Boosting School/Team Moral With Random Acts of Kindness

If you know me or have been following me for a while, you know I'm all about boosting school moral, school spirit, making people happy, and just random acts of kindness. I make sure I get all 7 members of my team a gift on every holiday or major occassion! Maybe that's too much, but doesn't everyone love receiving gifts?! I love giving just as much as I love receiving gifts. :)

No one said it had to be something expensive. I went to the a Dollar Tree this weekend and found these awesome Halloween themed wine glasses. Even though it's only Septemeber, I figured I better get them before they run out! I purchased some crinkled paper in our school colors (royal blue and white) along with some Starburst, Kit Kats, Twix, Milky Ways, 100 Grand mini candy bars, fake spiders, and some Halloween ribbon. I have a ton of post-it notes at work, so I went through and took out all of the purple and orange ones since they match the cup. I always stock up at back-to-school sales,  so I always have some sharpies and Expo dry erase markers. Candy is great for Halloween,  but how about something practical for the teacher?! That's why I always throw in a few teaching supplies with my gifts.

This is what I'm doing with each wine glass:

1. Put a little blue and white crinkle paper in the bottom of each glass.

2. Line the inside edge of the glass with the assorted chocolate candy bars. 

3. In the middle of the glass put the Post-it notes, 1 Sharpie, and 1 dry erase marker.

4. Fill the extra space with Starburst (You could also use additional crinkle paper) and top it off with a few fake spiders.

5. Place the glass in a cellophane bag.

6. Use the Halloween ribbon to close the bag.

7. This is where I need to your help! I need some catchy phrase to make a tag and place on each bag. Can anyone think of anything that involves teaching and Halloween stuff?! Please leave a comment and let me know! :)

All of this stuff came from Dollar Tree with the exception of the post-its,  Sharpie, and Expo. Each filled wine glass only costs about $3-4 per person!

After taking the kids out for Trick-or-treating on Halloween, I can imagine most of the teachers going home to drink wine out of this glass, especially since Halloween is on a Friday this year! Haha.

Bringing in the New School Year With a Team Gift!

School starts in exactly three weeks and I have to say I work with the best team ever! I already love working with them, so I thought I'd make everyone a small gift bag to start the year off! I have 6 teachers in my 7th grade ELA cohort and 4 teachers in my "family/team." With that being said I needed 10 gifts. I don't have a ton of money since I'm switching district and my former district issued my last paycheck at the end of July and I don't get paid from my new district until September 15th. The gifts I choose to get were very cost efficient and I will give you a great down below.

Contents of each bag: 

• Box of Starburst (Dollar Tree - $1)
• 4-pack Bic Velocity Bold Pens (Staples - on sale this week for $1)
• Royal Blue Sharpie (Our school color) - (Office Depot - on sale this week for $.25)
• Bag of Popcorn - (Box of 3 at Dollar Tree for $1, $.33 cents each)
• Chiclets Gum - (Package of 6 at Dollar Tree for $1, $.17 cents each)
• Blue and Green Gift Bags - (Package of 13 at Joann's for $6, .46 cents each)

Total Price for each gift bag filled with goodies - JUST $3.47 each! ($3.76 with local tax)

Total price for all 10 gift bags - $34.70. ($37.56 with local tax)

I made the labels quickly in PowerPoint and was sure to include our Gator mascot and school colors, blue and white.

This gift idea was inspired by Steven over at The Superhero Teacher! His Instagram post last week gave me the idea to do something nice for my team! Thanks, Steven! :) He teaches middle school ELA too...click the button below to visit his blog and follow!