Madras Middle School gears up for book battle
By REBECCA LEFTWICH
rebecca@newnan.com
Sixth-grader Anna Grace Rogers wants to become a better reader, so she has joined more than 350 Madras Middle School students to participate in Battle of the Books.
Battle of the Books is a reading incentive program – open to any interested Madras students – which seeks to broaden students’ reading interests, practice cooperative learning, increase comprehension and provide opportunities for students to speak in a public forum.
“I picked people I knew would be really good and who would represent sixth grade really well,” she said.
Rogers, who reads a book each week to prepare for competition, said her favorite selections so far have been “I Thought My Soul Would Rise Up and Fly” and “The Red Pony.”
In January, Rogers’ group will join other sixth-grade Madras teams to begin competing for grade level champion by answering questions about their reading selections.
Sixth, seventh and eighth-grade championship teams will then compete in a three-way, lightning-style round during a school assembly to determine the All-School Grand Champion.
“It is kind of hard to go up against older students, and to know that you’re probably not going to make it,” Rogers said. “But it’s really fun trying.”
Trophies and other prizes for Battle of the Books winners will be paid for by the more than $700 participants have raised through making and selling $5 paracord bracelets at school events.
