Think Scholastic Book Orders are Just for Little Kids?

 Remember those great Scholastic book order forms you'd get in elementary school and you couldn't wait to get home and show your mom which books you wanted? Then you waited what seemed like weeks to get those crisp, shiny, brand new books from your teacher. Or remember when your gymnasium or library was transformed into a book store? There would be piles upon piles of books to peruse. I could have spent hours at the book fairs if it weren't for my siblings, who did not seem to share my passion for reading. Those were always my favorite days when I was a kid.

As my son made his way through elementary, I once again got to live vicariously through him, still just as excited when he brought a book order form home. I think his teachers caught on pretty quickly that I was a sucker for them because they began sending them home more and more frequently.

As he got into middle school the fliers became more mature, of course, and I realized that many of my high school students would like some of the books featured. But isn't Scholastic Book Clubs just for kids? I wondered.

Nope! I went online and found out that they have not only the TAB flyers featuring books for grades 7 and up, but TeenRC/BookBeat supplemental flyers with additional book choices just for teens. So I did a little survey of my classes and asked my students if any of them would be interested in ordering books from Scholastic. Most of them were as surprised as I was to find out they had books for teenagers. I signed up as a teacher and they quickly sent me flyers to pass out to my students. My first order had very few students participating. But when those books came in and I passed them out, many students were curious to see which books people ordered. Several asked if I would order more. Of course!

One section of my classroom library.

Build Your Classroom Library on Bonus Points!
I am still addicted to ordering books and have been able to build a pretty good size classroom library from books I either purchased from Amazon.com or Scholastic, and many I earned free from Scholastic's Bonus Points Rewards for teachers. Every time a parent/student orders a book, you earn bonus points which can be used at any time for free books. Some months they will even multiply your bonus points. In my last book order my colleague and I were able to pick out over 30 books on bonus points alone! Now, I must admit that most of the books in my class library are those I ordered from Amazon, or were in my personal collection, or students/staff members donated to my class library. But probably at least 50 were earned on bonus points just in the last two years.

Last year I pre-ordered my classroom sets of Mockingjay ($13 per book, plus a free mockingjay pin) and supplemented my sets of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire with paperbacks for $7 each.

Which books are popular with teens?
Right now I have some students who cannot get enough of the soldier-related stories, pictured below. Other favorites have been the Uglies series, Vladimir Tod series, the Twilight series, the Harry Potter series, the Mortal Instruments series, and any by authors like Rick Riordan, James Patterson, Chris d'Lacey, Anthony Horowitz, Sarah Dessen, Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult, and John Green. Of course, The Hunger Games trilogy has still been the favorites by my students.The nice thing about Scholastic book orders is how affordable they are for students. Most of mine pay for the books themselves, so getting free shipping at the lowest price is a huge deal for them.

Some of my male students cannot read enough war-related books.

This is definitely a favorite for many boys.

Want to sign up for Scholastic Book Club for Teachers?
Sign up here to start offering your students/parents book orders. They can order online (you may have to call them to get a code) or through the traditional fliers. Scholastic Book Club Enrollment for Teachers or Book Club Login Page

I have to give a shout out to Paul at TeachersPayTeachers, as well, for creating a site for teachers to earn extra income. In today's newsletter he mentioned ways in which teachers were spending their earnings from lesson sales. One of them was to buy books and supplies for their classrooms. I spend a large chunk of my earnings on books for my classroom since building a library isn't really part of our department budget. And I am not alone; almost all the sellers I know buy many things for their classes.  So many students around the world benefit directly from both Scholastic Book Clubs and TeachersPayTeachers. It's just another way teachers have found a way to give back to their students and to the community.

Teaching Vocabulary with Creativity

Are you looking for a better way to introduce or review vocabulary words? Here's an activity you can use with any unit that is quick and effective, versatile, and encourages creativity in your students.

I call it "Vocabulary Scattergories," which is a play on the game Scattergories®. If you're familiar with the game, you know that you have lists of categories, such as "Things found in the kitchen," then you roll an alphabet die to choose the letter. Finally, you have a set amount of time to write down as many words that begin with that letter for each category.

Vocabulary Scattergories is slightly different. Students have their set vocabulary lists. Then, they choose a category and must find some connection to the word. This allows the student to think creatively (or "outside the box") and have some fun with words.  The categories are random but include things students can relate to, such as "Something you find in a teenager's locker" or "Something you find under a child's bed" and even "Character from the novel Twilight." Sometimes it is hard to find a connection and they must stretch for one. But that process really pushes their creativity and thinking skills–something they (we) all need to do more often.

To help them form their comparisons, I usually give them a prompt, such as:
____________ [insert vocabulary word] is/are like _____________________[insert category] because ______________________.

For chapter 1 in The Hunger Games, I would assign each student (or for larger classes, pairs of students) one vocabulary word. Next, they draw a category from the bucket. I give them a few minutes (the older the student, the less time they need) to complete the task in writing, then ask that they share their sentence with the class.

An example sentence may be:
Entrails are like cold leftover spaghetti [item you find in a refrigerator] because both are long, stringy, gooey, and not very appetizing.

Allow students to ask one another why they made that connection. In this case, the student clarified to the class that entrails refer to human or animal intestines that have been removed and/or exposed. (Insert groans and "Gross!" from the crowd here.)

This activity shouldn't be used for every chapter or even every unit.  I try to use it sparingly so it remains a "fun" activity rather than a chore. If you need Common Core vocabulary lessons, I have two packets for Common Core Vocabulary Graphic Organizers by grade levels (they are editable):
Common Core Vocabulary Activities/Organizers for Grades 6-12
Common Core Vocabulary Activities/Organizers for Grades 2-5

USE THE VOCABULARY SCATTERGORIES FOR CHARACTER ANALYSIS
I have used the categories in other ways, though. You can use the same prompt but instead of vocabulary words, use character names. (I created "character tags" that uses this same concept, except instead of categories I use pictures.) This is a great way to review characters before a test.


An example for character review is:
_______________[character name] is like a/an ________________[category] because __________________.

Katniss is like a grapefruit [type of fruit] because even though she looks like a sweet orange, she can be sour.

Other ways to use "Vocabulary Scattergories":
• Daily Bell-ringer for Word of the Day: To add some fun to your word of the day activities, have a student draw a category for the entire class. Each student writes a sentence comparing that word to something from the category. (The students would still need to look up the word of the day for the definition, but instead of writing out the definition, they would form a comparison instead.)

• Word Game: Have five-ten minutes left of class? Have students use scratch paper and draw a category. Say it out loud and give them one minute to write as many words they can think of that fit that category. Make it harder by choosing a letter the words must start with (like Scattergories®). For large groups, allow teams of students to work together. 

• Poetry writing: Have students draw a category and write a poem based on that topic OR each line of a poem must be a new category.

• Story Starters: Are students stumped writing short stories? Have them draw a category for inspiration.

• Longest Word Contest: Draw a category and see who can come up with the longest word relating to that category.

• Scrabble® with a Twist: Leave all the letter tiles face up. Each player takes a turn by drawing a category and forming a word relating to that category. They can draw tiles for each turn and only pick the amount of tiles they need for their word (blank tiles can be distributed to each player first or could be "purchased" with points). This encourages them to choose longer words, but also to think about words that relate to that category. It's a little bit easier for kids, yet encourages some creativity. When all the tiles are gone, the player with the most points wins.  For a real challenge, play Scrabble® the traditional way, but with the categories.

There are so many ways to use this activity. I copied mine onto colored paper and laminated them. I had a student office helper cut them with a paper cutter and I store them in plastic baggies. I usually dump them into a recycled bucket (laundry detergent, whipped cream, or margarine spread bowls work well) and have students draw from there so they can't see the categories as they choose.

Download the free preview or the separate FREE product link to try it out & see if you like it.

Inspire Creativity with Hunger Games Valentines

Novel Novice's Hunger Games Valentines

As Valentine's Day quickly approaches, why not have your students create unique Valentine cards, inspired by The Hunger Games or their favorite novel? This brilliant idea came from Novel Novice's excellent Hunger Games-inspired Valentines! (Check them out by clicking on the link.)


Use it as a class activity or assign as an enrichment project. Have your students create a Valentine that one character might send to another character, or use a quote from the literature in the design. This can work well during a poetry unit, as well; have students write short love poems on index cards and decorate them as Valentines.

You can find more of Novel Novice's literary Valentines here: http://novelnovice.com/features/downloads/valentines/ or here for younger students: http://www.mrsp.com/Activities.aspx.

And because I can rarely resist the temptation to do anything creative, here's one I created, Haymitch-inspired:

 

And another more generic one: 

 

Here they are in printable pages to cut & hand out. Works best if printed on card stock: