Were you able to predict a perfect bracket? You had to pick from sixteen books but the odds of picking a perfect bracket with sixty-four teams…The Odds of a Perfect NCAA Bracket.
NCAA Basketball teams are down to the Sweet 16 along with our Tournament of Books.

This week teams will be battling for the Elite Eight, and you need to select a book to move on as well. Remember you have to have read BOTH books to select a winner. You only get to vote once and all voting must be completed by Friday, March 24th.

Kids love sports and it seems they spend most of their afternoons and weekends involved in some type of athletic event. Additionally, being a New Yorker, basketball is serious business. This makes March Madness the perfect event to merge the students’ love of basketball and their love of amazing books.

WHO IS ABLE TO VOTE?
As part of the voting, any 5th grade student is allowed to participate in the book tournament. Students are only allowed to vote if they’ve read the two books facing off. So, scavenge through your classroom library, go to the school or town library, or order from your favorite book store the titles in the tournament.

WHEN DO YOU START YOUR TOURNAMENT?
Now that the bracket is up, read can begin. We will follow the NCAA tournaments dates. We’ll vote for our Elite 8 on March 30th (as the Elite 8 Games are taking place on March 28th – 30th), then the Final 4 on April 5th, and the Championship game (vote) will be on April 9th. A Google Survey will be set up so students can easily vote online.

In addition to voting for the best books of our school year, students will also fill out their own bracket predicting the winners. For every correct answer, students will receive a point. The 3 students with the most points will receive a free book from our next Scholastic order! We’ll fill out our brackets with the start of the tournament this Friday! (Check Back for the Bracket Information)

Happy Reading!

This month we are “wild” about turtles and compassion! Compassion is our word of the month, and we need to show compassion throughout the day. Listen to John Muth’s The Three Questions.

Leo the turtle shares with Nikolai – “Remember then that there is only one important time, and the time is now. The most important one is always the one you are with. And the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at your side.”

• When is the best time to do things? TODAY!
• Who is the most important one? THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU!
• What is the right thing to do?” COMPASSION

Use your “game board” to get started. Comment with compassionate acts that you received, and compassionate acts you performed. Show others they are loved!