Friday, May 13, 2016

Children's Choices Awards


The Children's Choices Program is a joint project between the Children's Book Council and The International Literacy Association. There are only five Children's Choices selected sites in the U.S., and Louisiana Tech's College of Education is one of those partnerships! Dr. Amy Massey Vessel applied last year to serve as a host site and was selected to serve as a team leader on ILA's Children's Choices Committee. Lincoln Parish School district leaders, Lisa Mangum (District Reading Coach) and Sherry Boyd (Elementary Supervisor) were integral in supporting the establishment of the Children's choice program in our area schools and will continue to support this 3-year program. More than 2,500 students at Hillcrest Elementary, Ruston Elementary, Glen View Elementary, and Cypress Springs Elementary School submitted votes from August - January after having the opportunity to choose books to read and share their reviews. Those votes were compiled and submitted to the Children's Book Council to create the 2016 award winning reading lists that were published this week during Children's Book Week.

Teachers from across the country use Children's Choices, Teachers' Choices, and Parents' Choices recommended book lists to select new books for their classroom libraries. For the many hours the Lincoln Parish Schools dedicated to this project, their reward is an entire set of almost 1,000 books for their school libraries. Teachers had the opportunity to see these 2015 published books from the many national publishing companies, sometimes even weeks before they were available in local bookstores.

According to Children's Choices Team Leader, Dr. Amy Vessel, "Bringing the Children's Choices Program to Lincoln Parish was a dream come true! Some things cannot be captured with a photo or put into words, like the excitement of delivering new books to the hands of a child. We look forward to watching this partnership continue to reach additional schools in the next year." Vessel is currently collaborating with Dr. Bryan McCoy, Chair of the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership, to establish a children's library in Woodard Hall for our teacher candidates and the community. The 2016 Children's Choices winners are currently on display in the Clinical Residency Research Center in Woodard Hall 214. The following link highlights the selections: http://www.cbcbooks.org/childrens-choices/ Thanks to Dr. Amy Massey Vessel for her hard work, the story submission, and the impact being made in our region through this program!


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