Our class is composed of 7th and 8th graders, many of whom are at or above grade-level reading. Typically our kiddos become discouraged when looking for texts that challenge their intellect without exceeding their understanding of the events being described. To help, we sponsor a Battle of the Books contest each year. During our school year students choose 10 books from a list of 30 titles and form reading teams making sure that among four people all 30 titles are read. At the end of the year the teams come together, wearing costumes depicting an assortment of their favorite characters and titles, to have a book trivia battle.
As our students are shaping their world view, we encourage them to choose challenging titles with content that will spark conversations with their friends, their mentors, and their parents. It is difficult, at times, to provide an appropriate array of literature to help students free themselves from their comfort zones without boring them with a bunch of mandated reading from yesteryear. We like to provide students a chance to put down their comfy old fantasy books and try some historical fiction or trade in their sci-fi thriller for an occasional non-fiction text. The variety of titles allow students to experience light-hearted young adult content, exposure to the civil rights movement, dystopias, the atrocities and heroism of war time and the holocaust, along with some of the fantasy and science-fiction many of them always carry in their backpacks.
Our goal is to broaden the reading experience of each and every student by helping students feel comfortable reading titles and topics that had previously been outside of their comfort zone. We appreciate your help in providing our books and achieving this goal!
About my class
Our class is composed of 7th and 8th graders, many of whom are at or above grade-level reading. Typically our kiddos become discouraged when looking for texts that challenge their intellect without exceeding their understanding of the events being described. To help, we sponsor a Battle of the Books contest each year. During our school year students choose 10 books from a list of 30 titles and form reading teams making sure that among four people all 30 titles are read. At the end of the year the teams come together, wearing costumes depicting an assortment of their favorite characters and titles, to have a book trivia battle.
As our students are shaping their world view, we encourage them to choose challenging titles with content that will spark conversations with their friends, their mentors, and their parents. It is difficult, at times, to provide an appropriate array of literature to help students free themselves from their comfort zones without boring them with a bunch of mandated reading from yesteryear. We like to provide students a chance to put down their comfy old fantasy books and try some historical fiction or trade in their sci-fi thriller for an occasional non-fiction text. The variety of titles allow students to experience light-hearted young adult content, exposure to the civil rights movement, dystopias, the atrocities and heroism of war time and the holocaust, along with some of the fantasy and science-fiction many of them always carry in their backpacks.
Our goal is to broaden the reading experience of each and every student by helping students feel comfortable reading titles and topics that had previously been outside of their comfort zone. We appreciate your help in providing our books and achieving this goal!
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