Do you purchase or give your students a gift during the school year? I think that it is important to build a relationship with the students and to teach them how to be respectful young citizens that are grateful for what they have. I also spend my own money on the classroom to make it a safe, comfortable place so I don’t want to incur any additional costs.
Last year, Scholastic was advertising book coupons in their flyer and my colleague and I thought it was a great way to share a “gift” with the students, but one that has a purpose and meaning behind it. So I bought a package of the coupons and introduced New Year, New Books to my students.
I purchased a package of coupons and had the students peruse several Scholastic flyers to choose a book that they wanted to read and own. As of 2018, the cost of this purchase was $30. In 2019, Scholastic now charges $49.50 for the size of 30 coupons. If you do not need that many, you can also purchase 10 for $29.50 or 20 for $39.50. I buy the largest coupon booklet because I have a larger class size and then use the extra coupons for our classroom library. Win-Win!
When my students return from Winter Break, they will be gifted a book coupon and will choose a new book ($5 or less) from Scholastic! I will also be giving them a bookmark that reminds them of the theme (New Year, New Books)! I think they will enjoy this added bonus!
