Caldecott Medal Lessons

Caldecott Medal Lessons
Thank you for all of your ideas! I can't wait to put them to use!

* to further explain my trivia game....I came up with 10-15 questions based on the history and background of the Caldecott Medal. Students are divided into 4 teams. I made up point cards and put a buzzer in the middle. Two students come up at a time from two of the teams. I read the question and choices, the student who hits the buzzer first can try and answer the question first. The points are based on the selection from the points on the index card that is selected from the pile. I also included a small basketball hoop (purchased at a toy store) to hang on a nearby wall. Each student can shoot for a bonus point. They loved it! It is just a fun way to help them learn. This game can be used for many different topics.

I cut up a poster (from our Follett rep) that had all the winning books pictured on it. I glued the pictures to index cards, along with the info on author and illustrator and the year they had won. On the back I listed the call number. We are playing a scavenger hunt for the titles in our collection. I pass out the cards and they have to find the book on their card and bring it back to the group. Then I have a few volunteers give a "spiel" about their book based on the blurb, or on their experience with the book.
For ideas on how to integrate the Caldecott Medal into the school library,
you are welcome to use any of the ideas from my article:
Artrageous - A Library Theme. It can be found at http://www.ssla.ca/mediumarticles/medium_spring2008.htm
cut up an old Caldecott poster, put the cutout images/ titles/author/illustrator information on index cards. then handed out the cards and had students try to find the books one of two ways:
1) Guess where they would be (by using the author's last name)
2) Use the library catalog to get the call number.
You can either have the students bring the books or, to skip reshelving for
the next group, signal to you to come see that they've found it.
Just thought of this, you could copy several of the images, etc onto a worksheet and have students fill in the call numbers by either of the two methods....
Last year I did Caldecott activities with students in gr. 7, it was great. We looked at the Caldicott criteria and then developed our own. Students then read 2-3 picture books themselves and used their criteria to assess their choices. In small groups students presented their personal best book, their group then came to concensus on the group's firstchoice. I read the four groups nominated books, the class discussed the criteria and then voted on the best picture book. Coincidentally our gr 7 teacher left last year and we titled the award in her name. A0It was really a great mini unit which increased the gr. 7's interest in picture books.
I do a big Caldecott unit with all of my grades each January. I read several books each week, and point out the illustrations. For the older graders, here are the "culminating activities".
2nd grade: design a new medal based on their favorite Caldecott book that I=
read.
3rd grade: design an alternate cover for their favorite Caldecott book that=
I read.
4th grade: OPAC-based scavenger hunt on Caldecott books
5th grade: Mock-Caldecott committee
I have an extensive lesson plan if you're interested.
had them each check out a Caldecott winner and give a mini report on the book with info about illustrator. Then we compared the art from decades to see how illustration has changed
I've created Caldecott and Newbery bingo games using the posters from Follett and the kids love them. They are also great to leave for substitutes as emergency plans.

OK--I recently started the same thing with my 4th grade class.
One of the things we did this morning was that I threw some books out placing labels "strategically" over the medals on the covers and if the books didn't get a medal, I put a label on them somewhere anyway so that the kids did not know if it won the medal or not. It took a little time, but it was worth it. Once I had the books out there, I had the kids divide into groups of 3 and decide if a book may or may not have been a Caldecott winner. We had been over the rules last week and some of the kids even remembered to look if the author was from the US and also they were told to look for creative uses of media--not just pretty pictures but creativity. The kids had a good time and actually were pretty good at choosing the winners. Some of them still don't understand about why some won and others didn't, but it lead to a good discussion.

Just so you know--I got this idea from a School Library Media Activites Monthly magazine. That lady had taken books that had just been published (which I don't have enough of those) and they had a "Mock Caldecott Election" and the students had to decide which ones may actually win the award for the year.

printed out really nice high quality pictures of Caldecott's actual work; the kids loved them! You might also try to find some of his books in reprint to read to them. Hisdeath was also rather interesting; he died just off shore of St. Augustine on board a ship, and is buried in St. Augustine, Florida (less than an hour where I live.) Hope this helps!
cut up a poster from Follett of the covers of the Caldecott winners. We go on a "book hunt". I've written the call numbers on the backs and we discuss what those mean, etc. We talk about the year they win being different than the copyright date and look at the verso page. When we do the hunt, each person has a shelf marker with a number on it. When they take the book off the shelf, the shelf marker stays. That helps because I have them reshelve the books for the next group. It's easy to find their number again.
Do you have any of the Caldecott posters? I had many of those and created a scavenger hunt. I had questions like, what book won in the year you were born, which illustrator has won more than once, how many titles have the word "snow" in them, what book won in the year 1972, what book won in the year our school was built, things like that. I had one for each table (10 tables in the library) and then about 10 questions (that were the same for everyone). The kids worked in teams (groups of 4) to see who could do it the fastest....get the most correct, etc. I gave out Caldecott bookmarks as rewards and paperback copies of winning books (that my PTA paid for) as prizes.This was a great hit with 3rd graders.
usually spend a few lessons reading various winners and talking about the differences in style, etc. After that we play BINGO. I made up 20 cards with the covers of all different winners and honor books (I only use the ones that I know we have in our collection).=A0 Then I just hold up the books as we play. They love it! I have prizes for the winners, but try my best so that everyone gets something, we're a small school.
Could you do a trivia game that would ask questions about each book?
Which book is about a rabbit?
Which illustrator has won more than once etc.?
Who is Mo Willems?
I do a Caldecott Unit with 2nd graders. I pair them up, let them choose a Caldecott winner, look at it together and then complete a worksheet with questions about the illustrations and why they think that book won the medal. Second graders are also judges for our school's picture book award. I choose about 12-16 newly published books and they work together to narrow the choices down and then vote.=A0What about exploring the various types of art media used and then grouping the books that way? You could also have the kids replicate their favorite 'type' of art by creating their own book.