Kelly's Classroom: St. Monica School Book Fair

Get out to Bob. He's over at St. Monica's. Hello, you're hiding, Bob. I'm hiding. It's Taco Tuesday. I'm reading my books. I'm here live in South Philadelphia, St. Monica's for the annual book fair. This is a big fundraiser and every single class gets a chance to come down. I remember back in the day, they would send home the flyer and you'd check out what book you want. Now, they invite the parents to come in. You pick out a book, Taco Tuesday. How about Diary of a Wimpy Kid, mac and cheese. I wonder if they're having mac and cheese for lunch here, but it's one of their big fundraisers and you got to have, this is like the gift shop going out where you got to get some stuff, some glitter. So we're going to show you what they got live from South Philadelphia. Everybody's getting books. Come on. Homework. Homework. Right father? And we love to see, like, them excited about physical books. Here we go. Stay with us. All right. I know. You can flip through as opposed to just screens, so that's wonderful. All right. All right. All right. All right. I remember the book fair came to school, All right. All right. you know, but there's toys and trinkets, too. All right. All right. That's where I went. They'll get you with that. Posters, they used to have that, too. Fun. Do your kids do that? Oh, yeah. They get all excited, and they remind us a million times, the book fair's coming up. Don't you need money? All right, I'm at the lunch table with the first grade. St. Monica's in South Philadelphia. Who brought their money for the book fair? Yay! Did your parents ever give you money for the school book fair? It was always a big deal. You got to have enough there. Book fair memories. They led to countless social media posts like these here on boardpanda.com. Quote, my addiction to buying things I don't need started at the Scholastic Book Fair. And this meme of Aziz Ansari's Tom Haverford from Parks and Rec. Cash in hand, my kid walking into school after I've given her 20 bucks for the book fair. I wonder where that will carry you this year, though. Oh, I know, 20. Well, now you just tap or whatever, you know, maybe. I don't know. Make it easier. All right, so Bob's there having fun with the kids. Hey, gang. Yeah, good morning to you, everybody. Come on, this is always my fun day at school when everybody had a chance to come down into the cafeteria and purchase your own book, a real, actual book, not something on an iPhone or an iPad. And this tradition goes back years, and it's a big fundraiser here at St. Monica's in South Philadelphia. Okay, so your name is Violet. What book did you pick? Caffe Bar. Cappy Barrick Cuties. Oh, that's a good one. What's your name? Oh, you're a Gianna. What did you pick? Squoosh and Seeks. All right. And over here, Harper, what did you go for? Flat Stanley. I love Flat Stanley. You guys are doing good. What do you have? Ready to roar. Paw Patrol. Do you know what I do from Halloween? No, you're already. Halloween was yesterday. We don't worry about that. No. Are they going to be from yesterday, from Halloween? Yeah, they're still working on Halloween. Hey, sister, how are you? God bless you. This is the kindergarten and first graders in here, right? Yep. We have a few preschoolers, too, floating around. So tell me about it. This is a big fundraiser for the kids. This is. For the school, I should say. It is. And you know what? It's so great to have hard books, as you said, trying to stay away from the digital age, right? Yep. And have that book that you can... Actually feel and touch and turn the pages and you have so many categories here and something for every single age Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Sonics You have stuff back here the Barbies the LeBrons. You got the sports stuff. I mean the boys love that stuff, right? Pete the Cat my grandsons love Pete the Cat Cat. Yeah, Peppa Pig. Peppa the Pig right and then now does this also give the teachers a chance to give them something to read? That's not a history book Or a science book. Not knocking that. No, no, I know you're not, Bob. I love that. It's a history book, sister. It's all important, right? Right. But it's something fun. Yeah. And it's good to help the imagination, right? I love it. And get them thinking, right? So how many students do you have in the school together? We have 530 kids. Woo! You have two different buildings, I just found out here today. I always come to the other one. You're right. So they're all going to come down one class at a time. Right. And then just like the gift shop at Disney World. They've got to go through the gift shop on the way. Of course, of course. And they have to get, you know, all the gadgets, right? Gadgets, yeah. All the gadgets. The squishies. Care Bears. Now, look, they're making a comeback, right? Yeah, Care Bears are good. Care Bears. What do you have here? What's this stuff? Chilly friends, all right. So we hope they get a book, and then whatever money they have left... They can get a little... They can buy something out of here. ...squishy and... Journal. I love it. Yes. And there's the cash register over there. Old school. We have the cash registers over there, yeah. So is this open just for the students of St. Monica's here or can others come in? Yes, for the parish community. The parish community. That's great. And then what do we use the money for? So, it's part of our fundraising efforts. Obviously, we're trying to continually update. So, we just finished getting air conditioning. So, that's great. I know. Our next thing is bathrooms, renovating bathrooms. Okay. You know, the fun stuff, Bob. I hear you. I hear you. Well, listen, this is great. And thanks for giving the kids a chance to actually have a real book in their hand. Yes. This is going to be good. All right. So, we're live in St. Monica's again. This is what it's all about. I used to love it, guys. You know. You got the flyer, got sent home earlier in the week. You picked what book you want, and maybe it came to you in the mail. But now they get a chance to actually walk around. The parents all gave them money, right? Oh, the parents give them money. Good morning. Lots of money. Lots of money. Some parents do come as well. Right, so some of the younger ones. And it gives them a chance to... To hold on to that money, be responsible for it. Exactly. And you know they're not going to go back to the class with a dime in their pocket. You've got to spend it. You know that we're spending every dime. You've got to spend it. Sister, thank you so much. Thank you, Bob. Live from St. Monica's in South Philadelphia, we're going shopping today. Books for everybody! Everybody! What a great, how much fun. You bring back so many memories. Thanks, Bob. Happy reading. My kids would always get the Lego books that had the Lego figurines. To your point about getting the trinket, like you'd swear they would just buy the $20 book for like the two little like figures that they would get. Exactly. That's what I paid for. Let's get to Bob because we have to get back to the school book fair. That's a good one. You can probably color that in. Oh, yeah, the capybara. That's good. Hey, everybody. We're live this morning at St. Monica's in South Philadelphia. The annual book fair. Remember back in the day, you got a chance to get a book. Dad or mom sent you in with some money, and you went shopping. Here comes the first grade. Every grade piling through physical books. This is the hot one, Dog Man. Is it Flat Stanley? We've got Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid, all kinds of good stuff. We're going to talk to Sister Melissa. It's a big fundraiser, live from South Philly, when we come right back.