Rocky View Schools’ (RVS) most voracious readers will put their reading comprehension skills to the test on May 5, during the public school division’s annual Battle of the Books.
The competition is split into two levels – elementary and middle school – and teams comprising six or seven students are pitted against each other in a test of book trivia knowledge and reading comprehension.
This year, RVS opted to transition the yearly competition to an online platform, after it was previously held in person.
The elementary level includes students from Grade 3 to 5, while the middle school level allows kids to join from Grade 5 to 9. Grade 5 students have the option to compete in either level to accommodate the different school configurations across the division.
Heather Cronyn-Bolton, Battle of the Books organizer and elementary teacher at Cooper’s Crossing School in Airdrie, said the inter-division competition is a fun way to get students to read books they perhaps normally wouldn’t choose to read.
“They are getting exposed to fiction books, non-fiction books, graphic novels – just a wide variety of text,” she said. “The competition piece is encouraging them to read and understand the book and take notes and collaborate with team members to the best that they can.”
Started in 2018, the literary event is a team-oriented tournament where students answer questions about various pre-selected books, which they will have read beforehand. Like Jeopardy, a Question Master issues a query, and the first of three competing teams to hit their buzzer attempts to answer the question. If the team is incorrect, the other teams then have the chance to steal.
In addition to the fun environment and learning how to successfully work in teams, Cronyn-Bolton said the Battle of the Books aims to be very accessible to accommodate students’ needs.
“We have a number of copies of every book, plus we have online copies if they struggle to read, they can listen to the text,” she said. “If any of the groups need support with reading their book, there are three teachers here that are working with the groups to provide support.”
Teams qualify for the division-wide competition by winning their own school’s version of Battle of the Books, which are held earlier in the school year.
As of writing, Cronyn-Bolton said Cooper's Crossing School is still finalizing which students will compete in the upcoming competition.
“This year, we as a school have approximately 60 Grade 4 and 5 students who have committed in teams to read 12 books, and we will be narrowing down our top three teams to compete with the other schools,” she said.
Cronyn-Bolton said some students participate due to their love of reading, while others do so simply because they enjoy the spirit of competition. By participating, students dig into the books with great depth, all while enjoying themselves.
“It’s just a lot of fun. On the competition day, we have music going, we turn the lights off in the gym, there’s a bit of a fun celebration atmosphere, and the students really enjoy it,” she said.
Some of the books chosen for this year's battle include The Barnabus Project by the Fan Brothers, Guts by Raina Telgemeir, Stuart Little by E.B White, A Promise is a Promise by Robert Munsch and The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate.
