Elementary students compete in ‘Battle of the Books’

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

A handful of Lincoln Elementary and Immaculate Conception students went to battle last Thursday.

It was a Battle of the Books.

Third-and-fourth grade students from both schools, coached by Ann Prichard for Lincoln and Jeanne Hanson for IC, participated in the annual Central Rivers AEA Battle of the Books event in Cedar Falls. Student teams faced off to test their knowledge on a variety of reading material.

Battle of the Books is a collaborative reading competition for readers at the upper elementary and middle school levels. It is designed to enhance student commitment, team building, reading comprehension and study skills in a fun, informative manner. Teams of up to six students read from a pre-selected list of books. Competition includes written and oral responses.

The students read more than 30 books between them and answered 60 trivia questions against other students in grades 3-6 from across northeastern Iowa. Forty-nine teams participated. The students were given the reading list at the start of the school year.

“It’s a fun opportunity where we get to read all the books,” said Lincoln student Keyrra Flowers. “It’s also great that we got to meet an author of one of the books today.”

Guest speaker at the event was Katherine Hannigan, author of such books as “Ida B,” “True (… Sort of),” “Dirt+Water=Mud” and “Gwendolyn Grace.”

“She taught us how to draw some of the things in her books, like a big fat cat and a bird and a bunny,” said Lincoln student Brynn Roethler.

All the kids agreed the best part of the day was competing in the Battle of the Books as part of a team, and doing their best.

The IC team came in fourth place out of the 49 teams competing.