March Madness Tournament of Books taking place at Pass Christian Elementary

The clock hasn’t even started to tick down yet on the courts for the March Madness NCAA Basketball Tournament, Pass Christian Elementary has already been handling the books and shows us how it is paying off big for all students involved.

Pass Christian Elementary Librarian DesaRae Bond said, “We follow all our favorite sports teams throughout the March Madness bracket, so I thought why not bring that kind of excitement to the classrooms? Therefore, we have our March Madness Tournament of Books.”

“The Wonky Donkey” was one of the expert picks for the March Madness Tournament of Books, one of 16 in the starting bracket. “These books were circulated throughout the classrooms from our Pre-K 4 class all the way through our 5th grade classes. As the books were circulated, the students were sending in their votes for the winning books.”

The Elite Eight, the Final Four, and the real nail biter, the battle for the championship title between two books, a classic: “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs”, a book where the Big Bad Wolf puts his spin on things, and a newer, rookie book. “It was a very close competition. I actually didn’t know which book was going to be a winner until the class voted. I will say the Wonky Donkey won. It was definitely on a buzzer beater.”

Wonky Donkey was a slam dunk for Ms. Gretchen Gegenheimer’s third grade class and a great warm up for the upcoming state reading exam. “It’s the first time they take the state test so it gives us a lot of information on where they are with their reading because it’s important for them to be good readers in third grade. It encourages them to just pick up a book and read for enjoyment, which is a great way for them to improve their reading skills.”

“In our playbook for March Madness, we had literacy. We had teachers reading to students aloud. We even had parents reading to children around the dinner table. What more could you ask for? It was a win-win!”

That’s the goal: teaching these future leaders of tomorrow to take the ball, or in this case the book, and run with it.