Book Battle with the Grade 5s

March 5, 2021

Academics

GNS

The Grade 5s had a Book Battle this week! Students went head-to-head in groups as they tested their knowledge of eight book titles.They were challenged to read as many of the titles as they could, then, in teams, think of 15 questions for novels and 10 questions for picture books. Teams were then asked questions from opposing teams as they competed in the Book Battle!

The purpose of the Book Battle was to encourage students to read more widely.. There were four teams in each class, and each group had to think of questions for each book. Every book had to be read by at least one member of a team.

“It’s such a nice way to share a variety of literature with them in a fun way,” said Mrs. Sarah McLeod, Teacher Librarian. “Each week they were talking a lot about what they read, they were sharing ideas of how to have questions that would be tricky for the other teams to answer, so it feeds into a little bit of competition but also a lot of fun.”

Mrs. Wallace and Ms. Stark’s classes each had different books that they were reading for the battle. There was a range of books the students had in their bins including picture books, graphic novels, fiction, and non-fiction!

“I liked how it made them read more widely, and made them aware of different genres they wouldn’t normally go to like historical fiction, autobiographies and biographies, or series they weren’t familiar with,” explained Mrs. McLeod. “It really broadened their horizons, they had to stretch further. Many of the books chosen had also won awards.”

Some of the Book Battle titles were:

Nibi Emosaawdang/The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson
Greta’s Story: The Schoolgirl Who Went on Strike to Save the Planet by Valentina Camerini
What Was the Underground Railroad? By Yona Zeldis McDonough
When Stars Are Scattered by Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
After Peaches by Michelle Mulder
Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin
Front Desk by Kelly Yang