MESSAGES FROM THE MILL | Page 7

All About Battle of the Books This is the time of year when the fourth and fifth graders are excited about Battle of the Books (most of them, at least). For you first, second, and third graders who might not know what this is, Battle of the Books is basically a reading competition where you have to try to read as many of the 25 Battle books as you can. Mrs. Gossage asks questions about the books and the first team to answer each question gets a point. If you decide you want to do Battle of the Books, then you have to take a written test so Mrs. Gossage can see how many books you’ve read and how much you know about them. If you get the majority of the questions correct, then you will most likely be on the team. Mrs. Gossage hopes for the students interested in Battle of the Books this year to try to keep reading as many Battle books as you can. Don’t rush and enjoy your books. Get the details because the questions get really specific. Do you know what Mrs. Gossage’s favorite battle books are? Here are some of her suggestions if you’re thinking about doing Battle of the Books: -4th grade, The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John -5th grade, Wonder by R.J. Palicio and Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls Coding is Cool This year, the third, fourth and fifth grade students learned about something new. We learned how to code and are hoping to teach everyone in the school eventually. You’re probably wondering what coding is. Think about coding as making a game. You have to put together certain steps to make many things on electronics work. Coding basically tells electronics what to do. Coding is being taught in schools across the nation. You might be thinking, “What’s the big deal about coding?” Well in the future there will be more computer science jobs, but there aren’t enough computer science students to fulfill every job. Do you want to try coding? Here are some websites and apps you can go to so you can learn more about coding (they have games, in case you’re having doubts): Websites -code.org -https;// www.madewithcode.com/ -http://www.tynker.com/ hour-of-code/ -http://scratch.mit.edu/ Apps -Daisy the Dinosaur -Hopscotch -Kodable As you can see, you have a lot of choices, so get on one of these today! Last year, our 5th grade Battle of the Books team won the district competition.