Are you on the Sunshine Committee this year? Some schools call it Social Committee. Whatever the name, it serves the same purpose. Usually there is a little arm twisting at the beginning of the year to get staff members to pay their dues. If your school normally doesn't allow the staff to wear jeans, you might ask your administrator if your committee could give people who pay dues a "Jean Day Coupon" that allows teachers to wear jeans on one day of their choosing. It's like a "get out of jail" card. Through the years, there has been some grumbling at some of my schools about our committee. I think this happens when there are not clear cut guidelines. There needs to be guidelines in writing and transparency with the finances. Here are a few topics to discuss when you are ready to write some guidelines: Leadership: officers and their duties I highly recommend the treasurer giving a report at the faculty meetings at least quarterly. Boss Day in October: Will the committee purchase the gift? If so, what is the budget? Appreciation Day/Week: Which staff members do you recognize? How and what is the budget? Morale booster activities: when and budget Staff parties: When, where, budget Showers: baby/wedding - Does the committee provide anything for the shower, if so what is the budget. Is it for the first baby and first wedding or other? Death: Does the committee send something from the faculty? If so, what and what is the budget? What relationship to the staff member should it be when you do this? I.E. Immediate family member Holidays: Does the committee purchase holiday gifts for any staff members? If so, who and what is the budget? I typed up a few things that I have done at some of my schools that you might like, too. These are fun activities that boost morale. Do you have a staff member that is your PTA representative? If the PTA ask you for suggestions, you might suggest that they organize food during your conferences. I helped organize this at my daughter's middle school. Her school had a week of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students had school for half a day and then teachers met with parents the other half. Our PTA organized food the first three days for the teachers. We knew that the teachers had conferences at different times and wouldn't eat at the same time so the food had to stay fresh for a long time. We organized a salad bar one day, a nacho bar another day, and heavy appetizers the final day. This was the most popular thing that our committee organized. Click HERE to download this freebie. Looking for more tips? Check out my Beginning of the Year Pinterest board. Click on the picture below. Fern has a few tips to share with you, too. Be sure to hop over to her blog! Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too! Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips. We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip. We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post. Click HERE to read Melinda's tip. Do you have a staff morale booster tip to share? Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win. Looking for more ideas? Click on the pictures below. An InLinkz Link-up Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Does your school have a social committee? Sometimes it is called a sunshine committee. This is the committee that sends flowers when someone is in the hospital or has a death in the family. I thought it would be fun if we share activities our committees have organized. Luncheons If you are planning a luncheon, remember the teachers with the last lunch period. Many times it is "slim pickings" for those poor people. We tried two different things to solve this problem. We asked for at least 3 different foods of each category (if you have 3 lunch periods). We numbered the bowls/containers #1, #2, #3 with post-it notes. Those bowls were taken out of the frig during those lunch periods. We also held the luncheons on our early release days. Everyone could eat at the same time which was a nice bonus. Another problem we had with luncheons was people who came to the luncheon but didn't bring any food to share. We found a compromise. People had a choice of donating $5 or bringing a side dish or dessert. The money was used to purchase paper goods, drinks, or the main course. We ordered food like pizza or 3 inch sandwiches from Subway for the main course. Sometimes we had themes for the luncheons. We had a baked potato bar for St. Patrick's Day. This is one of the easiest luncheon to plan and cheapest, too! Read more about it HERE. Activities We organized activities such as: ***Secret Santa ***"You've Been Booed" ***Christmas cookie exchange Expressions of Support How does your school show support when a faculty member falls on hard times? Have you heard the story The Bundle of Sticks? Read about it here: click You can show support different ways. We organized meals on a schedule when a faculty or staff member (or their family member) was in the hospital. Example: Kindergarten team provided the meal on Monday, First grade provided the meal on Tuesday, and so on and so forth. Sometimes teams collected money and gave the family a gift card to a restaurant that delivered instead of home cooked meals. I asked the teachers on my facebook page if they had suggestions for this post. Here are a few suggestions: Tabitha Opio: *Breakfast with a theme each month *Cookie exchange at Christmas *During testing season they brainstorm different ways they can stump the students. *Teachers get birthday bags, too. Denise Dormer Dauphin: *Teams take turns to host a payday breakfast. HoJo's Teaching Adventures: *Tree of thanks - each teacher filled out a leaf when they wanted to recognize another staff member. *She had a principal who gave everyone apples on their birthday. Another principal gave everyone enough money to buy a pop/juice/water with a little note of thanks. Kris Weimer Cruzen: *Faculty and staff members are divided into 8 groups. Each group is responsible for organizing activities for one quarter. So, each group is responsible for 9 weeks every 2 years. *Pot luck breakfast *Happy hour *Chili cookoff *Dinner prior to conference *Christmas party *Secret Santa *Bowling after school *Trip to winery after school ****Usually has 2-3 activities each quarter
Man oh man, do teachers ever work hard. While I’m no longer in the classroom full time, I’ll never forget my classroom roots and the time, energy, and dedication that being an excellent educator demands. There’s just no end to the amount of mad props these teacher-heroes deserve. And as coaches, that’s what we’re dedicated to doing […]
Does your school have a Sunshine Committee? Or another way to help spread happiness to your staff throughout the year? I have always loved the Sunshine Committee at my school and have always appreciated and enjoyed the little ways they try to boost morale in our school. I did not exactly volunteer to be in charge of the committee this year, but I was somehow made co-chair. It's a big job and so I was a little scared at first, but then I realized how much fun this would be and I've enjoyed helping to lead this committee so far. Some of you might be wondering what a Sunshine Committee really is so I thought I'd explain it a little bit. We all know about "Teacher Burnout" and we all know how hard it can sometimes be to make it through the entire school year. I usually start out the year with a lot of passion and enthusiasm in August, then after Christmas break, usually January to March, I start feeling worn-out and over-worked. Know the feeling? Well, the Sunshine Committee is just a little way to help teachers stay happy and positive throughout the year. We plan socials, organize treat days, and give little appreciation gifts throughout the school year. Over the years, this committee has definitely helped me feel appreciated and loved throughout the year. Here's a list of ideas of fun things you could do. We don't use all of these ideas; I just wanted to provide you with a list of possible ideas for the entire school year. This printable is available in my Sunshine Committee Ideas pack for FREE! Download it from my TPT Store: HERE! Here's how it works at my school: At the beginning of the year, teachers are asked to give a $35 "donation" to the committee. This donation gives us the budget that we need to do kind deeds throughout the year. We buy gifts for all bridal showers, baby showers, and when people experience the death of a close loved one. We do meals for the staff twice a year. We usually provide the main dish and paper products for the Christmas Party (the side dishes are usually potluck style) and we always do a full catered meal at the end of year banquet. We usually organize some sort of Thanksgiving meal too. I think last year we did potluck soups and our committee provided the paper products. We usually try to find little times throughout the year to put treats in the faculty room. It could be doughnuts the day after parent teacher conferences or themed treats for a holiday. I think this year I want to do a soda party with a variety of flavored syrups just for fun on a Friday afternoon when everyone could use a little pick-me-up. As a way to say thank you to everyone for paying their Sunshine dues, I made these little bags of sunshine. We did Worthers (although any gold/yellow item would work), and included a coupon for an extra 30 min of prep. All teachers have to do is take the coupon to the office and schedule a time when an administrator can take the class for 30 minutes. That gives our principal and vice principal an opportunity to go into the classrooms and work directly with a group of students. They'll just take their favorite read aloud story with them and read, which means that the teachers won't have to provide sub plans. Want a copy of all my Sunshine Committee printables?! Grab them for FREE from my TPT Store: HERE! This week, our committee is putting on a Pumpkin Party. (I got this idea from one of our Facebook followers who commented on my Facebook post a few weeks back.) Just to celebrate fall, we've asked everyone to bring (if they want) some kind of food item that has pumpkin as an ingredient. It could also be anything that looks like a pumpkin or really anything that is orange. I'm excited to see what everyone will come up with. I will purchase pumpkin plates and we'll decorate the teacher's lounge orange and black and leave the decorations up until after Halloween. In the past our school's Sunshine Committee has done some sort of Biggest Loser Competition for anyone who wants to participate. We usually ask people to donate $5 to a pot, then we commit to certain goals, and have daily points for exercising, drinking water, avoiding soda, etc. At the end of the competition the money goes to people who met their goal. I'm not sure how the competition will look this year, but we'll probably start something up in January to encourage teachers to be healthy for the new year. I think I'll end this post here and maybe continue with some more ideas another day. As you can see, having a Sunshine Committee could be a huge benefit to any school. Teaching is a wonderful and rewarding job, but sometimes it's the little things can help us have more fun in the workplace. I would LOVE to hear any other great ideas that you have! Please leave a comment and let me know if your school has a Sunshine Committee and what you do to help boost morale at your school. For those of you who don't already have something like this, would you consider starting one at your school?
Start a Sunshine Committee at your school to boost staff and teacher morale. Ideas for administrators and staff show teacher appreciation.
Use these 10 ideas to create a teachers lounge that promotes collaboration, celebration, and humor! Make your staffroom a place you love!
Are you on the Sunshine Committee this year? Some schools call it Social Committee. Whatever the name, it serves the same purpose. Usually there is a little arm twisting at the beginning of the year to get staff members to pay their dues. If your school normally doesn't allow the staff to wear jeans, you might ask your administrator if your committee could give people who pay dues a "Jean Day Coupon" that allows teachers to wear jeans on one day of their choosing. It's like a "get out of jail" card. Through the years, there has been some grumbling at some of my schools about our committee. I think this happens when there are not clear cut guidelines. There needs to be guidelines in writing and transparency with the finances. Here are a few topics to discuss when you are ready to write some guidelines: Leadership: officers and their duties I highly recommend the treasurer giving a report at the faculty meetings at least quarterly. Boss Day in October: Will the committee purchase the gift? If so, what is the budget? Appreciation Day/Week: Which staff members do you recognize? How and what is the budget? Morale booster activities: when and budget Staff parties: When, where, budget Showers: baby/wedding - Does the committee provide anything for the shower, if so what is the budget. Is it for the first baby and first wedding or other? Death: Does the committee send something from the faculty? If so, what and what is the budget? What relationship to the staff member should it be when you do this? I.E. Immediate family member Holidays: Does the committee purchase holiday gifts for any staff members? If so, who and what is the budget? I typed up a few things that I have done at some of my schools that you might like, too. These are fun activities that boost morale. Do you have a staff member that is your PTA representative? If the PTA ask you for suggestions, you might suggest that they organize food during your conferences. I helped organize this at my daughter's middle school. Her school had a week of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students had school for half a day and then teachers met with parents the other half. Our PTA organized food the first three days for the teachers. We knew that the teachers had conferences at different times and wouldn't eat at the same time so the food had to stay fresh for a long time. We organized a salad bar one day, a nacho bar another day, and heavy appetizers the final day. This was the most popular thing that our committee organized. Click HERE to download this freebie. Looking for more tips? Check out my Beginning of the Year Pinterest board. Click on the picture below. Fern has a few tips to share with you, too. Be sure to hop over to her blog! Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too! Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips. We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip. We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post. Click HERE to read Melinda's tip. Do you have a staff morale booster tip to share? Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win. Looking for more ideas? Click on the pictures below. An InLinkz Link-up Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Does your school have a Sunshine Committee? Or another way to help spread happiness to your staff throughout the year? I have always loved the Sunshine Committee at my school and have always appreciat
Does your school have a social committee? Sometimes it is called a sunshine committee. This is the committee that sends flowers when someone is in the hospital or has a death in the family. I thought it would be fun if we share activities our committees have organized. Luncheons If you are planning a luncheon, remember the teachers with the last lunch period. Many times it is "slim pickings" for those poor people. We tried two different things to solve this problem. We asked for at least 3 different foods of each category (if you have 3 lunch periods). We numbered the bowls/containers #1, #2, #3 with post-it notes. Those bowls were taken out of the frig during those lunch periods. We also held the luncheons on our early release days. Everyone could eat at the same time which was a nice bonus. Another problem we had with luncheons was people who came to the luncheon but didn't bring any food to share. We found a compromise. People had a choice of donating $5 or bringing a side dish or dessert. The money was used to purchase paper goods, drinks, or the main course. We ordered food like pizza or 3 inch sandwiches from Subway for the main course. Sometimes we had themes for the luncheons. We had a baked potato bar for St. Patrick's Day. This is one of the easiest luncheon to plan and cheapest, too! Read more about it HERE. Activities We organized activities such as: ***Secret Santa ***"You've Been Booed" ***Christmas cookie exchange Expressions of Support How does your school show support when a faculty member falls on hard times? Have you heard the story The Bundle of Sticks? Read about it here: click You can show support different ways. We organized meals on a schedule when a faculty or staff member (or their family member) was in the hospital. Example: Kindergarten team provided the meal on Monday, First grade provided the meal on Tuesday, and so on and so forth. Sometimes teams collected money and gave the family a gift card to a restaurant that delivered instead of home cooked meals. I asked the teachers on my facebook page if they had suggestions for this post. Here are a few suggestions: Tabitha Opio: *Breakfast with a theme each month *Cookie exchange at Christmas *During testing season they brainstorm different ways they can stump the students. *Teachers get birthday bags, too. Denise Dormer Dauphin: *Teams take turns to host a payday breakfast. HoJo's Teaching Adventures: *Tree of thanks - each teacher filled out a leaf when they wanted to recognize another staff member. *She had a principal who gave everyone apples on their birthday. Another principal gave everyone enough money to buy a pop/juice/water with a little note of thanks. Kris Weimer Cruzen: *Faculty and staff members are divided into 8 groups. Each group is responsible for organizing activities for one quarter. So, each group is responsible for 9 weeks every 2 years. *Pot luck breakfast *Happy hour *Chili cookoff *Dinner prior to conference *Christmas party *Secret Santa *Bowling after school *Trip to winery after school ****Usually has 2-3 activities each quarter
Happy teachers mean happy students. Here is a list of ways to build morale, support teacher wellbeing and have fun as a teaching team at school.
Spread staff sunshine with these quick, easy, and FREE ideas! Read for 5+ ideas to show appreciation for your school staff.
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!!! It’s not just Happy Weekend, it’s Happy Summer! 🙂 You guys!!!! This whole new Senior Walk thing happening all around the country seems like a Millennial thing to me. In all my years of teaching (21), we never had the High School Seniors return to their elementary schools for a walk ... Read More about Five for Fraturday
I posted about a Staff Easter Egg hunt on Instagram and many people were interested in how it worked. I don't have too many details but I will share what we plan to do in case you want to do somethi
I posted about a Staff Easter Egg hunt on Instagram and many people were interested in how it worked. I don't have too many details but I will share what we plan to do in case you want to do something like this at your school! First step, get approval. We don't have a morale/sunshine committee (we are tiny!) and I know I have seen this idea somewhere....maybe not a staff one...but workplace nonetheless. I asked my principal if this is something we could do this year and I would just take charge of it. I know it is extremely busy in the office and with testing season coming up, I figured I could plan. I love these morale boosters as well! These are from teacher to teacher - and they are FREE! I also love the version for students because they need all the love we can give! I love that this idea is SO LOW COST!! All you really need are eggs, and prizes. Most of our prizes are FREE and I also got those admin approved before putting in eggs so she knew what she was getting into. Prizes I chose are ones offered in some capacity before so I knew she would be ok with them. If one is too much or didn't get approved I just didn't put it in an egg. 🌷🐰 Staff Easter Egg hunt prizes 🌷🐰 I think our staff will love this!! #iteachtoo #iteach345 #moralebooster #springcrazy #funfun @teacherspayteachers @weareteachers A photo posted by Amber Nicole (@sssteaching) on Mar 13, 2016 at 12:21pm PDT List of Prizes: $5 Target Card $5 Starbucks Sharpie Pens dessert cooked by our class (we have a class reward coming up and they love this so we plan to cook for one teacher.) Yes we can cook at school....beside the point. coupons donated by McDonalds. I called the business office in our area and they mailed me some after explaining it was for teachers. These are my fillers to ensure everyone gets an egg! I planned to call Sonic too but didn't get a chance, they might have coupons as well. VIP parking 30 min class coverage (only 2 of those!) Free ice cream or soda (50 cents) included in each of those eggs because that is the cost at our school JEANS DAY passes Pizza or Grill - we have 1 local restaurant in our town so 4 people on the same day can order food from there for lunch and have it delivered. duty free lunch - eat in the faculty room! Wouldn't believe how much I want this one!!! *Obviously, these need to be customized to fit your school and needs so I don't have a something you can print and easily use. Feel free to adapt or use any of these ideas to spread some school cheer!* You could just print coupons and put them in eggs. You could hide them around school or just have teachers pull one from the lounge that day. I have a recording sheet typed up that coordinates with our coupons for our admin so she can record who gets prizes that she is in charge of. It just have blank lines and the prize names. THE TWIST: Some of the most desired prizes have a twist in their egg. Instead of the coupon inside a note will say, "Bunny Hop to the principal's office for your prize." If you are all together this would be even funnier! They are listed on the sheet so the principal knows what prize to give if they do that action :) I think it will brighten up the day and make us work a little for those bigger prizes. Here are some ideas to get you started: bunny hop to office for your prize announce to the group/office "Easter Bunny has been good to me this year!" Give bunny ears knowingly to 3 people high five 5 people before getting prize pretend you laid an egg for your prize (ha- might be too over the top) dance through a field of flowers for your prize cheep, cheep like a baby chick for your prize get 3 people to smell your pretend your spring bouquet of flowers for a prize Overall, I think this costs around 20-30 to put together for our school with every staff member getting a prize. The coupons help a lot so everyone gets something. The admin still plays a big part of what teachers can receive but if you got more prizes donated this might be even more doable. This would be a great idea for a PTO to sponsor at low costs or for any workplace! FREE DOWNLOAD!
From planning happy hours to coordinating baseball games, a social committee organizes extracurricular activities for the office or department in which they work.
Say goodbye to those teacher blues! Boost the morale in your school with this list of ideas that are sure to bring some smiles!
Ever hear of a Sunshine Committee? Here are five ways you can showcase Teacher Day appreciation every day in your school.
Are you on the Sunshine Committee this year? Some schools call it Social Committee. Whatever the name, it serves the same purpose. Usually there is a little arm twisting at the beginning of the year to get staff members to pay their dues. If your school normally doesn't allow the staff to wear jeans, you might ask your administrator if your committee could give people who pay dues a "Jean Day Coupon" that allows teachers to wear jeans on one day of their choosing. It's like a "get out of jail" card. Through the years, there has been some grumbling at some of my schools about our committee. I think this happens when there are not clear cut guidelines. There needs to be guidelines in writing and transparency with the finances. Here are a few topics to discuss when you are ready to write some guidelines: Leadership: officers and their duties I highly recommend the treasurer giving a report at the faculty meetings at least quarterly. Boss Day in October: Will the committee purchase the gift? If so, what is the budget? Appreciation Day/Week: Which staff members do you recognize? How and what is the budget? Morale booster activities: when and budget Staff parties: When, where, budget Showers: baby/wedding - Does the committee provide anything for the shower, if so what is the budget. Is it for the first baby and first wedding or other? Death: Does the committee send something from the faculty? If so, what and what is the budget? What relationship to the staff member should it be when you do this? I.E. Immediate family member Holidays: Does the committee purchase holiday gifts for any staff members? If so, who and what is the budget? I typed up a few things that I have done at some of my schools that you might like, too. These are fun activities that boost morale. Do you have a staff member that is your PTA representative? If the PTA ask you for suggestions, you might suggest that they organize food during your conferences. I helped organize this at my daughter's middle school. Her school had a week of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students had school for half a day and then teachers met with parents the other half. Our PTA organized food the first three days for the teachers. We knew that the teachers had conferences at different times and wouldn't eat at the same time so the food had to stay fresh for a long time. We organized a salad bar one day, a nacho bar another day, and heavy appetizers the final day. This was the most popular thing that our committee organized. Click HERE to download this freebie. Looking for more tips? Check out my Beginning of the Year Pinterest board. Click on the picture below. Fern has a few tips to share with you, too. Be sure to hop over to her blog! Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too! Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips. We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip. We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post. Click HERE to read Melinda's tip. Do you have a staff morale booster tip to share? Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win. Looking for more ideas? Click on the pictures below. An InLinkz Link-up Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Spread staff sunshine with these quick, easy, and FREE ideas! Read for 5+ ideas to show appreciation for your school staff.
STEP poster
While at a meeting this summer my principal mentioned a "fun" committee. Apparently their areother schools in our corporation who have similar committees!!! Who new?!?! A committee focused on one thing... FUN! She asked if anyone wold be interested in starting one of these so called fun committees!?!?! "UH-YEAH! SIGN ME UP!" And that folks is where our fun committee started! So I sent out this email... (Principal name, colleague name, and school name have been changed for privacy reasons. We don't want anyone to know that we have fun at work! HAHA! JK!) Rock Star suggested that Amazing, Rockin' Elementary has a "fun" committee. There are other schools in the corporation who have similar committees and the entire focus is fun! I naturally jumped on board along with a fellow rock star, Rockin' Rita. Who doesn't like fun!?!?! Don't worry no one is going to force you to have fun at work . This is entirely voluntary. If you would like to be part of this committee just let Rockin' Rita or myself know. Throughout the year we are hoping to bring fun to the staff at Amazing, Rockin' Elementary. (You don't have to be on the committee to join in on the fun.) You also don't have to participate in the activities but if something seems like fun feel free to participate. So for August I was thinking of a way to bring a smile to the staff at Amazing, Rockin' Elementary and I thought of getting "Schooled". Keep an eye out on your door. You never know when you will get "Schooled." If you get "Schooled" pick a teacher or a staff member (or a few), copy the I've been schooled sign, and secretly place it on their door with a little surprise. (Something small - candy, a soda, coffee, anything to bring a little back to school joy!) As we come up with new ideas we will share them with you! Feel free to share your ideas too! So what exactly is a fun committee?!?!? It is anything you want it to be as long as it is fun. I also think it is important for it to be strictly voluntary. I am one of those people who LOVE team building activities. (Okay, you can groan at the thought of team building if you need to.) I love team building activities, games, putting myself out there, and being silly. But for some people the thought of team building activities makes them shudder. With that being said when people are forced to "have fun" the fun is taken away. Apparently one of the other schools had a staff nerf battle in the gym. Although some people would be all in because nerf battles are fun, others might think other wise. So make sure your fun committee has a variety of fun ideas. So you can touch on everyone's idea of fun. Here is the "You've Been Schooled" page. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Youve-Been-Schooled-1997361 Feel free to copy it and use it if you would like. As the Amazing, Rockin' Elementary School fun committee comes up with new ideas I will share them with you. If you have a fun committee I would LOVE to hear your ideas!
Start a Sunshine Committee at your school to boost staff and teacher morale. Ideas for administrators and staff show teacher appreciation.
If I've said it once, I've said it a million times! Self-care matters. If you are constantly giving your all to everyone else, you are going to eventually burn out. Please take a moment to
Start a Sunshine Committee at your school to boost staff and teacher morale. Ideas for administrators and staff show teacher appreciation.
With Bizarre and FUN Holiday files, you have almost 100 holidays to choose from throughout the calendar year. Share as many activities with your staff as you choose during each month to coincide with your regular schedule of events. Make it as simple or as WILD as you want!
The book "How to Live a Good Life" inspires me to create October Sunshine Committee Ideas and help youcontribute to your life bucket.
This is guaranteed to be a great resource for campus leaders, principals and district personnel. Month-by Month activities for the entire year! 69 pages! Very little cost on you or the campus budget. SEE THE EXTENSIVE LIST ON THE PREVIEW BUTTON! Pick one day each month to let your teachers know they are appreciated. Boost the morale with some great treats, shout outs, and awards. NOW INCLUDES: Secret Sunshine Exchange! *treats not included (but very economical and practical) ************************************************************************* You May Also Like This Related Product Professional Development Activities Teacher and Staff Morale Part 2 *************************************************************************** br />How to get TpT credit to use on future purchases: Head over to your My Purchases page. Beside each purchase you will see a flashing "PROVIDE FEEDBACK" option. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Be the first to know about my products and freebies: Start by following my store. Click the green star near the top of my store page or on the right hand column of the product listing. Clicking the star will make you my newest follower! You can also Follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and my BLOG! ***************************************************************************
Are you on the Sunshine Committee this year? Some schools call it Social Committee. Whatever the name, it serves the same purpose. Usually there is a little arm twisting at the beginning of the year to get staff members to pay their dues. If your school normally doesn't allow the staff to wear jeans, you might ask your administrator if your committee could give people who pay dues a "Jean Day Coupon" that allows teachers to wear jeans on one day of their choosing. It's like a "get out of jail" card. Through the years, there has been some grumbling at some of my schools about our committee. I think this happens when there are not clear cut guidelines. There needs to be guidelines in writing and transparency with the finances. Here are a few topics to discuss when you are ready to write some guidelines: Leadership: officers and their duties I highly recommend the treasurer giving a report at the faculty meetings at least quarterly. Boss Day in October: Will the committee purchase the gift? If so, what is the budget? Appreciation Day/Week: Which staff members do you recognize? How and what is the budget? Morale booster activities: when and budget Staff parties: When, where, budget Showers: baby/wedding - Does the committee provide anything for the shower, if so what is the budget. Is it for the first baby and first wedding or other? Death: Does the committee send something from the faculty? If so, what and what is the budget? What relationship to the staff member should it be when you do this? I.E. Immediate family member Holidays: Does the committee purchase holiday gifts for any staff members? If so, who and what is the budget? I typed up a few things that I have done at some of my schools that you might like, too. These are fun activities that boost morale. Do you have a staff member that is your PTA representative? If the PTA ask you for suggestions, you might suggest that they organize food during your conferences. I helped organize this at my daughter's middle school. Her school had a week of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students had school for half a day and then teachers met with parents the other half. Our PTA organized food the first three days for the teachers. We knew that the teachers had conferences at different times and wouldn't eat at the same time so the food had to stay fresh for a long time. We organized a salad bar one day, a nacho bar another day, and heavy appetizers the final day. This was the most popular thing that our committee organized. Click HERE to download this freebie. Looking for more tips? Check out my Beginning of the Year Pinterest board. Click on the picture below. Fern has a few tips to share with you, too. Be sure to hop over to her blog! Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too! Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips. We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip. We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post. Click HERE to read Melinda's tip. Do you have a staff morale booster tip to share? Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win. Looking for more ideas? Click on the pictures below. An InLinkz Link-up Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Does your school have a Wellness Committee? This is a perfect time of the year with the New Year's resolutions for the committee to plan some activities for the faculty and staff. Idea #1 Plan a healthy potluck. You can collect recipes on Pinterest and or ask people to bring copies of their favorite recipes to the luncheons. Idea #2 Give away some "tools" that will help staff members bring healthy foods to school like the ones in the picture. You could either have the drawing at a faculty meeting or at the luncheon. Idea #3 Is there a group of staff members who would like to begin an exercise club after school? Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Use these 10 ideas to create a teachers lounge that promotes collaboration, celebration, and humor! Make your staffroom a place you love!
Figuring out how to motivate staff and increase staff morale can be tough. Here are 20 staff morale boosters to help school staff feel great!
A sunshine committee is composed of staff members who focus on improving the culture, morale, and well being of teachers. Sunshine reminds us of happiness and in turn this committee creates events and opportunities to make teachers smile and feel happy. As a result, relationships are built among staff members leading to a more fulfilling…
Wow! It is Friday and I am actually able to post a 5 for Friday! Is it a miracle? Nah, just my little Kindergartener is home sick, so I am taking care of her. Unfortunately, I think I am next. It's that time of year and I have a monsterous migraine. Anyways, here are FIVE things we did this week that were note worthy! 1. We worked on our first interactive piece for our Interactive Reading Notebook (from Nicole Shelby's IRNB on TPT). The kids loved, cutting, gluing, coloring, and seeing the end result. Inferencing is something we are working on for the next few weeks. 2. While continuing with inferencing, we read Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot. One of my personal favorite stories. After reading the story, we read a few pieces of nonfiction about WWII, the Berlin Blockade, and the Berlin Airlift. The students absolutely LOVED this and were so emotional over the issue when they realized the book was based off of a REAL EVENT. The students wrote down quotes on post its while listening to the read aloud. The quotes were examples that led the students to infer how the people of Berlin must have felt during the Blockade. I charted on a T-Chart while the students copied it into their notebooks. 3. The next day, the students were supposed to refer back to their notes and write a narrative journal entry from the perspective of Mercedes. As a example of the (I do, we do, you do) gradual release model, I modeled with the perspective of Lt. Halverson. When I started writing the entry, the students became really involved. After turning and talking with partners, they helped me add on to the journal entry and we were really pleased with the results. When I gave the students their assignment (To write a journal entry pretending they were Mercedes, the night she received a package from the Chocolate Pilot) they were more than ready to begin. I will post some of their responses next week, after I get to grade them. 4. Do you teach cursive writing or did your district give it up? Robyn and I usually supplemented our own material for cursive, but this year our district is adding it to the report card for a standard grade. So we are actually expected to teach more into it. They consider it to fall under the CCSS 4.4 (To produce clear and coherent writing.) Do you agree? Since we are grading it on a report card in a few weeks, we got to work. Believe it or not, my students LOVED it. The hardest part is remembering not to let the letters float. The three lines seem to mean nothing to them right now. lol 5. Time for the special freebie! I made this sheet for my principal who passed it around at the staff meeting this week. Do you do staff breakfasts? Do teachers donate to them? What does your staff do to boost moral in the school? I'd LOVE to know and hear any suggestions! Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful Friday and weekend!
Start a Sunshine Committee at your school to boost staff and teacher morale. Ideas for administrators and staff show teacher appreciation.
If you read forums for teachers, job satisfaction surveys, or listen to conversation in the teachers’ lounge you will often hear a common theme in the complaints of teachers. Teachers who are unhappy feel unappreciated and unrecognized for their hard work. Although a raise would put a smile on teachers everywhere, this may not be possible with the current state of economics. Have you read Malcom Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point? One of the examples he gives in his book is the NYC subway system. George L. Kelling was hired as a consultant in 1985 to test his broken windows theory. The city cleaned the subway system of graffiti. Graffiti was quickly cleaned any time it appeared. The theory was that small crimes lead to bigger crimes. Purging the subway of graffiti was the tipping point to make the NYC subway system safer. Small crimes lead to bigger crimes. I think a few negative comments can spread quicker than 48-hour flu in a school. Soon it seems like the entire staff is infected with negativ-itis. It is possible to make teachers, staff members, and co-workers of your school feel appreciated and recognized for their hard work. The best thing is the school climate doesn't have to be the responsibility of one person in the school. Do you think your co-workers are feeling a little stressed? Do you hear more snips and snarks than comments of appreciation? Have there been changes on your campus . . . new team members, administrators, curriculum, or expectations? If this sounds familiar, you could be the change agent at your school. Sometimes it is the administrator, team leaders, or Sunshine Committee than plans school climate and community building events. But, one thing I have found through the years. Everyone loves a helping hand. If you step up to the plate, you will have their undying gratitude. After a few community building events, you will have a happier place to work. So, it is a win-win for everyone. For whatever reason, I have always enjoyed planning these type of things. I know it is crazy, right?!! I have been on a social committee for my neighborhood homeowner association, a school's Sunshine Committee, and planned monthly luncheons for my daughter's middle school. Through all of these experiences, I have picked up a few tips and tricks that make putting on a luncheon for a large group a little easier. Food brings people together, it bonds them, it is just that simple. If at all possible it is best to plan the date of your luncheon on a day when everyone can eat lunch at the same time. Do not forget to include everyone in your school family like the custodial staff and secretaries. If you do plan the luncheon on a day when you have multiple lunch periods, set out fresh food each lunch period. I just added a new School Climate packet that includes what you see above. Each luncheon has a PDF that is "PRINT & GO" prefilled for your luncheon. There is also a blank signup in the EDITABLE file so you can personalize it to fit your needs. The sign is EDITABLE, too so you can add the date, time, and place. There are also notes (6 per page) so you can write little notes of support, encouragement, thank you, and give treats. There is room that you can write a note or attach a treat. Who doesn't love to get a little note in your mailbox? Some of these are colorful and some are black & white. Look for the Positive is a system where staff members recognize other staff members. This system could also be used with students. Staff members fill out a nomination about another staff member who is: ALL HEART: A person who is kind and helpful to others. ALL STAR: A person who shines at his or her job and goes beyond what is required. ALL SMILES: A person who has a positive attitude and a joy to be around. OUR TREASURE: A person who is worth his or her weight in gold. Prizes can be whatever you want. I made these signs to hang outside classrooms to recognize teachers. I bought the supplies at Hobby Lobby. At one of my schools, the prize was a front row parking spot. That was a very popular prize! If a luncheon seems like a bigger job than you want to tackle this year, I included monthly events that are still fun, but on a smaller scale. The signs are editable so you can add the date and time. Click HERE find out more plus get a FREEBIE in the preview file. Click HERE to check out the preview file. Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Are you on the Sunshine Committee this year? Some schools call it Social Committee. Whatever the name, it serves the same purpose. Usually there is a little arm twisting at the beginning of the year to get staff members to pay their dues. If your school normally doesn't allow the staff to wear jeans, you might ask your administrator if your committee could give people who pay dues a "Jean Day Coupon" that allows teachers to wear jeans on one day of their choosing. It's like a "get out of jail" card. Through the years, there has been some grumbling at some of my schools about our committee. I think this happens when there are not clear cut guidelines. There needs to be guidelines in writing and transparency with the finances. Here are a few topics to discuss when you are ready to write some guidelines: Leadership: officers and their duties I highly recommend the treasurer giving a report at the faculty meetings at least quarterly. Boss Day in October: Will the committee purchase the gift? If so, what is the budget? Appreciation Day/Week: Which staff members do you recognize? How and what is the budget? Morale booster activities: when and budget Staff parties: When, where, budget Showers: baby/wedding - Does the committee provide anything for the shower, if so what is the budget. Is it for the first baby and first wedding or other? Death: Does the committee send something from the faculty? If so, what and what is the budget? What relationship to the staff member should it be when you do this? I.E. Immediate family member Holidays: Does the committee purchase holiday gifts for any staff members? If so, who and what is the budget? I typed up a few things that I have done at some of my schools that you might like, too. These are fun activities that boost morale. Do you have a staff member that is your PTA representative? If the PTA ask you for suggestions, you might suggest that they organize food during your conferences. I helped organize this at my daughter's middle school. Her school had a week of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students had school for half a day and then teachers met with parents the other half. Our PTA organized food the first three days for the teachers. We knew that the teachers had conferences at different times and wouldn't eat at the same time so the food had to stay fresh for a long time. We organized a salad bar one day, a nacho bar another day, and heavy appetizers the final day. This was the most popular thing that our committee organized. Click HERE to download this freebie. Looking for more tips? Check out my Beginning of the Year Pinterest board. Click on the picture below. Fern has a few tips to share with you, too. Be sure to hop over to her blog! Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too! Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips. We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip. We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post. Click HERE to read Melinda's tip. Do you have a staff morale booster tip to share? Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win. Looking for more ideas? Click on the pictures below. An InLinkz Link-up Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Are you on the Sunshine Committee at your school? Or are you interested in starting one? This file contains information and printables that can help you get started. Enjoy this file for FREE as a way to spread sunshine around your school and make it a happier place to teach!
Happy teachers mean happy students. Here is a list of ways to build morale, support teacher wellbeing and have fun as a teaching team at school.
