2020-2021 Iowa State Award Nominees

 In Literacy Studies classes we have been talking about this year's lists of Iowa Children's Choice Award and Iowa Teen Award nominees. In a post from the summer, students could see what titles were nominated for this year's awards, and recently in class, students have had the opportunity to watch book trailers for the titles and respond with their initial impressions of the books.

Curious about this year's nominees? You can watch trailers for the Iowa Children's Choice Award nominees below when you click on the caption.

CLICK HERE FOR TRAILERS

 You can also watch the Iowa Teen Award trailers--just click on the link in the cap:

CLICK HERE

Feel free to stop by and browse the cases for the state award books! :) Remember, you'll need to have read 2 of the titles from a list to be eligible to vote in the spring. Happy reading!

Final Week Feature: Iowa State Award Nominees 2020 - 2021

In this month's Final Week Feature, we'll be taking a look at the Iowa Children's Choice Award and Iowa Teen Award nominees for the coming school year.

Like we've seen in the past, many of the titles on both lists are books that may already be familiar to readers. Certainly, there are some popular authors on the lists! Two of the ICCA books--Harbor Me and The Unteachables--have been popular with students for the last few years. And on the ITA list, authors Laurie Halse Anderson and Brandon Sanderson will be welcome sights! Also on both lists for the coming year are graphic novels--like New Kid, Illegal, and Speak--as well as novels in verse, which continue to be popular with DCGMS readers.

You can see all of the nominees in the slides below, and be ready to take a more in-depth look at the titles in the fall. Remember: If you read two of the books from the lists, you're eligible to vote in the spring for the statewide winner.

CLICK HERE to watch slides.

CLICK HERE to watch slides.

ABCs of DCGMS Library: I is for Iowa State Award Books

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter I, and what better choice than looking at our middle grade Iowa State Award books!

Our state award books are some of the most circulated books in the collection every year, and previous years' nominees and winners are nearly as popular as the current nominees! Not only are these titles getting heavy promotion in our library, but they also are available to students in their reading teachers' classrooms.

Here are lists featuring this year's nominees:

Every year students participate in activities that highlight the state award books; you can read about our work with the Iowa Children's Choice Award nominees HERE, and our work with the Iowa Teen Award nominees HERE.

Maybe you've already read a few of this year's nominees? Stay tuned--we'll have new activities to relate to this year's nominees when school resumes! 

Announcing Our State Award Winners

It's always exciting to return from spring break knowing that we'll be voting for our Iowa state award winning books! To help more students be eligible for voting, read alouds were part of both sixth and seventh grade literacy studies classes this fall; students listened to either Save Me a Seat from the Iowa Children's Choice Award list or Projekt 1065 from the Iowa Teen Award list.

So...how did the two read alouds fare in the voting? Quite well, it turns out! In fact, eligible sixth grade voters selected Save Me a Seat as the winner in our building. You can see voting results below.

And what about Projekt 1065? In what must be some of the closest voting *ever* in our building, it lost by the narrowest of margins--just ONE vote! Our building winner was Making Bombs for Hitler.

Even with our building voting complete, we're eagerly awaiting the announcement of the state-winners early in April. We shall see if students across the state felt as we did about this year's titles.

State Award Book Trailers

It's that time of year again! Time to take a look at preview book trailers for our Iowa Children's Choice Award nominees and Iowa Teen Award nominees. Click on the caption below the picture to access the live document; that's where you'll be able to click on trailer links. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE to access the trailers.

There's plenty of time to read two of the books in the categories; remember, to be eligible to vote in March, you need to have read at least two of the books on the lists. Happy reading!

State Award Book Nominees & ThingLink

It's that time again--time for us to explore the state award books and start reading our way through the lists. To promote the titles and raise interest, this year's titles are featured in ThingLink images that connect to book trailers.

Let's start with the Iowa Children's Choice Award nominees:





You can also access trailers for the Iowa Teen Award nominees:





Enjoy the trailers--and when you're ready to try one of the nominees, be sure to stop by the library and check out a copy. Remember, you're eligible to vote for the building and state-wide winner when you read at least two books from either list.

1-Thing Wednesday: State Award Nominees, 2017 - 2018

The state award nominees for the coming 2017 - 2018 school year were announced earlier in the year. Our DCG Middle Schools students are encouraged to read from the Iowa Children's Choice Awards nominees, as well as the Iowa Teen Award titles:

Over the course of the coming school year, students are encouraged to read at least two of the nominees from their lists, and should they complete the reading by late February/early March, they will be eligible to vote for the building and state-wide winner. Feel free to read any of the books over the summer, and stay tuned for many activities related to these great books!

State Award Winning Books Announced

Earlier in March, Middle School students used Google Classroom to vote for both the Iowa Children's Choice Award book and the Iowa Teen Award book. More than 130 students were eligible to vote, having read at least two books from the nominations. Winning the Iowa Children's Choice Award was Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt; the Iowa Teen Award winner was Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman.

Iowa teacher librarians met today for their annual conference and state-wide winners were announced. A drum roll please. . . the Iowa Teen Award winner was also Backlash! And the Iowa Children's Choice winner was I Survived: The Great Chicago Fire by Lauren Tarshis. Statewide, 218 schools participated in the Iowa Children's Choice Award voting, with more than 17,100 votes submitted!

Stay tuned for the 2017 - 2018 Iowa Children's Choice and Iowa Teen Award nominees--and remember, if you read two or more of them, you'll be eligible to vote next spring. These great books make for some good summer reading!

State Award Winners Announced

After voting for Unstoppable by Tim Green to be the Iowa Teen Award book for the year, we waited with anticipation to learn of the statewide winner. Drumroll please. . . the winning ITA book for the year was Skinny by Donna Cooner.

The winning book for the Iowa Children's Choice Award--for which we didn't vote at the Middle School--was Duke by Kirby Larson.

Iowa Teen Award and Iowa Children's Choice Award Books

The 2012 - 2013 ITA and ICCA nominated books are now available in the library. Many of the ITA books were already in the library (like The Maze Runner, I Am Number Four, and Incarceron), and some of the titles are new for us, such as Out of My Mind and The Truth about Truman School. Every one of the ICCA books is new to the library, but many authors are familiar--think Mike Lupica and Peg Kehret. All of the nominated book are on display in the fiction section and ready for check out. Remember: If you read at least two titles of either the ITA or the ICCA books, you are eligible to vote for the state winner in March.

If you'd like to see more information about the ITA book, follow this link. To see more about the ICCA books, click here.