The elementary yearbook timeline, month by month
An elementary PTA yearbook runs on a simple rhythm: set up and start collecting photos in the fall, open ordering around November, do portraits in January and February, close photos in March, and approve the book in April or May so it arrives about three weeks later. Everything else is detail, and the table below puts each piece in its month.
This page is the when. For the how (recruiting helpers, getting photos out of parents’ phones, proofreading), read the first-time coordinator’s guide. The two are meant to be used side by side.
What happens in each month of the yearbook year?
Shift it a few weeks to fit your school calendar. The order holds.
| Month | The one thing that matters | Also this month |
|---|---|---|
| August | Sign up for the year (or confirm your vendor) | Find your last day of school; log in and check last year’s settings carried over |
| September | Set up your yearbook team and photo collection | Check contact and shipping addresses; share photo guidelines with teachers |
| October | Get the photo folder flowing | Set up ordering; check page count, cover and personalization; browse templates |
| November | Open ordering | Announce it in several channels; start a cover art contest or ads, if you want them |
| December | Quiet month: nudge teachers for fall photos | Confirm your last day of school; start teacher messages and 5th-grade quotes |
| January | Portraits: connect, review with teachers, correct | Pick the cover art winner; send families an order reminder |
| February | Finish portraits; remind families to order | Choose your template; chase optional content |
| March | Photo deadline (this month or next) | Last call for photos; cover, quotes and messages in |
| April | Build, review and approve the book | Check delivery address, final book count and extra copies before approving |
| May | Books arrive about 3 weeks after approval | Hand out books from the distribution list; fundraising balance arrives |
| June | Summer ordering, if your school offers it | Download any photos you want to keep; write notes for next year |
| July | New PTA officers take over | Hand over the yearbook; next year’s decisions start |
When should the yearbook start?
In August, but lightly. The fall work is setup, not design: a yearbook team, a photo folder, and an ordering link. September’s classroom photos are much harder to find by March than they are in September, so the one habit worth building early is getting teachers to drop photos into a shared folder as they take them.
If your school is starting from nothing, fix your last day of school first. Every later date is counted backwards from it.
When do schools choose a yearbook company?
Mostly in spring, for the following school year. Traditional vendors sign much of their school business in spring, and districts that buy formally often run requests for proposals from around March with awards by June. That means the chair who leaves in June often renews before handing over, and the new chair inherits a vendor they did not pick.
If you are new and wondering whether you can still change, check whether last year’s agreement renews by itself. Vendors with no multi-year term and no minimum can be chosen as late as August or September, and some schools switch mid-year. How to hand the job over, and what to ask in your first month.
When should ordering open, and when should it close?
Open in November. Most schools do. Some wait until January on purpose, and that is fine, but opening earlier gives families more time and gives you more chances to remind them. Before sharing the link, test it yourself: check the book price, any early-bird discount and the fundraising amount.
Close at your approval date, or a few days before it. Books are printed from the orders in hand when you approve, so the last order date cannot sit after approval. Printing and delivery then take about three weeks, which puts the last order date roughly three to four weeks before books arrive. Closing a few days before you approve gives your team time to check the final count and add extra copies for staff or the office. How many yearbooks to order.
At Rethink, family custom pages close on the same day as ordering, so families have one date to remember. Send that reminder twice. What custom and personalized pages are.
When is the photo deadline?
Usually March, sometimes early April. It is the day collecting stops and building starts. If your vendor drafts the book for you, anything you want in that draft should be in by then: event photos, the cover, 5th-grade quotes, teacher messages and any ads or dedications.
At Rethink, the photo deadline matters for First Draft. If your team is designing the whole book itself, keep collecting at whatever pace works. Either way, a late photo is not lost: you can still swap individual photos and add late events while you review.
When do portraits happen?
Picture day is usually in the fall. The portrait files tend to reach the yearbook team around January, once retakes are done. January and February are for turning those files into portrait pages and getting teachers to check names and classes. Ask teachers to send corrections back in one place, such as a shared spreadsheet, and expect to correct and regenerate more than once. That is normal, and much easier than finding the mistake in a printed book.
When do you approve the book, and when do books arrive?
Approve in April or May, depending on your last day of school. At Rethink this is the Book Seal Date, and it is worked out backwards from when books need to arrive, with time for your team to sort and hand them out before the last day.
Once you approve, printing and delivery take about three weeks. If approval slips, delivery slips with it. Before you press the button, check three things: the shipping address and who will receive the boxes, the final book count, and any extra copies.
A worked example, with round numbers. If your last day of school is Friday 4 June 2027 and your team wants two weeks to sort and distribute, books need to arrive by about 21 May. Count back three weeks and you approve by about 30 April. Close ordering in the last week of April. Put the photo deadline in late March to leave April for review.
What happens after the books are delivered?
Hand the books out, then put two things on the calendar for June. First, summer ordering: at Rethink it is optional, uses the same link and school code once regular ordering closes, runs no later than 30 June, and ships books to families’ homes. Second, photos: download anything you want to keep by 1 July. Rethink deletes the year’s photos around 1 August and keeps the final yearbook files longer, so a reprint is still possible later.
Then write down what you learned while it is fresh. July is when officers change, and the next chair will need your notes. The handover checklist and template.
Timeline questions, answered.
How long does it take to make an elementary yearbook?
The whole cycle runs from August to May, but most of it is collecting photos a little at a time. The concentrated work is about eight weeks in spring: the photo deadline, building and reviewing the book, and approval. Printing and delivery then take about three weeks.
How far before the last day of school should the yearbook be approved?
About three weeks for printing and delivery, plus however long your team needs to sort and hand out books. For most schools that means approving four to five weeks before the last day of school.
Is it too late to start a yearbook in January?
Usually not, if your vendor has no minimum and your school has been taking photos anyway. You will have less time to open ordering and fill photo gaps, so start with the ladder and a list of events.
Starting late? Plan the pages first. Forms, flyers and templates for each month are free in the resources library.
Tell us your last day of school.
We’ll send a per-book quote and a sample, and help you count back to your approval date.