Oregon Battle of The Books

I learned this year that Oregon Battle of the Books is a big deal, and a lot of fun.  Teachers from each grade choose a number of kids for teams to read a list of books.  The teams are arranged in groups of 4 and the kids are tested against other teams from the list of books.  All 3 of my older kids got chosen- and went pretty far! It was a great way to get my kids reading and excited about books.  Ellie and Paul had the same list of books, and Darren and I read some of the books on their lists.  It make for a lot of fun talking about the books.  Ellie was on a 6th grade team and had to compete against 7th and 8th graders.  And Kyle was on his 3rd grade team and competed against 5th graders.  I wish they had a competition for each grade individually, but I guess it's for the schools levels- Elementary, Middle, and High School.  Which seams unfair for the 3rd and 5th graders.  Regardless, Kyle and Ellie did amazing.  Kyle went farther than any 3rd grade team had gone- and Ellie's team made it to the finals at her school- against 8th graders! No 6th graders had ever gotten that far.  The whole school was into it.  All her teachers were cheering her team on and came to the final match.  I was even feeling good enough that day to go the match- which she lost, but it was still fun to go to.  I had to take a picture of the team they were playing against- cause they looked about 5 years older than Ellie and her teammates. 

Ellie and her team.  The girl on the right of Ellie is her good friend, Nadine.  She and Ellie answered almost all the questions. They studied together all the time. 

Here are the 2 teams together after the Battle.  Poor Ellie was so upset she was trying so hard to keep from crying in front of her friends.  I told her to be proud of herself for getting a far as she did.  And next year she'll have an even better chance!