Battle of the Books - North Crawford School District

We really appreciate De Soto coming to battle with us!

Crawford Battles with De Soto

De Soto School came to North Crawford for a battle in February. De Soto brought nine teams; North Crawford has eight teams this year, so one of Crawford's strongest teams got on stage twice. It was a successful battle with North Crawford winning many rounds.

The North Crawford students have been practicing regularly before school in the mornings with one of our coaches, Mrs. Gesa Ott. These practice sessions have done much to prepare our students.

Miss Biggin's fifth grade students made paper cranes to present to the De Soto students at the completion of our battle. The cranes went with the story Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Elenor Coerr, which was one of the books the children read this year.

We have one more battle with De Soto students. One or two of our strongest teams will battle their team(s) by Skype later this month.

North Crawford Performance Center

Jan. 30 Microphone practice and Team formation 12:30

Feb. 1 In School Battle 4-6^th grade at 12:30-2:00

Feb. 3 Battle against De Soto School at 9:00-11:00

Feb. 16^th Battle against Seneca School 3^rd-4^th grade at 12:45-2:30 (invited audience grades 2-5 and parents)

Feb. 21^st In School Battle 4^th-6^th grade at 12:30-2:00

(invited audience grades 3-6 and parents)

Feb. 23 Skype Battle against De Soto 12:30-1:00 in the library.

(Tentative date) Featuring our best one or two teams against their best team(s).

A team of fifth graders.

A North Crawford team member gives her team's answer

Battle of the Books

The North Crawford 2011-12 Battle of the Books season is underway. Students in third grade through fifth grade have begun to start reading from the booklist.

The Battle of the Books program is designed to promote a love of reading among our students. It encourages students to read a variety of books and remember information about the plots, characters, and settings of the books. In actual battles, students are asked questions. Students work in small groups to come up with the correct answers. Each correct answer includes a book title and author. This year will be an exciting year with another 20 great books to read (the third graders read 10).

Although the Battle of the Books competition is for students, all family members and friends are encouraged to participate. Friends and family strengthen student participation by offering encouragement, by talking about books, and sharing ideas. Families may even want to read one or two of the books aloud together.

Audio book versions of some of the stories are available at the local libraries for those long winter evenings. All the books are available at school as well as from local libraries.

Students don’t have to read all twenty books. But, of course, the more books students read the better. Some are picture books and others are chapter books. There are 10 books selected from the following list that we are recommending for third graders.

Practices will be held from 8:10 to 8:30 in January and February on designated mornings. The season’s schedule will include in-school competitions as well as competitions with area schools (Seneca School and De Soto Schools). The season will culminate with a statewide competition in February. For more information about the Battle of the Books program, feel free to contact Sue Presser (spresser@ncrawford.k12.wi.us) or at 624-5201 (ext. 226); Lynn Harden (lharden@ncrawford.k12.wi.us); Liz Bransky (lbransky@ncrawford.k12.wi.us); or Gesa Ott (jackott@mwt.net).

Statewide Battle of the Books

2011-2012 Book List

PRIMARY GOLDEN ARCHER NOMINEES:

Art & Max (David Wiesner)*
Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny! (Jan Thomas)*
Interrupting Chicken (David Ezra Stein)*
Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion (Mo Willems)*
A Sick Day for Amos McGee (Phillip Stead)*

INTERMEDIATE GOLDEN ARCHER NOMINEES:

· Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (Jeff Kinney)

· Framed (Gorden Korman)

· The Last Olympian (Rick Riordan)

· Mockingbird (Kathryn Erskine)

COACHES’ SELECTIONS:

· Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)*

· Granny Torrelli Makes Soup (Sharon Creech)

· Heat (Mike Lupica)

· Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Bruce Coville)

· Knights of the Kitchen Table (Jon Scieszka)*

· The Magician’s Elephant (Kate DiCamillo)

· Poppy (Avi)*

· Ruby Holler (Sharon Creech)*

· Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Eleanor Coerr)*

· Orphan of Ellis Island (Elvira Woodruff)

· Turtle in Paradise (Jennifer Holm)

*Recommended for third grade students

Seneca and Crawford third and fourth grade students

These are the children that participated in the big battle

North Crawford and Seneca Schools: Battle of the Books

It was a lot of fun for our third and fourth grade students to battle against Seneca School. There were some very strong students in both grade.

Using teamwork, the students answered questions about 10 books this year. We had a total of six pairs of teams on stage. The teams were made up of four, five, or six students per team. Each round lasted about 20 minutes. We had parents from both schools in the audience.

Seneca coach, Jean Ellefson, organized Seneca’s teams, while North Crawford’s teams were co-coached by library-media specialist, Liz Bransky; library assistant, Nancy Brockway; parent-coach, Gesa Ott; 4^th Title 1 teacher, Lynn Harden; and reading specialist, Sue Presser.

Good game!

Battle of the Books: The Last Battle of the Season

The Battle of the Books at our local schools continued, with a showdown between De Soto and North Crawford Schools. The 4^th- 6^th graders from both schools had been reading a selection of 20 award-winning children’s books for the past several months, including timeless classics such as “Where the Red Fern Grows” and modern best-sellers such as “The Tale of Despereaux”.

In these battles, the students are being tested on their comprehension and recollection of the stories. In order to get full scores, the students have to know both the title and the author of the books. The teams of four to five students have only 30 seconds to consult each other on the answer, and then the team’s spokesperson has to announce their answer to a large audience of students, teachers, parents, and judges. Between both schools, about 90 students were involved in this battle.

The students performed amazingly well, and there were some surprisingly high scores. De Soto’s highest score of 46 was reached in three rounds. North Crawford’s highest score was 48 on one round. The teams were fairly evenly matched, with both schools winning about the same number of rounds. Each school will have one team made up of some of its best performers who will have the opportunity to participate in the ultimate Battle of the Books, which is an Internet-based state-wide competition.

In-School Battles

We use our in-school battles as a way to practice, letting the students have some fun, while getting used to being on the stage and speaking in the microphone. Our teams of four or five students battle against each other. This process begins in late January and may go into February. We like to have these battles before other schools visit us.

This year we also finished up the season with an in-school battle.

These students also competed in a Skype battle against De Soto

Fifth grade team

Crawford fourth and fifth graders participated

Skype Battle

Two North Crawford teams battled against one of De Soto's top teams. This was a new experience for the students. We won one and lost one. This was our very first loss of the season, during our very last battle of the season. Great job, Stoddard!

This is our strongest team of the season

Three fifth graders and one fourth graders went to state for Crawford

State Battle

At the end of the season, one of our teams goes to state. We participate in this battle online. It occurs each year at the very end of February. Our coaches choose the strongest team members to battle at this level. The children have 30 minutes to answer the questions, but in case of a tie, the time it took them comes into question.

This year the final team battled using the Smartboard in Mrs. Harden's room. It was fun to watch them figure out the answers. They worked very well together, listening to each other.

We made it to the 300 Club! That means we scored 300 points, which is a great achievement for these young readers.