For many, the month of March means watching college basketball in the hopes of winning a bracket. However, for the students at Tatem School, March Madness has taken on a whole new meaning.
As I walked down the hall a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice a bracket made of blue painter’s tape outside of Ms. Davis’ door. I quickly realized that this bracket had nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with literacy.
I was intrigued and asked Ms. Davis to explain. She shared that she had a discussion with her second grade class about what makes a book worth reading. The students indicated that lively characters, realistic problems, and even rhyming could make a book one of their favorites. Then Ms. Davis challenged her students to choose their absolute favorite classroom picture book. Each of her students chose a book and wrote a persuasive essay about why other students should choose their favorite book. The “Sweet Sixteen” books were chosen and the book tournament was underway.
Ms. Davis and her second grade class enlisted the help of the other classes at Tatem to read two books as a class and vote for the winner. Soon enough, the Sweet Sixteen became the Elite Eight, and the Elite Eight dwindled down to the Final Four. The “book madness” is still in full swing and the championship book is yet to be chosen. A few lucky students who are still in the running patiently wait to find out which picture book will survive the championship round and win top honors.
I had to share because I love everything about this. I love the idea of putting a literacy spin on something completely unrelated, like March Madness. I love that this activity is student-driven. I love that second graders are able to argue the case for their favorite book with evidence from the story yet still show sportsmanship as they compete. I love that each class in the school is involved and reading new books together that they may not have otherwise read. I especially love that many of the classes are having great discussions, even debates, around books. What a wonderfully creative idea!
The picture books from the tournament include:
The picture books from the tournament include: