skills in children. We use chess as the bonding activity to build a lasting relationship between a mentor and a mentee, and we use chess to teach children how to make better decisions. Our goal is to teach every child in America how to play chess and to make sure that every child has a mentor.
Our program is simple. We created a character development curriculum for children that cultivates life skills such as goal setting, patience, planning, strategy, overcoming peer pressure, focus, creating advantages, using your instincts, persistence, determination, understanding the consequences of actions, overcoming challenges, keeping commitments, trust, respect, and choices.
If your school is committed to better academic performance and improved behavior amongst your students, then this program is for you.
Our After School Curriculum
The Newark Chess Club's weekly After School Program is anchored in a proprietary curriculum that instructs students in 15 life skills and 15 chess skills. The program is run for two hours each week and is taught by a professional chess instructor who has been background checked and fully trained to implement our curriculum.
Week |
Life Skill |
Chess Skill |
| 1 | Goal Setting | Piece Description & Check |
| 2 | Patience | Piece Values & Checkmate |
| 3 | Planning | Castling |
| 4 | Strategy | En Passant |
| 5 | Peer Pressure | Review |
| 6 | Focus | Pawn Strategy |
| 7 | Advantage | Rook Strategy |
| 8 | Instinct | Bishop Strategy |
| 9 | Persistence & Determination | Knight Strategy |
| 10 | Consequences of Actions | King Strategy |
| 11 | Challenges | Queen Strategy |
| 12 | Commitment | Controlling the Middle |
| 13 | Trust | Openings |
| 14 | Respect | Forks, Pins, Skewers |
| 15 | Choice | Middle |
Video Overviews of our First Two Lessons
In these videos, we preview how we teach the first two life skills; Goal Setting and Patience.
Become a School Partner
The first step toward bringing Newark Chess Club into your institution is to submit the form below, after which, a team member will reach out to schedule a phone call to discuss next steps.