Brown’s Monmouth Beach class wins contest

By Teja Anderson

A big congratulations to Barbara Brown’s fourth grade class for winning Scholastic Magazine’s Classroom Constitution Contest!

Mrs. Brown with her 4th grade class: (in alphabetical order) Ava Agresti, Brad Alcini, McKinley Bolling, Brady Cooke, Parker Fegan, Jacqueline Gifford, Elyssa Herschenfeld, Sam Madalone, Danielle Mariani, Jake Papera, Bay Parker, Hannah Sasso, Carson Spallone, and Cole Stefanelli.

There were thousands of entries, and Mrs. Brown’s class was one of three winners. Their anti-bullying classroom constitution is up for display in their room and will be in the January 4 issue of the magazine. They also received a $100 gift card to Amazon!

The children read about how the writers of the Constitution used teamwork, then discussed the goals and rules for their own classroom with their classmates and  collectively wrote a constitution for their class.

As a class, they brainstormed a list of rules and goals for their classroom. Mrs. Brown used the format on the SmartBoard and they discussed, collaborated and voted until they had what they felt was a great classroom constitution. Mrs. Brown then submitted their Constitution to Scholastic Magazine and was informed that they had been selected as one of the top three entries from around the country!

Here is their winning entry:

We, the people of Mrs. Brown’s fourth grade class, want our classroom to be a bully-free, respectful and delightful place where students can be themselves, have fun, work hard to succeed, and where curiosity and creativity are flowing.

Here are the most important rules for our classroom:

• Rule 1: Be honest and trustworthy
• Rule 2: Be responsible
• Rule 3: Cooperate and Compromise
• Rule 4: Treat others as you would like to be treated
• Rule 5: Persevere, always giving your best and always…Reach for your stars!

You can always contact Teja with story questions or ideas at 917-797-1324 or email me at dicopouli@aol.com