Many students across schools in the La Grande School District have been spending time with their noses in books in recent months -- all in preparation for the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB). Here is a summary of what the schools have done:
Central Elementary
Reading Specialist Jody Rollins is the OBOB Coordinator (since 2017).
Teams competing this year: 4
School’s Winning Team: The Fantastic Five 4th's
What has gone well? Students have been excited to battle and show what they have read. We had some very close, exciting battles, and students have learned good sportsmanship and grace, as well as how to work in a team and divide the work.
What have students enjoyed? Creating a team name and taking on team roles, reading and discussing books and competing. It is fun to see students talk about which books are their favorites and why.
“Parents and teachers love that OBOB opens their student's literary experiences to other genres and books they normally would not have picked up,” Rollins said.
Fantastic Five 4th's
Greenwood Elementary
Library Clerk Linda Sweet is the OBOB Coordinator. This is the first year for Greenwood to participate.
Teams competing this year: 2
School’s Winning Team: Greenwood’s two teams are Book Wizards and Fierce Tigers. Since they have members from each team who are unable to attend regionals, the school will send one combined team from those two teams.
What has gone well? We had nine students participate and we are hoping to grow the number for next year. We will also be encouraging students to read more of the books next year to be better prepared for the battles.
What have students enjoyed? I think the students enjoy the special practice time before school with Mrs. Sweet. They get to grab breakfast and eat in the library while they practice for the book battles.
“It has been a great first year. We were excited to be able to have this opportunity for Greenwood students for the first time,” Sweet said.
Book Wizards
Fierce Tigers
Island City Elementary
Reading Specialist Rachel Robinson is the OBOB Coordinator.
Teams competing this year: 4
School’s Winning Team: Odder Readers
What has gone well? The teams have worked well together and are putting in lots of time on their own to do their reading, memorize the titles and authors, and do practice questions. This year we learned about a website that has really helped kids practice for OBOB battles.
What have students enjoyed? They like working with others who share their love of reading, and most of them really like the challenge and the competition aspect.
“This is the first year all three elementary schools in LGSD have had teams! On March 2nd, Central Elementary hosted all of us for "scrimmage battles.” It was fun to see so many kids enjoying the process and a great way to prepare for teams moving onto regionals,” Robinson said.
Each winning team from the elementary schools will compete at the Regional OBOB on Saturday, March 14th in Baker City.
Odder Readers
La Grande Middle School
Library Clerk Margaret Spence is the OBOB Coordinator. This is the first year in many years that LMS has participated.
Teams competing this year: 4
School’s Winning Team: Projekt Winners
What has gone well? It’s been a lot of fun; this is another way to get kids excited about reading, wanting to read and getting their hands on books. It’s also a great way for me to get to know more kids, it’s a really positive thing.
What have students enjoyed? They have loved being part of a team, getting to meet other students and loved the challenge of memorizing lots of details in the books.
“It has been great to have OBOB at LMS again because students who participate at their elementary schools now have the chance to compete again at the middle school level.”
Projekt Winners
The Projekt Winners team competed at Regionals on March 7th in Baker City and they won! They will compete at the State Championship in April in Salem.