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| Grade 7 student Joseph N-F browsing the Scholastic Book Fair on Tuesday |
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| The theme of the Scholastic Book Fair was “Arctic Adventure – Snow Much to Learn” |
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Every November, usually during the week of parent-teacher interviews, IHMS holds its annual Scholastic Book Fair. This is an ideal time to hold the Book Fair since most parents are already in the school at some point during the week to visit with their child’s teacher. The theme for this year’s book fair was “Arctic Adventure – Snow Much to Learn”. |
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| A few of the different categories on display at the Scholastic Book Fair |
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| Most students look forward to the Scholastic Book Fair. Of course, books aren’t difficult to find because there are plenty of stores in Winnipeg and sites on the internet (such as amazon.ca and chapters.indigo.ca) where students can purchase an even greater selection of books and accessories. But most K-8 students don’t order books off the internet, and the Scholastic Book Fair makes the process easy and convenient because they bring the books to us – a brilliant marketing strategy. |
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| Grade 7 student Gracie C. showing classmate Nazar B. something very exciting in one of the books at the Scholastic Book Fsir |
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| Most parents give their kids some money to spend at the Scholastic Book Fair. The people at Scholastic know this, and they also know that kids are impulsive buyers, so they make sure to include a lot of bright, colourful items near the checkout. |
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| In addition to making it convenient for students to acquire cool new books, the book fair is also a school fundraiser. IHMS makes a small profit with the sale of each new book, and after hundreds of transactions those tiny profits add up. The money is then used to purchase new Scholastic books for both the library, and for each of the K-8 classrooms. For most years, classroom teachers are allotted approximately $80-$100 to purchase new books for their classroom. |
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| “Buy books” |
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| A few younger students browsing the Book Fair on Tuesday, November 26. Since Tuesday was a NUT day (No Uniform Day), most students didn’t wear their school uniform on that day. |
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| Under the direction of the school’s librarian Mrs, Radawetz, IHMS has raised approximately $2500 a year for each of the last few years. Since all of this money is used to purchase new books for the students, everybody benefits! |
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| Library book cash |
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| Grade 8 girls at the Scholastic Book Fair |
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| Awwwww Yeeeaahhh! |
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The book fair was set up in the front foyer of the school and ran from Monday, November 25 to Thursday, November 28. The hours for the Book Fair were the same for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday – from 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. Since parent/teacher interviews were scheduled into the evening on Thursday, the book fair ran from 8:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 28th. |
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| Students browsing the Scholastic Book Fair on Tuesday after dismissal |
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| Support the school library by purchasing items from the Scholastic Book Fair. |
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| Students were excited to browse through the book fair. A timetable was set up to give each grade the opportunity to visit the book fair during school hours. Students needed their classroom teacher with them if they wanted to purchase anything during these designated times. When the book fair reopened for business after 3:15 p.m., students needed a parent with them to purchase anything. |
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| “Buy books” |
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| After dismissal at the end of the school day, a lot of students returned to the book fair to make a purchase. They were free to do so as long as they were accompanied by a parent. |
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A few days before the book fair, every student was given a Preview flyer showing a few of the books that would be available for sale. In addition to these “sneak peeks”, the flyer also contained a ballot that could be filled out and entered for a prize draw of $50 worth of free books – $25 for the winning student and $25 for that student’s class.
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| The grand prize winner for this year’s coupon draw was grade 3 student Eric N. Eric won $50 worth of free books – $25 for himself and $25 for the rest of the class. |
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In addition to the grand prize draw, there were also smaller draws in every grade for a coupon worth $6 off the price of any book or accessory.
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| Grade 8 boys at the Scholastic Book Fair |
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In order to give everyone an opportunity to view the displays, a schedule was set up for each grade to do some browsing. Each class’s first visit was for viewing only, while purchases were accepted during the class’s second visit. Of course students were free to browse as they walked through the book fair on the way to the gym at lunch time, and students were free to make purchases after 3:00 if their parents accompanied them.
Since the book fair was organized with the needs of K-8 students in mind, there were a wide range of reading levels available, ranging from pre-school to teenager. There were also a lot of accessories for sale, such as colourful pens and pencils, erasers, and markers. In addition, there was a small selection of gift ideas for the students to purchase.
The book fair was organized by the school’s dedicated and hard working librarian, Mrs. Radawetz. In addition, a number of parent volunteers helped out behind the counter.
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| The Scholastic Book Fair was organized and run by the school’s librarian, Mrs. Radawetz (top 3 photos). A few parent volunteers also assisted Mrs. Radewetz during the book fair’s busier times (bottom 2 photos). |
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The Scholastic Book Fair is a major school event that requires a lot of planning and preparation. Thank you to Mrs. Radawetz, the parent volunteers, and everyone else who played a part in making the Scholastic Book Fair such a great success.
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| “Did you buy books” |
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