Alcott will be participating again this year in the Battle of the Books! This is an optional program that promotes reading literature. Students (4th, 5th and 6th graders and 3rd graders in the 3/4 Quest classes) form teams of 2 to 4 members and read from a list of 12 titles. The books have been chosen from Young Reader’s Choice and Sasquatch Award nominees for 2012, and other titles the Lake Washington School District librarians have chosen to round out the selection. Students are responsible for forming teams, reading the books, and participating in the battles. Participation is entirely voluntary; any practicing a team chooses to do is only among the students. Adult participation is not allowed. The Official Guidelines state that the parent role is to “support and encourage.”
The teams “battle” by answering questions (written by the participating LWSD elementary librarians). There’s a double elimination for teams within the school and then the winning team goes onto the district battle. The school battles are tentatively scheduled to begin the second week of January and the district battle is in early February.
Here are some additional details:
Ü The Alcott library has five copies of each book available for team members to check out. You can also purchase the books at a bookstore or check them out from a King County Public Library.
Ü Students who choose to be on a team for the Battle of the Books read the books on their own time.
Ü Teams assign their own members which books on the list to read. No one student on a team has to read all 12, unless s/he would like to take on that challenge.
Ü All questions require the title of a book as the answer. The list of titles is not allowed during the battle; team members need to know the titles well.
Ü This is not a spectator event. Only the teams who battle at each scheduled time are present. We want to provide a quiet atmosphere for the students. I will be asking the questions that have been written by the LWSD teacher-librarians of schools participating in the Battle.
Ü The winning team from Alcott will compete online with all the rest of the top teams from other LWSD schools in February.
If you have any questions please e-mail me at jgrffin@lwsd.org or stop by the library when you are at school.
Good luck and happy reading to all the teams!!
Battle of the Books
2011-2012
11
Birthdays
By Wendy Mass
Also
Known as Harper
By Ann Haywood Leal
Alvin
Ho Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters
By Lenore Look
Dying
to Meet You
By Kate Klise
Flight
of the Phoenix
By R. L. LaFevers
The
Golly-Whopper Games
By Jody Feldman
Happenstance
Found
By P. W. Catanese
Long
Shot
By Mike Lupica
NERDS:
National Espionage, Rescue and Defense Society
By Michael Buckley
Scat
By Carl Hiassen
Where
the Mountain Meets the Moon
By Grace Lin
Wild
River
By P. J. Petersen