Every year around this time I introduce my kindergarten classes to the Caldecott Medal. The introduction includes my drawing a representation on the whiteboard, detailing all the elements on the medal and then quizzing them on each element and how many items of each there are. It's always amazing to see how much they pay attention and retain. Later when they pick out their books they can't control their excitement when they find a book with the medal on the front.
About a week later I do a review in which I ask them to tell me all about the medal using leading questions. This week when I asked the name of the medal, two students gave me answers which made me squeal with delight. One student told me it is called the "Caldegold" Medal. He remembered the beginning and the color of the Medal winner. The other student told me that it was called the "Medalcott" which I found equally entrancing. It is amazing that they can remember the name at all, but hearing how they are connecting this medal to the words they know is inspiring.
Later when I asked who gets the medal one student jumped up yelling "I know. It's the punisher." I had to explain that another Medal, the Batchelder Medal, goes to the publisher, but the Caldecott goes to the illustrator.
Finally, when I tried to trick them by showing a book with a Theodore Seuss Geisel Award on the front one student said "Hey, that's not the Caldecott. There's just an old guy on it."
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