5th graders promote the Washington Children's Choice Award with Animoto videos!

As part of our annual participation in the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award, our 5th graders used Animoto to make short video trailers to get Kindergarten through 3rd graders even more excited about voting!

Working in pairs, 5th graders chose a book they especially liked, read and analyzed it (What is the hook? How can we build interest in it?), searched for images using Creative Commons, then crafted a video that suited both the atmosphere of the book and the needs of their audience.

They peer-reviewed their work and then made improvements based on the feedback. (Some sample comments: "The slides go by too fast," "You need to include less big words," and "Make the book title more obvious").

We finished up with a video viewing party to celebrate. Check out their great videos (and read the books too)!

 And two videos by Ms. Richey, our Library Learning Commons Assistant, since we didn't have enough 5th graders to go around!

Mock Newbery Challenge!

The Newbery Medal is one of the most prestigious literary awards, given annually to a work that exhibits excellence in writing for young people by a citizen or resident of the US. 

The Mock Newbery is a fun way to get involved in trying to guess the next winner (which will be announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference this January)!

The five titles we're reading are: As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds, The Best Man by Richard Peck, The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Regan Barnhill, Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, and Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk.

Each of these titles received starred reviews from four or five professional reviewers and are considered strong contenders. They represent a range of genres and subject matters.

Any OWS student who would like to participate just needs to read two or more of these books. As you finish, let Ms. Simeon or Ms. Richey know. We'll keep track of your progress and record your vote before the winner is announced. Remember, the winner may not be one of these books: the Newbery committee chooses from thousands of eligible titles each year. Sometimes the winner is quite a surprise and sometimes it’s one many had tipped to win. We’ll just have to wait and find out... Ms. Simeon will be tweeting from the ALA conference, so stay tuned!