At the beginning of 2020, Berkeley County’s Nexton Elementary School’s PTA found themselves in the middle of a problem, albeit a very good one.
They had actually exceeded their fundraising goal from the previous year for teacher grants (fulfilling teacher’s wish lists), and they had to figure out what to do with that extra money.
This was an excellent problem to have, but still, a problem because how would they choose to spend $5,000? They didn’t have room for more equipment for the playground, and Shana Bourhill, PTA president at Nexton, said their equipment was fairly new anyway. There were any number of things they could do, but Bourhill saw something online that caught her eye.
“Some school in the middle of the country had purchased a book vending machine, and it was a huge hit,” she explained.
She presented it to the PTA board, and everyone was in agreeance that a surprise book vending machine would be perfect for presenting in the spring to teachers, staff and students. “We were going to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony and everything. We were so excited,” Bourhill said.
Then the pandemic happened. After ordering the vending machine in February from Global Vending Services in New York, instead of a spring delivery, it looked more like late June. Since the students were out of school anyway for the remainder of the year, Bourhill decided that obtaining the vending machine in the summer and surprising everyone at the beginning of the 2020/2021 school year would be just as perfect.
The vending machine, officially called Inchy’s Bookworm Vending Machine, is just like a regular drink or food vending machine, except it has been refurbished to hold books instead of snacks. Instead of money, it accepts special tokens given to students as rewards by their teachers.
“This was something cool and different to come back to school to,” Bourhill said.
What makes this special to students is that, unlike library books, they get to keep them. “They get to pick out whatever they want, and it is theirs to keep, which is really special.”
Media Specialist Dustin McConnell at Nexton Elementary School said, “You have to understand that many of these kids don’t have any books at home, so this is really exciting for them.”
It will be McConnell’s job to keep the vending machine stocked with books throughout the year. In October, he held an in-person and online Scholastic book fair where he used the money raised to purchase books for the vending machine.
“I believe I am stocked up for the year at this point, but you know, this is our first year with the vending machine, so I don’t know how quickly it will deplete,” he said. The school plans to hold another book fair in the spring.
Bourhill stocked the vending machine over the summer with newly donated books from parents.
McConnell will hand out four tokens a week to all the teachers, who will, in turn, give to select students as rewards each week.
“This will be something we can use as a reward for students for years and years to come,” McConnell said.
The vending machine has a variety of options for every grade and level of reading.
Deanna Jessup is an in-person 5th-grade teacher at Nexton Elementary. She said, “I had one student who wanted to get a book to read to her baby brother. I said, ‘go for it!’ I have seen this vending machine spark joy in students to want to read.”
Jessup said she keeps an eye out for four students each week that has shown exemplary behavior, and then at the end of the week, she rewards them with a token.
The book vending machine is a wonderful addition to Nexton Elementary because it motivates our students and enriches their love of reading. At Nexton, we promote positive behavior by saying we can “R.I.D.E. with Pride,” and now our students can read with pride too!”
Cynthia Montana teaches virtual 5th grade. She keeps a log of different things that she notices her students doing correctly in class each week. By the end of the week, she tallies the checkmarks to see which four students will get a token that week. They get checkmarks for participation, being on time, paying attention, etc.
She then emails the parents and schedules a time for the students to come after hours to use their token in the book vending machine, located next to the school library. “One of my students took 20 minutes to pick out his book,” she said.
She added that she loves the vending machine because it gets the students excited to learn. “They love having the opportunity to win. The book vending machine is another great way to build community in my virtual classroom, giving them a common connection.”
Bourhill has been approached by a middle school and some ministry groups to purchase their own book vending machines. “I see how much of an impact it has made on the Nexton Elementary community, but I didn’t realize the positive impact this would have on people outside of Nexton as well.”
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October 28, 2020 at 11:00AM
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