The Votes Are In! Mock Caldecott 2016

Memorial School had our 3rd Mock Caldecott. It's such a fun unit of study. We get to read the newest and best picture books over the course of about two months. We read the stories and examine the illustrations REALLY closely. For our Kindergarten and Grade 1 students, we are looking to see if the illustrations help to tell the story and if they are really special.

"The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children."

(from the Association of Library Service for Children website)

This past year there were so many exceptional picture books, that I increased the number of books the children considered from three to five. Even narrowing down the field to five was a challenge, so this year I invited the Memorial staff to help me choose which books to include. Here are the five finalists for our Mock Caldecott: 

 

Students voted when they had library class. We used a google form for our ballot:

And, the winner was...... (by a LANDSLIDE!!)

Notice the student created Mock Caldecott Medal!

I tweeted out the results of our Mock Caldecott. Can't wait to share this with our kiddos. Take a look:

For the first time ever we had a tie for our Mock Caldecott Honor Book! The silver medal goes to Waiting by Kevin Henkes (which was awarded the real Caldecott Honor Medal this year) and If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson.

Congratulations to our winners. It's so much fun to have all my classes reading and talking about the same books during this unit. We look forward to reading the picture books published during 2016 to be considered for our 2017 (!) Mock Caldecott.

Nice job Memorial students!