The Potato People are Here!

Last week we challenged our readers to create "potato people" characters. Here are a few of the fruit and vegetable-based wonders that appeared! Winners will be announced at our next assembly.

MCBA Mashup 2016!

Readers, we want you to know that we listened. Over the last two to three years, we heard from many readers that the MCBA list didn't seem to be as good as it used to be, and honestly, we agreed. So last spring, we decided to do something about this problem!

For the first time, we (the school librarians) asked you (the upper grade readers) what books you wanted to see on this year's MCBA list. We asked your teachers, too. Here's what we did next:

1. We examined the official MCBA list put out by Salem State University.
2. We decided which titles we wanted to keep and which we didn't. We based these decisions on our experience reading the books, our students' experience reading the books, and reviews we read.
3. We chose 8 titles to remove and 8 titles (nominated by students and teachers) to add.

We added a graphic memoir (El Deafo) and a graphic history (The Underground Abductor). We added a memoir in verse that won multiple awards (Brown Girl Dreaming). We added more titles with diverse characters (Zane and the Hurricane, Better Nate Than Ever), and we kept many awesome books we know many of you will love!

We hope this is the best MCBA list in recent history. And one more exciting thing: we get to host the Books in Action party this year!  So read 5 and get ready to celebrate!

Are you coming to this year's Books in Action party?

 Our Books in Action party celebrates 4th-6th graders who have read 5 or more MCBA books this year. The party features games, activities, and food related to this year's titles.  Readers from SES will party with readers from Leverett and Swift River.


WHERE: Leverett Elementary School
WHEN: Friday, March 6th from 5:45-8:30
Be sure to turn in your permission slip to Ms. L. by Friday, 2/27!

POINTS UPDATE!

Book clubs, dream bikes, recycled dogs, mutant bugs, and determined readers add up to this update of classroom participation points:

Ms. Paquin's Class: 200 points
Ms. Hermans' Class: 106 points
Ms. Scott's Class: 204 points

Sign up for a Battle of the Books team and write BOTB questions to earn more points for your class! And keep reading!

Winning Dream Bike!

Leslie Connor, author of Crunch, said she was delighted to judge the contest her book inspired. With a little help from her family, she chose this bike built from K'nex:

Congrats to all contest participants! Keep building, dreaming, and biking!

Mutant Bugs at SES Learning Commons!

Second Place

First Place

Judged by REAL EXTERMINATORS, these student-designed mutant bugs earned their creators points and have brought much interest from students of all ages. Congrats!

Create Your Dream Bike

We are so close to being done with this fine novel in our 4th-6th grade MCBA book group!

For all you bike fans out there, you model builders or sketchers, our Team MCBA offers you the chance to enter a Create Your Dream Bike contest.

Turn in a drawing or a 3D model. Add labels or captions if you want. DUE FRIDAY, JAN. 30th, but accepted on Monday.

Crazy Mutant Insects Contest

 A sci-fi book full of bugs, earthquakes, and explosions? What's not to love? The mutant ants running wild in this MCBA book inspired Bowen to create a CRAZY MUTANT INSECT contest.

Submit a drawing. If you like, name your insect, and describe its dimensions, features, or special powers!

OFFICIALLY DUE FRIDAY, JAN. 30th but if some bug stole your work and you need to make a new one and turn it in on Monday, that's okay!

Fluffy Dogs Rock!

Okay, my first dog couldn't have been LESS fluffy if she tried. But maybe you're lucky--maybe you know a golden retriever, a great pyrenees, a pomeranian, Or some fluffy mutt you don't mind showing to the rest of us!

Ms. L.'s sister's dog Summitt

We are re-running our FLUFFIEST DOG CONTEST! So give your fluffy dog a chance to win points for your class: bring his/her picture in or email it to Ms. L. at lobenstineh@shutesburyschool.org.

DEADLINE:

THURS., JAN 22! 

FIRST POINTS REPORT

Some students have asked me about class participation points, so I did a tally of books reported to me as of today, January 15, 2015. (If you haven't told me the titles of the MCBA books you've read, then your points are not included here--yet. Come see me!!)

www.ahb.es

Ms. Paquin's Class: 171 points
Ms. Scott's Class: 138 points
Ms. Hermans' Class: 59 points


(Note: Ms. Scott's class earns 1.5 points per book, since they have only 14 students.)