SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
The Scholastic Book Fair is a great fundraiser for the school. We usually have two
fairs each year – typically held the first week in December and the first week in
June. We opt for the cash only reward – which gives us 30% of net sales (approx.
$5100) i.e. around $1500 per fair. Additionally, we get 10% of product back after
the second fair (around $500 worth of books) – as a reward for hosting two book
fairs in the school year.
Chairperson – Job Description
At beginning of the school year, get the dates of the Parent/Teacher Interviews
and organise with Scholastics to have our book fair that week. The second fair is
usually the first week of June. The Scholastics contact is Dawn Goodall
(604 538 0700 x225). We also need to give them our enrolment figures – broken
down into totals for grades K-5 and 6&7. The fair is always delivered on the Friday
before the fair and is collected the following Friday.
Five weeks before fairCall Scholastics and confirm delivery, order the wireless debit machine, the Clifford costume and any additional modules. Make sure you order the preview box. Make sure they send less “preschool” stuff and more for older readers, Books for Boys, and lots of pencils, school tools etc. – we sell a lot of that.
Four weeks before fairMake up advertising sheet (dates, times and location with relevant logo) and send to First Friday Flyer and Highlander people. Put a request for volunteers in those mail outs.
Three weeks before fair Put up the first posters around the school and put out the books from the preview box in the library glass show case.
Two weeks before fairStart volunteer sign up sheet – update it on an ongoing basis.
Friday before deliverySend home appropriate flyers with students (grades 6 and 7 get different ones). Put in teachers’ mailboxes in school office.Order the float from the treasurer. Ask for extra roll up papers so you can roll up coins as you go.
Monday before deliveryPut up the Clifford volunteer sheet by the water taps upstairs and tell the grade 7s about it.
Make up Classroom Wish List and make +/- 20 photocopies.
Check volunteer status – and remind volunteers.
Friday before fairThe Fair is delivered. Collect the keys to the cases and the debit/credit wireless machine from school office. The debit/credit wireless machine needs to be charged overnight before the first session on Monday morning .
After school set up the fair in the library. The cases are numbered and ideally they start with the younger ages and progress to the older books - but this is not always the case, so they may need to be arranged out of order. You also need to remove several chairs and a few tables from the library. Two or three tables are used for displaying the books. You may need some smaller boxes for height variation. Cover them all with the plastic table covers. Try to group the books appropriately. You do not have to put everything out at once – you can keep things in their boxes under the tables – and restock daily. Keep all the boxes, as everything needs to be returned. Put up all the arrows around the school and posters saying that the fair is now on.Number posters and display around the fair. Put advertising posters on the sandwich boards. (which are kept in the storeroom near the library). Send out e-mail to volunteers – attach volunteer schedule if you want. During the fair, you can change the posters accordingly – “Last Day” etc.
During the fair, you will need:
Post it notes – for posters, holds and pricing
Elastic bands for posters
Plastic bags for purchases (perhaps baggies for erasers, bookmarks etc.?)
Pencils for competition, also a decorated box for the Draw
Pens for credit card purchases, cheques etc. (made out to Highlands School PAC)
Highlighter for marking receipts on exiting
Adding machine with printer for receipts
Tape for sticking price lists, book fair guidelines etc.
Holds
Find a good spot to keep holds. Tell the students that things will only be held until
after school on Tuesday. Then put things back on the floor. No holds after
Wednesday. Try not to sell the last copy of any product – you can re-order
everything that is on the Re-order list (although you may want to draw
the line at erasers etc. – it is up to you!). Put Last Copy tags on bottom copies of
books.
Re-Orders
You can take orders for anything that is listed on the Re-Order sheet that comes
with the Fair – even posters etc. - until the end of lunchtime on the Thursday.
When someone orders something, they need to pay for it and the cashier will give
them a receipt for the order, making a note of the child or parent’s name and of
their classroom or telephone number. The Re-Order sheet also gives the location of
the books within the cases – so is useful in locating a specific title. After the
Thursday lunchtime session,
Door Prize
Set up a box for collecting door prize entries. After the fair on Wednesday, empty
box and remove any duplicates, then have someone draw a winning entry – that
student wins $25 worth of books for themselves and $25 worth of books for their
classroom. Leave their name in the office for the announcement on the
Thursday morning. They need to come in and choose their books that day – as
does their teacher.
Classroom Wish Lists
Make up blank forms – see example – and make about 20 copies. Teachers will
(hopefully) put down a few titles they would like. Some parents will purchase some
of these – just make sure they cross off any requests that have been purchased
and give them the “Gift of Reading” bookplates if they want. Scholastic allows us to
use $60 worth of books to promote the fair – we usually choose onebook from each
teacher’s list (to encourage them to continue filling them out). Putting up notices –
along the lines of “Parents! Have you checked out the Classroom Wish Lists? You
might find a great gift for your child’s teacher” - on the Tuesday or Wednesday
morning may help!
Each Sales Session
At the end of each sales session, remove excess coins and credit/debit slips,
cheques and excess bank notes (leave about $100 in notes). Ideally, two people
should sign off on this – putting the cash in a baggie and agreeing and signing off on
a total at the end of each session. Keep the money in a safe place. Two people
should count the totals at the end of the Fair, as per Highlands PAC procedures.
The cash box and wireless debit/credit machine can be locked in the office during
the school day. The wireless machine needs to be recharged each night.
Float
This is ordered from the treasurer at least a week in advance:
One toonie roll$50
One loonie roll$25
One quarter roll$10
One dime roll$ 5
One nickel roll$ 2
One five dollar bill$ 5
One extra toonie$ 2
One extra loonie$ 1
Total $ 100
Final Day of Fair
After lunchtime session is over, compile and fax complete order in to Scholastics
before 2 pm – and those books will be delivered the next day when the Fair is
collected. (You need to have compiled the orders prior to Thursday – so that this is
not a huge issue.)
Product Bonus (only applies to second Fair)
Mr Ewan chooses some books from the Fair, although this is an inexact science, since we cannot calculate how much we can take until the Fair is finished and we have a Final total. The value of the free books allowance is calculated as (10% of the net sales) x 1.05.
For example, in June 2008, the gross sales were $5507.98, net sales were $5133.44, so the book allowance was $513.34 x 1.05 = $539
Closing the Fair
Once all sales are complete, return books to correct spots in the cases if possible – or put in the boxes they came in. Return all the boxes that came. Remove the books from the library display case and return them in the Preview box. Return all signage etc. Lock the cases and leave in the corridor, with Clifford Box etc. on top of the cases. Take the key and Wireless machine home with you. Two people need to count all the money, cheques, debit/credit receipts – the machine prints off a batch total for the Fair – and figure out the total. Give the treasurer all the cash and cheques for deposit to Highlands School PAC, and use the worksheet to figure out the amount of the cheque that Highlands sends to Scholastics Book Fairs.Send the cheque in the envelope – along with all the credit/debit receipts, batch total printout, questionnaire and worksheet. The questionnaire is the only place where you state that you used the $50 Door Prize and the $60 promotional allowance.
Friday after the fair
First thing in the morning, leave the wireless machine and bookcase keys in the office for Scholastic. They deliver the orders when they come to pick up the fair. Sort them out and deliver to the children in their classrooms – or to the parents.
Acknowledgements, thanks etc.
Write up the final news release re. the Fair – giving the sales, profit for the school etc. Congratulate the door prize winner and remember to thank all the volunteers!
Send this to Janey and the Highlander and First Friday people.
The next page is useful for volunteers at the fair – it should be edited and taped to the countertop.
Book Fair Guidelines
*PLEASE MAKE SURE PARENTS ARE QUIET IF THERE IS A CLASS IN THE LIBRARY DURING 9:00 – 9:30 SESSION*
Door Person:
1. ENTERING - Ensure kids entering Book Fair leave backpacks at the door
2. LEAVING - Check purchases against paper receipt, mark receipt with red pen. On a rainy day at lunchtime, limit the numbers – and only let kids in when others leave.
Cashier:
1. Responsible for totalling sales and providing purchasers with a printed receipt.
2. Take orders (and pre-payments) for any back-ordered items to be delivered at the end of the fair – but only do this until lunchtime Thursday. Fill in yellow/white duplicate order form and give purchaser yellow copy.
3. LAST COPY – Do not sell the last copy, but take order and pre-payment for theitem – it will be delivered on the Friday of the fair.
4. HOLDS - We can put things on hold, but things will be returned to the floor on Tuesday night.
5. No holds Wednesday or Thursday.
WIRELESS DEBIT/CREDIT MACHINE:
Take name and telephone number for parents using Debit (just in case there’s any problem), also with imprinted credit card slips.
Third Helper:
1. Assist cash person with pricing, posters, crowd controletc.
2. Help find specific requests.
Try one line-up – one main one for everything, BUT with second person (at poster station) able to take cash payments for posters/pens etc.
(Just as a means of speeding up the payment process).
Contact numbers (in case of volunteer no-shows):