The Scholastic Book Fair is here!

Hi friends!

I've got those silver cases opened up, and I'll plug in the cash registers first thing Monday morning! As one student said during the preview days last week, "this is book heaven!"

If you've been here a while, you already know this, but if you're new, let me tell you a few things I've figured out to make our book fairs better.

1. Buy the coin counter from the Scholastic Resource catalog. It will save you time and headache in counting baggies of money that your students hand to you. It's fast, and it works.

2. Give your volunteers goody bags. I give $5 gift certificates to the book fair (paid for with Scholastic Dollars) along with other goodies related to the theme. For my book fair next week, I found these insulated lunch bags on sale in the Scholastic Resource catalog. We want happy volunteers!

3. Give gifts with purchase! I buy small erasers, bracelets, and rub-on tattoos from Oriental Trading and put them in a "treasure box" by the register. Each student who purchases a book gets to choose a prize. This helps to encourage book purchases rather than "stuff" purchases.

Here are a couple of things I'm trying next week, that I haven't tried before:

I'm setting up a photo booth background so parents can snap photos with their students and have a cute and colorful background. I'm not quite finished, but I'll post a photo for you soon. You can see the inspiration photos on my Book Fair Tips Pinterest board.

And, last but not least, I got a WONDERFUL idea from Ms. O, of Ms. O Reads Books! On Friday, March 1, the last day of our book fair and Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America day, any student who comes to the book fair dressed like a Seuss character will get a free pencil or eraser.

Do you know who is most excited about this dress-up day? The teachers! One fifth grade teacher is planning to make class T-shirts for "Thing 1" through "Thing 25!" Wow! I think that this idea will add a lot of reading fun to our campus!

How do you make YOUR book fairs better? Please share your ideas in the comments. Together, we're all better!