While attending IntegratED 2016 in February I heard about March Book Madness. Being a basketball fan, and excited to fill out my own March Madness bracket, I was a intrigued. As it turns out, March Book Madness, as I'm sure you have guessed, has nothing to do with basketball, except for the fact there is a bracket involved. That being said, it is a great way to get kids involved with books and to inspire new reading.
Here is how it works. There are two genres pitted against each other, this year it is fantasy vs. reality. Eight books are selected from each genre. The first week students voted for their top three books to determine the bracket seeding. The following week students voted on their favorite books in each "game" of the bracket (see the bracket below). Voting opens on Wednesday of each week and closes on a Tuesday (this accommodates those on spring break during the tournament). The final two teams were revealed this week and next week we will learn which book and genre is the March Book Madness 2016 champion.
Even though I didn't have all the books in my library. I went to the public library and found a few of the books our library was missing, shared the bracket and website with students and we were off! There are three different brackets, a picture book, middle grade, and a young adult bracket. I introduced the picture book bracket to my K-2 classes and shared the middle grade bracket with my 3-5 graders. I read the picture books aloud and did books talks and shared book trailers on the middle grade books. I told my 3-5 class about the picture book bracket, in case they were interested as these books really are for all readers. We have enjoyed following the brackets and interacting with other classes across the nation as we share our opinions through Twitter (#MBM2016) about what book we think should be the winner. Students are excited to see the results.
Here is how it works. There are two genres pitted against each other, this year it is fantasy vs. reality. Eight books are selected from each genre. The first week students voted for their top three books to determine the bracket seeding. The following week students voted on their favorite books in each "game" of the bracket (see the bracket below). Voting opens on Wednesday of each week and closes on a Tuesday (this accommodates those on spring break during the tournament). The final two teams were revealed this week and next week we will learn which book and genre is the March Book Madness 2016 champion.
Even though I didn't have all the books in my library. I went to the public library and found a few of the books our library was missing, shared the bracket and website with students and we were off! There are three different brackets, a picture book, middle grade, and a young adult bracket. I introduced the picture book bracket to my K-2 classes and shared the middle grade bracket with my 3-5 graders. I read the picture books aloud and did books talks and shared book trailers on the middle grade books. I told my 3-5 class about the picture book bracket, in case they were interested as these books really are for all readers. We have enjoyed following the brackets and interacting with other classes across the nation as we share our opinions through Twitter (#MBM2016) about what book we think should be the winner. Students are excited to see the results.
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