Battle of the Books An exciting reading club that uses a game show style set up to test teams' knowledge of pre-selected books. by Chris Wilkie and Erin Walton

Agenda 1. History 2. Rules 3. Tournaments 4. Choosing Books 5. Questions 6. Student's Responsibility

History of Battle of the Books original idea for Battle of the Books started with a Chicago radio program sponsored by the Chicago Public Library in the 1940's first used in the school environment in 1981, in Alaska, by a school librarian involved in the original radio program, as a student since then it has spread across the United States in various formats we have adapted our Battles based on the book: Cook, S., Corcoran, F., Fonnesbeck, B. (2001). Battle of the Books and More: reading activities for middle school students. Fort Atkinson, WI:Alleyside Press. ISBn

Rules for Battle of the Books Teams of 2-4 Grade 5 and up Number of books 8-10 Each team has to read all of the books on the assigned list

Rules for Battle of the Books The answer to the question consists of the title and the author; spelling must be correct, missing “the, an” etc. at the beginning of the title is alright Title is worth 3 points-must be spelled correctly Author is worth 1 point-must be spelled correctly There are no half marks if the author/title is half wrong they don’t receive points- if it is wrong it is wrong

Tournament Rules Start with an author/title battle at your own school Do question tournaments in your school (2-3 from each book) Each tournament consists of 15 questions. The team with the most points at the end wins Keep track of the points for each question tournament Highest scoring teams are sent to the inter-school tournament You can do a play-off style or allow the top teams to play 2-3 rounds and then tally the points

What happens at a Tournament? Each team needs a table and a small whiteboard At large tournaments people are needed to keep track of the points, time each question, and read questions Ask the question and give the students a specified amount of time to answer the question, usually 30 seconds Everyone holds up the whiteboard at once Have a prize for each member of the winning teams

Choosing Books Wide variety of genres Variety of reading levels Heavier on the boy books Need several copies of each book

Each teacher chooses 3-4 books to write the questions Questions must have the answer of the title and author Each book should have questions written Use the first 8 or so questions for home tournaments and the rest are used for school wide tournaments- the same questions are never used twice Questions

Knowlege/comprehension questions Related to setting, character, plot, theme, quotes Question needs to fit only 1 book Avoid main character names Start questions with: "in which book..." Sometimes questions are challenged - have a plan in place to address any challenges Questions

All students on the team may read all of the books or decide to read a designated number of books Have a Battle Tracking sheet to display in the library with the team names and the books so students can record and track their readings Make a bookmark of the names and authors of the books for the students to study from Student's Responsibility

Sample of note for mini tournament Battle of the Books Mini Tournament We will be having Battle of the Books Mini Tournament on Tues., Jan. 22nd at noon. Please bring your lunch that day. Don’t bring anything that needs to be microwaved. Bring something that is easy to eat, so that we can start our mini- tournament as soon as possible. We will meet in the library at 11:45. Thank you Mrs. Wilkie

Invitation to the tournament in the gym Battle of the Books There will be a Battle of the Books Tournament in the gym on Feb. 11th at 9:45. Parents are invited to attend. Two teams will be chosen to attend the Battle of the Books Tournament at Massey School on Feb. 19th at 3:50. We will be playing against Massey, Wilfred Walker, Ready and Hunt Schools. We are playing for a trophy that will stay in the school that wins. Each member of the 1st and 2nd winning teams will receive medals. Good luck to all the teams!!! Mrs. C. Wilkie Teacher/Librarian

Thank You Thank you to the following teacher-librarians was are part of the Battle of the Books team and make it successful: Donna Lindstrom Wendy Tingle Chris MacLennan Jeannette Revet Charmaine Stouse Margaret Cowie Jara Langill Betty O'Byrne

Tournament Pictures