Two of my students (fraternal twins) shared with me several weeks ago that they would be going to the ALA Midwinter Conference with their grandpa who works for a major book company. I asked my students if it might be possible for their grandpa to get their teacher a pass to see the exhibits. They asked, he agreed, and on Saturday morning, I was off to the exhibit hall in Seattle. Three hours later, I stumbled out of the convention center and headed for the underground bus terminal with an overflowing bookbag and a backpack filled with treasures to share with my students. I weighed the bookbag and backpack when I got home - thus my 29 pound weight gain!
The best find from this treasure trove has to be The Runaway King (sequel to The False Prince) which won't be published until March. Many of my students have read The False Prince and are so excited to read the sequel. So today we'll have a drawing to see who gets to read it first and second and so on. One student even offered me $20 to let her read it first!
We watched the live feed from the Youth Media Awards presentation on Monday. We were excited that three titles from our Mock Newbery list (created by King County librarians) won Newbery recognition today. Bomb was challenging for my students, but they learned so much reading it. Three Times Lucky was not a kid favorite, but I loved it and blogged about it earlier this year.
http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2012/10/counting-myself-lucky.html Finally, The One and Only Ivan was our 2nd place winner (Wonder took first place). My students feel a special connection to Ivan since some of their parents can recall seeing the real Ivan as children. They have loved reading the Newbery possibilities over the last three months. I'll share more about this process in a future post.
First off, how cool to go to the exhibit hall! Secondly, OMG at your stack of books! I absolutely love reading about classes who understand/appreciate the Newbery and Caldecott awards.
ReplyDeleteI really just want your great big stack...I loved the live feed yesterday. Next year I really want to do the Mock with a group. XO
ReplyDeleteHow awesome that your weight gain was so positive! I have never lived in such excitement about the Newbery Award as I have this year! It's great that you got to go to the exhibit hall.
ReplyDeleteWhat treasures you came back with! It's obvious that you've created a classroom culture of reading love! What a neat experience for you and your students!
ReplyDeleteI read both Wonder and The One and Only Ivan with my kids this year! They loved them both. Your title is very creative and catchy!! I was wondering how you managed to gain so much weight... :)
ReplyDelete--jee young