Please note that Clubs and Activities may change from year to year.

The Twain Chess Club meets on Tuesday mornings from 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. in the library. This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to learn the game of chess. New players are welcome! Students should know the basics of chess (piece names and basic moves) before signing up. We have plenty of boards but feel free to bring your own if you like.

During the Beginning session, any students who are beyond that level are welcome to come play any Tuesday morning in another area of the library. There will be adult supervision but no lessons. During the Intermediate session, all students who come are expected to be signed up and to attend the lessons; we will not be able to teach beginners during this time.

The LPS Chess Tournament is held at the beginning of December. Following the Tournament, Chess Club will continue as a recreational, come-and-play-when-you-can activity on Tuesday mornings during January, February and March.

Letterheads is open to any third, fourth or fifth grade student. The purposes of the club are:

1) To learn new spelling words.

2) To meet once a week, before school, to practice spelling techniques while participating in fun games and club spelling races.

3) To prepare for the school spelling bee, to be held in March.

4)To meet new friends or see old ones who also have an interest in learning challenging words.

In order to become a member, your child will need to study a list of 50 words, taken from the Paideia, the national spelling bee directory. In September, all interested students will meet before school at 8:15 a.m., to take the written test. The test will consist of 25 of the 50 words from the list. Students that spell at least 20 of the 25 words correctly, or score an 80% or higher, will be members of Letterheads.

After notification of membership the students in the Letterheads Club will meet weekly, from 8:15-9:00 on Thursdays beginning in October. At each club meeting the students will receive a new list of 20 words to study. We'll practice these words the following week during the club meeting.

Those students who were in the Letterheads Club the prior year and wish to participate, taking the written test is not necessary.

Please keep in mind that the Letterheads Club will require effort and work on the part of your child. It is estimated an hour a week will be needed to learn the words. We will help with techniques each week but it is the student's responsibility to put forth the initiative.

The Letterheads Club should get through a minimum of 400 words before the spelling bee in March. This is only a fraction of the words in the Paideia. We will be ordering a Paideia for each member of the club. The club is very exciting and a great academic challenge. We look forward to seeing your student!

What a way to wake up your brain! Have fun while you sharpen your spelling skills, expand your vocabulary and math skills and become a quick draw with a dictionary.

Playing Scrabble is so much fun your kids won’t even notice how much they’re learning! That is why Mark Twain is proud to announce that it has started an official Scrabble Club for all students grades 3-5. Whether your child chooses to participate to sharpen spelling skills, expand vocabulary, wizen addition and subtraction and mental math skills, be a dictionary detective, or just enjoy team play and a little friendly competition– Scrabble is a game for them! If you are interested, please contact the front office.

Art Club is an opportunity for children in grades Kindergarten through 5th to experience additional art outside of the school day. The club meets most Tuesdays from 3:40-5:00 p.m. Look for fliers coming home each month for class descriptions, schedules, and fees (typically $10 per week). Art Club has completed activities such as origami, watercolor painting, drawing and sketching, tin/aluminum works, print making, clay and more!

It's important to provide elementary students opportunities for leadership. One way we do that here at Mark Twain is through our Student Council. Our Student Council members learn and practice citizenship skills, promote school spirit, participate in school-wide activities (playground/lost & found clean-up; assist with Spaghetti Night), create ideas, raise funds as appropriate (through the School Store), manage projects resolve problems, do community service (clothing drive for Inter-Faith Task Force), and practice teamwork through all these activities. In so doing, our Student Council members develop a sense of "ownership" for their school and they demonstrate to the whole Twain community that service to others is an ideal worth working toward.