Thank You for Popping in!

Back to school time is often a very busy time for everyone! Teachers are preparing classrooms, planning, creating lessons, attending meetings and professional development trainings... While students and families are preparing for the new school year, shopping for new clothes and supplies, adjusting schedules and enforcing routines that may have been less structured during the summer. Usually within those first few weeks of school, teachers welcome families into their classrooms to learn about the upcoming year with a Back to School Night! 

This year, I had the opportunity to attend my first Back to School Night as a parent! After many years hosting a Back to School Night for my students' families, I had the chance to sit back and listen to my son's amazing teacher's presentation. From the moment we walked through her door, we felt welcomed. We were asked to sign in, provide our best contacts, picked up papers that included her welcome letter, Kindergarten standards in kid-friendly language, and a flyer about the importance of reading. All things that I normally included in my yearly presentations as well! 

During her presentation, her passion for teaching clearly shined through as she discussed routines, classroom schedules, expectations, curriculum, and how their school's No Excuses University philosophy will be incorporated into their Kindergarten classroom. All essential and typical pieces of information presented at Back to School.

However to my surprise, her presentation was concluded by passing around a gift for each family. She handed us all a bag of popcorn with a message saying welcome and thank you for "Popping in" to her classroom! A simple, but meaningful gesture to show her appreciation for coming! Such a sweet idea... Wish I would've thought of that!

It's amazing how simple acts of appreciation usually have the biggest impact on others! To express our gratitude back, the morning after Back to School Night, we woke up extra early and stopped at a local donut store on our way to school. I let my son pick out a donut for his teacher and her entire team. We rushed to school early to drop off their donuts before school started. While handing out their doughnuts, we expressed how we thought they might enjoy a treat to help them find more energy that morning. Since I knew the morning after Back to School Night was always a little more difficult to get up after a late night at school! In the midst of these conversations, I realized that we could've made cute little tags saying "Donut" you know that this will be a great year!" Hopefully next year, I'll be one step ahead and we'll deliver their donuts in cute little bags!  

It's only been a couple weeks into the year, but I can already tell this is going to be a great year... filled with new events and maybe even a couple of "bugs" that we'll have to debug!! I can't wait to see what this year has in store! Keep following me on here to find out!