"Picture Book Month reminds me that people any age can read picture books." ~5th grader

It's Picture Book Month!

My fifth graders are in the process of creating posters to hang around the school entrances and hallways to get our entire community involved in and excited about Picture Book Month. 

In order to create posters, the fifth graders needed to explore the Picture Book Month website to gather information. I took this opportunity to continue to scaffold website evaluation. Their task was to evaluate the website as well as glean information about Picture Book Month.  Here's a look at the action:

We used the basic evaluation criteria: authority, currency, accuracy, bias, and navigation.

Authority:
Who is presenting this information? Did a person or organization make this website? What expertise do they have in the subject area? Can you contact the creator of the website?

Bias:
How is the information being presented? What is the purpose of the site? Is the Website trying to inform you, persuade you, entertain you, or explain something to you?

Accuracy:
Are there spelling mistakes? Where is the information coming from? Are there sources cited?

Currency:
When was the Website created or last updated? How up-to-date is the information?

Navigation:
How easy is it to find information on this Website? Is the information readable? Do the links work? Is there a search box?

The students worked in their classroom table groups (an easy way to make groups when doing projects in the library). They used this form to guide their inquiry:

It's not surprising news that the Picture Book Month website rated well on authority questions, currency questions and navigation questions. The website provides an opportunity to scaffold the students' use of the evaluation criteria.  When looking at the bias question, most students thought that the purpose of the website was to inform and explain, while a few also saw a persuasive element. 

Their answers to the questions below required them to navigate through the Website as well as learn more about the initiative. This information will be used on their posters. Most of the answers were straightforward, but some students went beyond the information on the website. These fabulous answers are below.

"Picture Book Month reminds me that people any age can read picture books."

"People should participate to realize the importance of picture books"

"We should celebrate Picture Book Month because people like reading picture books."

"We should celebrate Picture Book Month to show people how awesome picture books are

"We should celebrate Picture Book Month because picture books are important."

"Picture books are a fun learning activity."

"Reading picture books is a fun and magical."

We're celebrating Picture Book Month all of November in the library, but as a community, our celebration will focus on the week before Thanksgiving. I'm crafting plans and will share those soon.