Our season began in December with assemblies to share the books for each level and to kick-off the competition. We tried something new this year during our kick-off assembly for grades 6-8. Instead of simply book talking the books on the list, we used Kahoot and had students try to guess each of the books on the list. It was fun!
Students started reading the books right away and teams were formed in January/February. Each team was assigned one staff member as their adviser who checked in with the team periodically to make sure the team stayed on track. Most students read 2-4 of the books on the list.
Harrison School 2018-19 Book Lists!
3rd Grade
|
4th & 5th Grade
|
6th, 7th & 8th Grade
|
Andy Shane and the Barn Sale by Jacobson^
|
Bridge to Terabithia by Paterson^
|
Bruiser by Shusterman*
|
Buddy Files: Case of the Library Monster by Butler
|
Fish in a Tree by Hunt^
|
Cinder by Meyer
|
Clementine by Pennypacker
|
Hachiko Waits by Newman
|
Ghost by Reynolds^
|
Frindle by Clements^
|
Mighty Jack (1) by Hatke
|
Jefferson’s Sons by Bradley^
|
Hilo (1) by Winick
|
Moo by Creech^
|
March, Book One by Lewis
|
Houdini Box by Selznick
|
Plants v Zombies: Plant your path by West
|
Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25 by Evans
|
Infamous Ratos by LaReau^
|
Project Mulberry by Park*^
|
Pull of Gravity by Polisner
|
Little Wolf’s Book of Badness by Whybrow^
|
Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Berlin
|
Running Dream by Van Draanen^
|
One and Only Ivan by Applegate^
|
Tuesdays at the Castle by George
|
Shadow by Morpurgo*
|
Stick Dog by Watson
|
What Was the Great Chicago Fire by Pascal
|
Temple Grandin by Montgomery*
|
The Battles!
We started with the preliminary rounds last week on Monday and Tuesday. Since two of our levels had an odd number of teams, we tried something new. For the 4th/5th grade battle and then again for the 6-8th grade battle, all of the teams competed together in the first round at the same time. Each team worked together to answer the same 20 questions (using Google Forms). The teams with the highest scores moved on to the semi-final round, which was a traditional bracket-style competition. All of our questions are in the format of "In which book..." with the answer being the title and author of the book. Because we had so many teams, this stage of the competition took two days!
Our final battles were on Friday and all of the teams did so well! We had TWO staff teams this year and they kicked off our morning with a staff vs staff battle. I LOVE how much these teachers are modeling a love of reading with our students by reading the books and competing in the battle!!
After the staff battle, the two junior high teams in the final had their competition. It was close but "The Fantastic 4 + Camran" won!
Next, the winner of the junior high team competed against the winning staff team. Last year, the junior high team beat the staff team. The staff team was out for revenge...and they prevailed this time!
We then moved on to our 4th/5th competition. Both teams competed hard but the fourth grade team, The BOB Squad, beat the fifth grade team!
Finally, our rookie 3rd grade teams were so excited to compete in their first battles in front of an audience! It was close but The Thunderbolts won!
The Battle of the Books competition is always a highlight of our school year. With so many students and staff members participating, it truly brings our school together. It promotes a love of reading and it's so great to see students succeeding who sometimes struggle in other areas of school. One of my favorite parts is seeing the teams working together, collaborating, to answer the questions.
I'd like to give a special shout-out to my library student teacher, Emily, who helped write questions, organize the questions, and was a time keeper during the battles!
I can't wait until Battle of the Books next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment