Community Consolidated School District 59 issued the following announcement on May 22.
The Battle of the Books made its debut at CCSD59 in 2016 in an effort to motivate students to read completely for fun and improve their reading habits.
On May 14, teams from Grove, Holmes, and Friendship Junior High gathered to compete for the championship of this event and conclude a competition that has challenged them since the fall.
Learning resource center directors from all three schools set the stage by selecting 10 books of various genres for students to read. Participating students could work individually, in pairs, or in teams of three. After each book is read, each school holds separate battles to determine a building winner, who then advance to the district championship.
Grove defended its title this year thanks to the tandem of Ashley and Abby, both seventh grade students. Friendship was represented by the trio of Nataly, Rita, and Junet, all sixth grade students, while Holmes sent eighth grade students Maya, Saanvi, and Brooklynn.
Participants were tasked with remembering various details from their reading and had to work together in order to correctly answer 12 questions.
“Sometimes, if it’s a very small detail that’s only mentioned once or twice, it can be hard to remember,” said Ashley. “Usually you can use the process of elimination to know which book makes sense.”
Past challenges have included a scavenger hunt to find the covers of books that had already been read, a Pictionary-style game using images from those books, and matching characters to their respective titles.
The first event in 2016 featured only Grove and Holmes, but a boost in interest added Friendship to the mix.
“We think this is a very important activity because it’s a way for our strong readers to shine,” said Sofía Huitron, LRC Director at Grove. “We believe everyone should have a place where they feel special and validated. For some students, that place is the library.”
Tammy Dabros-Wulf, School Liaison from the Elk Grove Village Library, was also present to provide each participant with bookstore gift cards.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Community Consolidated School District 59
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