The “after” of our Mock Caldecott has been just as rich as the reading, voting and analysis process. It is with much joy that I continue to celebrate here.
This will be a celebration mostly revealed through tweets and images.
After our voting, of course we had to share.
Mock #Caldecott results are in! Medal goes to Return! Honors to Radiant Child, They All Saw a Cat and Giant Squid pic.twitter.com/Cho2ms7uY4
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) January 21, 2017
And sharing led to an amazing experience – an opportunity to Skype with Aaron Becker!
Students were beyond excited as we were serious, serious fans.
This speaks volumes Return has serious kid appeal @storybreathing Mock #Caldecott reflections pic.twitter.com/VIxMPLbSOy
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) January 21, 2017
We visited Aaron’s website and watched videos and book trailers about his books. Students prepared questions and began art projects. I shared them all with Aaron!
“I am woking on titles for @storybreathing if he wants to add more stories after Return.” pic.twitter.com/jeNSZaKMmz
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) January 24, 2017
“We are mapping out a book for Aaron Becker!” @storybreathing pic.twitter.com/N73zL2FUvb
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) January 24, 2017
“I went to his website and drew him.” @storybreathing you have some serious fans! pic.twitter.com/KInCW1Pjpu
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) January 26, 2017
Inspired by @storybreathing Grade 5 artist pic.twitter.com/4UNrpKYhnN
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) January 27, 2017
The morning of our Skype call began like this:
Many students arrived very early (“So we won’t even be a little bit late!”) They invited others (siblings, students from other classes) into our room to explore Aaron’s books. One determined boy in Grade 6 showed up at ten after 9 announcing that he would be spending the morning with us to meet Aaron Becker. “I am going to be a librarian, I can’t miss this opportunity,” he explained. How can you say no to that? 🙂
These girls came in an hour early and got started on Aaron Becker art.
We pulled our room apart to set up chairs for the Skype.
Trying out various seats.
I don’t think I can possibly capture how incredible the Skype experience was for my students. We had various questions prepared but we didn’t need them – Aaron somehow managed to just have a conversation with us. He was curious about where the students and their families were from and we shared that many of us (or our parents) are from the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Korea. Aaron wanted to know about the languages students spoke. He shared stories of his art, his travels and his process. He told us about what he is currently working on and shared more stories from the trilogy. He held a room full of children (and adults) absolutely spellbound.
Maybe this exchange will sum it all up:
A few hours after the Skype this happened-
J: “Ms. Gelson, thank you.”
Me: “For what?”
J: “For reading us Journey and Quest and Return. If you didn’t read them to us, then we wouldn’t have loved them and then you wouldn’t have told Aaron Becker that we loved them. So he wouldn’t have wanted to Skype with us. And . . . well that was one of the best things of my life.”
Me: speechless, mushy mess
After the Skype, we took all of that excitement and pulled out our books and found a place to read.
But the buzz of all things Aaron Becker continued throughout the day.
After you Skype with @storybreathing the rest of the day pretty much looks like this! pic.twitter.com/NDljPoWxx4
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) January 27, 2017
Aaron Becker’s response was very special. He wrote: “Imagination is strong” in Tagalog. My students from the Philippines were so touched!
@CarrieGelson I figured as much. ang imahinasyon ay malakas!
— Aaron Becker (@storybreathing) January 27, 2017
In the afternoon, students reflected on the Skype experience. Here are some highlights:
- I was surprised to see Aaron Becker’s room and how big his printer is! I wish that I could be an author and have a room like that!
- I can’t believe he told us the back story of the King. Wow, we are so lucky.
- I like when he told us secrets from the books and showed us cool maps.
- I love how his books make us think so much. I learned about the girl’s feelings and how Aaron Becker showed her loneliness. He told us that it’s our time to use our imagination because we are special at our age.
- There are surprises in all of the books. Now I want to study them more. I love his stories that he told us.
- He was pretty smart to make a model of the book Journey so the publishers would know how great that book is!
- Aaron Becker told us that we have a lot of imagination at this age because we are not at the age for all of the boring responsibilities. This made us feel really special.
- Seeing Aaron Becker was very amazing. It’s not everyday that you get to Skype with an author or illustrator like him. I will never forget it!
We then decided that we should continue to celebrate all of these books we love so much. We got to work on persuasive letters to the Caldecott Committee either congratulating them for their choices or suggesting that maybe they missed a special book.
The fan art was pretty stupendous!
Fan art @storybreathing pic.twitter.com/RRslLewpAK
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 2, 2017
Fan art @BRENDAN_WENZEL pic.twitter.com/hn6OkL6pIu
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 2, 2017
Fan art @javaka_steptoe pic.twitter.com/3NpRgpmB3I
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 2, 2017
Fan art @micha_archer pic.twitter.com/B4H69EsRpM
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 2, 2017
Some seriously amazing fan art @lucyruth pic.twitter.com/2LFvBFdC5g
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 3, 2017
Art inspired by Giant Squid written by @candacemfleming #kidart pic.twitter.com/zF4vGZMapc
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 3, 2017
This is inspired by you @storybreathing pic.twitter.com/YbIAPrGNBf
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 3, 2017
The Night Gardener fan art @opifan64 @igo2cairo pic.twitter.com/nvnk2VeDvy
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 3, 2017
Radiant Child inspired this young artist Thank you @javaka_steptoe pic.twitter.com/RjMhBcJ4Ol
— Carrie Gelson (@CarrieGelson) February 4, 2017
Return art has been everywhere!
And then there are the persuasive letters!
Advocating for A Hungry Lion or a dwindling assortment of animals by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Does anyone know Randolph Caldecott’s twitter handle…? (THANK YOU, SORA! I love this. And thank you Carrie.) #hungrylionbook https://t.co/n0iUXaExKa
— Lucy Ruth Cummins (@lucyruth) February 4, 2017
Return championing:
Have our books got a rest on the shelves now that all of the hoopla is over?
Hardly!
These students have reread Giant Squid countless times!
Before school this little K insists his older brother bring him into our classroom so he can look at his favourite books (Journey, Quest and Return) again. “I love these books forever,” he told me yesterday.
And Aaron Becker – as promised we have some baby name suggestions from a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds in Vancouver, Canada who wish you and your family the very, very best: Violet, Paige, Sky, Florence, Grace, Ida, Cleo, Blossom, Ira, Odessa, Penelope, Alexa, Jacklyn, Jade, Lilly, Gigi and (no surprise) this came up a lot: “Could they name her Journey?”
Next week we have student led conferences and our Mock Caldecott experience will feature big. I can’t wait to watch students share their learning and experiences with their families.
Thank you to Ruth Ayres and the #celebratelu community!
Being part of a community that regularly shares gratitude and celebrations truly transforms my weeks.
There's a Book for That 
Wow, wow, wow. Your class certainly had some Aaron Becker magic going on – reading, communing with, and creating art. An explosion of awesomeness, Carrie!
An explosion of awesomeness! Love that!
This is pretty darn incredible. I remember meeting an author I adored when I was a child, and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my young life. And when an author shows an interest in a child and their life, it can just make you feel like a superstar. Such an incredible experience all around.
It really was! The kids still talk about it daily!
Being a fan of the Journey trilogy and stalker on Instagram of Aaron Becker, I was green with envy reading about your Skype session. Oh, how I want to know the secrets of the books your kids know! This is a day that they won’t forget, ever. And the learning didn’t just end with the conclusion of the Skype. This is celebration of learning reaches beyond the walls of school.
I hope that you enjoyed a little taste of the magic Elsie!
Wow! Wow! Wow! There is so much awesome in this post, I don’t know where to begin! I started crying when the student thanked you. I am in awe of these amazing students and I love this whole experience. Thank you for sharing it. I felt like I got to peek into your classroom and get a glimpse of these moments.
I cry every time I think of it. Just so special.
Speechless. Mushy mess. What an amazing JOURNEY! Thank you and your class for sharing Aaron Becker, their beautiful words and art work. So much to celebrate in your classroom, you need more Saturdays!
More Saturdays! Yes, some for celebrating. Some for life!
Amazing! Just incredible! The world you have opened up for your students is full of imagination, art, and love.
I certainly hope so!
Being able to Skype with an author is such an amazing experience and one your students will remember forever. This post is so joyful! A true celebration!!
Thank you Jennifer
This. This made me regret being retired.
Your comment means the world.
What a great post, Carrie. And I love the name suggestions. Some of those are already on our list! We’ll find out soon…! A big hello again to your fantastic students.
They loved the hello! So much gratitude for this experience!
This is awesome, Carrie. Aaron Becker’s books are amazing. I love the immersion and the icing on the cake, Aaron’s skype. It won’t be forgotten ever.
I think you are right Linda! Such a special experience.
What an amazing celebration! “If you read a book to children….” Thank you for sharing this experience in such detail.
My pleasure! It was a joy to share.
Carrie, I’m a little late to the celebration. This is breathtaking. You wrote, “I don’t think I can possibly capture how incredible the Skype experience was for my students.” However, I’m pretty sure the comments speak to the contrary. You indeed capture the magic of it. I’m glad to get to live it through your words and pictures.
Thank you,
Ruth
Thank you for this Ruth. So lovely of you to say.