Washington Irving Intermediate Holds Second Annual Tournament of Books

Modeled after March Madness in college basketball, Washington Irving (W.I.) used a tournament style contest to promote reading in an engaging way. The second annual March Madness Tournament of Books provided students the ability to dive into a plethora of worlds and then vote on their favorite stories.

The unique challenge was brought together by the teachers at W.I. who suggested their favorite third to fifth-grade appropriate books from either their classroom or personal collection. The theme for this year's competition was “Teachers' Favorites.” After a list was created, they voted and the list of books were narrowed down to just 16 books.

The books were matched in one-on-one "games" that were decided by a vote on a Google Form. The books were read aloud by W.I. teachers and posted in grade-level google classrooms so the students could find and read them on their own.

“My third-grade class loved participating in the March Madness Tournament of Books. Every morning, my students eagerly logged on to listen to the daily book and cast their vote. The announcements often resulted in an emotional rally as students learned whether their favorite advanced to the next round,” said Carol Ann Woods, Third Grade Teacher. “It even became a nightly ritual that I used with my own child who enjoys the variety of classics and new titles.”

On February 26 W.I. hosted a kick-off event where Students were introduced to College March Madness during an assembly where a video recap of last year's tournament was shown to students. Then they were introduced to WI’s March Madness bracket, where they were able to share what books they were excited about and the fourth and fifth graders helped to tell what Tournament of Books was from their experience last year.

“Many great questions were asked by students to help build excitement and understanding for everyone,” said Reading Specialist Kaycee Vonessen.

For the first 16 days, a new book was posted daily and students voted every other day for their favorite story. The winning books advanced to the next round.

"I've voted in every round," fifth-grader Sam Knowles said enthusiastically about the tournament.

Students were able to see the progress of their favorite books on the digital bracket board in their Google classrooms, as well as on the bracket board outside of the school cafeteria. “It really is a competition that gets the kids listening and enjoying books,” said Ms. Vonessen. “It is something special that is done as a school and something that the students really enjoy.”

Once they moved into the elite eight, two of the winning books were matched and posted. The students voted daily until they got to the championship.

The 16 books were:
The Big Cheese
Thank You Mr. Falker
Creepy Pair of Underwear
I can Be All Three
The Dot
Cougar Crossing
The Day the Crayons Quit
Ada Twist, Scientist
The Bee Without Wings
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Tikki Tikki Tembo
Where the Wild Things Are
What Do You Do with a Problem
Who You Were Made to Be
Don’t Think About Purple Elephants

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt was announced as the winner on April 5. The book received a label inside that states it’s the 2024 Washington Irving Book of the Year and was put on display in a case along with stuffed plushies of the main characters. It will later be housed in the school library for students to enjoy in the future.