My favorite part of teaching was always to help a student to discover their love for reading. It felt like the greatest honor. Once a student grows that love for reading, I know that I have made a forever impact.
The number one way to help a kiddo learn to love to read (according to me ?) is to introduce them to tons of books. I want to surround them with possibilities.
But that costs money. And money is something that teachers do not have a lot of.
In THIS post, I wrote about some ways that I grew my classroom library on a limited budget. My very favorite way was by using Scholastic book orders.
Do you use Scholastic book orders in your classroom? Are you getting the most out of your orders? Are you earning points and filling your library with engaging and fee books?
Let me give you some tips to help you earn more bonus points that can be used to put books in the hands of your students.
1. Get Your Students Involved
I have received emails from parents that are crazy excited because their reluctant reader is begging them to buy a book from the book order. That is magic!
Get your students excited about the book order.
First, set aside 10-15 minutes each month for students to look at the book order forms together. Let them point books out to their neighbors. Let them talk about the books that they see. Encourage them to circle books that are on their wish list. Some students won’t take the time to do this at home, so make time for it during class.
I also like to have them write one book each on a sticky note. This becomes our class wishlist. I use this list when choosing which books to order with all of my bonus points!
Another great way to get students involved and excited is to keep a tally of the number of books that have been ordered by the class each month.
Laminate THIS poster and hang it somewhere where students can see.
Use a dry erase marker to update the number of books each day. You can even set a goal and celebrate as the class gets closer. The reward will be new books from the wishlist!
When you get your students involved in the book order, they get excited. When students are excited about ordering books, you are WINNING! And it usually means that more books will be ordered and more points will be earned for free books.
2. One reminder is NOT enough!
Parents are so busy. They have full-time jobs, church commitments and multiple kids with extra curricular activities and different teachers. Help them out and give them several reminders.
- I like to send an email home on the day that the order forms go home.
- I add the deadline to our weekly newsletter.
- I send a book order email reminder again 2-3 days before orders are due.
- On the day before the deadline, I send kiddos home with one of THESE reminder bracelets. All you have to do is pint them, cut and then staple around the kiddos’ wrists on their way out the door.
- I also send a quick reminder through Remind texts.
You are not bugging parents. You are helping them out!
The more orders that get turned in, the more points the class will earn and that means more books!
3. Refer all of your teacher friends.
Did you know that you get extra bonus points for referring new teachers to open a Scholastic account? At the time of publishing, you could earn an extra 250 points per teacher that signed up with your referral code.
So make sure everyone on your team is signed up. Check with new teachers. Help them to earn free books for their classroom too!
4. I love monthly specials.
Every month, Scholastic has special offers. They are REALLY good offers!
Sometimes they are extra bonus points. Sometimes it is a box of free books!
Make sure that you check each month to see what special they are running. There is usually a minimum purchase necessary to get the special, but this can be the class goal!
5. Dollar books are a teacher’s second best friend.
I am crazy in love with free books. But I am also a HUGE fan of dollar books.
Every month, scholastic has a selection of books that are on sale for just $1. And these are good books that you and your students actually want to read!
Stock up on dollar books for book raffles, books clubs and student gifts.
You can find the dollar titles on the front covers of the order forms.
I hope that this helps you to score some free (or almost free) books for your classroom library. More than anything I hope that these books help to get your students excited about reading! #bookwormsunite
Have a Not So Wimpy day!
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