We LOVE Caldecotts

Brimhall Students could hardly wait to hear who won the Caldecott Medal on Monday Morning.  This past week we have been learning about the Caldecott Medal. This week we are enjoying reading A Ball For Daisy and learning about the Honor Books, Me... Jane, Blackout, and Grandpa Green.

Looking at Caldecotts

Since I am new in our library, I wanted all of our students to have an anchor lesson on the Caldecott Medal.  First I expressed my excitement about the award.  Then, students were asked to figure out why a book had won the Caldecott Medal or Honor.  I had pulled many of the Caldecott books off of our shelves and students spent about 5 minutes paging through them figuring out why they would earn a medal. In every class, students were accurately able to discover that the Caldecott Medal is given for the illustrations.  We then discussed that even in the older books, we could see the beauty of the pictures, and that the pictures helped the story.

Reading the New Caldecott Books

I then gave students some background knowledge about Randolph Caldecott and the medal.  My favorite part of the lesson was near the end, when my screen flashed pictures of Caldecott books. No matter what the age, students "ooooohhed and aaahhhed" over the books.  I will never get tired of hearing, "I love that book."

This week. we are sharing the winners.  Students are loving these books.  Nice job Caldecott Committe!

Checking out Caldecotts!

My students are so excited to read Caldecott Medal Books.  Many are joining The Caldecott Challenge: trying to read as many Caldecotts as they can in 2012.  Yeah for reading great picture books!