Students at Newton Elementary School last week were treated to shiny signs, posters and bright red cases that accompany the Scholastic Book Fair to schools across the country. Throughout the week, students and parents were given the opportunity to stop by the fair, browse the books and help the school district raise funds for the library.
Tiwari McLain, district librarian, said the Scholastic Book Fair gives districts a credit for books sold at the school’s fair. The school can then use that credit to buy books for its library or classrooms.
“We can buy books straight from them,” she said. “We’re trying to raise money because we need a lot of new books.”
Many of the books in Newton Elementary School’s library are older and need to be replaced, McLain said. The Scholastic Book Fair helps offset some of that cost.
However, purchasing books is not the only thing the Scholastic Book Fair offered. McLain said she also used the fair to teach students about counting money, making purchases and help them understand sales tax.
“Hopefully these are lessons they will take out into the real world with them,” she said. “At the end of the day, that’s what all this is about. We want them to take everything we give them here and be able to apply it to something else.”
While students were given a chance to come in and buy books, McLain said the school knew some of the students didn’t have the resources to afford it. However, she said, books are for everyone, not just those who have money.
“We have what is known as a book tree, kind of like an angel tree,” she said. “We had teachers give us the names of a male and female student and their interests, and we assigned numbers to those students. When the fair is over, we’ll put some books together for them.”
After all, McLain said, everybody loves new books.
