This blog was created so students from all over Tampa
Bay and beyond can talk online about the books in the Sunshine State
Young Readers Award and Florida Teens Read programs. You can also make
connections between the fictional worlds created by the books' authors
and the real world by responding to discussion questions posted each
week by St. Petersburg Times Newspaper in Educaiton staff. This is an
activity you can do with classmates or at home with your family and friends.
So, young bloggers are you ready to spread the word
about your Book Battle favorites? Here is how you get started:
Select your grade level below to view book list.
Choose the title of the book you want to discuss.
This will take you to the Book Battle Blog.
Read the post then click on the word COMMENTS
to share your views.
Are you new to this blog? You can read and download
instructions here
For many
Florida students, the answer is going head to head with classmates in
the annual Battle of the Books competition.
Students across Florida read books selected by school
media specialists around the state. Then kids participate in quiz show-style
contests about the books' most minute details, complete with buzzers
and adrenaline-fueled responses.
In this age of digital natives - those who have never
known a world without the Internet - Bonnie S. Kelley, supervisor of
library media/technology for Pinellas County Schools, wanted to make
sure her Battle of the Books program kept its appeal. Her idea: take
the "battle" online.
"Our Battle of the Books program has grown each
year and is immensely popular with the students and teachers," Kelley
said.
"But I know you have to keep raising the bar
to keep kids' interest, so bringing in an interactive online element
seemed like a natural choice."
Kelley's idea for a blog where students could discuss
books in the Sunshine State Young Readers Award and Florida Teens Read
programs was a natural fit for the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper in
Education program.
"The Times loves readers, period," said
NIE manager Gretchen Letterman, "and the newspaper has embraced
the digital shift in the industry with multimedia reporting, dozens of
blogs and, in NIE, even podcasting curriculum developed
by a teacher on our staff."
The blog will include discussion questions tying the
books' themes to stories in the news, allowing an opportunity for students
to respond to more complex questions than those that traditionally appear
in the book battle competition.
The Book Battle Blog is located at blogs.tampabay.com/bookbattle.
There are separate discussion groups for elementary, middle and high
school Sunshine State Young Readers and Florida Teens Read participants.
A new book will debut for each grade level every two weeks. This kid-safe
site is sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper in Education
(NIE) program and monitored by Pinellas County Schools Office of Library
Media/Technology. Times NIE staff and volunteer library information specialists
from around Pinellas County will review all comments before posting.
A joint project of the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper in Education
Program and the Pinellas County Schools Office of Library Media
/Technology.
Bonnie Kelly, Supervisor
of Library/Media/Technology
Pinellas County Schools, St. Petersburg, FL
What Is The Book Battle Blog?
This on-line book club is for Sunshine State Young Readers and Florida
Teens Read participants to share their views on nominated books
with other students from around Tampa Bay and the state.
This kid-safe, monitored site is sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times
Newspaper in Education program and and co-hosted by the Pinellas County
Schools Office of Library Media / Technology.
Permalink, TrackBack, del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook,
Reddit . . . where do I learn what all these blogging terms mean?
Keep in mind that many of the terms you see on blogs are not applicable
to what we are doing with the Book Battle Blog. But for those of you
who want to be “in the know” click here to download our Blogger’s
Vocabulary Guide.
How Do I Grade My Students For Blogging?
Classroom teachers can create rubrics to use for a variety of blog-related
assignments. Elements you may want to include in your rubric include:
Appropriate responses to blog prompt questions
References to the novel, author or illustrator
Connection of story to current newspaper article
and/or student’s life
Respectful references to other group members’ responses
or encouraging remarks to others
Questions or predictions about the story
Discussion of literary structure (e.g., plot, characterization,
etc.)
Teachers, submit your students'
best work related to the books on this site. Print documents
should be sent as Microsoft WORD, PDF or JPEG files. Video projects
can be sent as a You Tube embedded link or a QuickTime Movie
file. Videos should be no longer than one minute. Send to jillwilson@sptimes.com.
Sunshine State Young Readers
Award Program Includes annotated book lists for
grades 3-5 and 6-8; teacher and
media specialist resources; school
program promotional ideas; and order
form for buttons, lanyards, bookmarks,
spine labels, "I voted" stickers, pencils,
and silver seals. http://myssyra.org/
Florida Teens Read Program A Florida Association for Media in Education
(FAME) initiative, this Web site includes
annotated book lists for grades 9-12;
media specialist resources; past winners
and information about the selection process. http://www.floridamedia.org/
displaycommon.cfm?an=12
News
This blog was created so students from all over Tampa
Bay and beyond can talk online about the books in the Sunshine State
Young Readers Award and Florida Teens Read programs. You can also make
connections between the fictional worlds created by the books' authors
and the real world by responding to discussion questions posted each
week by St. Petersburg Times Newspaper in Educaiton staff. This is an
activity you can do with classmates or at home with your family and friends.
