The Book Fair is here! The Book Fair is here!
I wish I could keep up this momentum and excitement through all of the Book Fair! LOL Yes, it's that time agian. Time to get books in the hands of the kids and time to find out what books I need to add to our collection. I love the Book Fair...mostly.
The Spring theme as set by Scholastic is "Story Laboratory: Reading Give You Super Power!" To decorate for this theme, I found some cute science clipart online and traced them onto bulletin board paper. I cut those out and taped them up on the windows. I also cut out some slime splats from brightly colored paper.
Scholastic has some cute "Readioactive" signs available to print out from the online tool kit. I printed some off on bright yellow paper.
I used some of the same decorating techniques that I used in the Fall 2011 Book Fair to create the laboratory door on the outside of the Media Center by making a secret code number pad out of a tin tray from the dollar store. I used some "caution" tape that we had left over from a yard renovation we did a few years ago to add a little something "extra" to the doors. Something similar comes in the Book Fair decorating kit you can purchase through the Scholastic Resource Catalog. I think the scholastic tape might have "Readiacitve Books" on it rather than caution. To save money, I just used what I had.
The teacher wish list board was easy to make with one of the files on the Scholastic Book Fair toolkit.
For poster numbers, I used the teacher Wish List pocket clipart and added a number over it. Then I just copied those onto bright paper and cut them out.
For the guessing jar, I used gummy worms and the sign provided in Scholastic's fair files.
I am hoping that all this decorating gets the students excited and that they come ready to shop for books. To help keep them from being distracted with the "doodads," I am again using the "doodad" board idea that I got from this post from the Three Ring Library as well as from this post from Mrs. Reader Pants.
I am also using a tip I saw about providing a free "goodie" to those who buy at least one book from the Book Fair, to encourage students to purchase books rather than the junkie stuff. I can't find where I read that tip, but so far it has been a bit hit. If you remember seeing this little tip somewhere, please let me know and I will add a link.
In fact, I am down to two bins of free doodads after just one day.
Thanks to a tip from Jenny, a blog follower, and this post on Mrs. Readerpants, I was able to get the Book Fair delivered a few days early so that I could still have a Preview Day on the Friday before. Yay!
I am hoping that this Book Fair is a bit more successful that the Fall Book Fair. I am trying to promote it more this go 'round and I hope that it helps. The first day our sales were up a bit from the first day of the Fall Book Fair, so that is encouraging.
So are you excited about your next Book Fair? Got any great Book Fair tips to share?
Hi Jo, I love your blog and visit it pretty regularly. I'm a first year elementary librarian, and your tips are always helpful! I am having my first book fair (also the first for my school) in March and I am excited/nervous. I love your decorating ideas and will definitely "steal" a few if you don't mind!
ReplyDeleteWhat do the students who guess right for the bookworm jar get? I would like to do something like that in my library. Also, can you explain how your teacher wish list board works? That sounds neat! I love your idea of giving kids a treat for selecting books over knick-knacks.
Thanks! Your blog is a big help to a newbie like me!
Hi Bayou Librarian! So glad to have you as a follower! This is only my second year as a SLMS, so I am still learning new things all the time. I get most of my Book Fair ideas from Scholastic's online toolkit. If you have the opportunity to go to a Scholastic Book Fair workshop, I highly recommend it. You get tons of ideas there as well. One of the ideas they share is the guessing jar. The winner gets to pick a free book from the Book Fair. The cost of the book comes out of your profit, but it's a very small amount and plus a child get their hands on a book so it's worth it. The wish list board is also an idea from Scholastic. Teachers write down the books they would like for their classroom and put the names of those books in their pockets on the wish list board. When parents come to shop, they sometimes pick a slip from the pocket of their child's teacher and purchase it for the teacher. A sticker is placed on the inside cover with the student's name who donated the book. Scholastic gives these for free in their Book Fair pack that comes about a month or so before your fair is scheduled. Hope that helps! =)
DeleteHi Jo, our book fair is right before Spring Break, so I am busy planning and trying to get a little bit done each week. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful ideas!
ReplyDeleteIt really does help to get as much done beforehand as possible. Another great tip! Good luck with your Book Fair! =)
Delete