The Monarch Award: What's It All About?

There's a lot of love for the Monarch Awards not just from me, but also from students.  Although all second and third graders picked a favorite when they voted, some students wanted to share their love for all of the Monarch nominees and the award itself when they made the electronic posters.

Monarch Award: The Watermelon Seed

Second graders read this fun nominee what feels like ages ago but it's definitely stuck with them! 

 They had such a fabulous time creating their posters for this book in which a hungry alligator just can't get enough watermelon - until he swallows a seed.

Monarch: The Dark

As I've shared in the past we loved working with Lemony Snicket's The Dark.

 This story of Laszlo's fear of the dark was a definite favorite!

Monarch Nominee: This Is A Moose

Sadly only a couple of my classes had time to read this book, but those that did thought it was a riot!  The book begins on the set of a nature show or movie about a moose, but the moose just won't cooperate.  He dreams of being an astronaut, not just a moose in the woods.  Illustrated by one of our favorites, Tom Lichtenheld, this book led to some fabulous and funny student posters.

Monarch Nominee: The Girl Who Heard Colors

This book is so interesting and we had such a good time working with it.  I will try to post later about the cool project we did with this very special book.  The main character in this book has no idea that she has synesthesia; she just knows that she can hear colors.  The reader discovers that there's a name for her condition as the girl in the story does.  We were all fascinated by this book.  Those students that created their posters about this book had a lot of fun playing with the idea of hearing colors.

Monarch Nominee: Breaking News Bear Alert

Only a couple of my classes had the chance to read this very clever book, but those that did loved it.  The book follows a pair of bears as they stumble through a town simultaneously causing chaos and solving problems.

A few students created electronic posters of this book as their favorite.

Awards Season

It's awards season! - at least it is in our not so little library.  It's that time of year when all 2nd-5th graders are voting for the Monarch or Bluestem Award.  These awards are sponsored every year by the Illinois School Library Media Association and allow students to vote for their favorite book.

All Illinois students in grades K-3 who read at least five of the nominated titles can vote for the Monarch Award.  All Illinois students in grades 3-5 who read at least five of the nominated titles from the Bluestem list can vote for the Bluestem Award.  We've been reading the nominees all year (and learning about poetry, authors, certain time periods in history etc. in the process) so now it's time to vote!


This week all of my 2nd-5th graders voted for one of the two awards.  They also created electronic posters about the awards and about their favorite books.