Teacher Treats

As a former teacher myself, I know how much those little treats and notes mean to pick up a teacher's spirits. For the second year I am in charge of Staff Appreciation for PTA. This is a great position to have. None of the PTA drama (I get that from other positions I have:-) and lots of fun and smiles! It isn't too hard to please a group of elementary teachers. Last year I started some "craft and chat" times. An opportunity for parents to get together to work on some fun and easy crafts for teacher treats. It is a great opportunity for parents who may not be as involved with PTA to get to know some other people and we get fun treats made for the teachers.

This week we made cute toppers for individual bags of apple chips. I had these overflowing out of a big basket along with numerous other apple goodies that were provided by other parents. Apples and carmel dip, apple cake, apple bread, apple muffins, apple cider...... A buffet of apple goodness! We also wrote little notes on apple paper to pin up to the bulletin board to let the teachers know how much we appreciate them.I also wanted to give a little Back to School gift for Madison's teacher. Tom thinks it is me trying to kiss up to the teacher, I say it is me being friendly and nice! I always had one or two moms each year who would give me random gifts and goodies through out the year. It certainly isn't necessary or expected by teachers. But I always thought that when I had kids I would want to be one of those moms and now I get the chance. So for Madison's teacher I got these 2 great books.

"Listen to the Wind" is the story of Greg Mortenson from "Three Cups of Tea". A great story to teach children about how not all children are allowed the same advantages as they are and something like a nice school with books, walls, roof... should not be taken for granted. And the art work alone in the book is worth the price of the book. GORGEOUS

"How Full is Your Bucket" isn't a literary masterpiece nor is the artwork amazing, but the message is fantastic using the metaphor of every person having a bucket to measure their feelings. When people are kind to others their buckets fill up and when bad things happen their buckets dump out. A very concrete way for children to understand how their actions effect their own and others feelings.

Both these books give me the moments when I miss teaching desperately. My mind races with all the uses for the book in the classroom and the amazing ways you could use them to build classroom community and unity. I just have to remember them all for when I go back to the teaching world. Believe me, there are plenty of other days when I don't miss teaching at all so it balances itself out just fine:-)