NC Elementary Battle of the Books 101

    One of my VERY favorite things AND one of the things I’m MOST asked about is Battle of the Books. This is a program hosted by the NC School Library Media Association (NCSLMA) for elementary, middle AND high school in which students read books off a set list of novels and compete with other schools in trivia questions about the books. I’ve been helping with our team for at least ten years and have been the official second coach for the last several years. In most cases, the school media coordinator must be a member of NCSLMA and agree to be one of the coaches for a school to compete. To see if your school is eligible, click here. For more info, visit NCSLMA's website here and click "How We Promote." 

            

            Elementary Battle of the Books consists of 16 titles that are released each spring for competition the following winter/spring. (Click here for the 2025-2026 official list or click here for a visually appealing version I created.) Students are expected to read at least a few of the books (ideally around five). We start promoting the books as soon as the list comes out in spring and encourage the students to start reading over the summer. I chose to write this blog post today because over half of the titles (shown below) are on a “buy 3 for the price of 2” sale on Amazon right now for Prime days! Click each book (affiliate links) to go to its Amazon listing. I loaded up my cart this morning. I highly encourage teachers and parents involved with students who compete to read the books as well. They are always high quality literature with many important themes and interesting talking points.

    

    

  

*Swim Team is the first graphic novel ever on EBOB! 

Questions will cover both the text and the illustrations. 

            In a Battle of the Books competition, students are asked questions like, “In which book does _____ happen?” or “In which books does a character say?” Many of the questions include quotations from the text but they never include place or character names. There are 12 questions in a round a title cannot be repeated in a round, so four titles are left out each round. There can be 12 members on a team, but only six compete at once and they may huddle up and help each other on each question. Teams have 20 seconds to answer the question and receive two points for the title and one additional point for the author’s name. If a team misses a question, the opposing team has ten seconds to try to score a rebound (stolen) point. To get an idea of the types of questions that are asked, click the images below for questions I’ve written for a couple of short novels.

 

            Competition at the district level is very serious, and students are expected to stay completely quiet, take turns as directed and limit their facial expression and reactions. Also, the timer is not visible, so learning to sense twenty and ten second timeframes is an important skill. Even for the books they don’t read, students try to familiarize themselves with genre, plot, main characters, setting, etc. to help with educated guesses.

 

Battle of the Books is open to fourth and fifth grade students. Our media coordinator starts practices in September on Friday mornings before school starts. Students discuss the books, write their own practice questions, and practice titles and author names at first. By November, I start having additional practices (usually for half an hour after school), in which we compete in practice battles and read the first chapter of all the books at some point or another to get a sense for the writing style. Click here to make a copy of this spreadsheet I use to keep up with how many students have read each book.

Before winter break, we name our official team of twelve members, based on

participation in practices and proficiency on Google quizzes we give for each book. We adapt these quizzes from an amazing resource we purchase each year on Teachers Pay Teachers that can be found here. It includes more practice battle questions than you could ever use, true/false, fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice quizzes, as well as other tools such as a large document of similar themes and ideas in each book, title/author flashcards, and a bookmark to track reading progress. I credit much of our team’s successes to this TPT author and her materials! 

            Our district holds three different days of competition at the elementary level with eight or nine schools competing on each of these preliminary days. Battle of the Books format requires that each team face each other team, so on an eight-school day, you’d compete in seven battles. The battles generally take 10-15 minutes each. For our district, the top three teams from each preliminary day then compete against each other on a final competition day. That team represents the district at the regional level. 

The best we’ve placed with me as a coach is third in the district, and it is one of my favorite memories. When our team made the cut for finals, we realized that the fifth graders would be on their grade level field trip the day of competition, leaving us with seven fourth graders to compete the whole day. They were nervous but they rallied together and took third place in a tie breaker round. It was so fun to watch their confidence grow in an uncomfortable situation! Many of the students I’ve seen thrive in Battle of the Books don’t necessarily compete in sports, so it’s a valuable experience for them to be part of a team.

One last note: I do have a Novel Unit for one of this year's books: Front Desk by Kelly Yang. It's an amazing book that changed my perspective in important ways, as many of these books do. Click here or the image below to see more.

Battle of the Books is a great program whether you are looking to start a team, encourage your child to join a team, or just seeking quality middle grades fiction. Let me know if you have questions or want to discuss further! 

 

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Favorites for the First Few Days of Fourth Grade

(Disclaimer: This post includes Amazon Associates links.)

 

Every teacher needs a stash of read aloud books for the beginning of the school year! If nothing else, it buys you fifteen minutes of thoughtless student engagement which is hard to come by those first couple of weeks. More than that, it builds classroom community through the shared experience of a story and the discussion and reflection that follows. 

 

I love a good back-to-school read aloud as much as the next teacher, but I do have one problem. By the time students get to fourth grade, I’m often met with a chorus of “Our teacher read that last year!” when I pull out a book that’s popular in the “back to school read aloud” Google search.  Because of that, I wanted to share four of my favorite picture books to share the first few days of fourth grade! 

 

I’m a country music fanatic and a Bobby Bones Show loyal listener. Many of you are probably tracking with what I just said (although some of you aren’t) but I bet few of you knew Bobby Bones also has a children’s book! Stanley the Dog: The First Day of School by Bobby Bones is funny, endearing and packs an important message about noticing those around us who might need a helping hand, especially as we’re all settling into a new routine and getting used to new surroundings.

 

I promise all my suggestions are not dog books, but I am a sucker for a cute puppy photo, and this next recommendation delivers! As we flipped through this book of POEMS about school written from a puppy perspective, my students cried “aw!!” at every turn of the page. Topics  in Dog-Gone School  by Amy Schmidt includes the basics (reading, writing, math), specials (art, music, P.E.) and even a trip to the principal’s office. Bonus: I don’t think any teacher ever feels like they cover enough poetry, so why not get a head start? 

 

This next one is perfect if you’re like me and you have a situation where many students know each other from previous school years, but a few are new to the group. I teach a gifted class but class size goes up from third to fourth grade so 8-10 students are invited to join an already existing third grade group of students for fourth grade. I’m always nervous about these newcomers feeling welcomed and finding their place, and Room On Our Rock by Kate and Jol Temple is simple but perfect for addressing these issues. The book is designed to be read the regular way, telling a story in which the seals cannot find room to include newcomers on their rock. But then, just when all hope seems lost, you can read the book backwards and suddenly the seals are welcoming and hospitable to their new friends. It’s shocks and delights students every time!

I saved the best for last, as this book truly sums up my philosophy on life and learning. I love The World Needs More Purple People by (celebrities) Kristen Bell & Benjamin Hart not only because purple is my favorite color, but also because it sums up how not everything in this world is “black and white” (or in this case “red” and “blue.”) This book covers life lessons that both children and adults can benefit from about speaking up, asking questions, laughing a lot and most of all being kind and productive members of our classrooms and communities. It’s a must read!

 

Even if the first day (or week) of school has passed, I hope one of these books speaks to your teacher heart on what you’d like to share with your students next. They’ve all served my classroom well.

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An Open Letter To My Students

An Open Letter To My Students:

Two more days. That’s all we have left. Two more days that you’ll bound through my door, maybe popping over to my desk to share something before you even put your bookbag down.  Two more days that I’ll remind you to be quiet after the bell rings. Two more days to read and work math problems together. Two more days that you’ll cut in front of each other lining up for lunch, and I’ll move someone to the back of the line. Two more days to learn more about each other, to talk and to argue, to listen and to laugh. One more day when I’ll say, “See you tomorrow,” and then the next day, our time together will be done.

We have two more days that I probably would have taken for granted before. This school year, for all the experiences that have crept by, slowly and sometimes painfully, this last day of school has come way too fast. There was so much more that I wanted to share with you—strategies we haven’t explored, books we didn’t read, discussions we haven’t delved into, lessons we haven’t yet learned. This year, I’m left feeling (knowing) I haven’t done enough.

When the accident happened, that first week in the hospital I didn’t cry much, if at all. It took too much energy and it hurt a lot to move, so I just did what I had to do. Crying wasn’t a must, so it didn’t get done. But the last couple of days there, when the therapists and doctors came by more often, when they started talking about home and my prognosis and the future, I kept asking, “How long until I can go back to school?” I didn’t like the answer, so I asked again and again. “Weeks.” “Months.” “You don’t plan to go back this school year, do you?” I was shocked. I was indignant. I was in denial. And that was when I finally cried.        

I cried because I was afraid you couldn’t make it that long without me. I would have said I was crying for you, but really, I was crying for me. I cried because I love being your teacher, and while I was so grateful for your substitute teachers, I was sad it wouldn’t be me there to teach you. I cried because I missed you, and because there is nowhere I’d rather be each day than with you. Then, I didn’t know when (if at all) I’d be back at school, and I hated that feeling.

The bright side was that we’d already had one-third of the school year together. You knew my expectations, you knew how to run our classroom, and you stepped up and helped the teachers who filled in for me while I was gone. You picked up where I left off, running your own morning meetings, working so hard in all your subjects, trying to behave and get along with each other, all the while wearing little purple ribbons, a reminder that my heart was right there with you. You took field trips, hoped for (and enjoyed) snow days, performed in our holiday play, and exchanged Valentine’s cards, all the while wondering when I’d be back. I was wondering too!

I was doing more than wondering though. I was working hard, not only writing lesson plans, grading your work, and answering your weekly letters, but doing exercises every day, determined to be back as soon as possible. You ended up having 64 school days without me—one-third of the school year with those ladies who stepped up and filled my shoes, and you made both them and me proud. Because of what happened to US, you learned more than reading and math this year; you learned life lessons. You learned that sometimes bad things happen that are out of our control, and it’s up to us to make the best of difficult situations. WE learned patience, perseverance and perspective.

I’ll never forget how it felt to finally be back with you in our classroom. For the last one-third of this school year, we’ve grown so much together. You are the reason I was able to come back as “soon” as I did; I knew you would help me, and you have so much.  You’ve jumped up to do anything I’ve needed you to do and you’ve been flexible when I’ve changed our routines to make things easier on me physically. Sometimes I’ve felt guilty about how well-behaved you’ve been since I’ve been back—this job isn’t supposed to be easy, and you’ve made it so easy for me. You’ve cheered me on, telling me not to be embarrassed about my limp and encouraging me as it’s starting to improve. Most of all, from the beginning, you’ve given me a reason to want to get better each day. 

I hope none of us ever have another school year quite like this one, but I also hope none of us ever forget what we’ve felt and learned going through this together. Because of that fall afternoon when I said, “See you tomorrow!” and didn’t see you until almost four months later, we know that we can never take a single day of our lives for granted. Whether or not you remember anything else from this school year, I hope that lesson will stick with you forever. 

For now, we’ve got two more days. Let’s make the most of them!

Love always, 

Mrs. Jones

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Inspiring Readers With Character Traits and Theme

It’s my first mentor text link-up ever, and I couldn’t be more excited to Celebrate Diversity with the talented ladies of The Reading Crew!  If you know me, you know keeping things simple is not my strength. In that spirit, I chose not one but two books to share with you today: a chapter book and its perfect picture book companion.  

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.)

A little about the books…

In 2016, Sharon Robinson, daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, published a must-read chapter book for upper elementary students called The Hero Two Doors Down. It’s based on the true story of the friendship between Jackie Robinson and a boy named Steve who lived two houses down from her parents when her father played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Steve was part of a Jewish family in a traditionally Jewish but quickly diversifying neighborhood in the late 1940s.

Steve was thrilled about his new neighbor who would soon become his friend, and he had no idea how many life lessons about patience, honor and self-control that Jackie would teach him. In turn, students learn many of the same lessons while reading. Robinson’s perspective as Jackie Robinson’s daughter and her continued real life friendship with the main character, Steve, makes for an insightful read for children and adults alike.

A week after the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson, they signed another player from the Negro Leagues named Roy Campanella. In 2007, David A. Adler (also author of the Cam Jansen series) published Campy: The Story of Ray Campanella. “Campy” endured the same prejudice and uphill battle that Robinson did in Major League Baseball. Also like Robinson, Campy rose to fame thanks to his hard work and focus, winning awards for many years.  

A decade later, Campy’s baseball career was cut short after an automobile accident left him permanently injured, never to walk again. Campy’s heroic qualities that had helped him strive to break the color barrier in baseball then had to be employed to break personal barriers of his own, which he did successfully. Both these books reveal admirable character traits in the main characters that lend themselves to discovering inspirational themes. 

How I teach with these books…

The Hero Two Doors Down was a student favorite in my classroom when I taught it through one of my Novel Units for the first time. Last year, I taught 32 students reading, and 24 of them were boys! I loved watching all those boys gain a true admiration for Jackie Robinson simply through reading this book. The impact was surely more lasting than the way we would’ve done it ten years ago—through an article or video in February.

I had had Campy in my classroom for years and admittedly had never read it to a class; it had been given to me at some point along the way. Thankfully, the name rang a bell with me when it came up several times in The Hero Two Doors Down and I’ve been able to capitalize on also teaching this parallel story.  As we read the novel, students completed this FREE Book Walk, which address comprehension and reading skills like sequence, character traits, and theme.

Being exposed to diverse books builds character; many times the authors and characters of diverse books have a depth of character unknown to students like mine who are surrounded by people much like themselves. The way both Jackie and Campy had to unjustly fight for dreams that my students naively take for granted grabbed their attention. For that reason, inspiring my students with positive character traits in these stories, the same way Jackie influenced Steve positively in The Hero Two Doors Down, was an easy teaching decision. I used these quote sorts to point out character traits of the main characters in both books.

Character traits and theme are two of our most important and most difficult to grasp reading standards in the upper elementary grades. Making connections is an important way to help students synthesize information, which is why I like to connect character traits to theme. If students can get a handle on one, this strategy will help them understand the other.  After completing the sorts shown above (click for FREE download) and having a class discussion based on the question in the thought bubble, I create an anchor chart with my students. We relate character traits to theme, and build on this concept throughout the year as we read other novels.

Thanks for stopping for! Hop to the other blogs shared in this link-up for some amazing ideas for celebrating diversity in your classroom with some great books. 

An InLinkz Link-up

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Free and Easy with Sarah, Plain and Tall

Did you know my Sarah, Plain and Tall Comprehension Packet is my featured freebie on TPT and has been downloaded nearly 20,000 times? That number still staggers me. I just kicked off the year with with this Comprehension Packet with my own class, and I'm here to share six free, fantastic ideas for teaching this beloved book.

The first reading skill I focus on each year is genre, and this novel provides an excellent yet accessible example of historical fiction. What I mean by that is that other than I Survived books, which I love!), many of my students come to me with limited experience with historical fiction. Many upper grades historical fiction books are tough reads, but this one is manageable in most any third, fourth or fifth grade classroom. This book short (58 pages),  has a low word count (under 10,000) and has less than ten chapters (nine to be exact).

The story takes place in the late 1800's in the prairie lands of the midwestern United States. If you haven't read this book, the premise is that a widower with two children places an ad for a wife and a lady named Sarah (who is plain and tall) comes from Maine to give it a shot. The first day we read, we talked about how this seemed like such a strange concept and definitely let us know the story was set in the past. But then I asked, "How is this similar to dating practices today?" It took my kids NO time to make the connection to dating websites and idea #1 was born...

I made a quick, simple Google slide and pushed it out to my kids (we are a Google school system). They had so much fun creating a "dating profile" for either Papa (Jacob) or Sarah (their choice) and called it PrairieMatch.com which the kids thought was hilarious. This was their first attempt at a Google slide to be shared in class, and they did a good job considering. I even included one box where they had to insert a photo that they believed could represent what Papa or Sarah looked like. If your students don't have access to Google, you could use this simple template and delete the text boxes and "insert photo here" before printing.  Click here to access!

A big theme of this story is patience as the narrator, Anna, waits to see if Sarah will like life on the prairie with her family or if she'll return home to Maine, which she talks about often. We looked at these two locations on the map, but I wanted my students to have an even better sense of the contrast of the two settings, so we did some research.

If you don't have Epic set up for your classroom, why not? It's an amazing, FREE resource for online viewing of books, and it has a wealth of nonfiction easy reads. I went on and searched for Sarah, Plain and Tall and immediately found a saved collection by a third grade teacher. I saved the collection to my library, shared the "shelf" with my students, and they did some quick research while making a Venn diagram comparing Maine and the prairie. It was so easy and informative!

One of my favorite (and SIMPLEST) novel activities is to have the students choose a character (animals count!), setting or object from the story, create it and explain its significance to the plot on an index card. This activity makes an eye-catching hall display and gives those artistic learners a chance to express themselves. This works with any book, just wait until you are almost done or completely done reading. Which brings me to my after reading activities...

I have Kahoot quizzes for vocabulary of many of my Novel Units.  We played Kahoot for the first time this past week, and this is a screenshot of my Instagram story that day. My kids were literally squealing with excitement over playing this online game! To access my Sarah, Plain and Tall Kahoot, make sure you have a Kahoot account and click here.

This next idea is the only one that isn't entirely free (unless you count the fact that you must have technology to play Kahoot), but it's WELL worth it! There is a Sarah, Plain and Tall full length Hallmark movie that was made in 1990. I don't always show the movie every time we read a book for which one exists, but this one is a must-show! It's rated G and it follows VERY closely to the plot of the book, often using exact quotes and vocabulary words. It stars Glenn Close (one of my students said, "That's the lady from 101 Dalmatians!") and Christopher Walken. Right now, it's showing on Amazon Prime for only $8.49! To order your own copy on Amazon, click here.

I also created a Movie Companion for my students to follow along with as they watched the movie. You can download a free copy by clicking here.


Last, but not least, download my FREE Sarah, Plain and Tall products on TPT! They are truly everything you need to teach this book effectively. Once you click on the link for the packet, you'll also find links to FREE vocabulary activities and a final test. Please feel free to share feedback, questions or suggestions. I truly love this book and believe you and your students will too!

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