Dream Team

I love my team - plain and simple. I work with some of the best people you could ever imagine. As the team leader, I always like to welcome them back with a little gift. Our team varies from 9-12 people in any given year, so little gifts can add up fast. A few years ago I put some heart shaped sweet-tarts in a clear baggie tied with a ribbon and a tag that said "Wishing You a Class Full of Sweethearts!" I've made journals and clipboards and teacher survival kits among other things.

One year I scoped out the sample size aisle at Target and picked out some things to work with. I ended up with a bottle of Dial hand sanitizer, Shout wipes stain removers, lotion and Downy wrinkle reducer. I put them in a colored lunch bag with this tag on the front. I wanted to share this in google docs, but it gets a little wonky and distorted for some reason. If you want a copy, leave me a comment w/ your email and I'll send it :) You may just be able to snag it right from here too. On a Mac just click and drag to your desktop. PC peeps, is there a way to do that?

Here's last year's & my personal fave so far. I printed the poem below on little tags. Then I added a magnet to the back of a seashell and put it in a little organza bag. It was fun to try to pick out a shell that matched each teacher. I gave our supported teacher an otherwise beautiful shell that had a big chip missing and for our art teacher who was temporarily reassigned to 2nd grade, I found a really pretty pearly one with all different colors. One of our teachers is crazy about animal print (hi Laura!) so hers had a leopardy-spot look to it.  It will make sense when you read the poem, which I LOVE! I went all sentimental-dork on them and gave them all their shell while I read the poem out loud. We had a moment. It was like a little secret we all shared whenever we saw one of the magnets on each other's boards the rest of the year (see - sentimental. dork. If the shoe fits...)

I just had to play around with my fancy Picnic collage program...

This seashell is a gift to help you reflect 

on another gift you are about to receive...your students. 

What can this shell can tell us about them?

Maybe your shell is fragile, delicate, and easily broken.

So are your students. Handle them kindly and with care.

Maybe your shell looks beautiful. Each student in your class 

has a special beauty. Discover it and help others to 

notice it and appreciate it.

Maybe you noticed that your shell has pieces chipped away or 

broken off. Some students have had difficult experiences 

that have chipped away their self-image and broken their spirit.

Help to rebuild their self-image and rekindle their enthusiasm.

The shell you have in your hand is unique.

It was carried to shore by the ocean just for you.

What will you do with it now that it is yours?

Each student in your class is unique, too. 

Each one is in your hands now.

What will you do with your students 

now that they are yours?

   -adapted from Mary Madden’s “Seashell”


 Click here to get the poem.

I'm running out of time for this year's little gifty, but I've been doing TONS of "research" on Pinterest. I'm sure I'll stumble upon something sooner or later!