Battle of the Books
Battle of the Books has been going on for years. It is a test with teams from each school who try to answer questions from a list of Iowa Children’s Choice Award books. Iowa Children’s Choice Award (ICCA) books are books that are popular children’s stories. Every year, kids from all over Iowa get to vote on a selection of books they like the best if they read at least two on the list.
There are three rounds. The first round is a school round. Teams are made up of 3 students, and each school can have as many teams as students that are interested. The teams from that school go against each other having a paper and pencil test. Only 5th and 6th graders are allowed to be on a team. The teacher or librarian then grades them and whoever gets the highest score moves on to the next round to represent their school.
The second round is a district round. The teams from the schools in the district are at a table. They ask a question to table 1, then 2 and so on. If one of the tables gets it wrong the next table can try and steal. If you get it wrong you do not lose points. The team that wins will represent the district and go against 3 other districts. The rules are the same as the district competition. The team that wins will get a trophy or medal.
I was lucky to take part in this. I was on a team with two other students. I go to Mark Twain Elementary. I did a paper pencil test with nine other teams. My team and I scored the highest on the test, so we went up against other Bettendorf Schools, including the Bettendorf Middle School 6th graders.
Going against the other Bettendorf schools in the district was an amazing experience. It was hard, though, because we went against the Bettendorf Middle School 6th graders. My team was winning and the Middle School students were in second place. So, my team and the Middle school team did a last and final round where it was only our teams with 10 questions each. We both had to start back down at zero. We were really close, but the Middle School team won. When they went on to the battle with other district winners they came in first. Now there is a trophy in the public library for the Middle School students.
Our teacher said we must have done a good job if we got close to winning against them. Our librarian awarded us with medals at the end of the year assembly, along with the second place team just from our school. It was a great experience. I can’t wait to do it again next year!
Photo: Kid Reporter Alysa Goethe, along with Willow Miller and Malorie Garza, at the Battle of the Books. (Courtesy Alysa Goethe)
:) We have Battle of the Books here in California, too, though I haven't done it since I culminated from Elementary School. I wish my Middle School would do it for their YA section.
Posted by: Miranda | 07/14/2011 at 10:55 AM