OBOB

Mariah and three of her friends participated in the Oregon Battle of the Books this year.  It is a reading program that is facilitated through the schools each year.  A list of required reading is published containing about 16 books.  Each team of four students is required to read the books, know the authors, and answer questions about the material in a "battle" against another team.  In the spring, each school holds a tournament for the teams within the school.  This determines a winning team for each age group.  The winning team then moves on to the district competition and after that comes the state competition. 

This was Mariah's second year of experience and her team did well.  They won their school competition in their age category (3rd-5th grades) and moved on to districts.  They had two "battles" in the first round of the district competition.  They won the first and lost the second.  Unfortunately, they didn't earn enough points to move onto the next round, but Mariah was pleased with their effort.  And so was I!  I'm so proud of her.  She worked very, very hard to read all her material.  Some books she even read twice to refresh her memory right before the competition.

The morning of the district competition she was very nervous.  She had practiced and practiced with questions the night before.  I'm sure she would have liked to have moved on in the competition, but this experience was good for her.  I was worried she might be so disappointed and not want to participate again, but the first words she said when she walked in the door were, "Mom, we want to do it again!"