Stop what you are doing right now and email a teacher. Seriously. Tell them they are doing a great job, remind them that there are only 6 more school days until Spring Break,  and ask them what supplies need replenished. Because, let me tell you, this stretch of the school year is brutal. They came back from the winter break refreshed and excited…and walked right into cold and flu season which means snotty noses and a chorus of coughing and absent kids who fall behind and many evenings spent disinfecting the entire classroom. The end of the year seems light years away, yet somehow testing season will be here before you know it…which means disrupted schedules and anxious kids and pressure from above. And they also realize that all of their supplies, both those brought in by students at the beginning of the year and those they purchases with their own money over the summer, are gone. Gone. The glue sticks have been mangled, the crayons are all broken, the dry erase markers are dried out, the tissues and clorox wipes and Purell were all used in January and February…you get the idea. And your teachers, who already aren’t paid enough, will again reach into their own pockets to buy more supplies. So now is your chance…ask them what they need! Then go get it! If everyone asks and picks up one or two things next time they are running errands, your lucky teacher may not have to dip into his/her own pocket at all…how great would that be?! Or you be the coordinator…ask what a teacher or a grade level needs and then send out a group email or post on social media, asking all the parents (and community members too!) to buy one or two things or chip in a few bucks for a Costco or Office Max run. You can also just make a nice little supply pack to surprise your teacher – I can tell you that no matter what grade level, they always run out of dry erase markers, tissues, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and glue (sticks or bottle, generally depending on age). Likely paper has been an issue all year, so feel free to buy them a package (or case!) of copy paper too. And the crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc. are all generally pretty broken or dried up by now, so a few new ones to save kids fighting over the last good red would be welcome (be sure to ask, some teachers prefer one over the other depending on age and/or use.). And don’t forget to stick a note of thanks on anything you bring to school. 🙂

Just last week I asked our kinder teachers (there are four) what they needed – they were so excited I had asked and promptly listed clorox wipes, glue sticks, and crayons. This is a small public school within a diverse community, so I posted on FB to reach as many as I could. Miraculously 6 new boxes of crayons and 24 glue sticks appeared on my porch within two days – all from neighbors who do not even have kids in our school!! Then another neighbor handed me $20 and asked if I could buy for her (I was going anyway and was able to snag enough disinfecting wipes for each teacher and some more crayons). Then two other kinder parents chipped and bought cases of paper and big boxes of glue sticks. It really does take a village and I’m so glad we can help all of our students while showing our dedicated teachers some love.

Now, go email your teacher right away!!! Don’t forget to say “THANK YOU!”. 🙂