The Quahog Cup, let the Reading Begin....

The 6th graders are off to an enthusiastic start, reading twenty-five books selected by the 6th grade team and Ms Smith for the first ever Quahog Cup Challenge. Students are being asked to read at least ten of the twenty-five titles but can read many more than ten before the Spring Farm Day.  On that day a cleverly devised set of games, including clues, puzzles and breakout boxes, will be part of this new independent reading initiative. All twenty-five titles (listed here) were presented during an early September book talk in the Middle School Information Commons, again a team effort, as teachers introduced the books each had added to the list.

Many of the students in the Wheeler/Hamilton 6th grade were active participants in the 4th grade Battle of the Books which is a reading quiz bowl competition held annually with three other schools, and the 5th grade Rooster Games. based on the Rhode Island Children's Book Award Nominees for the current year. The Rooster Games are played annually in February along with Lincoln School fifth graders. Both are always a rousing success thanks in very large part to the work of Lower School Librarian, Brooke Strachan, who works all year to prepare the students for Wheeler's participation in these engaging events.

The 6th grade team is excited to continue the enthusiasm engendered by these independent reading initiatives in 4th and 5th grade by developing the Quahog Cup. The reading list pulls from both earlier initiatives by including "classics" like the Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman and incorporating titles from the newly developed Rhode Island Middle School Book Award Nominees that are current and well selected by librarians and teachers across the state.  These titles include Ghost by Jason Reynolds, The Firefly Code by Megan Frazer Blakemore and A Blind Guide to Stinkville by Beth Vrabel.

The challenge for the Middle School Information Commons has been keeping any of these books on the shelf, as they are routinely checked out to avid and enthusiastic readers! Many of the titles are also available in Overdrive, our e-book/audio-book online service. The students have been asked to keep track of at least 10 of their Quahog Cup books with FlipGrid, a video app that allows students to record a two minute review of the book (see below).