Battle of the Books
The 2019 Red Oak 5th and 6th Grades Battle of the Books
On Friday, March 29 at the Red Oak Middle School auditorium the second year of the literacy competition of the Red Oak 5th and 6th Grade Battle of the Books was held.
Competing in this year’s battle were eight area school districts totaling 76 students, making up 15 teams. The districts attending were; Red Oak, Atlantic, Harlan, Logan Magnolia, C.A.M., Southwest Valley both locations of Corning and Villisca, Shenandoah, and Fremont Mills.
A Battle of the Books begins with every team assigned the same 20 books to read before the competition day. Each year a new book list is given to each teams coach at the beginning of the school year. A team is made up of three to six members. Teams prepare for the competition by having book conversations together and writing practice comprehension questions for their teams. All questions begin with “In what book did…?” Battle of the Books is a great way to expose students to a variety of reading genres, collaborating with others and appreciating the knowledge and skills of others. It provides an opportunity for students to meet and work with others for the first time. And more importantly the fun and adventure discovered in reading.
Taking first place honors this year was Harlan’s 6th grade team “The Cyclone Readers”. Team members are Sabre Schmitz, Aleric Schoonover, Katy Schmitz, Gianna Sampson, Kaynen Urbanec, Erin Herzberg. The Harlan team is coached by Mrs. Mary Renkly. Second place was awarded to Southwest Valley’s Villisca’s “Colorful Monkeys”. Team members are; Oakley Benge, Ava Bardole, Grace Nippert, Kailyn Pritchard, Mackenzie Fast, and Ella Finical. The Villisca Southwest Valley team is coached by Kelsi Bruce. Placing third was Shenandoah’s “Dreamy Teamy”. Team member are Summer Maher, Emma Baldwin, Brooke Hays, and Drew Morelock. The Shenandoah team is coached by Kelly Carey.
Red Oak had two teams competing in this year’s battle. Red Oak’s 5th grade team “Red Oak R.O.C. (Running out of Chapters) finished in 5th place, team members are Zoie Rohrig, Mylee Echternach, Santiago Vasquez, and Sianna Klepinger. Red Oak’s 6th grade team “The Mysterious Fellers Society” finished 7th, team members are Abby Pedersen, Grace Goldapp, Nevaeh Sore, and Marissa Williams. Both Red Oak teams are coached by Trish Fellers.
A very special thank you to the wonderful ladies of the Red Oak Altrusa Club for their generous volunteer help in this year’s competition with scoring. The Red Oak Altrusa is an advocate for literacy and provides and supports numerous literacy projects throughout the Red Oak community.
It was a great literary battle and each school district should be proud of their school representatives on how hard they prepared for this competition and on the outstanding job they did representing each of their school districts.