Back to School Gifts for Your Teachers

As an instructional coach, I cannot be successful without developing excellent relationships with my teachers. One way I show my appreciation for teachers is with little gifts and handwritten notes throughout the year, but especially the first days of school. 

This year, I gifted a copy of the book "I Wish You More" - the perfect book gift for anyone you wish well. 

Other books that are great back to school gifts for teachers are:

Courage

Tiny Snail (I scored autographed copies of these from an author visit a few years ago).  A great story about perseverance and the importance of friends.

Mrs. Spitzer's Garden

I've also gifted other items such as:

Coffee/tea pods for our Kuerig with tags that said "Welcome Back to the Grind"

Scratch off lottery tickets with a note that said, "Hope you have a winning year!"

Starburst candy with this tag...

Bags of M&Ms tagged "Wishing you a Magnificent & Marvelous New School Year."

Packs of Extra gum with a note that said, "The difference between an ordinary teacher and an extraordinary one is that little bit extra.  I hope you have an extra special year!"

One year, back to school coincided with the Summer Olympics and I made it a theme.  I gave bags of gold foil wrapped chocolates with this note...

If you have other ideas to share, please share in the comments below.

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Kindergarten Switch-a-Roo

We just finished the great Kindergarten Switch-a-Roo. What is a switch-a-roo, you ask? It's a process we use to balance our kindergarten classes by having our k students rotate through teachers and with various students during the first two weeks of school. Typically, schools blindly build kindergarten classes based on little to no information. Unfortunately, more often than not, this leads to heavily unbalanced classes. One teacher may end up with all the students already reading while another teacher may end up with a class full of students who've never even picked up a book. Not to mention student behaviors that can dominate teacher time.

As an alternative, my school started switching things up a few years ago and has seen great success. During the first eight days, students rotate through the four kindergarten teachers so that each teacher has a chance to learn about and make connections with each child.  Students within the classes are also mixed up several times so we can see which of their little personalities clash and which ones play well together.  During the switch, we are also assessing students in letter and number identification, concepts of print, counting, and much more to identify students as high, medium, and low academically as well as noting social/emotional needs.  On the last day of the switch, we have what we affectionately call "Draft Day" where the math coach and I facilitate a meeting with the kindergarten team to draft the final class placements with balanced classes as the goal. It can be stressful, but we always end up with balance in the end.  The day after the placement meeting, we have a trial run to double check we've made the best decisions and make any last minute switches.  At the end of the trial run day, we send home a letter with parents to inform them of the final class placement.  We also host a breakfast the following day where students and parents can "meet" the teacher the students will have all year.

Each teacher has a color during the switch to help students know which room to go to each day.  Also, students wear name tags that identify their homeroom teacher and the class for the day. 

Students wait outside the green room to switch for the day.  

Charts to track the placement process and ensure balance during "Draft Day."

Norms for the placement meeting.

If you have questions or would like to know more about the Kindergarten Switch-a-Roo, please comment below.

"Am I Ready Now?"

If you're looking for the perfect back to school read for primary students and their parents, I've got the book for you! A kindergarten teacher and friend at my school, Jessica Schneider, published a book titled, "Am I Ready Now!" The book tells the story of a little boy, Louie, and his mom preparing for the first day of kindergarten. It's a sweet book that captures the emotion of our youngest students and their anxious parents this time of year.



I read "Am I Ready Now?" to my own son, my baby, who is starting kindergarten tomorrow. I cried! When I read this page, I couldn't hold in the tears anymore.


It so perfectly captures how I feel about my baby who is now a big boy. It's a great back to school read or gift for a child starting school. It's also a great read for parents like me about to send their babies off to school. You can purchase a copy on Jessica's website:

http://schneiderjessica.weebly.com

Happy Reading!