ESTEVAN - For the first time in four years, the Estevan Area Literacy Grou’s (EALG) Battle of the Books was staged in Estevan, and local kids had a great time putting their knowledge of books to the test.
A competition for Grade 5 and 6 students was held March 1 at Pleasantdale School and March 9 at Spruce Ridge School.
A list of 10 books was supplied for students to read. Books were different for Grades 5/6 than Grades 7/8. Then they were asked questions to test their knowledge and memory of those stories.
This was the first Battle of the Books since 2019, and the first for Grace Caputo since she became the co-ordinator of the literacy group. She thought it was a fantastic event.
“The kids were asking about it for the last two years, and it just went really, really well,” said Caputo.
Spruce Ridge, Pleasantdale, Westview, Hillcrest and Sacred Heart School/Ecole Sacre Coeur had teams entered. About 60 kids were involved between the two events.
“I can’t believe how smart these kids are,” said EALG board chairwoman Louise Schnare. “I could not memorize that much information from that many books, and they were just writing it down as fast as they could.”
Westview School's Book Thieves, consisting of Mason Fonstad, Hunter Sands, Andin Barlow and Noah Dubbin, won the Grade 5/6 competition. The Nerds of Narnia, comprised of Rory Tatarnic, Liam Kwochka, Taylor Ellis and Tyler Wagner, won the Grade 7/8 battle.
“The teachers really help out the students,” said Caputo. “They help them with the reading. They actually are supposed to read them off of school time … but the teachers really help out with a lot of it.”
Teachers will have mock questions with students, Caputo said.
The literacy group rotates through its selection of books for the competition. The stories picked this year were supposed to be used in 2020. A different group of books will be used next year.
“Some of our board members are teachers, and they let us know their kids are reading this … as part of their classroom. So we don’t want to double up what they’re already learning in that school. We want to get ones that are outside of what is being taught in the classroom,” said Schnare.
Schnare added the EALG is a member agency for the United Way Estevan. The funding helps the organization hold this event. The Community Initiatives Fund also helps with the event.
Caputo noted the Battle of the Books was very popular when it was held in the past. People wanted to know if the EALG would host it again.
They partnered with the Estevan Public Library, the Estevan Sunflower Network and the Settlement Workers in Schools to make the battle happen.
Most of the kids were participating in it for the first time.
“The kids get to work on it as a team together and enjoy it and read books that they probably, normally, wouldn’t even consider reading. It gets them to step out of that box. It brings back the love of books and reading, and that’s what we want to incorporate,” said Caputo.
While prizes were handed out for the team with the most points, along with the best team name and best banner, Caputo said everyone that participated was a winner.
Caputo and Schnare are looking forward to hosting the event again next year. The schools that win the event get to host the next edition, which means Westview will host the Grades 5 and 6 and Spruce Ridge again hosts Grades 7 and 8.
