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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Five for Birthday!

I’m a day late linking up to Five for Friday, but I have a good reason.

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(You can link up here at Doodle Bugs Teaching!)

#1- It’s my birthday! :) I’m still young enough to be excited about it.

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My kids all sang happy birthday to me spontaneously yesterday, and a couple of them even got or made me gifts and cards. So sweet! (Plus, in FOUR DAYS, I get to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway for my birthday. SO thrilled!!!)

#2 The leprechaun visited yesterday morning, too! (Yes, it was a little late, but we had Spring Break in there.) I made my traps optional for kids this year, but we still had some amazing ones come in.

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I wasn’t sure if 3rd graders would still believe that a leprechaun visited, but I gave myself a great alibi, which helped!

#3- We have been focusing on non-fiction informational text this past week, and my kids are devouring it.

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Next week we start researching animals to write our own non-fiction books!

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#4- Another reason yesterday was awesome?

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About 3 quarters of my class got a chance to be on Sparkling or the top of Sparkling yesterday. It’s mostly because I really really needed them to bring something back as soon as possible, and offered to let them clip up twice if they brought it back the next day- and, amazingly, 19/20 remembered it! Still, though, a couple of my kids earned their way to Sparkling for the first time ever, and they were so excited. What a great way to keep kids on their toes on a Friday!

And #5? We got over 90 new (and wonderful) books from Scholastic this week for our classroom, thanks to an amazing opportunity I have next week. My class went crazy over the new books.

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Next week, I will be giving Scholastic some feedback about their Book Clubs. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and any suggestions you have for me to take to them! :) If you have a couple of minutes, can you pretty pretty please answer these for me?

- Do you use Scholastic Book Clubs? If not, why not?

- What is your general feeling about Book Clubs this year? Has it changed since last year?

- What feedback have students/ parents given you about the program?

- What do you think of the online ordering system?

- What, if anything, do you do to encourage participation?

- How do you tie technology to literacy in your classroom?

- Do you use Scholastic’s app Storia? If so, what are your thoughts?

- What do you use teacher rewards, bonus points, coupons, etc. for?

- Do you have any other praise, complaints, suggestions, questions, or comments for Scholastic Book Clubs?

I’m going to have a giveaway later this week, and commenting with your thoughts about Book Clubs will help you get more entries- plus, I will be taking your feedback straight to the source to help make Book Clubs work better for you!

Plus… it’s my birthday! Thanks in advance for helping me out! :)

7 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday and congrats on getting to see Phantom!
    ❀ Tammy
    Forever in First

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  2. Happy birthday!!!! Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy Phantom of the Opera!!!! Can't wait to hear about it!!! :)

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  3. I wish I was able to take advantage of Scholastic more, but parents at my school just aren't into it. One of the downsides at teaching at a super low income school =/
    I wish I was able to though because they have wonderful deals and I'm always sad that I can't get any bonuses or free $20 to spend. So I probably can't answer too many of your questions
    :(
    Liz
    Teaching in the Valley

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  4. Happy birthday Jenny!! All those kiddies on Sparkling must have been the icing on the (birthday) cake.

    All my love xx

    Emmy
    Daydreams with Miss D

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  5. I wish I were able to give you some feedback on bookclubs, but as I am not even a "real" teacher yet I don't know anything about them. What a wonderful opportunity to be able to speak straight to the source, though!

    And happy birthday! Phantom is one of my favorites; I hope you enjoy it!

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  6. Happy Belated Birthday! No on to the SBC questions....
    - Do you use Scholastic Book Clubs? Yes, I do monthly orders.

    - What is your general feeling about Book Clubs this year? Has it changed since last year? Hmmmm..... I don't know..... It's been ok and overall I've been satisfied. Sometimes the website causes frustrations and the sub pages (account page, bonus points page, etc.) don't update often enough- should be immediate in my opinion. As far as changes since last year, I think the bonus point change was one of my biggest complaints- all the items in the bonus point catalog went up DRASTICALLY! I've loved the $20 in free books promo recently and prefer the format of these promotions this year- automatic rather than needing a coupon code.

    - What feedback have students/ parents given you about the program?
    Overall I think my students/parents are satisfied. I have a handful of families who participate/purchase books monthly.

    - What do you think of the online ordering system?
    So much better from the old days of calling in, faxing in, or mailing in orders. However it's not without a hitch. I've encountered a few issues and as mentioned above I wish the sub pages matched and updated immediately. I like the addition of emails sent tome when parents place an order, but just this weekend for example, there must have been a glitch as that wasn't working (nor have I received my confirmation emails for the two orders I placed this weekend).

    - What, if anything, do you do to encourage participation?
    I send one or two reminder emails to my families and just point out the deals- $5 book coupon, great prices.

    - How do you tie technology to literacy in your classroom?
    I use the Daily 5/CAFE framework and utilize iPods for my Listen to Reading activities. We have a set of iPads we can check out from the library so I do that every once in awhile too- mainly for word work.

    - Do you use Scholastic’s app Storia? If so, what are your thoughts?
    I've checked it out, but haven't really used it. A co-teacher of mine LOVES it for her most deliberate readers.

    - What do you use teacher rewards, bonus points, coupons, etc. for?
    I save my bonus points up for big things- two years ago I got an iMac for my son. My next goal was an iPad- I've passed that goal, but want to wait until next year in hopes that SBC will have the most recent model or maybe even the mini (hopefully the points won't triple again!- geesh!) I use the coupons for books for my classroom (especially for Daily 5- the class sets (6 or more) of some of the books are great), books with CDs, and some instructional materials.

    - Do you have any other praise, complaints, suggestions, questions, or comments for Scholastic Book Clubs? 1. PLEASE don't increase the bonus point values of the bonus point items again! It's ridiculous that the computer I got two years ago for around 30K points is now 60K (or more!). When I inquired about this SBC said it would be easier for teachers to earn points now that they are all combined. While I like this feature, I don't think I've earned points any faster. 2. Continue to work on the website!

    Feel free to contact me if you have questions about any of these responses. mmuntean@friendsbalt.org

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  7. Do you use Scholastic Book Clubs? If not, why not? YES! Love them

    - What is your general feeling about Book Clubs this year? Has it changed since last year? I didn't see them this year but last year they were as similar as years past.

    - What feedback have students/ parents given you about the program? students enjoy the chance to walk over to the fair. Most bring plenty of money from home for more than one book.

    - What do you think of the online ordering system? I like it as a parent.

    - What, if anything, do you do to encourage participation? Only ask for books that are listed on a wishlist. I leave my wishlist in the book fair so anyone can pick it up and offer a classroom donation. I usually buy books for my daughters' classrooms too.

    - How do you tie technology to literacy in your classroom? iPad and projector. Videos of SchoolHouse Rock on TV and DVD player.

    - Do you use Scholastic’s app Storia? If so, what are your thoughts? I don't know what it is.

    - What do you use teacher rewards, bonus points, coupons, etc. for? To buy more classroom books

    - Do you have any other praise, complaints, suggestions, questions, or comments for Scholastic Book Clubs? None.

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