parent/teacher help

[simba928]

My brother asked me to be his coach for a competition they have annually in our school district. It is for the 5th graders only and a lot of the kids do it. It is not a requirement, but I would say about 80-85% of the kids in the district participate. They have teams of 5 plus one coach. There is a list of 15 books that they must read (I have the list), but not everyone on the team must read them. Like each kid reads 3 books. Then we have meetings and the kids must know a lot of small details about the book, such as what road did the main character live on, as well as the author's last name. So me and a friend of mine are coaching my brother's team.
I was wondering if anybody had any tips on how to get the kids to remember these little things. We have to have our first meeting soon and I am going to tell them all to make sure they are taking good notes, make sure they read their 3 books and then read as many of the others as they can so that more than one person might know the answer, etc. Are there any creative games or something I can do with them so that they remember them better? I did this competition when I was in 5th grade and the questions truly are ones that you would never just guess the answer to. I went on sparknotes.com to see if I could print up a study guide or something for me and my friend (we're going to read the books, too, but figured that might help a bit), but they don't have the books we need. Are there any other websites like that that might help?

Also, we have to pick a team name. I was going to have the kids do that at the first meeting, but I was wondering if anybody had any ideas I could suggest. The name is just a cute little thing that we put on our poster and t-shirts. Some examples from the past are Rockin' Readers, All-Star Readers, The Page Turners, or The Book Worms. Any ideas?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Flash cards would be a great way to study.

I would also input the stuff into a Word Program and create a "packet".
My dd is a HS Sophmore and this year she is in AP classes....she has just received "Death Packets"...
I guess since they are expected to take the AP test in April, they need to pass them.

In addition go pick up the Cliff's Notes if they have them...Lots of gems in there. Stuff you would not think of and they list reference material.

As far as a name, well...I am sure the kids will come up with something. Perhaps take a poll and then vote.
You can give them a list if you want. If they are "smarties" like my 10yodd she can whip out witty phrases in seconds.

 

[simba928]

Thanks Mystery Machine! The packets aren't a bad idea. Maybe I'll take their notes and type them up so that everybody has a copy of everybody's notes.

 

[simba928]

Any other ideas? Games or anything?

 

[Julia M]

here are some ideas.....

Bingo
Make a bingo game....have the answers on cards, and ask the question.

Who Wants to Be a Milionaire?
Have a list of questions, gradually harder. Get some little prizes (dollar store items, candy, etc) and kids earn a prize as they hit a certain level.

julia

 

[Briarprincess]

Songs/Rhymes are a great way for kids to remember. That's how I learned my address.
Also, try to make as many connections between the books as possible. (Like do two main characters live on streets with similar names)

Any chance you could post some of the book titles they have to read? I'm curious.

 

[donnajon]

I can get very creative when trying to teach DS9 things. And once they are in his head, they stay. This past summer he decided he wanted to learn all of the states and their capitals. I would make up phrases such as "Noah looked out of his ark and saw (Arkansas) a Little Rock." I can come up with some weird phrases that work. For Missouri, which is Jefferson City, DS is a Jeff Gordon fan. So I said "Jeff is in missery when he loses a race." So, if you can come up with some weird clever phrases, it helps.

 

[simba928]

These are the books they have to read and the authos
Ghost Cadet -- Alphin
Who Stole the Wizard of OZ -- Avi
Chocolate by Hershey -- Burford
A Week in the Woods -- Clements
The Tale of Desperaux -- DiCamillo
Black Stallion -- Farley
Johnny Tremain -- Forbes
My Side of the Mountain -- Fritz
The Day it Rained Forever -- Gross
Jackie and Me -- Gutman
Running Out of Time -- Haddix
Anne of Green Gables -- Montgomery
Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins -- Myers
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH -- O'Brien
Each Little Bird That Sings -- Wiles

Those aren't bad ideas. Thanks! For the authors I could use some little rhymes. Like for The Day it Rained Forever, Rain...ewww, gross (as in yucky LOL.) (author is gross)

 

[tkd lisa]

How about taking a common board game and replacing the standard names with names from the books? For instance, take the street names and make them monopoly loctions? Character names as the competitors in Clue? etc. That way it's a familiary thing (favorite game) with a fact they want to remember (info from the book).

This sounds like a neat activity! My kids would have loved it since they are so into books.

 

[simba928]

Thats a very creative idea lisa! I'll have to dig out my Monopoly game.

 

[dfularz]

As a teacher of 4th grade students, I would suggest using a Powerpiont Jeopary game. You can just google "Powerpoint Jeopardy" and lots of sites will pop up with free templates. It's really easy to plug in all of the little facts they need to know for the quizzes, or better yet, have THEM do it! Then play the game with each other. We use this for chapter reviews, and the kids really remember the stuff because they were active and not just passive learners. Then just save all of the games for future years! Just my two cents.....

 

[flying_babyb]

I am a teacher (used to assist in 5th grade) I would suggest jepordy and song. Its so simple to make up a silly song. Every heard "These are the presidents." I remember it from 4th grade (now in my 3rd year in college)

 

[ksjayhawks]

Have you read the books yourself?

We always read the books and made up a list of questions/answers. We would give two copies to each child--one for the child and one for the parents. We encouraged the parents to quiz the kids. We had a copy ourselves. Whenever we would meet--generally over lunch--we would ask questions around the table. Then we would have the kids pair up and ask each other questions. That way they absorbed some information about the other books as well.

As soon as each child read his/her assigned books, we gave them others to read, just in case--sickness, outof town, etc. Each book was covered by at least two kids. They got question sheets for every book that they read.

We did flashcards with authors and book titles and lots of repetition as we were asking questions. Even the kids who didn't read the book knew the authors!

Good luck and have fun!

 

[simba928]

Thanks for the ideas!!! We have not read the books yet, but are going to. I just got the list the other day after nagging my brother to ask his librarian about it. LOL. I love the powerpoint jeopardy idea!

ksjayhawks: Did you do this or something like this? I am assuming so from your post. How was it?