Honoring Teachers

I was looking through some photos on my phone and came across a few that I want to share. Honoring the Teacher of the Year is a BIG DEAL, and I know principals like to make it special. At my previous school, I would secretly invite the honoree's family to the staff meeting and surprise them that way. There were always a few sweet tears - it was a super fun way to start our day. Our window of announcement is a little narrower at my current school, and our staff meetings are in the afternoon. For the past three years we have been surprising our Teacher of the Year and our Spirit of the Bear (paraprofessional of the year) with a special area (like their door or work-spot) and a sign. I like to post the sign on social media, but crop off the name - so everyone will wonder who it is! We sneak back up to school at night to get it ready for them. Here are some examples of how we have done this:

Mrs. Jilek, our receptionist, won the Spirit of the Bear this year. We ❤️❤️❤️ her being on our "front line!"

Mrs. Burzynski, one of our sweet kindergarten teachers, was the 2016 Teacher of the Year. She loves them into learning!

Next we have a delicious dinner hosted by one of the area country clubs on the lake. My assistant principal and I had a wonderful evening with these ladies and their guests!

This is one of my favorite times of year -taking time to honor our special friends!!

Using SeeSaw app for Staff Communication

It has been a super busy spring for us at Lone Star! I know the end of year is very stressful for all teachers & administrators, and ours was no different. We are undergoing a little renovation this summer, which required my staff to box everything up and clear out their rooms. Wow, there were a LOT of boxes! Our renovation began almost immediately after the children left, and I know my staff will be curious about the changes & progress. I am using the SeeSaw app to keep them up to date. It is really for classrooms, so I am set up as the teacher and they are set up as students. I can upload videos and pictures to show them the changes, since they cannot come up to the school during the process:

They can even make comments below. I can tag everyone, or just specific people. The students (my staff) can also upload items for (just) me to see or they can tag others. We have certain items they typically text or email to me - like a picture of themselves reading - so I am going to have them send via SeeSaw. I am also toying with using it for some of the back to school paperwork so I can protect their time. I know they will be busy restocking, redecorating, and reorganizing!!