Sunday, January 27, 2013

We Had A Snowy Great Time In The Library.....Thank You For The Inspiration Ezra Jack Keats

                 
Every January we learn about, read, and share the Caldecott, Newbery, and other award winning books within our library, classrooms, and homes.  Since the ALA book awards are announced during the ALA Midwinter Conference in January this is the perfect time to lift up these books at Van Meter too.   

In fact, tomorrow morning the ALA Youth Media Awards will be announced in Seattle at this years conference.  We cannot wait to watch from the Van Meter Library.....You can watch here too.      
                                         
This year while looking for connections to Caldecott Medal books within our library collection and those found within BookFlix, the kindergarten and first graders loved reading and learning more about The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.  This beautiful book won the Caldecott Medal in 1964.  

This was one of my most favorite books when I was little.  I think my Mom must have read it to my sister Heather, brother Ryan, and I at least a million times.  :) 
                             
On the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation website, there are all kinds of activities and resources to use with The Snowy Day.  
Penguin Publishing even declared January "Snowy Day Month" and featured great activities all month long on this site and theirs as well.  
Our little ones loved playing The Snowy Day game too where one can help Peter slide down a mountain of snow.  
In addition to watching The Snowy Day on BookFlix, we watched the read-aloud of it on the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation site too.  I put links on our Elementary Library Symbaloo so it was easy for the students to access these fun resources.  

In 2010, The Snowy Day was the book we all read for Read For The Record Day sponsored by JumpStart and the Pearson Foundation.  2,057,513 read The Snowy Day together on this special day and now on the We Give Books website you can share and read the eBook version too.
     
                                             
After we spent time learning about Ezra Jack Keats and reading The Snowy Day all different ways,  the kindergarteners and first graders decided to create their very own snowy book.  

But we put a little twist on ours.  We wrote and illustrated two The Snowy Night books using Little Bird Tales.  
The kindergarteners finished up their The Snowy Night Little Bird Tale book last week and the first graders will this week.  If you click on the box or link above, it will take you to their book and you can read and share it.  These little authors and illustrators did such a fantastic job.  

Enjoy their wonderful books and a few pictures we shared from the fun we had creating them too. 


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