My goal for this year is to make my students feel special and loved. With low student and teacher morale, I decided I want to improve the culture of my classroom for my students. One way I am doing this is by creating birthday bags for my students.
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How to Create a Birthday Bags for Students
Putting together birthday bags for students is perfect because I love giving gifts and students love receiving gifts.
Keep it simple because we don’t need to add more to our plates.
On the first day of school I give my students an “about me” paper to fill out.
I use their answers to surprise them with their favorite candy for their birthday. Because I have so many students, I celebrate all birthdays for the month on the same day. We all sing happy birthday and they get a personalized birthday treat bag.
The smiles and excitement on their faces warms my heart and I wish I would have started this sooner.
What goes in the birthday bags?
- Student’s favorite candy (5 below has all the candy you can think of and most everything is 5 for $5)
- Pencil
- Personalized note
Stuff in cellophane treat bags with twist ties.
Y’all! I’m not even kidding that this one simple task has helped improve the morale in my classroom. I have a lot of students and spending even $1 on candy can add up, but it is completely worth it. I buy candy for the month so it is spread it out over the year.
Some comments I received from students shocked me and brought me to tears.
“This is the only gift I received for my birthday.”
“You are the nicest teacher I have had in high school.” (from a senior!)
“I was having a bad week and this made my day.“
You never know what students are going through or what impact you will have on them. I probably spend the most time writing a note of encouragement. Many times I watch them tape the note into their binder. These are high school seniors and they need attention and love also.
What impact has the birthday bags had on me?
First off, I have been shocked at how thankful and happy students get when they receive a gift.
We all have students who are more difficult to build a positive relationship with. Maybe they act out, are defiant, or just shy. Shopping for these students had the most impact on me. I was standing in 5 below looking for a birthday gift for a difficult student and positive thoughts and emotions flooded my mind. Writing them a note of encouragement took these emotions even further.
I had a student who questioned everything I did and was very vocal when they didn’t agree with my ways. Fortunately, that student’s birthday was early in the school year because there was a complete 180 in attitude after we celebrated birthdays. This student now smiled at me and the critical attitude turned into positive affirmations.
If you do something special for your students, let me know in the comments. I would love to hear from you!
