WE GOT THE SPIRIT!
"WE GOT THE SPIRIT! YES, WE DO! WE GOT THE SPIRIT! HOW ABOUT YOU?"
Back in my elementary cheerleading days, we used to chant something that feels oh-so-appropriate as I talk about my love for Spirit Weeks. I've been able to participate in these fun-filled events at a few different schools as a student and as a teacher. I always get a kick out of seeing everyone - staff and students alike - get involved.
As the head of Student Council, I've been tasked with organizing more than one of these celebrations. When it comes to planning a Spirit Week, I always try to keep things fresh and exciting. That means brainstorming new dress-up days that haven't been done before, and tying each day's theme to the week's overall purpose.
Most recently, I'm pretty proud of the lineup I've put together for our state testing kickoff week. I wanted to make sure each day was relevant to testing, and also included a helpful testing tip for students.
Students always look adorable when dressed preppy, so I encouraged them to "Be Prepared" and wear preppy clothing.
It's no secret that students love showing off their sneakers, so for one of our days, I told them to "Kick off Testing" by wearing their favorite kicks and unique socks. However, after seeing another school's dress-to-impress day featuring sneakers (shoutout to Treadwell Elementary!), I decided to tweak our day to include dressy attire with sneakers instead of unique socks.
What's a dress-up week without giving teachers a chance to show off their style, too? It's also fun for students to dress up in clothes from different decades, so I created a day where students could "throwback to all they've learned" by wearing outfits from previous decades.
My personal favorite day was "Teacher's Choice," where teachers got to choose the theme for their class. Many times teachers have ideas for dress-up days. So, I encouraged students to "Do What Their Teacher Said" and participate in their class's chosen dress-up day. If I must say so myself, that was an amazing idea 🤪.
For our green and blue day, I didn't want to be too basic by simply asking students to wear those colors. Instead, I challenged them to "Aim for Green and Blue" by wearing multiple shades of these colors on testing day. Of course, the most important thing was to remind them to simply try their best.
What are some of your dress-up day ideas? Please share them in the comments below!