NH Ladybug Award Winner Announced!

The ballots have been tallied, and this year's favorite Ladybug Award book among New Hampshire students in preschool through grade three is .... When Dinosaurs Came with Everything written by Elise Broach and illustrated by David Small.  The winning book received 3,344 of the 19,518 votes that were cast.  Click on this link to view the 2008 Results Flyer from the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library.

The winning book at the Harold Martin School was Duck at the Door, with The Wizard coming in second, and When Dinosaurs Came with Everything in third place.  Here are the winners by classroom:

Preschool - Duck at the Door

Blanchard AM - The Wizard

Blanchard PM - tied between The Perfect Nest and  Woolbur

Boyko AM - The Wizard

Boyko PM - The Perfect Nest

1F - Would I Ever Lie to You?

1K - tied between Duck at the Door and Bebe Goes Shopping

1N - Duck at the Door 

1P - Bebe Goes Shopping

2H - When Dinosaurs Come with Everything

2L - tied between Dog Needs a Bone and The Perfect Nest

2W - tied between When Dinosaurs Came with Everything and Help

2Y - Woolbur

3G - Duck at the Door

3J - Woolbur

3T - The Wizard

Christa McAuliffe Conference 2008

A year ago, I went to the Christa McAuliffe Conference and heard Will Richardson speak.  His keynote that day, A Web of Connections:  Why the Read/Write Web Changes Everything changed the way I looked at education and inspired me to learn to use web 2.0 tools.  I now maintain two web pages, two blogs, have learned podcasting, and have experimented a little bit with wikis.  Last year's conference helped me to see the educational value of web 2.0 interactive tools. 

Yesterday, I went back to the Christa McAuliffe Conference.  David Warlick spoke About Our Students Our Worlds - Flat World/Flat Classrooms.  He said teachers need to be master learners to prepare our children for a future we can not clearly describe.  We must teach children how to teach themselves in an information abundant environment.  Networks help students to find people who can help them to know how to do what they want to do.  There is power in what a community of learners that are connected can do.  He described these skills as key:

not just literacy, it's learning literacy

not just literacy skills, it's literacy habits

not just lifelong learning, it's a learning lifestyle.

I learned that all this can begin at a very young age when I heard Maria Knee's presentation Creating Global Communities.  Maria Knee's kindergarten communicates and does projects with other classrooms from around the world.  Mrs. Knee's class took a field trip to her house to learn how maple syrup was made.  This knowledge was shared with a classroom in Australia.  The 2M Gems shared a recipe and slide show from their Pancake Day, and a classroom from Canada joined in the fun.  Students were able to share their thoughts by commenting in a blog.

This year's conference has helped me to see the power and  importance of building and using learning networks.