Illinois 2017 Monarch Winner!

The official 2017 Monarch winner has been announced...

Congratulations to Gaston!

Interested in seeing the full list of votes? Follow this link.

Disney 2017 Monarch Winner!

The votes are in! Second and third graders have voted for their absolute favorite Monarch nominees.

In third place with 39 votes...

In second place, tied with 45 votes each...

 

And in first place, eking out the win with 46 votes...

Drum roll please....

If your favorite title didn't win, don't despair. All votes were tallied and sent in to the state library association. Stay tuned for the official winner!

Monarch Award: Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas

This retelling of the Goldilocks story finds Goldy Luck visiting her next door neighbors, the pandas, on Chinese New Year. The pandas are not at home and trouble ensues.

Monarch Award: Families, Families, Families

Students loved this fun book about all different types of families represented by different animals. We talked and wrote about our own families. Then students decided what type of animal their family would be and drew family portraits.

Monarch Award: Gaston

Gaston is a bulldog raised in a family of poodles - who is about to meet a poodle raised in a family of bulldogs.

Monarch Award: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas

This true story of Elizabeth the elephant seal was the inspiration for a research project. Second graders learned used our online database Pebble Go to learn more about seals.

Monarch Award: Ballet Cat

Second and third graders enjoyed this funny look at the friendship of Ballet Cat and Sparkle Pony.

Monarch Award: The Adventures of Beekle

Every year we make sure all second and third graders have read enough Monarch nominees (at least 5) to vote for their favorite in March.  Usually we read more than five because the books are so fabulous and give us the opportunity to learn about so many new things!  This year we started with the Caldecott winning book The Adventures of Beekle.  Students designed their own imaginary friends that reflect their personalities.

Illinois Student Choice Book Awards

Every year we are thrilled to participate in Illinois's Student Choice Book Awards.  In order to participate, students have to read a certain number of nominated titles in order to vote in February (the Rebecca Caudill) or March (the Bluestem or Monarch.)

All second and third grade classes at Disney are reading books from the Monarch nominee list.  There are some fabulous books this year!  As we read the books we also have lessons related to the books including research and writing responses.  We are keeping track of what we've read using a poster for each class.

Find this year's list of titles here.

The Bluestem Award is for 3rd-5th graders and opens up a world of chapter books.

Find this year's list of titles here.

The Rebecca Caudill is for 4th-8th graders and includes longer and more in-depth works.

Find this year's list of titles here.

Students have been hearing book talks about the nominated titles and have been practicing their note-taking skills as they write down what each book is about.  Students can check these books out from our library, the public library, or can even find them as e-books in both collections.  As they read these books, students can sign their names to the Bluestem and Caudill Hall of Fames in our library.

  

And the winners are...Monarch Award

And the winners are in!

Disney's choices for the Monarch Award are

Third Place: The Dark by Lemony Snicket

Second Place: This is a Moose by Richard T. Morris

First Place: The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

The winners for the state of Illinois are

Third Place: Lost Cat by C. Roger Mader

Second Place:   The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

First Place: Breaking News: Bear Alert by David Biedrzycki

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.