Connecting at the Book Fair
The Book Fair is such an exciting time. I love the energy that comes with those carts and boxes of new books. Students are invited to shop before and after school, during their recess time and during their class time and they use ALL of those times to carefully browse and choose just the right items.
My favorite part of the fair is connecting with parents. While the timing of the fair isn't ideal (3 weeks into school this year) for setting up expectations and routines in our year, having a fair only weeks into the school year allows me to open my doors at Open House and introduce myself to parents and invite them into our library to volunteer. At the fair I was able to connect with several volunteers from last year that had not sent in a volunteer form yet. Some have new jobs while another is taking care of an ill family member, but this offered me an opportunity to connect with them and offer them an opportunity to come occasionally or just for Book Fair events. Volunteers are the crucial to the library and I met many new parents at the fair that I am hoping will turn into new recruits.
Open House tends to be VERY busy for the last hour and last year I had a very long line to pay. I decided to ask for help this year and while I was contemplating who to ask one afternoon, my answer walked in the door (literally). A loyal parent whose last child just graduated from our school in June arrived with several bags of books to donate. Our conversation turned to the Book Fair and she asked me if I had help on Open House and when I told her I was recruiting, she volunteered herself. With a volunteer in place, I was ready to go.
I had asked Scholastic for extra graphic novels. I know how my students devour these and Scholastic didn't disappoint. The two most popular books at the fair were Dog Man by Dav Pilkey and Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier, but I filled the better part of two tables with graphic novels and sold most of these.
Sales went very well and I developed relationships with parents. That is a successful week!
My favorite part of the fair is connecting with parents. While the timing of the fair isn't ideal (3 weeks into school this year) for setting up expectations and routines in our year, having a fair only weeks into the school year allows me to open my doors at Open House and introduce myself to parents and invite them into our library to volunteer. At the fair I was able to connect with several volunteers from last year that had not sent in a volunteer form yet. Some have new jobs while another is taking care of an ill family member, but this offered me an opportunity to connect with them and offer them an opportunity to come occasionally or just for Book Fair events. Volunteers are the crucial to the library and I met many new parents at the fair that I am hoping will turn into new recruits.
Open House tends to be VERY busy for the last hour and last year I had a very long line to pay. I decided to ask for help this year and while I was contemplating who to ask one afternoon, my answer walked in the door (literally). A loyal parent whose last child just graduated from our school in June arrived with several bags of books to donate. Our conversation turned to the Book Fair and she asked me if I had help on Open House and when I told her I was recruiting, she volunteered herself. With a volunteer in place, I was ready to go.
I had asked Scholastic for extra graphic novels. I know how my students devour these and Scholastic didn't disappoint. The two most popular books at the fair were Dog Man by Dav Pilkey and Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier, but I filled the better part of two tables with graphic novels and sold most of these.
Sales went very well and I developed relationships with parents. That is a successful week!
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