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Students at Johnson Middle School (JMS) participated in the 8th annual Battle of the Books competition on May 31. There were seventeen teams this year. Each team is made up of four to six students who read as many books as they can from a list of 25.
Teams have been preparing for the battle since last summer. This nationwide program was brought to Johnson Middle School by reading specialist Alison O’Hara, who was looking for a way to motivate students to read. Since then, the books have been flying off the shelves in the media center.
There were seven JMS teachers who volunteered to coach the teams throughout the school year. Teams met with their coaches weekly to discuss the books and practice for the battle, and the coaches supervised engaging activities including a tee-shirt design contest, bookmark contest, and a special day in January when students watched a movie based on one of the books. Students even had a hands-on experience in advertising as they worked with their teammates to create commercials advertising the Battle of the Books program.
The students started the Battle Day with a big breakfast funded by the Parent Advisory Council, and then proceeded to their first round of battles. After several rounds throughout the morning, there were three teams remaining. These teams participated in the final battle on stage in front of the whole school.
The winning team this year was a group of sixth grade students coached by JMS teacher Joanne Pretti. Each team member received a trophy, and they traveled to Fisher School and Elm Street School to share the Battle of the Books program with the fifth graders who will be coming to Johnson in September.
