NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — More than 50 students and their parents participated in the first "Bingo for Books" event last week at Brayton Elementary school during which students showcased their literary skills.
Fourth-grade teacher Marie McCarron said she and fellow teacher Karen Cellana brought the event to Brayton because they wanted to get parents more involved in the classroom.
"We were trying to come up with ideas to involve our parents in what our students were learning in the classroom and make it fun at the same time," she said. "We had also heard that this type of event was successful in another school from one of our other colleagues."
McCarron said instead of the bingo cards having numbers, they had literary terms. The caller would call out the literary term and give out the meaning, describe it, or use it in a sentence.
"Some of the time the students would give the meanings of the terms which allowed us as well as their parents to see what they have been learning in school," she said. "We played different versions such as blackout, crisscross, and diagonal."
Also, she said during the evening, parents had the opportunity to read student essays and review their child's work.
McCarron said the students received books that the teachers have been ordering through Scholastic teacher points or with their own money.
"We made a point to order more than we needed to make sure that every student left with a book," she said. "Every child left with at least one book. What made it even better is that they had a huge variety to select from which varied in both interest and reading levels."
McCarron hopes that students walked away with a deeper understanding of the literary terms they have been studying and will be exposed to during district and state testing.
It's an event they plan on doing again
"Our Brayton parents are an important part and a great asset to our Brayton Community and students really enjoy participating in events like these alongside their parents," McCarron said.
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