Making the Most of Scholastic Book Clubs!

So before I found out I had celiac disease my friends and I used to go to Olive Garden for dinner. They would tease me because I figured out a system that worked for me and I would always leave with a huge bag of food. I would order my meal with the soup. I would fill up on two bowls of soup and take two bites of my third bowl then take it to go. By then I had my fill of soup and bread and took my whole meal and the leftover bread to go as well. It was an amazing system.

So why am I telling you this on a blog about books? Well, everything has a system and today we are going to discuss how to make the most of scholastic book clubs/reading clubs.

I am a huge fan of scholastic book clubs! Anyone who knows me knows that I am the book club queen. I love getting a new book box in and opening it up to reveal so many exciting titles. It can be easy to spend a small fortune.  However, just like at Olive Garden then are some tricks you can use to make the most of your book orders.

The most important thing to remember is set goals. Goals… for a book order might sound crazy. But as a teacher think what do you want to leave this year with? Do you want furniture? Technology? An amazing listening center? Books for your students? Scholastic can get you all of that.

At the beginning of every year, I make a budget. I always plan to spend a lot upfront to save a lot in the long run. I read once in a blog how the teacher said she always spends $300 in the August/September catalog. She is a genius. If you spend $300 dollars at one time in August/September you get $10,000 bonus points. That is almost enough for a classroom rug!

So what do you spend this insane amount of money on? Well, two words. Birthday Coupons!!!!!

I spend all $300 on birthday coupons. They cost $34 for 32 coupons. I use one pack for my students birthdays and the rest to build up my library, get give away books for my students, and donate books to those who need. Each coupon is good for up to a $5 book or book pack. 

Photo from Scholastic Book Club 

I am able to get almost 9 packs of these babies with my $300 dollars. The other amazing thing about these is you can use them for the scholastic warehouse sales. You are not able to use bonus points during those sales so this is a huge saving! 

Photo from Scholastic Book Club 

So now I have a ton of book club coupons, 10,000 bonus points and $30 to spend right now. I can use that $30 on books, packs, or bonus point items. 

On top of getting all those amazing coupons and 10,000 bonus points they always have another incentive. Sometimes is a book for every student in your class, sometimes its more coupons. No matter what it pays to hit that magic number! 

The next big tip I have is to make a budget plan. For instance, this year if you spent $25 a month or more in one order you got bonus points that went up incrementally.  It was 100 point in January and by May it was all the ways up to  2018 bonus points. 

The last tip I have is to make a wishlist of all the books you want for your students. I put everything I want in my cart then transfer to it a word document. 

As I use my birthday coupons or pay for books I highlight them on my list. This helps me know what I ordered and what will give me the greatest bang for my buck. 

So I keep mentioning all these bonus points. You might be asking what can I use them for? Well scholastic lets you get books with them, listening centers, and even furniture.