Thursday, March 17, 2016

Memorial's MCBA Election

The Massachusetts Children’s Book Award (MCBA) program is an award given to a book each year voted by fourth, fifth, & sixth grade students who reside in Massachusetts. 

Today all fourth and fifth students who read at least five of the MCBA twenty-five books voted for their favorite book. Every student who was able to vote received a certificate. If students read ten books they received a get out of homework pass. Students who read fifteen books got a pass to read independently for an hour during ELA time (the most popular prize). And the four students who read all twenty-five books will receive a book of their choice (thanks to our successful Scholastic Book Fair).

Students in Mrs. Burns' ELA class created persuasive book trailers and ran the election. Mrs. Burns orchestrated the entire event for Memorial.

I'm incredibly pleased to announce that Memorial students selected The One and Only Ivan by Christina Applegate as our 2015-2016 MCBA winner.




5th grade students running the election.
This is where students cast their ballots.
Mrs. Burns filming a iMovie to teach the different election responsibilities to next fifth grade class.
Students voting.



Students suggested MCBA books for the 2016-2017 school year. 







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Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Britannica School Edition: Elementary School

Thanks to Memorial being a part of the Massachusetts Library System, we have access to many wonderful resources. Britannica is one of my favorite resources for research. Excellent information is provided in different reading levels. There are many great informational images and videos as well. Memorial students can access Britannica at anytime, from any place with a device connected to the internet. (Only those logged into a Burlington Public Schools Google Apps for Education Account will be able to access the database information via a Google Document.) 

Use the following steps to access Britannica:
  1. Go to “Databases”
  2. Click on the Britannica School Edition: Elementary School link/web address
  3. If asked, enter the password provided in the Google Document






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