3 Smart Ideas for Back to School

It’s already August and time to think about heading back to school!

I have three ideas that will help you throughout the school year for teachers, room moms, and any parent.

Rewards for Your School Made Easy

I currently have a stack of Boxtops sitting in my drawer, ready to go back to school and earn points for my boys’ schools. But I have to admit that they are there because my boys seem them and either cut them out themselves or make sure I do it.

If you check out elabelsforeducation.com you can register your store rewards card so that when you buy an item that would earn your school rewards, it will automatically give those points to your school upon check out. In addition, if you take the time to cut out the label and send it in, you get those points as well. So you can either get double points or you can stop the guilt over forgetting to cut those out! Ask friends/relatives who don’t participate in these programs if they will register their cards in support of your school.

Simple Sign Ups

Sometimes I want to bang my head against the wall with all the group emails that try to plan parties for school: who will bring what or do what. Or trying to sign up for a time for a conference or party through a note sent in, where I usually circle a few choices and then write in “or whatever you need, I can be flexible,” leaving the teacher to try to sort it all out.

My middle son’s kindergarten teacher last year used Sign Up Genius which will email out a link to a form and you can sign up for the time you want a conference or what item to bring in for a party(or whatever you want the form to be for). It keeps it super organized and takes the work off of the teacher(or room mom or soccer mom- so don’t forget to try this if you are the one stuck coordinating the snack schedule this fall), plus it will email out a reminder at a selected time, reminding those who signed up what they said they’d bring or when their selected conference time is. Best of all, it’s a free service!

Take the Guesswork Out of Teacher Gift Ideas

Last year, the kindergarten teacher sent home a sheet with all the other back to school paperwork that was “all about Mrs. _____.” On it, she listed her favorite color, snack, drink, sports team, flower, treat, restaurant, pastime, etc. I kept this sheet handy all year and would refer to it when I wanted to send in a little treat, even if it was just a Monday morning pick-me-up of peanut butter cups and a Coke(her faves).

If your teacher doesn’t send home something like this, send her an email or send in a form like this one: Getting to Know Our Teacher and then share it with other classroom parents. Give your teacher a week or two after school starts since there’s already so much paperwork to be dealt with. While it’s not the norm to give the teacher homework, chances are he/she will appreciate it come gift time!

More Back to School Ideas

Last year, I was on a mission to get (and stay!) more organized during the school year. And it worked! Check out  6 back to school organization tips.

Do you have any back to school tips to share?