'Twas the Night Before YMA 2021 version

I still have all the feels of the night before the Youth Media Awards and so many other ones, too.  

Newbery

The closest I came to my typical quarter long Newbery project was my after school Newbery Navigators club.  A handful of dedicated readers read a bunch of books.  One loves Echo Mountain.  Another Mananaland. Every single one of them When Stars Are Scattered.  We read Clean Getaway aloud so of course we'd be thrilled to see Scoob and G'ma get some love. Over the summer, 4th grade teacher Mr. C swore that he didn't have to read another 2021 book because he already read the winner, We Dream of Space. Maybe this is the year for nonfiction and we'll be placing a sticker on All Thirteen or The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh (too old?). 

Caldecott

My 2nd and 3rd graders were on the "Caldecott Committee." What a year for picture books!  We read and scored as many as we could but I'm afraid that I still missed a bunch.  The third graders LOVED A New Green Day and the second graders couldn't get enough of Lift.

I force the kids to make one choice, but not me. This is a good thing. There's no way I could pick my favorite. I love We are Water Protectors, Outside In, Hike, In a Jar, The Old Truck....honestly, I love them all.

  

And because this year I have a fixed schedule, I'll be celebrating all week long.  I bought gelt (gold coins) and gold Hershey's kisses (without almonds) as my treat and hope that is festive enough for our "party day." I also found a gold backdrop for photo ops and some gold balloons.  Happy Youth Media Day.

Sibert

I was fortunate enough to run into 4th grade ELA teacher, Mrs. Roe, in the stairwell in November.  We chatted for about five minutes and came up with a Sibert Smackdown plan.  She would read books aloud and I would read others over Flipgrid.  4th graders read over a dozen Sibert Smackdown contenders. Considering that I didn't think they would read any, this is amazing!

With all but one class voting, the top two winners are Crossings and Your Place in the Universe.

If you can't sleep tonight or woke up early and want to watch a little preview before the announcements, feel free to check out their flipgrids: https://flipgrid.com/ff7c379e

Geisel

Ugh. I love Geisel.  I've met some amazing people through the Geisel project including Stephen Savage, Anna Kang and Chris Weyant, Jonathan Fenske (who always makes me lol).  Even though I have only read a few of the Geisel contenders, Egg or Eyeball is my favorite with Baloney and Friends and Mo and his squished jelly doughnut as close seconds.

And that's my wrap.  Tomorrow will be nothing like any other year but I'm hopeful it will still be exciting. I'll be celebrating all week and really putting my acting skills to test.  Find me on Friday afternoon to see if I'm as surprised at the announcements as I am tomorrow.  But now it's time for me to hit my pillow.  See you on the other side.

Are you a Water Protector?

It's Tuesday so you know what that means! Yep! My kitchen became a bakery last night because it is BOOK BIRTHDAY DAY! Yay!

Ok...So we're fudging it a tad for the picture book category.  We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade was released awhile ago but it deserves to be celebrated. Since tomorrow is Earth Day I'm making this a duo party.  Perfect excuse for cake. This book is poetic, gorgeous and I hope will motivate kids of all ages to protect our water and environment so it will still be here for many, many future generations.

I bought the ebook to read aloud later at our party but you can watch the author read it right here.  Enjoy!

Thanks Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press for this discussion guide.  Here are a couple of activities you can do together for Earth Day and beyond.

Will you take the pledge?

How will YOU be a water protector?

To my Schodack friends: Why don't you share your answers on our Flipgrid? Our code is: castletonelementary. You'll need a Schodack account to login.

Happy VERY Belated Book Birthday We are Water Protectors and Happy ALMOST Earth Day! (although EVERY day is really Earth Day!) Protect water! Protect our planet! xo

'Twas the Night Before...

#ALAYMA20

I am surprised I slept so well last night. 

While dozens of librarians are coming to final decisions this weekend, I am holding my breath that the books my students have read, critiqued, passionately debated and genuinely loved are the same books as those of the committees. Considering the spinning going through my brain right now, I may not be as well rested tomorrow morning.

When I first started my months-long award predicting projects many years ago, I would be disappointed when our favorites would not align with those of the committees. How could they not make the same decisions for Newbery as my fifth graders? After my students booed one year because the winner was not at the top of any of their lists, we had to have a full on lesson on sportsmanship.  These days, I remind myself and my students that each committee is made up of a set number of librarians and those gold and silver decisions are based solely on who is "in the room where it happens." Were different people in the room, the outcome could be entirely different. Some years we may agree wholeheartedly and unanimously (ie 2015 for Newbery, 2018 for Caldecott); some years not so much. As I write this, I wonder what kind of year 2020 will be.

But does it really matter if we agree? For months my students have fallen in love with reading "Newbery books" after checking in and out what I deem to be distinguished literature. They have boisterously entered the library searching for yet another "Newbery" book, perhaps the winner or perhaps not.  They have kindly argued on behalf of their book deserving a gold medal in the classroom, the hallway, and at home. My fourth grade nonfiction fans have hugged their books and designed t-shirts with the hopes that on Monday they will be wearing a winner. First graders and their teachers have consistently given 4-5 stars to the beautiful Caldecott contenders we have read aloud this month of "Caldec-ary." If we were committee members, we might have to award ten or more honors across the board.

If you, like me, may not be able to sleep tonight, and you don't want to start another episode of ____ on Neflix, you can scroll down for some Sibert contender recommendations and 2019 middle grade/Newbery contender book trailers.  Maybe, just maybe, there's a winner or two or three in there.

SIBERT SMACKDOWN

Sibert Smackdown Day 1: November 4, 2020

We read and read, determined our favorites, recorded our persuasive paragraphs via Flipgrid and finally designed t-shirts to wear to the Youth Media Awards.  Flipgrid videos that made me ooze with pride are here 👇

Newbery

Need more distractions? Check out some of these awesome book trailers:

The Year We Fell from Space by Amy Sarig King

Ruby in the Sky by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo






Born to Fly by Steve Sheinkin (We love this for Newbery and Sibert)




The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman (This book won our Consensus Club.)





My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder



Beverly Right Here by Kate DiCamillo (So awesome that Jess got to meet Kate this fall!)



A Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity by Nicole Valentine


Just a few other books we had lots of love for this season:

Here's the link for the awards: http://ala.unikron.com/ As I hit "publish" there are 11 hours to go.  See you on the upside!