Bluebonnet Voting: Mock and True!

On Monday, we held our class Mock Bluebonnet Vote.

Most of the students had read at least 5 of the 20 nominees. (Two had read all 20 of the nominees! The most of any class!)

This was the winner:

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

I knew this book was very popular among my students. Now we will wait until the announcements of our state results! 

For a complete list of this year's nominees, click below:

Texas Bluebonnet Awards Current Nominees

In honor of Yoda and his recent accolade, my students made some origami yodas and Darth Papers. (We recommend Darth Paper Strikes Back--the second book in this series.) 

Enjoy!  We are off to read now!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, and I am once again joining the fabulous Jen and Kellee over at Teach Mentor Texts to share what I am reading today!

I am currently reading Dead End In Norvelt by Jack Gantos. Of course, it has that wonderful sticker on the front because it won the Newbery Medal for 2012 just last week! And I was there to hear the announcement! (I can't stop talking about it because it was so great a day!)

I'd heard of the book before it won, but hadn't picked it up. It's in the YA section of my local library. As I write this, I'm on pg. 125. (Although it is very funny and I am enjoying it, I don't think it belongs in my own elementary classroom library.)

This week, I read Blackout by John Rocco. I really enjoyed this book, and I thought the illustrations were wonderful. My students liked it, too.

I also read The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer. This is a quick, easy chapter book that is very funny, and I know some students in my classroom will love it. I know it's a series, too.

Finally, I also read Bad Kitty for President by Nick Bruel.

This week, I hope to finish Dead End in Norvelt and begin The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

And maybe I will begin to delve into some of the great titles I picked at ALAMW on Monday!

I hope everyone has a great week of reading!

Mock Bluebonnet

In Texas, our state book award for children is called the Texas Bluebonnet Award. The target audience for these books: students in grades 3-6.
Our students will vote this week in our school library.
We will have our own Mock Bluebonnet before our school votes. Just as we did with our Mock Caldecott, it will be very interesting to see where our class lines up with the rest of Texas.

Two of the current nominees are:

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm


And:

Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger


Both of these books are very much loved by my students. I have no idea which will win our school vote.  My students are doing some campaigning among themselves, and are even creating their own sticker for the book!

Visitors to Our Classroom

What an eventful week this was in our classroom! We were fortunate enough to host some district visitors who wanted to learn with us!
Since I have made class greeter a classroom job, having visitors to our classroom is a fairly smooth event. Two students guide our guests, entertaining questions or explaining displays.  We created a checklist of features we like to showcase, and the students discuss these features throughout their tour. Although I don't have guests very often, I want the students to be prepared.

This gives students real-world experience, and they love to talk about what we do. It also is great feedback for me because I get to hear the student's perpective on a topic. 

One of the latest wonderful tech tools we've been using is the Bump app.

It allows me to collect images on one device (like these iPod Touches).  Before, I had to upload pics from each device, one by one. This always took so much time!  Thank you again, Tony Vincent (from Learning in Hand), for sharing this app with our staff.

I love this app, and I find new uses for it every day. I also love that it is free!

The ALA Youth Media Awards: An Incredible Day!

On my way out the door this morning, bright and early at 6:15 a.m., I spoke these words to my husband: "I'm off to make a dream come true!"

If you're a Nerdy Book Club Member, it is a dream for you. And it was for me.
I attended the ALA Youth Media Awards.  What an experience! The picture above was the view from my seat!

As my friend Mr. Schumacher said, there was a lot of excitement in the air. Librarians cheered when their favorites won awards, frenetic applause broke out, and oohs and aahs could be heard by all.

Several books were unfamiliar to me, but that didn't bother me. My TBR list grew a little longer. Do I ever want my TBR pile to be short? No.

Every detail of the ceremony was carried out with precision. I learned so much just by watching. (For example, I'd never heard of the Schneider Family Book Award, and I didn't know there were honors for Pura Belpre` illustrators as well as authors.)

My focus, though, was on the two big names of the show: the Caldecott and Newbery winners. When I walked into the theater, I brought my students' hopes with me: namely, hopes for a medal for WHERE'S WALRUS? (by Stephen Savage)--our own Mock Caldecott winner. I had their excitement, questions, and compliments, too. Throughout the entire ceremony, I knew I had to talk about this experience in a way that conveyed its magic appropriately.  (I hope I can do that at 8:30 a.m. in the morning.)

Later in the afternoon,  I headed to my local library to pick up the two winners. The librarians at my public library had just put on the stickers.

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka

Winner of the Caldecott Medal, 2012

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Winner of the Newbery Medal, 2012

Now, I'm off to enjoy these. . and to savor every bit of this wonderful experience.
This was a day I will never --- ever----forget.

It's Like Christmas Morning!

This past week, I posted a poll on Edmodo to see which book was a Caldecott favorite in my class.

The choices were:
I WANT MY HAT BACK by Jon Klassen
PRESS HERE by Herve Tullet
GRANDPA GREEN by Lane Smith
WHERE'S WALRUS? by Stephen Savage

WHERE'S WALRUS? was the winner by 10 votes!

My students loved this book. I knew this because they coudn't stop talking about it and comparing it to other books. It brought them so much joy (the kind that makes the room light up). We didn't have this book in our school, but I found it at my public library. This proves that it is always RIGHT for me to search in multiple places for these books. An extra drive to another library or another bookstore is always worth the gas money, worth the time, and worth the effort.

On Monday morning at 7:45 a.m. CST, we will all find out the winner together!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, and I am once again linking up with Kellee and Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts to discuss what we are reading. I thank them for this forum.

Teachers have a lot of deadlines. They come in waves. Last week was an ocean for me!

Fortunately for me, my reading and my teaching went hand-in-hand. I was reading potential Caldecotts to my class and enjoying them very much (Grandpa Green, Little White Rabbit, and Press Here). My students and I had very deep discussions about these books. I was so pleased with the spontaneous comments they made. They were thinking deeply and expressing such clever opinions.

For my own Newbery/Nerdbery Challenge, I read Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. I am completely disappointed in myself for not having read it sooner. It is an excellent book with such rich characters. I highly recommend it. (But you have probably already read it!)

I have another reason for reading Bud's story. On Twitter, many were buzzing about The Mighty Miss Malone (also by Christopher Paul Curtis) which was released this past week. Deza, the main character, also appears in Bud, Not Buddy.  I wanted to be able to continue the storyline with a fresh memory.

Currently I am reading Miss Malone's story, and by the time this post is published, I might very well be finished with it. I'm on page 194 at the moment, and I am finding it to be such a heartbreaking, rich, and incredible book. I have 5 stars for it. I know Miss Malone is worthy of them. (I'm hoping to have enough words in me to review it soon.)

This week will be another busy one with its own tides and waves. But hopefully, I will take the time to treat myself to a good book each night. My teaching will no doubt benefit. Of this I am sure.

(Coming in Tuesday's post: My recaps of Monday (a PD day with Tony Vincent from Learning in Hand), and Tuesday (our classroom Babymouse Celebration).