Motivating, encouraging, and celebrating life
Busy, busy, busy!! For most of you, the school year has come to an end. Congratulations! I hope you are taking the time for reflection and looking at all the positives this year held. If you are in a leadership position, I know some of you are already planning for next year…or…perhaps the next big thing. But please, please, give yourself permission to rest first.
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
This post may contain affiliate links. See the full disclosure here. “It’s not often that I receive an email that does not include a due date, complaint or request.” This statement was embedded in a return email to me from an elementary school principal after I sent her a thank you! A sad statement but a truthful one I know. I realize by reason of the
The creative and humorous lady in the picture above was my librarian, Lori. The library took on amazing transformations through her giftedness. Parents, staff, and kids absolutely loved her. This BEACH theme was incorporated in the last few weeks of school to get everyone ready for summertime. I want to show you Lori’s ideas that transformed the library and also a couple of ideas to
If you’ve followed me any length of time, you know I like different! It can sometimes be tricky trying to find a staff activity that everyone will be engaged with. That’s why I created the “Paper Bag Book Staff Activity”. It’s different and lets your staff do the hard work while having FUN! Your crafty staff members will love it, however, it won’t intimidate your
The professor at my first administrative class had just asked the formidable question, “Why did you want to become an administrator?” I shrunk down in my seat while scanning the room making a quick assessment of the seating order. Maybe this professor wouldn’t see me or solicit everyone’s input. I could only hope! After a few minutes, I realized with dread that I was going
Exit tickets or exit slips are a quick and easy assessment tool…and can be much more! They are essentially a closure or exit out the door after a lesson, meeting, the end of a unit, or the end of a term, etc. There are many ways to use exit tickets. They are useful for: Reflection Self-Analysis Checking workplace climate Boosting morale 1) Reflection Reflective exit
Last week I was with my daughter and grandson when we dropped him off at his elementary school. So fun! My daughter made the comment that they were always trying to hurry everyone through the line. I had to stifle a laugh. I was reminded of the signs I ordered from a sign company (no longer in business, sorry!) when I first started as an administrator.
This post may contain affiliate links. See the full disclosure here. Principals! Are you ready for a FUN challenge? This annual event, held the second week of November, is in conjunction with National Young Readers Week. It is sponsored by Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! program and the Library of Congress Center for the Book. What is the challenge? Principals pick one day during the second week
As a former elementary principal, I was crazy enough to send weekly staff memos. It was grueling at first to keep up until I developed a few tricks (e.g. Boomerang for Gmail to automatically schedule, jotting down notes or taking pictures as events occurred, etc.). Eventually, it became routine. I also made the rule not to beat myself up if I missed a week! The
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!
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
