Battle of the Books 2013-2014

Cien Aguas International School Battle of the Books 2013-2014 Welcome to the 2013-2014 CAIS Battle of the Books program! We hope that participation in this program will not only support your child's progress and interest in reading, but promote teamwork and working towards a goal. About Battle of the Books Battle of the Books is an annual program designed to encourage children to develop stronger reading skills. The Elementary program is open to 4th and 5th grade students statewide. The Middle School program is open to sixth through eighth grade students statewide. Here, at the elementary school we are working with 4th and 5th grade teams. Each year, the statewide program leaders develop a list of 20 books representing a wide range of cultures, time periods, topics, fiction and nonfiction works, and reading levels. The books are also selected from classical to contemporary publication dates. These are the books upon which the battles are based. The program culminates with local and or state competitions usually held in the late spring. Participation and level of success at the local competitions have no bearing on eligibility of state competition. At the competitions, students from all schools are randomly assigned to teams of approximately five or six members depending on the total number of student participating in the event. Teams battle in pairs; each team participates in four battles against four different teams. Each battle consists of 24 questions. All Battle of the Books questions begin with, "In which book..."; and the answers to the questions are given in the form of the title and author of the book. During competitions, five points are awarded for providing the correct title and two points for the correct author. Teams may "steal" points from their opponent when the wrong title is given as an answer to a question. The same point values apply. For each battle, team members select a captain. While all team members work together to determine the answer, on the answer given by the team's captain for the battle will be accepted. Battle questions are read twice each for the team answer. If answered incorrectly the receiving team, the question is read 1 more time for the opposing team, who now has the opportunity to steal. The team vying for a steal is given 10 seconds to answer. After all four rounds of the battle, points earned by each team are tabulated, and placing announced. Teams placing first, second, and third are awarded medals. PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES YOUR CHILD TO: 1. Read a minimum of ten books, the list can be found here. 2. Achieve 100% memorization of the title and author pairing as recorded by quizzes in a matching format. 3. Attend and participate in regular meetings with staff sponsors and the Battle of the Books teammates. When your child has completed all of these requirements, he or she will be eligible to attend and participate in local and/or state competitions. These are usually held in April or May. Each school may be represented by 8 students. In the event that more than eight CAIS students are eligible for competition, the following will be considered in selecting the school's representatives: 1. Total number of books read. 2. Meeting attendance. 3. Participation during the meetings.