Appreciating, celebrating, and boosting staff morale has always been a passion for me. I’ve had so much fun putting together the files for School Appreciation Days (see below). Your maintenance workers, paraprofessionals, school nurse, and many more are included. In each download you find innumerable ways to appreciate, personalize, and give gifts to show school personnel how much they are loved in an inexpensive way!
Teach and Model the Behaviors That You Are Looking For
During my elementary school teaching years, I worked with students that came from great families and unfortunately some that did not. I had students that heard more negative than positive comments in their lives…and much worse. At times, my elementary age students would get grumpy and say something ugly (a Texas word for bad) to a classmate. I would tell them something along the lines
A “New Side” of the Principal
Meet Luz, one of my more-than-fantastic custodians when I was an elementary principal. She was the first person on campus most mornings and quickly circled that whole school making sure all the inside doors were unlocked. And by the way, she was not the only wonderful custodian on campus. I was very thankful for my staff! I was especially grateful for Luz though one summer
Words of Affirmation and Quality Time: Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for details here. During my elementary school principal years, I had a master kindergarten teacher that was amazing. She was quiet, sweet, and totally adored by her co-workers, parents, and students. She also made teaching look oh so easy! I made the mistake one time of bragging about her in a staff meeting. She was sitting
The Roller Coaster Ride of Life
The love of my earthly life moved into his heavenly home 12-13-2022. Since Gene passed away, surprisingly, I rarely feel lonely. I have Jesus to talk to. And I’ve been talking a lot…day in and day out…pretty much non-stop! I told Him that I was doing all the talking and it would be nice if He would tell me what I’m supposed to be doing
Embarrassing Moments Happen to Everyone
Showing up at work with two different shoes (when it’s NOT the national holiday for that!), wearing a piece of clothing inside out, coming out of the restroom with your skirt hiked up and showing your backside, etc. We’ve ALL had embarrassing moments in our lives. I started young. My momma told me on more than one occasion, “Gail, what happens to you happens to
How is Staff Morale?
I recently asked elementary principals to rate their staff morale on a scale from 1-10 (10 being out-of-this-world wonderful!). Over 100 principals responded. Here is how they rated staff morale: The responses came in the month of May. Typically, a month where teachers are administering end-of-year testing and well, end-of-year EVERYTHING has set in! My heart was saddened by principals dealing with “school closings”, “needed staff
Get your FREEBIES!
If you’ve visited this page previously, I’ve changed it up! I’m attaching a link to a FREEBIES category so that you can add to the cart and then have unlimited downloads for that product. That way I can update the items along the way without you losing the link. I hope that makes sense! And if it doesn’t, no worries…just click the link below for
Encouraging Words
A word spoken in due season, how good it is! Prov. 15:23 I don’t personally know of anyone that doesn’t appreciate an encouraging word, but when it comes at exactly the right time for them…what a wonderful thing indeed! How do you know when to speak words into someone’s life? I call it an unction or a nudging in your gut. It’s when you are thinking of
9 Different Staff Team Building and Problem Solving Activities
Are you looking for good team-building and problem-solving activities? Here are a few I’ve tried as an elementary school principal. If I thought it was accomplished with a good amount of success, I gave those activities a “thumbs up”. I’ll also share a few that I thought fell short! Look for the “thumbs down”! MAKE YOUR BED I call this one, “Make your Bed” as
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