Scholastic Book Order Tips

Scholastic

Just hearing that makes me happy.  I LOVE book orders.  I have since I was 5 years old.  Today I'm going to tell you about my Scholastic story as a kid, about how I use them in my classroom, and how to get more families ordering so you can get more POINTS!

My childhood Scholastic story:

I loved when my teachers in elementary school would hand out the new monthly catalogs.  Before I got home I already knew what I was ordering.  My mom would always let me order what I wanted.  In reality she could have limited me to an amount...I don't remember.  I just remember I'd get quite the pile every month.  Sometimes the teacher would just let me carry them in the box when the bell rang to go home.  I love that my parents encouraged me to read and would spend their money on books.  

When I see those flyers every month, I still feel like a kid!  

My teacher Scholastic story:

Now that I am a teacher I still love them and I love them even more because we can earn points to go towards books and classroom items.  My first year of teaching I sent them home for a few months and not a single family ordered.  I was bummed out and I just gave up.  

Fast forward to my second year of teaching (this past year) and I had at least 3-4 kids order a month (sometimes more!).  Every month we were consistently getting about 500 points for our classroom.  Now don't get me wrong, you may try this and still have no one order...but the chances are slim. 

Now I am going to tell you what changed.  Yes, the group of kids changed but something else did too.  I completely changed how I did Scholastic Reading Club orders.

How to Use Scholastic:

When you are separating your flyers, make sure you write your class code and the due date.  I like to highlight it afterwards.  Yes this is time consuming but you could also have a parent volunteer do this for you.  

I like to then staple a tiny sheet of paper (maybe 1/4 the size of a normal paper) that tells parents when the orders are due by, the code, what books stand out to the kids, and a quick how to order.  I also include at the bottom a thank you for ordering and tell them that it gives us points to buy free books.  I usually tell them what kinds of books I'm going to buy with that months points and what I bought with them last month.  They like seeing what the points are going to.

Here are the small sheets I staple onto the flyer.

This is a little haul that I got from using bonus points!

The day I send the flyers home:

I pull up Scholastic's website, explain how to order to the kids, and we look through the flyer online.  The kids love seeing the flyer HUGE on the SmartBoard.  They squeal, they point at books, and they get really excited.  I also ask kids what they want to see.  Once one child said Legos.  So I typed Legos into the search bar and showed them that there are a TON of books online that your parents can find for you.  One girl wanted to see princesses, Frozen, cars, trucks...you name it.  I then ask them what kinds of books would they like to see me get with the points.  

I generally let the families look for 2 or 3 weeks and then I send off the checks and submit the online orders.  

My new general info sheet I'm sending home at the beginning of the year.

This year I am sending home a general info sheet about Scholastic orders.  You want a *FREEBIE*?  Well, click on the picture and it will take you to my freebie on my TPT store.  All you have to do is print them out and write your class code on it.

Oh, I almost forgot!  A really fun thing I love is that I tell parents that if they want to buy books as a gift for their child...give the order to me (or order online) and when the box arrives.  I'll put that order in a bag and I hand it to the parent when the child goes to put their backpack up in the morning, or afterschool when they pick them up I quickly hand it to them.  It's very secretive.  :)  I had quite a few order last year at Christmas and a few for birthdays.  

I hope this helped explain how I've seen awesome results with Scholastic book orders.  I absolutely love how it gets parents and students excited about books and at the same time it gives our classroom new/free books!  Feel free to share any tips that you do in the comments section.

Today I made my info sheet and already got September's flyers ready to go!

Happy reading!

Reading Posters

Good morning!  Today I want to share my new-ish Reading Posters.  Here they are in action, newly stuck on my white board.  

I love simple.  Do you?  If you teach K like me, you know they will be able to understand this wayyy better than lots of posters that are overwhelming with text.  A big graphic and a quick sentence is all they need.  I tried to make the graphics match so at the beginning of the year when we start reading, they can tell what it says without having to know all the words.  

These are the biggest things I want my kinders to think about and to do while they are reading.

This pack of Reading Strategy Posters has 4 different sets.  Each set is a different border: the white chevron (shown above), red chevron, black quatrefoil, & chalkboard.  I printed off on cardstock and laminated the white chevron version.  Somehow this year I've been drawn to plain and simple white chevron and it's on a lot of things now in my classroom.  

Here are the posters.  :)

Oh and how cute is the little gal on the front cover of my product?  She is my favorite clip art kid.  It's from Melonheadz.  I love it!  

Today I am getting to business at doing my first week's plans so they are done and out the way.  I may even get crazy and do a couple weeks worth.  My goal this year is to try to get them done not on Saturday or Sunday.  Being in a long distance relationship I am gone most weekends to Kansas so I need to better manage my lesson planning time to get it done before Friday.  :)  That's my goal!  

Anxious

It's that time of year again.  Early August when you're in your classroom more.  Everything is getting very cute.  Your fingers are sore from cutting out laminate.  You're cleaning and putting your room back together (unless you're one of those lucky people who do not have to disassemble your room every summer). 

Also, you're also having those back to school dreams.  You know what I'm talking about.  They are a killer.  Usually.  Mine generally are pretty silly and funny.  Except the one dream I had before my first year of teaching where my new kindergarten class surrounded me and tied me up to a chair.  THAT WAS SCARY!  I woke up slightly panicked.  Sidenote: that didn't end up happening once the year started.  They were honestly a dream class!

The past few days mine has been about having a class of all boys.  We start on the 25th and currently I have only 4 girls.  Haha.  You betta believe that I'm making sure all my animal books/non-fiction books are out.  

I love reading non-fiction books, but this year I'm making sure I've doubled the amount I have in the kids' library.  Last year I learned that my kids LOVE these National Geographic books.  I mean, they were seriously obsessed.

I am taking a break from my room the rest of this week and I'll be back at it next week.  Here's what I accomplished on Monday and I learned a new trick!

Here is my new trick:  
I purchased some dry erase markers on sale at one of my favorite stores (they weren't Expo markers).  Unfortunately the kids used them the next day during RTI time and one interrupted my group (so I knew it had to be important) with a "Miss Millard, this is not coming off at all and I just wrote with it."  So I grabbed the marker, made a few scribbles...tried to erase.  It stained.  It didn't erase AT ALL.  I was disappointed.  So we immediately threw all those new sale markers away.  This happened in April so the boards have been stained since then.

Here it is.  See the lovely sight words stained onto the board.  I googled how to clean them.  I've heard of different things but the only thing I had right then in my room was hand sanitizer.  I also had a Magic Eraser that I scrubbed it with just because I didn't want to waste paper towels.

See the pink coming off!  I was thrilled!

Tada!  This was that same board and now it is crystal clear!

So: hand sanitizer helps!  I didn't have hairspray...plus I figured it'd leave that residue all over the table.  I was very pleased with all my clean boards!  They look almost brand new.

Next, I finally laminated and cut my Table Labels & Signs.  This is in my TPT store.  I picked the colors based off of my big rug.

Here are the labels in action on my tubs.  I put one tub on each table that holds their crayons, scissors, and glue.  It's worked great the last two years.

 I keep the scissors in the small metal bucket (from Target Dollar Spot), the glues go next to it, and the crayons in the small container.  I bought the containers from Target in the area that has the food leftovers containers.  I put a small blank white label on each with the student's name on it and we dump the crayons inside.  I can't stand when crayon boxes fall apart...which for kindergarten is about 2 days in.  I've used these for 2 years and I've only thrown one away.  Before each school year I just throw them in my dish washer.  

If you're interested in these labels (there are more, small square ones and 1/2 sheet signs in the pack as well), click on this link (Table Labels & Signs) or the picture.

Last but not least...here is the area around my door.  I have a great little, but tall, bulletin board next to the door so people in the hall can see it walking by.  This houses the lunch calendar, news, book order info, line leaders, and I staple up photos throughout the year.  It's pretty bare right now though.  Also, the other has my *FREEBIE* bathroom passes.  Remember, I use twine for the string...it's generally pretty strong.  

Would you be interested in my "near the door" items (those titles/headers, signs, no peanuts sign, specials (PE/Music, Art, Library) flip cards, and more?  Let me know down below in the comments.  I may post it to my store.  :)

Have a great day everyone!  Tomorrow I will post info about my new Reading Posters.  

**Don't forget to click "Follow Me" on TPT so you can see when I upload new items.  I've been uploading a few a day lately.  

I'm back!

Hello again!  I haven't posted in a while.  I was gone last week to Colorado and this week I been make in town (not in Kansas) & have been busy creating stuff before the big Teachers Pay Teachers sale on August 4th-5th!  Get your wishlist ready to move to your shopping cart!  I know I already have a slightly massive amount in mine.  ;)

Click the picture to go to my store.  I'll be throwing  a 20% off sale!

So Colorado...BEAUTIFUL!  I would be in heaven there.  I went to Estes Park for 1.5 days and Denver for 2 days.  We went to Rocky Mountain National Park and did only a part of the Trail Ridge Road (which is unbelievable!).  

We had to turn around at the tundra area because we were low on gas...next time we will have a full tank!  The next day we did the Rocky Mountain Tours (it's a 4wd crazy jeep tour through the mountains).  It climbed boulders, crazy slopes, small trails, etc.  We pretty much bounced around and ooohed and ahhhed for 3.5 hours.  It was so worth the $.  Then we headed for Denver.  We didn't do much in Denver because someone decided to trip/fall at the condo in Estes and completely bruise her foot.  Acckkhhhhmm...ME!  I was on crutches for 4 days and couldn't walk.  Good news is it's not fractured or broke, just extremely bruised (a contustion the doctor said).

So I'm in SWMO till Monday.  I get my new work laptop on Monday.  A MacBook Air!  I have a pretty old version of a MacBook so I'm extremely thrilled to say the least!  

I have been doing lots of custom things for coworkers and by golly they had some great ideas!  Here is one of my favorites...

Writing Clip Chart.  

I have made two version so far of Writing Clip Charts.  One was for a 1st grade teacher and the other was for my grade level partner that is themed like an author who has a certain (he who shall not be named) cat in who wears a large hat.  I'm going to make another version for myself and will probably post.  

These basically are for students to move their clip to the poster that fits what they need to work on or improve on.  So it goes along with self-assessment and goal setting.  We had end of the year PD to make up some snow days and we hear LOTS about self-assessment and goals.

Here are 2 samples from the Kindergarten version:

I have posted new number posters, a Wheel of Choices for our PBIS program we use out our school to teach problem solving during a conflict.  I have some other decor up as well.  I've been pretty busy!  

Well it's off to changing from my PJs to go work in my classroom for a bit.  Today I am tackling my classroom library.  I completely moved it from last year and I have new green rugs and a new chevron poof from Target.  I also have some new bins and book containers as well!  Here is a picture from 2 days ago...not complete by any means. 

 I'll post an update of how it is coming later today or tomorrow!  I still can't get over that my classroom has carpet now!  I love it.  Now...ask me if I love it after beginning of the year milk stains from snack time.  Ugh.

Quatrefoil Crazy!

So I have been going a little crazy today...quatrefoil crazy!  I have some awesome quatrefoil backgrounds that I've made a calendar set and number posters with last week.  So I woke up this morning deciding to do a bunch of alphabet posters.

Now, next year...I will be printing one of the sets off and using in my classroom.  I would do it this year but I already printed and laminated Maria Manore's awesome alphabet posters and I have a thing lately about being careful on my ink.  I have the tendency of going through ungodly amounts of ink during the school year.  

So...next year I will use my own ABC posters.  :)

Here are some samples of what they look like.  If you're interested...just click the picture.  Check out the calendar and number posters sets as well.

Here are the calendar sets and number posters as well:

Lastly, here is a *FREEBIE* just for today...possibly tomorrow if I wake up and forget to change it.  I use Lakeshore's huge rug with the colorful squares on it.  Each color is one of my tables.  So I made signs and labels for my room and thought I'd put it on the store as well.  The long labels will go on their supply bin in the middle of the table and the smaller ones on bins or containers.  The sign will go on the edge of their table hanging down, or possibly hanging from the ceiling.  I added a 6th table in case someone needs it and I made it yellow.  No, there is not a yellow row on that carpet...just wanted to do that if anyone just liked the color scheme.

Well, I'm heading out at 6pm for Estes Park, Colorado with my boyfriend on Tuesday.  So tomorrow I will make some new products and then pack.  So from Wednesday-Saturday I will probably not post anything new on the store.  

Have a great Sunday evening everyone!

It has begun...

Hello!  I went to my classroom on Wednesday and Thursday.  Anyone else have the problem of just putting stuff in boxes and not organizing it well?  I'm generally an organized person but I was just not in the mood to pack up my classroom for the carpet to be put in and the cleaning/painting. 

It seriously took 30 minutes to find my stapler.  30 minutes!  My grade level partner was there too and she couldn't find hers either.  :)

So on Wednesday I did a couple of bulletin boards.  I'm debating on whether to do the other huge one in the back that has a red background.  Bulletin boards are my least favorite classroom back-to-school task.  They're great when they are finished...but getting to that point stinks.

I feel Bob Harper in the background saying this:

My body is sore the next day in the most bizarre places after putting my classroom back together.

My reading area is going to be different this year.  Very different.  :)  I usually have a tiny carpet with 2 red pillows and this huge Lakeshore reading nook.  I'm still using the nook but it is over by my small group table now...which also got moved.  Here is the beginning of my reading area.  It will soon have a bench with a cushion and the books will be on that shelf and organized.

The green rug is new (Walmart) and the chevron navy/white cushion is also new (Target).  The cushion is spill proof, water proof, and is not supposed to fade.  It was an outdoor cushion and I believe they are still on SALE.  Probably even more so...I got mine 3 weeks ago.

I am going to try to get another green rug from Walmart.  I didn't realize how much room I would have for my rug and I was just shop happy and bought before measuring my area.  

Here are the bulletin boards.  I have my word wall up.  I used Maria Manore's word wall.  I already had them printed out and laminated before school was out.  I just started creating my own products at the end of June.  Which by the way...how stinkin' awesome is Maria?  She's fantastic.  She's one of the many bloggers/sellers that I follow and that I am constantly inspired by.  The skinny but tall gray and chevron board is next to the door.  That's where I post the lunch calendar, line leader cards that we turn each day, our school's events calendar, pictures, and other random flyers for parents. 

Here is my room as of yesterday when I was about to leave.  Most of the furniture is where I want it, I just have tons of stuff on them to put back where they belong.

I decided to leave yesterday when I was sweating through my shirt (oh yes, it was lovely) and the fire alarm started going off.  That was my cue.  They are redoing our bathrooms now and working on the Gym/Saferoom and new offices/safe front doors (our old office was around the corner from the doors and not very intruder safe at all).  So we have layers of dust and the custodian and workers thought maybe it's all the dust or the just them working on wires and things with the construction.  Either way, I left.

Well I'm back in Kansas for a couple of weeks since time is limited and soon I'll be back to seeing him only on weekends.  I'm about to workout and then get around to go to Walmart.  I need another green rug!

Have a great Friday everyone!

ABC

Howdy!

I'm in slight disbelief that it is already July 12th.  Seriously?  Almost the middle of July already!  I ventured out to Walmart (my boyfriend's small town only has a tiny grocery and a Dollar General) and back to school stuff is out.  

I'm going back home to civilization (complete with Targets, Walmarts, and other big box stores) next week for a few days and I'm going to get in my classroom and get started on some bulletin boards.  Maybe even take the quick trip to Springfield for some new border.  We'll see.

Anyways.  I've still been on my creating spree for Teachers Pay Teachers.  One of my latest things is an alphabet book for students and also short but silly alphabet poems that I created.

I basically sat down and started thinking with a glass of Kool-Aid...I was trying to access my inner kindergartener.  I wanted short, simple/not too fancy, rhyming, and slightly silly ABC poems.  I used the awesome Creative Clips, by Krista Wallden, to help inspire me and use her ABC graphics for each poem.

I plan on using these little poems when I do a letter a day introduction, handwriting, and songs.  It's quick and easy.  It won't even add too much time to your day.  I also thought I could reuse them when our school starts RTI in September.  The past couple years we've generally started with Letter Name intervention.  My  next thing on the agenda is to make an RTI pack.  :)  I love RTI.  I've said it before and I will certainly say it again.  Some people find it monotonous...but I love that special 30 mins with my kiddos (or 1st grade or the other K class' kids).  I mean the results...the results are fantastic.  It really works!

Anyways, here are some examples of the poems.  Enjoy!  & Don't forget to visit my store if you can't live without these little guys!

Click here to see it at my store:

Seriously, I love the ring one.  Not true at all for ladies.  ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!  Stay cool, it's supposed to be 95 here in SEK today.