6 Back to School Resources for a Smooth Start to the Year!

Ahhhh, back-to-school time. If you're headed back to school or in session already, you know what an important time of year this is. Back to school season marks the beginning of a new year and offers an opportunity to set the tone for the months ahead. Make sure to pay attention to classroom procedures and expectations! You can make this back to school season your best with just a few simple techniques and resources! 

Setting the Tone for a Fantastic Year 

If you've been teaching for a while, you already know that how you start the year will dictate how the rest of it goes. And if this is your first year teaching, it won't take long to discover this fact! The beginning of the year is that important!  

Setting our students up to know the class and school expectations right off the bat will not only make classroom management easier on us, but it will also help them be successful too! 

When we take the time to help our students learn the ropes in a new classroom, it helps them feel safe and secure, and supported in learning. Students thrive in environments with predictable schedules and clearly outlined rules. 

Over the years, I have tried so many different tools and methods for managing my classroom. There were some clear winners and some flops too. 

Today, I'm going to save you the trouble of trying all the things and instead share my top 6 resources for a successful, smooth year!

6 Back to School Resources that Will Make Your Life Easier!

1. Classroom Behavior Activities Game

This game is one of my absolute favorites to use during back to school season. It's a great ice-breaker game for the first week of school and helps students think about what types of choices are acceptable for the classroom and which are not.

To introduce the topic of choices, there is a picture sorting game that can be played as a whole group. You can sort the pictures out on the floor during your morning meeting or use a pocket chart while your kiddos are seated at their desks. There are three different vocabulary choices to choose from based on the language you'd like to use in your classroom. The options include:

• Good Choice vs. Bad Choice
• Appropriate vs. Inappropriate Choice
• I Will vs. I Will Not

Once you've practiced sorting out behaviors as a class, your kiddos can play the spinner game with a partner or independently. They will take turns spinning, name the behavior, and mark a tally down to show if it's a positive or negative behavior. I love the community-building aspect of this activity and the gentle nudge it gives students toward making smart choices. 

2. Transportation Headbands

One of the biggest headaches for any teacher in the classroom at the start of the year is transportation. With a handful of students getting picked up, others taking the bus, and some walking home, it can take a lot of work to keep it all straight. If you teach young children, this can be a big source of stress for them as well! Take the pressure off with transportation headbands for the first week of school! 

This system is designed to keep transportation methods organized and simple to remember. Each child will get their own headband showing their transportation method for the day. If children go home in different ways, they can make a new headband each day as a reminder. Students will love wearing their headbands, which will help calm the chaos when it's time to head home for the day too! The options included are:

• bus
• walking
• car rider
• van to after-school care
• bike rider
• subway
• taxi 
• blank for you to add your own option 

Also included in this resource is a large classroom bulletin board display that can be changed by the day. Use clothespins for each student and move them as needed to each category. There is also a class list that you can quickly glance at before dismissal for a final double-check. This system is a great way to reduce stress during the first week of school and would also be helpful for a substitute! 

3. Book Care Activities 

If you're a teacher in the primary classroom, I'm willing to bet you've shelled out much of your money on supplies like books for your classroom library.  We want to be able to use those books for many years.  

Sometimes, our young students come to us without a lot of experience with books.  It's up to us to help them learn the expectations for using books, both in the classroom and at home. One of the best ways to do this is by teaching children proper care procedures for books. 

At the beginning of the year, I love using a read-aloud that helps students understand the proper way to take care of our classroom library books. 

This story, Book Care, is split into sections that cover topics like how we take care of books, the reading environment, preparing to read, after reading, and more. It's a great way to make the expectations of the reading area crystal clear during back to school time!

After we've read the story, I always placed it on a shelf in the reading area as a reminder. Another great reminder are these posters that display the same info and can be posted in the library as a visual aid. 

4. Teach Students to Use Scissors Safely 

One of my favorite ways to ensure we were set up for a successful school year was by teaching students how to use classroom supplies and materials. In the primary classroom, scissors are used just about every day. If not used properly, this can get stressful and scary! Help your students learn to use them correctly with another fun read-aloud.

This book, Scissor Safety Story, is a great way to chat with kiddos about the seriousness of using scissors. It discusses proper grip and the rules for using them in the classroom. Some of the points (no pun intended) include the following:

• Being seated while cutting 
• Appropriate items to cut and inappropriate items to cut 
• Transporting scissors with the blades in a closed fist and more!

This is a great book to laminate and bind together. Then you can read it several times and make it available to students in the classroom library. Anytime you have a kiddo that seems to have forgotten the rules, direct them toward this book for a refresher! 

5. Read Aloud for Using Glue and Gluesticks 

Speaking of school supplies, remember to teach your students how to use glue and gluesticks too! 

I don't know about you, but one of my pet peeves is finding gluesticks that dried up because someone left the cap off.  

Helping students learn how to use glue and put it away is essential! 

This fun read-aloud will help students learn all the do's and don't of using glue. This is an excellent book for back to school time, but it also comes in handy before a big art project! 

If you teach in the primary grades, your students likely haven't had much practice with using glue. 

Having a way to remind them of the expectations before you start any arts or crafts projects will help make the process so much smoother! 

6. Personal Dictionary 

This last resource is SO great for young readers and writers. If you've ever taught in a primary classroom, I'm sure you've experienced having multiple students come up to you asking how to spell a specific word over and over and over. 

As teachers, we want to support our students and help them learn proper spellings of common words, but we also want to teach them how to use tools so they can work independently! 

This is where the personal dictionary comes in handy! This personal dictionary is a growing word bank. Each month students get a list of words that are perfect for that month.  With a picture above each word, even pre-readers can use this personal picture dictionary. As the school year goes on, more pages are added. 

There are pages for each month and seasonal and thematic pages to offer various options for your students.  

These personal dictionaries are a valuable resource tool for students. Not only do they help with spelling and building vocabulary, but they cut down on the number of times you will hear "How do you spell. . ." Help foster independence and encourage growth in writing skills with these personal dictionaries! 

Easing Into a Great School Year 

Each of these resources have been classroom tested and approved by students and teachers alike.  They are all valuable tools to helping you put in place a solid foundation for the year.

If you're interested in checking out some more back to school resources to support learning in other ways, be sure to check out my TPT shop! It's filled with even more fun activities that will help you have your best year yet! 

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8 Ways to Boost Staff Morale in Your School This Year

Boosting staff morale in a school environment is an ongoing process, but one that is well worth it! Schools with high staff morale are likely to be more enjoyable work environments and ultimately serve our students better. If you're hoping to find fresh new ways to keep morale high by encouraging teachers, administrators, and other school staff members,  you're in luck! I've got eight fun ways to boost staff morale in your school all year long. 

Staff Morale Matters 

Whether you're an administrator, on the PTO, or running a "sunshine committee" in your school, staff morale is a vital piece of the puzzle for a happy school community. Anyone who works in the school system knows a lot goes into it! Aside from the workload itself, interacting with young children and their families requires a lot of emotional energy as well.

Our school workers are facing challenging situations regularly, working long hours, and truly trying to make an impact. 

It's obvious that this type of work, though incredibly rewarding, can also be draining. In other words, we need to ensure that we're filling those cups as often as we empty them!

One of the best ways to do this is by guiding staff toward relationships and building a sense of community. 

There are many ways to do this, but some are more effective than others for community building. As a long-time member of the sunshine committee at our school (who also had a teacher's perspective), a few things stood out among the rest.

If you're unsure where to start, I've got you covered! Here are 8 of my favorite ways to boost staff morale and help facilitate meaningful connections. 

1. Staff Favorites Booklet 

This first idea is such a fun one to set in place at the beginning of the year since it will come in handy over and over again. Think about this - have you ever wanted to show appreciation to a friend or colleague but weren't quite sure what they liked? I know this happened to me on more than one occasion! Because of this, I created a booklet that would hold all of the staff "favorites" in one neat little spot. 

To use, have all staff members fill out their own favorites page at the beginning of the year. The booklet asks things like:

• favorite hot & cold drinks 
• favorite sweet & salty treats
• favorite pens
• favorite store
• favorite restaurant, and more!

Once you've got everyone's page back, make multiple copies (I made 8 for our school) and place them in plastic sleeves in a 3-ring binder. The plastic sleeves allow for easy updates. You can organize the pages alphabetically and use alphabet dividers if desired as well. Place the books in strategic areas around the school like team workrooms, in the office, near the copy machines, etc. 

Staff can then access the book of favorites anytime they like to show random acts of kindness to fellow staff members. This is a simple project for the beginning of the year, and it pays off over time!

2. Staff Goodie Bags 

Another one of my favorite ways to boost staff morale is with fun little goodie bags that can be used any time of year. You really don't need a special occasion for these, but they're great for:

• staff appreciation day 
• back to school 
• holiday breaks 
• just for fun 

These little goodie bags feature festive bag toppers, a fun list of reminders, and small tokens of appreciation. Some of the things included are objects like post-its to remind staff to "stick with it and persevere" and tea to "take time to relax."

These simple and inexpensive items, along with the fun little printable and baggie toppers, always make staff smile! However, the best part of these bags is how quick they are to prep. Choose a bag topper, print your materials, and fill it with goodies, that's it!

3. Editable Staff Birthday Chart 

If you're looking for a fun way to celebrate staff birthdays, you need a birthday chart! 

This resource will help everyone stay on top of staff birthdays and make planning celebrations simple. 

We all know how hard it can be to remember ALL birthdays when you have a large staff body. 

This Editable Birthday Chart is super simple to use and will make this process easier. At a meeting, have staff jot down their name and birthday on a post-it note and collect them. 

Once you're ready, enter the info into the document, and it will automatically populate it by day and month.

Finally, print it out, and hang up each monthly chart or a few at a time to help everyone remember their colleague's birthdays. 

4. Staff Morale Scratch Off-Tickets 

If you're looking for a fun way to reward staff throughout the year, you'll love these Scratch-off Tickets! 

They're aligned with seasonal themes like back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, December holidays, and more! So you can use them all year long. They feature fun rewards like:

• jeans day 
• recess coverage 
• special treat provided
• prime parking and more! 

These rewards help keep staff motivated and will add some fun to your monthly meetings. 

To use, you'll choose which rewards to feature and print enough for your staff. You can print them on scratch-off paper or use the DIY scratch-off paint recipe included in the resource. 

Either way, this will be a fun way to mix things up and boost staff morale all year long! 

5. Chalk Marker Messages 

Another one of my favorite things to do to help boost staff morale is to leave little messages on mirrors and windows. You can do this by purchasing some chalk markers like these. 

Simply write a fun message, joke, or inspirational quote on bathroom mirrors or staff lounge windows. 

You can swap these out every week to keep it interesting or leave the markers out for staff to write their own messages. 

I've also used these on a chalkboard in the staff lounge for encouragement and kind notes to fellow staff members. 

Just leave a jar of markers, and get the process started by writing a few compliments to staff members. Soon others will follow, and your board will be filled with kind notes! 

The options for this idea are endless and really help boost staff morale and build relationships. 

6. Set Up a Breakfast Cart 

One of the BEST ways to offer opportunities to build relationships is through events with food! All cultures and communities typically come together through feasting of some kind! This is also true for your school community. Special meals are a great way to show appreciation and help bring people together to socialize and spark conversations.

I loved to help facilitate this with a fun breakfast cart once per month. In my school, our teams would take turns hosting the breakfast cart as sort of a potluck-style activity. 

I did this with a sign-up sheet that allowed each team to choose the month they'd like to sign up for in advance. We picked dates ahead of time and assigned a month to each team. 

Then, once the date grew near, we used sign-up sheets for that team to allot who would bring what. In the resource I created for facilitating a monthly staff breakfast, there are also reminder signs and cute decorations for the cart itself. 

Everyone loved being a part of this monthly activity; it was a great way to build relationships among staff! 

7. Staff Address Book 

When I was still in the classroom, we lost access to the district-wide address book at one point.

Because of this, we could no longer find the contact info of our colleagues. When this happened, I made a staff address book for everyone to opt into instead. 

This came in so handy whenever we wanted to send a special act of kindness or celebrate a staff member. Some reasons you might want an address book are so that you're able to send the following:

• thank you cards 
• get well cards 
• congratulations on a new baby 
• birthday cards 
• encouragement to someone facing a difficult time
• just because notes

Having this book available to staff is a great way to encourage closer connections among staff. Simply have staff members fill them out at the beginning of the year and bind them into a book stored in the staff lounge. You'll use this one again and again! 

8. Orange You Glad It's Friday?! 

This last one is a simple and fun way to put a smile on staff members' faces. 

These cute printable tags pair perfectly with oranges as a fun Friday treat. 

You can print these tags off in full color or black and white on orange Astrobrights paper. 

Then, grab a bunch of oranges, mandarins, or cuties and place them in a large bowl. 

Post the tags on the door of the staff lounge, and scatter them around the table where the bowl of oranges is for a fun surprise. 

Staff will love grabbing a healthy sweet treat to celebrate Friday any time of year! 

Focus on Community Building to Keep Staff Morale High 

I hope these ideas helped inspire you in new ways to boost staff morale all year long. If you can't decide on a favorite, be sure to check out the Staff Morale "Super Big" Bundle. This bundle will make planning meaningful staff activities simple and fun no matter what time of year it is. 

Above all, when choosing activities to boost staff morale in your school, think about ways for staff to connect. After all, many of us are genuinely looking for a way to feel understood, connect on difficult issues, and share in like-minded conversations. These types of experiences help build strong bonds in your school community and often cost little to facilitate. 

Your staff will appreciate opportunities to chat, socialize, and check in with each other. No matter which activities you choose to include, focus on making sure connection is at the heart of them! 

The Ultimate Staff Morale Bundle 

A positive school culture doesn't happen by accident. It grows through small acts of kindness, thoughtful appreciation, and opportunities for staff to connect. The Staff Morale Ultimate Bundle gives you everything you need to make that happen throughout the entire year. From simple gestures to larger celebrations, food-themed activities to non-food options, you'll find ideas that work for every budget and every staff. Purchase now to lock in the current price and gain access to all future Staff Morale resources that are added to the bundle.

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5 Ways to Support Your Orton Gillingham Phonics Lessons

Are you using a structured phonics program like Orton Gillingham in your classroom to help support your students? Programs like these are fantastic for in class instruction and phonics intervention, but over the years I would often find myself wanting a bit more support to implement their strategies. This led to the creation of some supplementary materials that align well with Orton Gillingham phonics lessons, and really any primary phonics program! If you're looking for new and exciting ways to engage your students in phonics lessons, check out 5 of my favorite tools and activities!

What is Orton Gillingham Phonics Program? 

Orton Gillingham phonics is an approach that's used for remedial reading instruction in primary classrooms and becoming part of the core instruction within the classroom too. It uses a multisensory phonics technique that's fantastic for helping our students truly grasp and understand phonics. 

It's often used for intervention and is excellent support for students with dyslexia, but really all students can benefit from this approach. 

This program focuses on using auditory lessons, visual aids, and hands-on learning activities to target phonics in many different ways. Aside from Orton Gillingham though, there are many other structured phonics programs out there that use a similar teaching format. 

And the good news is that even if you aren't using this particular phonics program with your students, you can still use all of the activities in this post! 

These activities are designed to be fun and engaging for students, focusing on a multisensory teaching approach that allows children to use hands-on learning. No matter what phonics program your school uses, your students will LOVE these engaging phonics lessons. 

1. Blending Boards 

Whether you use Orton Gillingham phonics lessons or not, I think we can all agree that young students need lots of practice sounding out words and learning to blend letters to form CVC words. This is an activity that should happen daily in the primary classroom, especially for those students who need a little extra dedicated time for phonics intervention. 

As with anything that is a daily practice, the key to keeping it fun for kiddos is to add some kind of element that switches it up! When it comes to practicing blending, I loved to do this by using seasonal blending boards that change from month to month. 

The idea behind these blending boards is that students will choose consonants and vowels from each box to create their own CVC word. Building and blending CVC words is a huge win for new readers as they develop confidence. The piece that makes these blending boards fun though is the seasonal clipart on each one! The pictures align with the time of year, whether it's school buses for August, turkeys for November, or snow globes for January! Students will love working on blending with these fun activity mats. 

2. Pound and Tap Cue Cards 

One of the strategies taught in the Orton Gillingham phonics lessons is to "pound and tap" out sounds as students read and write words. 

If a child is left-handed, they use their right to pound and tap, and vice versa if they are right-handed. 

The idea behind this concept is to help children break down the words into individual sounds. 

Since we used this technique all the time in my classroom, I created some cue cards and anchor charts to help prompt and remind my students to do so. 

Every child got their own cue card for their desk. The card is personalized by skin tone and which hand they will use for the "pound and tap" technique. 

I liked to laminate the cards, and then tape them to the top corner of the desk that aligns with the hand they will use. 

These cue cards along with the anchor charts served as a great reminder to do this while both reading and writing too. 

3. B and D Reversal Posters & Desk Plates 

As teachers in the primary classroom, we all know how easy it is for new readers to mix up lowercase b and d. In my experience, this is most common in grades kindergarten, first, and second, and can really trip those kiddos up as they try to sound out words! 

To help them get past this, I created some B and D Reversal Posters that serve as a quick and easy reminder.  These cute posters show a picture of a bed as a visual reminder. On the card, there is both a lowercase b and d to help students remember which is which. 

There is also an option that shows an additional picture for each letter to further prompt students. 

These can be printed in poster size for classroom décor, or printed in the smaller options and taped to students' desks as a reminder. Both options are great for mastering those tricky "b" and "d" lowercase letters! 

4. Phonics Flashcards 

This next phonics tool aligns with Orton Gillingham and my Recipe for Reading sequence. 

These phonics flashcards are great for teaching individual letter sounds, digraphs, spelling patterns, or "hunks and chunks". 

Anytime you're introducing new sounds to your students, these are a great way to streamline the process! 

This bundle includes 800 picture cards for each lesson included in the sequence from sets 1-3. Each card is marked by what sound they represent for easy organization. There is also a picture card key to show what sounds are targeted and to avoid confusion. 

I liked to print these on cardstock, laminate them, and store them in small photo boxes. These are quick and easy tool to use in your intervention groups in daily phonics practice lessons but are helpful for general classroom use too. 

5. Phonics Fluency Strips 

Finally, let's chat about another one of my favorite tools for phonics lessons! These phonics fluency strips help target specific sounds, provide fluency practice, and can quickly assess for progress. 

They're especially helpful for checking in with newly learned phonics skills and applying previously learned skills during small groups. 

My favorite feature of these fluency strips though is how easy they are to use. Simply print and go, and students will be able to grab a list and start reading! 

This resource includes fluency strips for 42 different phonics sounds/rules. Each page has 4 identical lists that can quickly be cut apart and handed out to students. The phonics skill is listed at the top of the strip and then followed by 11 words for that sound. 

These are such great tools for small group intervention, can serve as an excellent small group warm up, and I also loved to tuck these into homework folders as well! They're a super simple way for teachers and parents to help children grow in reading fluency and practice a variety of sounds.

 

Using All of these Phonics Lessons Together 

If you asked me to pick a favorite from these activities, I really don't think I'd be able to so! In all honesty, I used all of these tools and activities on a regular basis in my classroom and with my intervention groups. Whether or not you use Orton Gillingham phonics lessons, these tools will have a big impact on how much progress your young readers make! 

Because of this, I created a bundle of all these resources. The bundle will help you add variety to your phonics lessons and ensure you're keeping these fun and engaging for your students. It includes all 5 of the resources discussed in this post, so you'll be able to help support your students all year long! 

Check out the bundle to simplify your lesson planning, support your structured phonics lessons, and make learning to read FUN for your students! 

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9 Ways to Boost Staff Morale During the New School Year

Fall is the busiest time of the year if you're a teacher or a school administrator! Since we all know our time is limited when August hits, I'm a big fan of prepping things ahead of time to use throughout the year. While you don't want to spend your whole summer preparing for the school year, there are a few great ways to prepare for those busy months and start the year with high staff morale right off the bat! Here are 9 simple ways to prep during the summer months and boost staff morale this fall! 

Why Focus on Staff Morale?

In the busiest time of the year, staff morale is something that can be easy to forget. There's an endless to-do list and limited time, so why should we spend our precious time on staff morale?! So glad you asked! 

First off, your staff members are in the busiest time of the year too!  They also have an endless to-do list and the added pressure to getting everything ready, meeting students and parents, and pleasing you, the admin.  Taking a couple of minutes to acknowledge what they are going through goes a long way!

When I was the head of our school Sunshine Committee for many years, I was always looking for fun ways to engage our staff, bring people together, and share small gestures of kindness. Paying it forward with small acts of gratitude is the BEST way to set the tone for a great year! 

Whether you're a teacher looking to spread some cheer, a school administrator, or a PTO member, you'll love these simple ways to keep staff morale high. These ideas are inexpensive, simple to prep, and will help demonstrate thoughtfulness and kindness throughout your building to get the year started off right!

1. Stock the Fridge 

This is one of my favorite simple things to prep during the summer months that really makes a huge impact on staff morale! 

During the summer months, stock up on a variety of beverages and print off some of these fun signs. When you're ready to use this staff morale booster, fill your fridge and hang the signs. Post the signs in the staff lounge, in the office, and in other high-traffic areas around your building. 

These signs will alert staff that there are cold beverages provided for them in the staff lounge. I've found this simple act of kindness helps to re-energize staff and get them excited for the new year. 

A great time to do this is when the school opens up and staff are prepping before the kids are back. There's nothing better than grabbing an ice-cold, free drink after spending a day working in your classroom! 

You can also use these signs throughout the year for staff in-service days, special events, or simply to add some cheer to a regular week. 

2. Prep Welcome Back Poems

Next up, this is another super simple staff morale booster to prep this summer! 

Just print this poem off on some paper and fold the copies ahead of time. 

This is a great activity to do while you're watching a movie, or relaxing by the pool. 

I'm a big fan of multitasking things like this to help make the most of your summer break while getting ready for fall! 

Store them away until the first week of school. 

Then, the night before the first day tuck these cute little poems into every staff member's mailbox as a way to welcome them back. 

This is a great way to kick off the year and only takes a few minutes to prepare!

3. Build Staff Morale Welcome Baskets

This next idea is perfect for the first week of school, or while the staff is preparing over the summer. I liked to prep a few of these Welcome Baskets and place them in high-traffic areas in our building. The baskets were filled with essentials we all needed during the long hours we spent at school. Some of the things in the baskets include:

• soap 
• lint rollers
• stain remover 
• static guard
• hand sanitizer 
• dental floss 
• hand lotion
• and more 

The ideas are literally endless! I liked to swing by the dollar store and find a variety of fun and inexpensive goodies to fill these baskets. 

You can shrink-wrap the baskets if desired, and add a gift tag. Then distribute them to teams, or place them in staff bathrooms and the staff lounge for everyone to share. This idea is really fun for new staff members too. Make new staff members their very own basket to welcome them to your school!

4. Make a Staff Shout-Out Board 

One of the best ways to boost staff morale is by simply recognizing a job well done. 

Taking the time to show your appreciation for kind acts of service means so much to staff and teachers alike! My favorite method for getting this trend going is with a staff shout-out board. 

This idea encourages staff and teachers to find ways to thank and compliment each other regularly. 

To prep this one over the summer, all you need to do to print off a shout-out board from this resource and hang it in a central location. 

If you are able, it's best to enlarge the printable to poster size and place it in a frame. I liked to leave a stack of Post-its, and some colorful markers alongside it too. 

Add a few shout-outs yourself to get the process going, and watch the compliments pile up! 

5. Create a Staff Sunshine Corner

If you're making a staff shout-out board, I highly recommend creating a "Sunshine Corner" too! 

This little area is a great place to hang your staff shout-out board, along with other fun announcements and information. 

To make a sunshine corner in your building, locate an empty wall in the staff lounge or office. Grab some cute bulletin board supplies and decorate to your liking. 

Add a fun heading that says "Sunshine Corner" with these letters and gather any other important info to display. 

In the past, I've posted our district calendar, announcements, the shout-out board, and reminders for goodies available in the fridge. Staff will love checking the board for new announcements each week! 

This is a great spot to place a coffee cart, or any other special treats you have available for staff as well. 

6. Make a Kindness Plate 

Another great morale booster to start on your campus is the Kindness Plate.  It's an anonymous (or not anonymous) RAK (Random Act of Kindness) activity that goes on all year long!  

To get started all you need is one or more kindness plates.  You can make one yourself at a paint-your-own pottery store or create one through a service like Shutterfly.  You can even grab a special plate from a local thrift store and tag it as the Kindness Plate.  The plate is really just the starting place for this kindness activity. 

Here's the idea: the Kindness Plate gets filled with a special treat, lunch, office supplies, or anything really.  Then it gets left for a teacher or staff member.  That person gets to enjoy everything on the plate.  Then it is their turn to fill the Kindness Plate and share it with someone else. 

It's a great way to encourage a fellow staff member, say thank you to someone who went above and beyond, or just spread some kindness.  You can start the "train" of kindness yourself or have them available for staff to grab when they want to use one.

On my campus, we had 5 Kindness Plates that stayed in rotation all year long.  Our general rule of thumb was that once received, the kindness plate would be filled and passed on within a week.  It was always an uplifting and encouraging surprise to find the Kindness Plate on your desk or in your mailbox.

If you are looking for an easy way to spread kindness and encouragement on your campus, this is a great one.

7. Plan a Teacher Yard Sale 

Looking for a way to help teachers prepare for the school year and repurpose items around the school?

Consider planning a teacher yard sale prior to the first week of school. 

In this event, teachers will donate unused items from their own classrooms to share with others. 

If they find they have a large stock of things that aren't needed, this is the perfect opportunity to clean them out! 

The old saying, "One person's trash is another person's treasure" applies here and is so true! This event is both fun and social for staff, while also helping boost staff morale and find some fun items to use in the classroom. 

This resource has everything you need to make planning your yard sale simple. Included you'll find advertisement signs, sign-up sheets, step-by-step directions, and more!

8. Book a Coffee Truck 

Everyone loves coffee, right?! This couldn't be more true at the beginning of the school year! As a fun welcome-back activity, I liked to book a traveling coffee truck to visit the school. This one will require some funding, but planning ahead during the summer usually makes it more feasible! 

Look in your local area to find a truck that's willing to visit your school. Your administration or PTO can pre-pay for each teacher and staff member to be able to get a beverage of their choosing. Our staff purchased their own drinks. The opportunity to get coffee at school was a treat in itself. 

You may need to arrange for coverage as staff members go get their coffee treat, or send the menu out ahead of time and have volunteers bring orders to each person that morning. 

Alternatively, the truck can arrive at a designated time before the first bell rings. 

I liked to arrange this event during week two of back to school. The first week is chaotic, and everyone is just trying to find a groove. 

The second week is a great time to show staff they are appreciated after the dust settles a bit. 

No matter how you structure it, this one will be a BIG hit, and make all of your staff members feel appreciated as they fall back into the school routine! 

9. Grab Some Chalk Markers 

Last, but not least - this is a SUPER simple tip that makes a big impact. 

Over the summer, keep your eyes out for some chalk markers. Stock up on these or grab them on Amazon. 

At the beginning of the school year, spend some time leaving messages for staff on bathroom mirrors, or windows in the staff areas. 

You can leave encouraging notes, jokes, or other positive messages. 

Set a note in your calendar to swap these out from time to time to keep it interesting and fun. You can also make the markers available for others to join in the fun.

This is a simple way to make your staff members smile and start the year off with great staff morale!

Even More Staff Morale Resources

Are you feeling energized and excited to try some of these staff morale-boosting activities this year? I sure hope so! Taking some time to prep a few of these over the summer will have a big impact come fall! If you LOVE these ideas and are looking for even more, be sure to check out the Staff Morale SUPER Bundle!

The bundle includes 26 resources to help encourage, motivate, and thank staff all year long. You'll find all of the ideas included in this post and more to help inspire you and prepare for a great year. Using these activities and resources is a great way to keep staff morale high all year long!

The Ultimate Staff Morale Bundle

A positive school culture doesn't happen by accident. It grows through small acts of kindness, thoughtful appreciation, and opportunities for staff to connect. The Staff Morale Ultimate Bundle gives you everything you need to make that happen throughout the entire year. From simple gestures to larger celebrations, food-themed activities to non-food options, you'll find ideas that work for every budget and every staff. Purchase now to lock in the current price and gain access to all future Staff Morale resources that are added to the bundle.

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This post is filled with fun ideas that make boosting staff morale easy! Pin this post on Pinterest to save these ideas and come back to them when you're in need of inspiration.