And the Winners are...

Since January, students in grades K-2 and I have been reading 2013-2014 Iowa Goldfinch nominees books!  In addition to reading aloud the books, students complete activities to support each book!

There are many valid reasons why I read aloud Iowa Goldfinch nominees books and complete activities and projects:

• Enhances student learning
• Promotes self-expression and creativity
• Builds positive teacher-student relationships
• Connects to the subject area of reading, comprehension, writing, technology, library organization,
• Exposure to a wide variety of authors and illustrators.
• Supports the Common Core...
• K - 2 reading standards ask students to identify:
• the main topic of a text.
• key details of a text.
• similarities and differences between two or more texts.
• K - 2 standards reading standards also ask students to use the illustrations to explain the text.

You can read past blog posts about what we did in the Harding IC with the 2013-2014 Iowa Goldfinch nominees books by clicking here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here .

Students vote the last week of March, so they can be counted as part of the overall state vote (click here for the blog post about voting).  The winner is announced at Iowa Association School Library Conference held traditionally in April.  This year's conference was April 13-14, 2014.  During the conference's luncheon (held on Monday, April 14) the winners of the Iowa Book Awards were announced!  Eek, I was beyond excited when the Iowa Awards Committee Chairs approached the podium to announce the winners!

And, so, the moment you have been waiting for...

The winner of the 2013-2014 Iowa Goldfinch is...

The winner of the 2013-2014 Iowa Children's Choice is...

This year's Iowa Goldfinch and Iowa Children's Choice Awards nominees were beyond amazing!  I can't wait for next year when students and I share in the joy of reading books nominated for the 2014-2014 Iowa Goldfinch Award and Iowa Children's Choice Award!  I can't help it, but be even more excited next year as there are some authors who I absolutely LOVE and have made personal connections with!

At this time, I also want to give a special shout-out to my teacher-librarian friends from Dallas Center Grimes, Sandi Ellis and Melissa White, for collaborating with me this school year on the Iowa Goldfinch Award!  I can't wait to work together next year!