Free books for the classroom

I am so excited about the series of posts that I have planned for this week, they are all about ways to save money or find inexpensive resources for preschool and child care programs – who doesn’t love that!

Let’s start with how you can get free books for your classroom – yup, free! Books are a necessity in any preschool room, a great way to share new information, encourage classroom communities, and instill a love of reading at a very early age. But books aren’t always the most durable items in a classroom. So whether you need some more to replace your favorite worn out copies, or you’re just starting your classroom library, you have to check out Scholastic Reading Club!

It could not be easier, you set up an account on Scholastic’s website for your classroom, and every month they send you enough book orders to send home with all of your students.  For every dollar that your families order, your classroom earns one point which you can redeem for books and other materials for the classroom.

I know that it can be difficult to ask parents to spend money, but every month there is at least one $1 book available, and many of the others fall in the $3-$5 range.  So even if your parents only purchase the $1 book each month, they are still helping their children get excited about reading, growing their own personal libraries, and helping you earn books for the classroom.  Scholastic also offers additional promotions, such as bonus points for sales that reach a certain amount, so earning more books is really easy.

I love Scholastic because their catalog of books is huge. It’s easy to find books that you don’t already have, adding a ton of variety to your classroom library. They also have more seasonal books available than I’ve seen anywhere else.  Another plus, their reading clubs are targeted to different age ranges, so If you have infants and toddlers, those families will receive book orders that are developmentally appropriate for their children, while preschoolers get another set of orders, and each elementary age level gets book orders targeted to their needs and interests.  Families can also order online, so they can choose from books that may not be included in their child’s book order, making it easy to give books as gifts, or stock up on books for the future.

I remember receiving book orders as a child, it was just like Christmas. From my own personal experience, the feeling is the same as a teacher as it was as a child.  That Scholastic box is happy mail!