Book vending machine adds excitement to reading
By:
Jill Meier, Journal editor
Jill Meier/BV Journal
RBE fourth-grader Madi Bobzien was the first student to select a book from the book vending machine that’s located in the school library.
A custom-designed vending machine at Robert Bennis Elementary is kicking out treats in trade for golden tokens.
And there’s not a single grain of sugar involved.
Instead, kids can now plunk golden tokens into Inchy’s Bookworm vending machine in exchange for an age-appropriate book of their choice. The vending machine and its contents are thanks to the RBE PTA.
Although RBE students took notice of the new addition to the school library upon its arrival, RBE principal Kristin Hofkamp officially unveiled it to the school’s 523 students this week.
“We’re just kicking it off,” PTA president Lindsay Laughlin said, “but the kids are excited and they’re always looking at it.”
The PTA at RBE “borrowed” the idea from elementary schools in Sioux Falls and Harrisburg that have similar book vending machines and was first suggested last year by 2019 PTA president Becky Peterson. Laughlin, who took charge of the PTA this year, picked up where Peterson left off.
“It’s a great thing for our school,” she said.
The vending machine has been custom-designed with The Lynx Way logo and program character traits on the machine’s exterior.
The machine has been stocked with about 200 books, Laughlin said, and the supply of books came from proceeds realized from the PTA’s fall and spring book fairs. Through the sale of books, the PTA earns scholastic dollars, which in turn covers the cost of books for the vending machine. Laughlin said the PTA has more books to restock the machine with.
Every student will receive a golden token in their birthday month, and students who have summer birthdays will get to celebrate their half-birthdays with a token. For those students who had birthdays in August and September, they, too, will receive a golden token.
“It’s a great way to encourage literacy and to get kids excited about reading,” said PTA secretary Elly Swartz.
Adds Hofkamp, “This is another great way to foster a love of reading.”
But the PTA is doing even more to help foster that love for reading. Among their efforts was the book fair, which was held outdoors.
“It was freezing cold, super windy and crazy busy,” Laughlin said, “but it’s how we fund the book vending machine with scholastic dollars.”
Laughlin said the machine is stocked with an assortment of titles to appeal to the assortment of kids, and it is the PTA’s hope the vending machine helps to encourage students to read more and potentially share their books with one another.
COVID, Laughlin said, has hindered the PTA from carrying out all of their usual programs. But one event that’s still on tap is their Oct. 16 Fun Run. Students are challenged to run 35 laps, and for every lap they complete, they solicit donations from family and friends. Every student receives a t-shirt, sponsored by local and area businesses. For every lap each student completes, it is checked off on the back of their t-shirt.
Profits from the event go back to supporting RBE teachers, students and the school itself, Laughlin said.
Prior to the fall book fair, the PTA staged a coin challenge between all of the classrooms. The donations added up to more than $2,000, which allowed teachers and their students to shop the book fair for books for their classroom.
“It was a record year, the most money raised ever,” Laughlin said.
Becky Peterson has served as the PTA fundraising chairwoman for the past five-plus years, along with serving as the group’s president or treasurer. She’s amazed by the success the approximate 85-member group has made.
“I’ve seen the PTA go from an annual non-profit revenue status of approximately $20,000 per year to over $60,000 per year,” she said.
And those efforts make Skyzone and Skate City nights possible.
Other endeavors the PTA has accomplished is the addition of bottle-filler water fountain stations throughout the school, which have never been more vital than this year with the fountains turned off because of COVID, supplementing the Angel Fund for negative balance lunch accounts, an outside book walk, the Bennis art mural in the commons and thousands of dollars gifted to teachers for their out-of-pocket classroom expenses.
“We have absolutely amazing parent volunteers at RBE,” Peterson said. “And Mrs. Hofkamp has obviously been such a great part of the PTA team, we can’t thank her enough.”
