Battle of the Books Takes Place in Monticello
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Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Clauss
Pictured are the top teams from grades 4-6 who competed against each other in the final battle. Congratulations to 6th grade for their win!
Monticello 4th, 5th, and 6th grades wrapped up the 2023 Battle of the Books competition last week, with 6th grade taking home the top prize. This is the first year that Monticello has competed in the competition, which was run in our district as a collaboration between the Monticello Public Library and Monticello Elementary School.
Battle of the Books is a statewide competition that asks students in grades 4-6 to read from a list of 20 books that are chosen for their wide range of content, characters, topics, and reading level. Picture books, nonfiction titles, graphic novels, and chapter books are included on the list. This gives students of all reading levels a chance to read at a comfortable level while also encouraging them to challenge themselves by reading something harder.
The competition encourages students to read not just as many books as possible, but to also work on reading comprehension. The culmination of the program is a series of battles where students work in groups to answer questions about specific things that happened in the books. A battle was held for each grade, with the top team from each grade squaring off against each other in the final battle.
In Monticello, reading for the competition started in January and students had six weeks to read as many titles as they could before the competition started in mid-February. Students got into the competitive spirit, with each grade trying to read more than the others. The most books read by a single grade was 64!
Competition was fierce during the battles, too. A flurry of rustling paper and frantic whispers could be heard throughout the room as students answered questions they knew, while other teams engaged in heated debates while trying to decide between multiple answers. The final round was especially exciting as each grade battled to take the top prize: bragging rights and an ice cream party for their entire grade.
Sixth grade may have won the 2023 battle, but all of the students deserve congratulations for tackling the books and competition with enthusiasm. Everyone was excited to read, even when it was outside of their comfort level, in the spirit of helping their class win. We're already looking forward to next year's battle!
