The junior high did Battle of the Books today. (And yesterday.) I feel guilty because Ivory and Daisy did theirs back in February. They both did a great job, but I was volunteering, so I never got pictures. Daisy's team was the only 3rd grade team to make it to the semi-finals, although they didn't win. And Ivory's team got a great score on pool play day, but didn't make it on finals day. But they both read many books and had a good time. I'm proud of all the kids who take a stab at reading a pile of books and answering questions about them.
Personally, I love reading. (You know that.) But if I had to take a quiz on what I read, it would be laughable.
Back to current events. I asked to help out with the junior high battles, and since I am at the school often, I just had to run over during flex. Battling at our junior high is much different than the normal battles. Our media specialist doesn't follow the American Battle of the Books format.
You only have to read 7 books instead of 30. (The librarian chose books he thought the kids would be interested in.) The question format is different as well. In standard play, every question has a book title as an answer. Most questions begin, "In what book..." and the kids give a title and author for points.
Here, Mr. Trent (the media specialist) made up his own questions and rounds. Round 1 consisted of open answer questions, such as, "Who was Kira's best friend?" Or "What did Rigel learn from the mystic?" (Those are made up questions, by the way.) All the teams had a mini white board and they would answer simultaneously. Whoever answered correctly, received a point.
My job was keeping score. Mr. Trent had a projector with questions and answers and I kept a tally of all points earned. Round 1 was played yesterday and at the end of Flex, these were the scores. (Team 1 and Team 10 didn't show up. That is why they have no points...not because they were awful.)
In case you are wondering (and I know you are) Robyn is on the Cherry Bombers - Team 4, and June is on the Bookaneers - Team 9. Apparently, they have never had names before, but I asked the teams what they wanted to be called and everyone chose something. (I'm all about shaking it up.)
As you can see, June's team was leading, but only by a small margin. The rules change for Round 2 and 3, so it was anyone's game.
Round 2 consisted of quotes from the books. If the teams recognized the book, they could write it down. It was worth 2 points now, but a wrong answer subtracted 2 from your total. So, it wasn't wise to guess. I honestly can't remember the scores at the end of Round 2, but it was pretty close.
Round 3 was open answer again, but this time instead of using the white boards (or placards as Mr. Trent called them) the first person to raise their hand, would answer, with no help from their team. The questions were a bit harder and were now worth 3 points with a wrong answer subtracting 3. It was intense and much harder to tell who raised their hand first. That part always stresses me out.
All the kids did a fantastic job. I was especially proud of June who answered the question, "What was the date of Anne's last journal entry." No one else even raised their hand because no one wanted to get it wrong, but June remembered. (She should after studying Anne Frank so much for History Fair, but that is still a very small detail to remember.)
The game was SOOOO close, with only 1 point separating the winner and second place. Check it out.
Yes, I would like to brag a moment that my kids' teams came in 1st and 2nd. They both did a great job, along with the 3rd place team. That is a lot of info to remember. I did get pictures at the end so you get some happy faces of the winning teams.
p.s. I can't remember, but I think June came in 2nd or 3rd last year, but I never blogged about it.
p.p.s. To the right of Robyn is Christina, one of June's best friends. When Robyn couldn't find a fourth person for her team, Christina offered to join. I thought that was pretty cool. She was the only 8th grader on their team. Maybe next year, June and Robyn will be on the same team...but I doubt it.
p.p.p.s. If you are wondering what they read, here is a list of the seven books:
When by Victoria Laurie
Red Queen by Victorie Aveyard
Storm of Lightning by Richard Paul Evans (Michael Vey)
Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Diary of Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Elite by Kiera Cass (The Selection)
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