A coaches meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 6 at 6:00 pm.
This meeting will be held at the district central office in conference room G.
It is not required that you attend, but new coaches may find it helpful.
Coaching Responsibilities
All teams must be registered by Friday, January 30.
Meet with your team regularly to offer encouragement, check on reading progress, foster team cohesiveness and help team members learn titles, authors’ names (titles and author names must be spelled correctly) and facts from the books.
Help your team establish a plan for Battle preparation, i.e. how often you will meet to discuss the books, encourage your team to read all of the books, model for your team how to work collaboratively to answer questions quickly and concisely, and to create questions from each book, etc.
Act as a communication link between the battle coordinator, the library, team members and other parents with information regarding the Battle of the Books program. Please keep Mrs. Javery and/or your building’s media tech informed of any questions, concerns or changes by completing this contact form.
Ensure that your team members and their families understand the rules of the battle program and the expectations the day of the battles.
Make sure your team demonstrates sportsmanlike behavior during all battles.
Mock Battles (practice battles) will be held in-person during school hours at recess in the Learning Commons (CE will be in the gymnasium). Only coaches are invited to attend the mock battles, if they desire to do so.
Ensure that your team members will be available on the day of the battle(s). See Important Dates to Know page for specific mock battle dates, building battle dates, and the district championship battle date.
During the battles, coaches will not be allowed to communicate or sit with their teams. Coaches may talk with their teams during breaks only.
The District Elementary Championship Battle is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, at 6:00 p.m. and will be held at Independence Elementary School in the gymnasium.
Building Team Spirit
Meet regularly.
Decorate team t-shirts or plan other team costume/attire.
Make sure each team member has a valuable role.
Keep it fun! This program is meant to encourage the love of reading, and our hope is that no one gets so competitive that it is no longer enjoyable.
Preparing for the Battle
Decide the location, time and how often you will meet as a team to discuss the books.
If you plan on meeting with your battle team at school in the Learning Commons during recess, please contact the building media tech to discuss a day and time that would work around the Learning Commons schedule. You as the battle coach must be present to supervise your team.
Encourage your team to read all the books. It will be to your team’s advantage to be sure that multiple team members read each book.
Ensure each team member has a library card (Pack Pass) and knows how to access books from Hoopla, Overdrive/Libby and EPIC.
Hold “mock” battles or “Jeopardy” style games based on the books.
Have kids make up some of their own practice questions to quiz each other during the meetings.
It is very helpful for Coaches to also read the battle books.
Seek to help all team members understand the main events, characters and setting of the books. That way, if children have to guess an answer, they will be more likely to get it correct.
The Battle of the Book committee can use any information between the front cover and the back cover of the books to create questions that will be used for all battles.