Battle of the books

[petesgirl]

My 5th grader is doing battle of the books this year and he has 6 assigned books to read between now and March. Have any of done this before, or have ideas on ways to record some sort of summary after he finishes each book so that he can refer back to those for review when March comes around? TIA!

[Snow mom]

Our 5th and 6th graders do battle of the books. They are required to read one book over the summer and are given a form to fill out about that book. They read more of the books during the school year before battle. If you have something like that form you could fill it out for each book read along the way. It would also help to know what types of questions actually appear in the battle to know what to record or emphasize. I obviously didn't get to attend battle, but I was struck by how many questions were on details like "what was the French teachers last name?" These aren't necessarily minor characters, but they're kind of minor details IYKWIM? Questions have to have a clear correct answer. My DD is nothing if not a competitive reader :ROTFLMAO: and her team made it to at least semi-finals both years. I could ask her for advice if that would help you but she's not home now.

[petesgirl]

Our 5th and 6th graders do battle of the books. They are required to read one book over the summer and are given a form to fill out about that book. They read more of the books during the school year before battle. If you have something like that form you could fill it out for each book read along the way. It would also help to know what types of questions actually appear in the battle to know what to record or emphasize. I obviously didn't get to attend battle, but I was struck by how many questions were on details like "what was the French teachers last name?" These aren't necessarily minor characters, but they're kind of minor details IYKWIM? Questions have to have a clear correct answer. My DD is nothing if not a competitive reader :ROTFLMAO: and her team made it to at least semi-finals both years. I could ask her for advice if that would help you but she's not home now.

Interesting. We weren't given any forms but I have seen a few online I may print, just to give him a way to organize info. He's a great reader but it will be interesting to see how his longer-term recall is. How did you find out what kinds of questions? Are the questions created by someone at our school or from someone else? I obviously don't know much about this program!!

[Snow mom]

Interesting. We weren't given any forms but I have seen a few online I may print, just to give him a way to organize info. He's a great reader but it will be interesting to see how his longer-term recall is. How did you find out what kinds of questions? Are the questions created by someone at our school or from someone else? I obviously don't know much about this program!!

Our program is run by the school librarian. She chooses the books and questions and runs the battle. I do think she gets some input on books from a woman who owns a local indie bookstore. Some books repeat no more frequently then every two years since kids participate for two school years. The winning 5th graders battle the winning 6th graders at the end to get a school champion (the 5th graders win most years so having participated previously doesn't seem to swing the contest.) I personally only know about questions based on talking to DD but I do think they get some sample questions to study from, and if they're smart, to understand what types of questions are going to appear. There are also several different rounds so round one could inform what types of questions you expect going forward. It's just a few weeks between the initial within classroom battles to the crowning of the champion team (ha! that doesn't actually happen) so there isn't a lot of time to adjust your study techniques.

[belovedgandp]

Our school librarian had a sheet each student could complete for each book. It was a generic form used for all books. Some students wrote a ton, some wrote almost nothing.

I will say, I was amazed at how many kids could answer obscure questions. One year I actually did read all 20 books with my team. Admittedly over the entire year and I took no notes, but even then I had zero idea on some of the questions.

[petesgirl]

Our school librarian had a sheet each student could complete for each book. It was a generic form used for all books. Some students wrote a ton, some wrote almost nothing.

I will say, I was amazed at how many kids could answer obscure questions. One year I actually did read all 20 books with my team. Admittedly over the entire year and I took no notes, but even then I had zero idea on some of the questions.

I wish I had time to read all the books! I love children's literature!

You've both mentioned the school librarian so I guess I should direct my questions to her. Thanks!

[MontrealMum]

I’d ask the school librarian just to be sure. I’ve been coaching it for nearly a decade. In my board each librarian writes the questions for one book. We sort them all by difficulty. They get progressively harder as you move through the stages of the competition. The further you progress, the harder and more obscure the questions will get. We usually release practice questions in Dec/Jan., although sometimes I make my kids write their own. I always read all the books and often I can’t answer the questions. We librarians can be really tricky! But we have to be - you should see how competitive some of these kids are.


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[petesgirl]

I’d ask the school librarian just to be sure. I’ve been coaching it for nearly a decade. In my board each librarian writes the questions for one book. We sort them all by difficulty. They get progressively harder as you move through the stages of the competition. The further you progress, the harder and more obscure the questions will get. We usually release practice questions in Dec/Jan., although sometimes I make my kids write their own. I always read all the books and often I can’t answer the questions. We librarians can be really tricky! But we have to be - you should see how competitive some of these kids are.


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My son isn't competitive at all. So....hope this goes well! Ha ha!

[MontrealMum]

My son isn't competitive at all. So....hope this goes well! Ha ha!

Don’t worry! It’s also a really nice way for kids to meet other, like-minded kids. I’ve witnessed such great conversations among competitors.


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