My students and I are very excited for the upcoming ALA Youth Media Awards! They take place Monday, Jan. 11 at 8AM EST on the ALA website. This ceremony is like the Academy Awards for books and include the announcement of the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal. You can build enthusiasm for reading in your classroom by bringing the ALA Awards into your classroom. Here are some ways you can celebrate and take part in the excitement!
My students have been reading voraciously in order to get ready for the awards. We’ve made a lit of our nominees for 2015 and are getting the books ready to walk the runway!
Here’s how my fifth grade class is getting ready for the awards:
We made a list of 2015 nominees and created a red carpet runway on our bookcase. Check out the footwear and bowties! These books are red carpet ready! We have more books that are getting their red carpet makeovers and will join these books on the carpet for the ceremony.
2. We made a list of 2015 book nominees. Here is the ALA Awards Prediction Sheet that I created to help my students understand the awards and make their predictions. My hope is that this celebration feels as exciting as the Academy Awards. I will also create a Caldecott Prediction Sheet later this week.
3. For the awards ceremony we plan on wearing our best footwear and bringing a book to school that is a favorite! Some students are planning to “dress up” their book guest. It should be festive on Monday!
4. We’re having a countdown! Our red carpet sign also serves as a countdown so we can build our excitement for the big event!
5. On Monday, Jan. 11 we’re going to stream the event live in our classroom. If your class can’t watch it live at 8AM, no worries. The broadcast will be on the ALA website so you can replay it at a time and day of your convenience. Have a book party while watching the awards. Students can follow along with their prediction sheets and see if their predictions come true.
Please let me know if you have further suggestions for celebrating the ALA Awards!
Looking forward to the ALA Awards next week, Dana Johansen spends her time teaching fifth grade in Connecticut, sitting with her yellow lab on the couch reading YA Lit, and watching the tv show, The Curse of Oak Island. She has taught elementary and middle school for fourteen years. Dana is a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University where she studies blended learning in reading and writing workshop. She is the co-author of the books Teaching Interpretation and Flip Your Writing Workshop.
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