More Mock Caldecott Book Trailers from 5th Graders!

The rest of the Mock Caldecott book trailers!

Fourth Graders have their say about the Mock Caldecott books

The fourth graders cast their Mock Caldecott votes today

and

the results are in!

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild wins their Mock Caldecott Medal and honors go to The Dark, Nelson Mandela, Journey and Little Red Writing. If we had more time we would come back and discuss and vote again, but it is clear that Nelson Mandela, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild and Little Red Writing would end up at the top with Journey and The Dark securing honors.

What did they have to say about their choices?

As with the 1st and 2nd graders I wonder how much the reading order has to do with the votes.  This is something to ponder for next year.I did try to make the book each week memorable by following the process below.

The Process

Going backwards, the students used a google form to cast their votes and share their opinions. You can find it here.

Prior to today, we had been reading a discussing books and the students would evaluate them on a Google Form. You can find those forms here.

Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

Little Red Writing by Joan Holub and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Journey by Aaron Becker

Inside Outside by Lizi Boyd

The Dark by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Jon Klassen

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

It was interesting to track their process as they became more critical readers. Now, how soon is Monday? 

The first of the Mock Caldecott Book Trailers!

The 5th grade book trailers are here!

Well, at least the first of the batch of book trailers are in. The students spent about four library periods on this project. They worked in groups to: get to know their books; create a storyboard for the book trailer; search for, save and cite images; and, create the book trailers with Animoto. You can find all the documents and directions for this project on my Webpage.  I can't wait to show these to the students in the lower grades!

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown



The Dark by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Jon Klassen
 

Sophie's Squash by Pat Zeitlow Miller and illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf 


Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleishman and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline




Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea



 
Inside Outside by Lizi Boyd
 



The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman and illustrated by LeUyen Pham



Locomotive by Brian Floca
This is the Rope by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by James Ransome


  Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle






Here are some of the storyboards:
and the storyboard



and the storyboard:

Picture Book Trailers: Read These Books, Part Four

The last fifth grade class has just finished their picture book trailers.

I cannot wait to use these tools with these students for another project.  Any ideas?

Read These Picture Books, Part Two

Read. Create.Watch.Read

Read These Picture Books, Part Three

Read.Create.Watch.Read.

"I really like that Tad Hills."

"I really like that Tad Hills."

I'm into the second lesson of a Tad Hills author/illustrator study with my first graders and that was the best comment of the day.  It was said as if the author was someone she had recently met. 

Let me just say that there is nothing more fun than watching students' faces light up when they are enjoying a story.  I didn't work with these students as kindergartners, so we are still getting to know each other.  This Tad Hills author study is giving me good insight as to who they are and great year that lies ahead of us.  I saw faces alight with joy and recognition, both today and last week.  These students are clearly identifying with the characters in the book and enjoying the journey with them.

Last week I read, Duck and Goose.  I needed to begin with a shorter story and this seemed the perfect place to start.  We read the book and started to frame our discussion.  Learning to talk meaningfully about books is a skill that we are just starting to practice.

When they came back to the library today, we recalled the previous week's story and reflected on it, then the students practiced having a conversation about the book.

Actual conversation today:

Student 1: "Have you read, Duck and Goose?"

Student 2: "Yes!"

Student 1: "Tell me about the book." 

Student 2: "It was hilarious.  I liked how Duck and Goose thought the egg was hatching, but it was really the bird kicking the ball."

Two other favorites were, "I think the full color illustrations bring you into the story," and "It's a story about friendship." Another student shared that he liked the juicy words in the story. Seriously, children are amazing and can often see the big picture, even when they are rooted in the literal.

After a few students modeling this, we read How Rocket Learned to Read.  They loved the scene where Rocket writes in the snow.  Funny.  I wonder if that scene would resonate with children from Florida?

After the story, we briefly reflected whole group. I decided to try out Voicethread and see how that changed their willingness or interest to share their thinking.  The line to my "recording studio" aka "the hallway" was out the door.  I understand why, but still want to find ways, beyond a think, pair, share and/or whole group share to empower more students to take risks and share what they are thinking.

I couldn't fit all the students into the time that I had, but you'll get the drift.  They loved the book.The conversations are in the order of my classes.  I must have read the book with a different emphasis the second time because a majority of the comments relate to when Rocket is left with the bone-related cliff hanger by the little bird. Interesting.

Also interesting for me is that more students wanted to share their thinking via Voicethread, but they were far less specific  or articulate using this tool.  I am eager to watch their growth using this and other tools to express their thinking.  


Have your students read the book?  We'd love them to join our conversation!