Battle of the Books

Thunder Cake, by Patricia Polacco!  Good Night Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann!  Wiggle-Waggle-Woof, by Cherie B. Stihler!  That is just a taste of what I heard in the library yesterday as my kids went into their Battle of the Books battle for 2010.  They read the 10 books for this year over and over and over again.  We quizzed the titles and authors.  I drilled them with practice questions (which, by the way, aren't nearly as hard as the actual battle questions).  They played a game matching titles and authors, trying to see which team could get the most correct.  These books have been an integral part of our classroom since about October.  I was a little concerned on Friday morning.  The battle was in the afternoon, after school let out for the day (we have minimum days on Friday - students go home early and we teachers get some time to work/have meetings/etc.), and I didn't know how many kids would remember to come back.  I shouldn't have worried.  All 9 kids that were in school that morning, made it back for the afternoon.  My other concern was teamwork.  These kids are all very competitive and very stubborn.  We've been trying to work together as a team, but there always seems to be one person who doesn't want to agree and isn't compromising, leading to fights and hurt feelings.  Again, I shouldn't have worried.  They came to quick agreement on every question. 

All that hard work paid off.  These kids rocked it!  They only missed 3 questions, giving them a score of 104, with the highest possible score being 128!  I've never had a team score that high before!  I am so proud of them!  I don't know how they stacked up against the other teams in the district because the district librarian was doing the battles in groups (we were in the 3rd group to battle) and hadn't posted scores as of the time I left school on Friday, but I don't really care.  They had fun and that's what it's all about - getting kids excited about reading and introducing them to quality literature.  Even if they had a score of 30 (or worse!), I would be cheering just as loud.  They gave it their all, and the fact that they scored so high is the frosting on the cake.  It was a rough week for all of us, but it ended with a sweet victory!