I knew I wanted to do this when the kids started school, and I'm so glad that I did!
I don't know about you, but the mountain of paperwork that goes with having kids is staggering. I think we should all agree that giving birth to kids is more like giving birth to never-ending forms. Seriously. But one thing that I did appreciate about our latest round of paperwork from the school, was that the teachers wanted to know about our kids and what their strengths, struggles, and preferences are.
So I thought, why not return the favor?
I think it's pretty well known that teachers are underpaid for what they are asked to do. They buy a lot of supplies out of their own pockets and skip doing anything special for themselves. I learned this first hand during summer school. I took my kids to school one morning, got drink orders, then made a run to the Sonic Morning Drink Stop (or whatever they call it) for $1 large drinks. I think I ended up getting 10 drinks for $10, and it was one of the highlights of their week. Friends, they sent me thank you notes. Thank you notes because I went and got them a $1 drink to thank them for their hard work. If that's not humbling, I don't know what is.
So when school started back up this year, I knew I wanted to collect a little more info to have on hand. I gave all the teachers and paras in our four classrooms the same Teacher Questionnaire that included birthday, favorite drink, favorite snack, favorite color, and the open ended question of what would you do with an extra $10?
The replies have been really eye opening. It's given me some good ideas of things to keep an eye out for at consignment sales and in clearance aisles (for the classroom) and I now know that one para shares my love for Hot Tamales candy while another one is allergic to peanuts.
We have 4 teachers and 6 paras this year between our four kids. If all it takes to show these women how much we appreciate them is a box of provolone cheez-its, cool ranch doritos, and some fresh green grapes (all favorite snacks according to the papers they sent back), then I'm happy to surprise them one of these days.
Want to love a little more on your kids' teachers and paras this year? Please feel free to print out my Teacher Questionnaire to get some ideas! It's nothing fancy, but it's the perfect way to start building a relationship with them!
If you'd like the PDF version of the Teacher Questionnaire, you can find it here.
I knew I wanted to do this when the kids started school, and I'm so glad that I did!
I don't know about you, but the mountain of paperwork that goes with having kids is staggering. I think we should all agree that giving birth to kids is more like giving birth to never-ending forms. Seriously. But one thing that I did appreciate about our latest round of paperwork from the school, was that the teachers wanted to know about our kids and what their strengths, struggles, and preferences are.
So I thought, why not return the favor?
I think it's pretty well known that teachers are underpaid for what they are asked to do. They buy a lot of supplies out of their own pockets and skip doing anything special for themselves. I learned this first hand during summer school. I took my kids to school one morning, got drink orders, then made a run to the Sonic Morning Drink Stop (or whatever they call it) for $1 large drinks. I think I ended up getting 10 drinks for $10, and it was one of the highlights of their week. Friends, they sent me thank you notes. Thank you notes because I went and got them a $1 drink to thank them for their hard work. If that's not humbling, I don't know what is.
So when school started back up this year, I knew I wanted to collect a little more info to have on hand. I gave all the teachers and paras in our four classrooms the same Teacher Questionnaire that included birthday, favorite drink, favorite snack, favorite color, and the open ended question of what would you do with an extra $10?
The replies have been really eye opening. It's given me some good ideas of things to keep an eye out for at consignment sales and in clearance aisles (for the classroom) and I now know that one para shares my love for Hot Tamales candy while another one is allergic to peanuts.
We have 4 teachers and 6 paras this year between our four kids. If all it takes to show these women how much we appreciate them is a box of provolone cheez-its, cool ranch doritos, and some fresh green grapes (all favorite snacks according to the papers they sent back), then I'm happy to surprise them one of these days.
Want to love a little more on your kids' teachers and paras this year? Please feel free to print out my Teacher Questionnaire to get some ideas! It's nothing fancy, but it's the perfect way to start building a relationship with them!
If you'd like the PDF version of the Teacher Questionnaire, you can find it here.
