An elementary school principal in collaboration with their PTA leadership chooses to offer Book Blitz Jr. as an extended learning opportunity and to field and support teams of students.

To operate Book Blitz Jr. teams, an elementary school would have at least two PTA/parent volunteers or a mix of volunteers and stipended Canyons employees/educators who will facilitate and coach Book Blitz Jr. teams throughout the school year and during the April district competition. It is recommended that one adult act as the school’s Book Blitz Jr. School Facilitator; any others would serve as coaches. Coaching requires monthly check-in and weekly practice meetings leading up to the school and/or district competition. Two deep adult leadership is required for all meetings run by volunteers, and meetings must be held on school property.

If an elementary school fields multiple 4th and 5th grade teams, a school-level competition will be held prior to Spring Break; the School Facilitator will organize and run the school-level competition adhering to district guidance and rules. The school is responsible for printing and providing certificates and prizes at the school-level competition; the district will provide certificates and prizes at the district-level. 

Copies of the Book Blitz Jr. book sets will be provided using school library media funds; eBook and audiobooks are available in SORA; the school will be responsible for providing additional copies, if deemed necessary. A print set costs approximately $100. 

Extensive Book Blitz Jr. documentation, guidance and resources is available through the Canyons’ Book Blitz Jr. webpages for participating school administrators and volunteers.

The 2024-25 Canyons Book Blitz Jr Competition structure:

• School-level competition for 3rd Grade team: School facilitators are in charge of selecting the date and running the competition with provided questions before the first of May.
• School-level competition for 4th-5th Grade team: School-level competition to send one 4-5 Grades team to the District Competition. School facilitators are in charge of selecting a date before April 1st and running the school-level competition with provided questions.
• District-level competition for 4th-5th Grade team: District competition resulting in two district 4-5 Grades champions –  April 2, 2025

Practice games, exercises and questions will be distributed to participating schools no later than November 17th. 

Questions for school-level competition will be distributed no later than March 1st.

Prior to April 1st, notify the District Library Services Office of the school level 4-5 Grades winning team and include the following information: team name, student names, school name, coaches (2) and team facilitator/walker (1). This will allow District Library Services to build the district-level brackets. Include in the information the names of all students, 3rd-5th grade, who read all twelve books and their preferred t-shirt size.

District competition for 4-5 Grades winning teams will be held on April 2, 2025 at the Canyons District Office. The Instructional Supports Department and participating schools will be responsible for coordinating bus transportation to and from the District Office. 

The District Library Services Office will maintain the district competition questions, to be used on the day of competition. The sharing of questions and answers will disqualify any schools involved from participation in the next year’s District-level competition.

Suggested 4-5 Grades Team Timelines

Optional: Suggested 3rd Grade Team Timelines

Acceptable Answers for 4-5th Grade District and School Competition

1. No parent/guardian of a team member may be present in the competition room while their child is competing during a building or district level competition.
2. Each school will provide two adults to assist on the day of district-level competition. An adult will officiate, acting as a proctor, and one adult will be assigned to monitor student behavior and walk students to and from their designated competition rooms, the restrooms and lunch.
3. During a competition round, a proctor will monitor both teams and verify the answer written by the team’s recorder.
4. Each team will be allowed to have one official answer sheet/whiteboard and two pencils/markers with them at the table during a competition round. No other items should be on the table. All writing is done by the team’s recorder, and only in the form of answers to the round questions asked by the moderator.
5. ______# questions will be asked in a single Round.
6. The judge will ask a single question of both teams at once. A repeat of the question should be read automatically to cut down on the need for requested repeats. Timing, however, starts immediately after the question has been read for the first time. Each team will have 30 seconds in which to discuss and record their answer to the question.
7. The team’s response can be written on the official answer sheet/board in accordance with the acceptable form as previously determined, shared and posted. For 4th and 5th grade teams, a complete answer includes the acceptable form of the title and the author’s last name. Written answers need to be legible, and each answer needs to be complete and spelled well enough to be easily recognized by the proctor.
8. Discussion and writing must stop when time is called.
9. When time is called, the question reader will call on the team’s spokesperson to show the answer and/or say the team’s answer out loud.
10. After all teams have shared and/or stated their answers, the judge will then state the correct answer and award points to the teams, allowing 2 points for the correct title and an additional 1 point for the correct author, for a maximum total of 3 points. If the answer given orally differs from the written answer, no points are awarded for that answer.
11. The team’s spokesperson may request an additional repeat of a question. All repeats plus the recording of the answer must take place within the time limit.
12. In the event of a CHALLENGE to an answer, this procedure will be followed:
    1. In the District, each team is allowed 3 challenges.
    2. If the challenge is successful, the team will still have 3 challenges.
    3. If unsuccessful, the challenging team will lose that challenge and reduce their remaining challenges.
    4. Each challenging team will have TWO minutes to find and write the page numbers where the answer can be found in the book they named. When time is called, discussion and writing must stop.
    5. If the team has found an answer, the spokesperson will then be asked to use the text from only the page numbers they have recorded on their answer sheet to prove that the question could be answered correctly in the named book.
    6. The timekeeper will begin timing after the questioner recognizes the challenge and 1-3 unmarked copies of the book are given to each challenging team. The official timer will announce only the end of the TWO minute time period. The challenging team should be able to provide exact reference to a page in the book so the judge can refer to the correct passage.
    7. The question reader determines whether the challenge is successful or not. An answer may be considered correct by way of inference. If the judge accepts the challenge as successful, and the other conditions for gaining a score were fulfilled, the points shall be awarded and the Battle shall continue. The judge’s decision is final.
13. A sudden death tie-breaker round may be played to break a tie between 2 or more teams. The tiebreaker rules are the same as above. As soon as one team has more points after a question is completed, that team is declared the winner. Challenges ARE allowed during tie-breaker rounds with the usual challenge time in effect.

Download Elementary Principal’s Quick Guide

Download School Facilitator’s Quick Guide

Download Coach’s Quick Guide

3rd Grade Materials 

• Parent Letter Template 
• Roll and Retell Activity
• Sample Practice Questions
• BBJ Reading Tracker

4-5th Grade Materials 

• Parent Letter Template 
• Matching Game
• List of Lists Activity
• Roll and Retell Activity
• Sample Practice Questions
• BBJ Reading Tracker

3rd Grade Materials 

• Download 3rd Grade BBJ Bookmarks 2024-25
• Download 3rd Grade Poster 2024-25

4-5th Grade Materials 

• Download 4-5th Grade BBJ Bookmarks 2024-25 
• Download 4-5th Grade BBJ Poster 2024-25
• Download 4-5th Grade Book List Synopses

• Reading and Interest Level
  • In order to make the titles accessible to all, the final lists will contain a combination of books that are considered to be on grade level, slightly above grade level and slightly below by standard professional review sources.
  • To find a title’s reading level, Titlewave, Teachingbooks.net and other standard professional review sources may be consulted for Lexile level or other indicators.
  • To find a title’s interest levels, Titlewave, School Library Journal, Common Sense Media, Teachingbooks.net and other standard professional review sources may be consulted.
• Genre
  • In order to have students read widely across multiple genres and formats, the following types of titles will be considered for inclusion in the final list:
    • Genres
      • Fiction
        • Adventure/Survival Fiction
        • Animal Stories
        • Classics
        • Fantasy
        • Historical Fiction
        • Humor
        • Mystery
        • Realistic Fiction
        • Scary Stories
        • Science Fiction
        • Sports Fiction
      • Non-fiction
        • Biography
        • Informational
        • Memoir
      • Formats
        • Graphic Novel Non-fiction
        • Graphic Novel
        • Novel in verse
      • Binding
        • Hardcover
        • Paperback
        • Library binding
      • Cost
        • It is the goal of the committee to create a list of titles that is valued under $100.
      • Page count
      • Publication date
        • Preference is given to titles with a publication date within 5 years of the date of consideration.
      • Merit of the title
        • Titles are selected based on positive reviews from standard professional review sources.
        • Titles are selected based on multiple factors detailed in this statement.
        • Titles are selected based on potential student interest.
        • Titles are selected based on age-appropriateness of the content.
        • Titles are read in advance of being placed on the final list.
      • Books on previous lists
        • Previous years’ lists are consulted to ensure there is no year-to-year repetition between Book Blitz and Book Blitz Jr.
      • Number of titles
        • The final list for each grade band will include:
          • Grade 3 – twelve titles
          • Grades 4-5 – twelve titles

Download 3rd Grade BBJ Reading List 2024-25

Download 4-5th Grade BBJ Reading List 2024-25

2024: Bella Vista Elementary

2023: Sunrise Elementary 

Is the district able to provide our library with copies of the BBJ books?

Each school that participates will receive 2 copies of the BBJ books for both 3 & 4-5 grades or just the 4-5 grade books depending on how they register to participate. There are eBooks and audiobooks available through SORA. Copies will be available through the public library.

Will those copies be funded by the district?

Using library funds, the district will purchase the two sets for both 3 & 4-5 grades or just the 4-5 grade.

Will an additional budget be allotted to the schools who request it for medals, prizes, and participation rewards?

The district will provide a certificate template, and the original files for the
poster(s) for use at the school level. The district will provide t-shirts to all
participants who read all the books on their list. It is recommended that books are given as prizes to all levels of participants–that may be a good use of Scholastic dollars. At the district level competition, the district will provide lunch, prizes, and certificates.

How will the books lists be rotated every year?

A portion of the 3rd grade list will change every year. The 4-5 grade list will change every year.

This was a PTA sponsored program, fully funded by and run only by the PTA. The school allowed us to run according to what worked for us and the students, for example allowing students to join months in and play catch up on reading the books. Now that this is a district program, is there a deadline that the district is going to enforce for signing up?

Each school can run as many teams as it has the resources to do so, but only
one 4-5 grade team moves on to the district competition in April. A student has to have participated in their school’s BBJ competition as a member of the winning team in order to participate in the district-level competition.

Can we still encourage kids to join that don’t sign up in the fall? Yes. What is the cut off for that, if there is one already set?

There is none. Each team has 5 students; teams can form at any time and a
team can accept members up until mid-March when the School Facilitator will submit the teams’ rosters to the district prior to the school level competition.

Can parents be the coaches for their own children’s teams?

Yes, but they cannot be in a competition room with their child during a match nor can a parent of a team member have access to the competition questions prior to the competition.

Do we need 2 coaches per team if we are meeting all together after school?

No, but you do need to meet the recommended student to adult ratio for supervision. (Ask Your Principal) There has to be at least two deep leadership.

Will all the books be available on Sora?

All titles that are available in either the ebook and/or audiobook format have been purchased.

Can we have them sign up online using a google form?

Sign-ups are school specific; you can run them any way that is equitable for all students and their families. It is recommended you offer multiple ways in multiple languages, if applicable, for parents to sign up their children.

Is there a summary sheet the students need to turn in after they have read a book?

No, the coach and each student will need to track their reading. It will become evident through practice exercises whether a student has read or not. In the Coach’s Guide, there are a number of recommended practice exercises.