End of Summer Blahs and Teacher Ideas...

The end of May and the beginning of June were filled with so many exciting thoughts and hopes of what I could do with the kids ranging from flying kites, searching for sharks teeth in the river, and making popsicles.  We managed to accomplish a lot of fun things including the kite flying and making ice cream, but missed out on some many other things as the days can only hold so many opportunities.  School starts in a mere 10 days from today.  Backpacks are littering my table as are school supplies across every flat surface of the kitchen as we sort for five different schools and kids.

The kids are anxious about starting school again and the chance of a "mean" teacher.  They are all up in each other's faces and business and we are over the screaming and frustrating shrieking that happens every few mins.  We have normal family moments, though most are not privy to them...our little dark secret finally revealed.

So with these blahs of things not accomplished, adventures unhad, and fears about the future I was thinking about various ideas to get the school year started right.  My first thought is ideas as gifts for teachers to help them get through the next year:

Teacher Survival Kits:  A tupperware container filled with hand sanitizer, baby wipes, tylenol, small snacks and chocolate, band aids, and a starbucks gift card.

Bag of Bags:  If you have a sewing machine you could buy some fat quarters from the nearest superstore or the fabric store.  Just sew some quick bags for the teacher to use as baggie book bags, or to put materials for individual subjects into.

The Biohazard Bucket:  A bucket filled with nylon gloves (non latex), clorox wipes, pine sol, and antibacterial cleaner for that month when everyone in the class is sick and the desks and walls need washing down.

A Bag of Colors:  Get a cute gift bag and fill it with a multicolor package of Sharpies in various tip widths, dry erase markers, highlighters, crayons, markers and colored pencils.  Perhaps add a stack of post it notes or fun pads of paper to jot ideas down on.

The Walking Health Room:  Create a tupperware container filled with bandaids, kleenex, a roll of toilet paper, gloves, antibacterial wash, and notes to go home to the parents explaining about an injury.

Lunchsack Surprise:  Place various snacks within lunchsacks like a juice box, granola bar, protein bar, animal crackers, or goldfish for the teacher to hand out to the student that was unable to get breakfast or lunch.  

Craft Cart:  Make a small basket or box containing everything that would be necessary for arts and crafts: construction paper, water color paint, cups, markers, crayons, scissors, glue, pom poms, popsicle sticks, yarn, glitter, foam letters, stickers, fabric, maybe even needles and thread.

Small gifts like this are a sure way to start a teachers year with a little pep in their step and allow them to truly work with our children knowing that they have a few things already covered and in their back pocket.