Welcome Back!

I put together this Welcome Back basket of apples with pictures of all of our staff along with their names.  I had done something similar when I first started at the school and since this is almost definitely my last year, as I was cleaning out my desk over the summer (so as not to wait until next June to go through things) I came across the picture stickers of our staff from Picture Day which were begging to be used instead of being tossed out.  We have an apple die for our Ellison machine which is a precursor to the likes of the Big Shot or Cuttlebug.  I laminated the apples, cut them out, and after some searching, found bamboo skewers to use to set them into the foam in the basket.  

 

One of the teachers was talking about something she had seen on FB - a teacher holding up one of those 1st Day of School chalkboards - pretty funny.  She said we should all do that on the first day of school.  I told her that I had had the same idea and that if they really wanted to do it, I would prepare the construction paper slates and they could all fill them out at our Hot Dog Luncheon.  I put all the dots on the papers and wrote the school name and date. The teachers were provided the papers and some white chalk.  They had to put their name and number of years teaching and the other boxes they could fill with whatever trivia about themselves they cared to share.  Look how serious they were.

Our principal even filled one out and wanted everyone to meet on the playground the next morning (our second day for the staff, still no students) so we could get a picture of the entire group.  I took the photo though you can't see the info on their pages.  They decided to hang them outside their classrooms.

Here's mine....

In the spring our staff gets $55 to order personal supplies for themselves/their classrooms (don't worry we have a well-stocked supply closet and all curriculum materials come out of a larger budget).  My goal has always been to get them to get their orders in on time so we can move forward with the approval process. So - I offer prizes.  I use my $55 to split between the first 3 teachers with completed orders and then I offer a special prize for those that are able to order $55 on the nose.  This year I had three teachers that were able to make on-the-nose orders.  

I found these flamingo tape dispensers at the Dollar Tree, handtowels with an embroidered flamingo at Big Lots, and a succulent from IKEA.

I put together three quick cards with flamingos that said inside "You are a flamingo in a flock of pigeons! - This is your prize for hitting $55 on the nose."  I left them on the desks of the winners while everyone was at the district staff meeting.  

While the staff was away, we set up for our traditional Hot Dog luncheon.  I collect a few bucks from each teacher to purchase the fixings for the hot dogs, paper products, drinks and desserts.  The staff who choose to, sign up to bring things like salads, chips, more desserts and more drinks.  There's always more than enough food to go around.  This year we also got a couple of pails of ice cream and several 2 liter bottles of root beer to make root beer floats.  That was a hit too!

It's going to be a bittersweet year as I go through doing things for "the last time".  But I want to make it as fun as possible so look forward to some more celebrations and activities.