The Area-Wide Middle School Book Battle was held on May 4 at Pattonville Heights Middle School with 20 in-person teams and six that joined virtually. Holman Middle School, Pattonville Heights Middle School and Remington Traditional School each had a team competing at the event. 

The team from Nipher Middle School won the Book Battle edging Ladue Middle School with a tie-breaker question. 

The book battle gives middle school students in the St. Louis, Missouri, area the opportunity to meet and discuss current books of interest. The Area-Wide Book Battle Committee creates a list of 20 books that includes a variety of genres and reading levels.

Fourteen students from Pattonville Heights Middle School had poems selected for publication in “Empowered - We’ve Got the Power.” The national poetry contest for middle and high school students was coordinated by Young Writers USA.

Today, seventh grade English language arts teacher Tara Jones transformed her classroom to Jones’ Cafe to celebrate all of the students that submitted and were accepted for publication. Each student received a certificate and enjoyed donuts as volunteers read their poem aloud to the group.

Kindergarteners at Bridgeway Elementary School saw their drawings come to life when they received stuffed animal likenesses of their imaginary monsters.

Pattonville Heights Middle School family and consumer sciences teacher Elizabeth Stockmann collaborated with Nisa Peters’s class for the project. 

“The kindergarteners all drew a monster using color and patterns and my FACS 3 students had to interpret an imaginative idea and create a real-life version of it,” Stockmann said. 

The groups met today and presented the stuffed animals to the original artists.