Yost Elementary recently hosted their 13th annual Book Battle Competition on Friday, March 22. Winners were the 2013 Yost Book Battle Competition were The Fire Ninja Monkeys team of Emerson Stobbe, Luke Lombardini and Megan Benzer.
Each year in September, Yost Media Specialist Kris Borrelli chooses ten books for students to read and discuss for the competition. All participants are required to read at least three of the ten books. The books are selected to encourage the interests of all students. Using the latest technology, the students now blog on the school's website to receive credit for reading the book rather than participating in a group book discussion. "Students are very excited to use this technology to blog about their review of the book," said Borrelli.
Each year students form teams of two to four students. Six teams began in the preliminary round held last week leaving four teams to advanced to the finals. Each student participating received a 2013 Book Battle T-shirt and each team selects a unique team name. The competition requires students working together on each team to answer questions about any of the ten books prompted by Borrelli. Each team with a correct answer receives a point. The team with the most points at the end of the competition is the winning team. The final competition is viewed by the all students to encourage them to participate in the future and to get them interested in reading. Parents, family members and staff are all there to cheer on the participants.
The other participating teams at the final competition were Ultimate Origami Space Peacocks: Carter Casbon, Quentin Funderburg, Connor Casbon and Daniel Schrader; Krazy Purple Cheez-its with Mustaches: Kylie Finley, Amelia Thupvong, Katie Hansen and Rylee Garcia; and Pink Fighting Zebra: Nicholas Fleischauer, Gage Strehler, and Ethan Dibble.