Mock Caldecott: Week 3: The vote before the vote...

We're cruising along with our 3rd Grade Mock Caldecott unit...

Week One: We reviewed the criteria and read This is Not My Hat, a previous Caldecott Medal winner.

Week Two: We read three books: The Right Word, Viva Frida, and Sam & Dave Dig a Hole.

Week Three (today): We read three books: The Scraps Book, Draw, and Beekle.

All well and good, and planned. What I didn't have planned was having the students evaluate and rank the books, that was supposed to be next week.

This morning, when I got to work, two things changed my plans:

I reflected on last year's Mock Caldecott and came to conclusion that I should capture the students' reactions to the books when the reactions were fresh.

I reflected on my experience as a Cybil's judge and how we began our group discussion with individual rankings.

With these two things in mind, I decided to shorten today's conversation and have the students evaluate all six books and then register a preliminary vote (1-3 ranking). 

Here's what I am most excited about...next week, the students will have thirty minutes to discuss the books relative the Caldecott criteria. After this discussion, the students will cast their final vote (ranking their top three books).  I am eager to hear their opinions. Will the students sway each other's thinking? We've got a great place to start our conversation:

Want to know how the books stacked up individually?