Scholastic Books Sparks Students Love of Reading
Is your teacher mailbox JAM PACKED every few weeks with Scholastic book order forms? Do you toss them right into the recycling without looking at them? This is what I see many teachers do and it makes me CRINGE! Scholastic book orders are SO important for SO many reasons!
Building Home Libraries
In a world of TV and movies at the fingertips of our kiddos, it is SO important for us to be pushing books and the building of home libraries to our students and their families. Students need less screen time and what better replacement to the stories that they are watching on screens than the books that inspired these stories? Plus kids LOVE having books in their hands. I often stress to families how important home libraries are and always staple a reminder of this to the front of the catalogues that I am sending home.
Affordable Prices
The reason I feel so comfortable pushing Scholastic orders onto my families is that the books are super affordable. The books most often range from $1-5 which is SO much more affordable than the prices I often see from competitors such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Families can buy as many or as few books as they are comfortable with, but I usually get orders between $10-20 per family. However, any order is a celebration!
Free Books for Teachers
One HUGE perk that Scholastic provides for teachers is that when students purchase books, you get money to build your classroom library IMMEDIATELY! This depends on the promotion that Scholastic is currently running, but often is $5 for the teacher for every $20 that students spend. That can get you one or two new books, or even a set of 5 books. Plus, you earn points on all orders that can be stacked up and used to purchase even more books or on fun things for you classroom such as beautiful bins, prizes for your class and even electronics. This is a FABULOUS incentive for new teachers who are struggling to afford all of the luxuries that veteran teachers have in their classroom.
It Is SO Easy & Quick
Sending in orders is SO easy. Parents can either pay cash, credit or check. The envelope gets sent right to Scholastic and the stamp is pre-paid so it could not be any easier. Parents can either order from the catalogue, and you can easily go online and enter the orders, or parents can set up and account and directly pay/order online. In the latter case, all you need to do is deliver the books for the students. The books say that they take up to ten days, however, most of the time they come in about 4-6 days. It comes with an itemized receipt for each student, so it is easy to sort and distribute upon delivery. My kids BEAM and buzz with excitement every time a new book box arrives and they simply cannot wait to share their books and our new books with each other.
Motivating Families and Students
In order to give my families and students time to peruse and get excited about the books, I always allow my students about 10 minutes of a school day to look through the catalogues. Sometimes, I will show them books we already have in our library and recommend them for home. I staple this wishlist to the front of the catalogue, allowing students to fill it out on their own, or I pre-fill it out with recommendations I have. This wish list also stresses the importance of building home libraries. Snag it for free in my store today by following this link.
Get Started Today
Are you ready to get started with Scholastic in your classroom today? Follow this link and use the coupon code, 80291 and my teacher code: 1910580644 and the name Emily Kelly so that you and I can both get 250 free points to get us started with your adventure!
Do you have more questions or tips about using Scholastic in your classroom? Drop them in the comments below. I would love to hear more ideas or help you get started in any way I can.
This blogpost was in no way sponsored or endorsed by Scholastic.