Second grade students participated in a Mock Caldecott. They read, discussed, blogged, and evaluated 15 picture books. They also Skyped with classes in Falmouth, ME and Newton, MA to discuss and share their favorite books. Students also designed and voted for a Mock Caldecott and a Mock Caldecott Honor Medal that will be put on the books. They concluded the Mock Caldecott by voting for their favorite book based on the rubric they received. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt won and That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems and The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen won the Mock Caldecott honor. 

Fourth grade students participated in a Mock Newbery as part of the language arts book clubs. Students were given 2 book lists (13 books total) and read 3 books from each list. As they finished reading the books they meet weekly to discuss, blog, and evaluate the different books. During the discussions students critiqued the plot, the characters, the setting, and the theme. They also discussed the overall appeal of the book to them and students their age. 

To extend their learning and to dig deeper into the books, students completed a Glog for the 1st book list. In the Glog they selected a book and highlighted various elements of the book including information about the author. They also were able to Skype with Megan Frazer Blakemore, the author of The Water Castle. 

The 2nd book list was longer than the first and included eight books. Three of the books were required since students would be Skyping with the authors and the other five books were self selected. For this list we dug deeper by focusing on questioning since it would be a perfect fit with the Skype visits. As the date for the announcement of the official Newbery drew near students were able to connect with the following authors and discuss the following books; The Center of Everything by Linda Urban, A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff, and The Real Boy by Anne Ursu.

Students also designed and voted for a Mock Newbery and a Mock Newbery Honor Medal that will be put on the books. The rest of the school was informed on the winning stickers on the morning announcements when the artist showed their winning medal design.

Finally, after months of reading, discussing, and critiquing the books the students voted.  The winner of their Mock Newbery was Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff, the Mock Newbery Honors were Jinx by Sage Blackwood, A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff, and The Real Boy by Anne Ursu. They will tune in on Monday, January 27th to watch the Newbery announcement to see just how accurate their predictions were.

During Picture Book Month we have a Mock Caldecott. This year students in Ms. Anderson and Mr. Sena's class are reading and evaluating 15 books on the Gwin Oaks Mock Caldecott list. Before we started I shared last year's Caldecott winner, This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen with not only the Mock Caldecott Club but with the entire school on Book Trailer Thursday. It was a perfect way to kick off Picture Book Month.