HIT: Adopt-a-book (part 3)

[Gayle Hodur <ghodur@REDSHIFT.COM>]

I would try to get them to consider a wishlist based on
teacher/student/LMS requests so that they can see that they support the
curriculum or literacy (They will get used if a student or teacher wants
them).  Also, that way they come processed and that much of the
district's money (their tax dollars) will be spent on providing live,
professional services and not on cataloguing, cutting and pasting (book
processing) as the book jobber will provide the processing.  Explain how
they will get on the shelves faster that way too, because they won't have
to be processed--they will arrive ready for use.  A birthday club could
encourage parents to donate books from the wishlist.

Joanne
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There was a very successful "Adopt-a-Book" project in place in one
elementary school where I worked.  It was a little different than the one
your are proposing in that it was on-going (sort of) and sponsored by the
media center, not the PTA. It went like this:

First write a letter explaining the program to parents.  Hold these
letters until the first shipment of books arrive.  Second, create an
"order" form for students to take home who wish to "adopt a book". Hold
these until you put the following into play:

When the first shipment of new books (ordered as the regular order by the
LMS) arrived, they were put on *reserve* in the media center on the "NEW"
book shelves.  I had a fixed schedule so saw all classes each week.  I
would randomly divide the books by the # of tables in the classroom area
of the LMS and students would have about 6 min. to look at the books on
their table.  Then the *students* would move to the next table.  We did
this several times during the period.

Students could fill out an "order form" for a book they wanted to
adopt...if the wanted to do so.  This order form asked for: their
name, homeroom, title of the book, subject of the book (since parents
won't usually see it), cost, and inscription desired for the bookplate (I
think the limit
was 30 words).  Students took the order form and the parent letter home
to see if mom and/or dad would let them do this.  The book stayed on the
shelf until a check actually came in and was used in the same way with the
other classes.

When a check does come back with the order form, I pulled the book, typed
the bookplate as per instructions on the order form, stuck in a bookmark
made of cut ribbon, and a preprinted "thank you" card.  I then checked
the book out to the student for 3 weeks (as opposed to the usual 2 weeks)
and delivered it to his/her teacher's mailbox for the student.

I think I did not do the program with K&1 because they just could not
figure out why the book was not theirs to keep if they paid for it:)
Good question!  I explained to the others the advantages:
        -they would be 1st to check out the book
        -they got to keep it longer than usual
        -if they came back 10 years from not that bookplate w/their name
         would still be in the book
        -the monies they donated would let us buy other good books.

After about 2 weeks (it took one for all students to see the books in
class), I let anyone check out any book left and business was back to
normal.  Do be sure that kids understand that eventually *anyone* can
check out *any* book!  Some thought that they could never check out a
book someone else had donated.

It was interesting to see how it all played out.  I had one student empty
his piggybank and bring in pennies, nickels and dimes to adopt a book he
*really* wanted!  I had two students who were arguing over a book they
both wanted to adopt decide to adopt it together!  Each brought in 1/2
the money and they decided between them who would get it the first 1.5
weeks and who would get it the second:)

This was a very, very successful program!  One year I collected enough
money to replace our entire collection on space (planets, rockets, etc)
as most of the existing books were 10-15 years old!!

If you do not want to do your program this way, I have also heard of the
media specialist keeping a list of books he/she wants.  Parents then
select a title and purchase it at the bookstore. I would think the
turnout would be better the other way as all they had to do was write a
check:)

Two other things I forgot to include above:   1) we did this everything a
large shipment of books arrived (sometimes I would hold small shipments
and incorporate them with other shipments to make it worthwhile and
sometimes I held even large shipments if we had just done an "adopt a
book" program)  2)I also held them if an event was coming up when parents
would be in the school so that they could see the books.

Sally Lantz

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Gayle Hodur
ghodur@redshift.com