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Kindness Letters/Staff Morale Boosters

I don’t know about you, but we are exhausted at my school. Christmas break is around the corner and we are excited for the vacation time. In the meantime, I wanted to remind teachers why they come to work every day. I wanted them to remember why they are so important and that they are
changing kids’ lives every single day. The impact they have is monumental; even if they don’t feel it.

For this month’s guidance classes, I read students “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” and then did an activity with them that will help fill teacher’s buckets. I thought the kid’s eyes were going to pop out of their heads when I told them we were filling teacher buckets. They were so stinkin’ excited.

After reading the story, I gave them one of these worksheets:

I told them to think of someone who works at our school who has made a difference in their lives. It could be their current teacher, a past teacher, someone in the office, the librarian, custodian, cafeteria worker, bus driver, someone who smiles at them and makes their day better, anyone at all that has had an impact on them. The only rule is that the person has to work at our school. The reason for that is because at the end of our lesson, I am collecting the papers and will randomly give them to the teachers to brighten their day. The kids were stoked.

I gave students about 15 minutes to complete their letter and draw a picture (if they choose to draw). I collect them all and went through them in my office. I’ve got to tell you, I myself got so much joy reading through those letters. These teachers make a bigger impact than they will ever know.

Like a magical little Christmas elf, I’ve been randomly putting one in the teacher’s mailboxes.

I cannot believe the smiles I’ve seen as they read these letters from current and past students. I can’t believe the smiles on the cafeteria workers and bus drivers faces when they find out a kid could pick anyone from the entire staff to write to and they chose them. That a kid thought they were important and that they mattered that greatly to that child.

It might not last long, but for now, the morale of those teachers has been
boosted and they have a beautiful keepsake to refer back to on the tough days. On those days when they are questioning why they became a teacher and googling what else they can do with a teaching degree, they can pull out those letters and be reminded of just how special and important they are. I am so blessed that I have a job that allows me to do that for them.

I even got a few letters myself to look back at on the days that I question if I am making an impact. Reading back through those letters, I know that I am. That is an amazing feeling.