41 SIGNS THAT YOUR SCHOOL IS A GREAT SCHOOL!

1. Grounds persons take it upon themselves to plant seasonal plants in school planters.
2. Teachers use e-mail as a viable tool for communicating with parents and one another.
3. A student, seeing the principal and the parent of a prospective student on a school tour, speaks about his school spontaneously and from the heart. The parent ends up registering her child!
4. A teacher tells a boy with a reputation for misbehaving at his old school that she doesn't judge him by his past.
5. Two students, arms around each other, share an interesting book.
6. A top soccer player gives up his spot on the school team to a new student in the school.
7. Eight parents volunteer to serve as mentors in the school's problem-solving competition.
8. Students write and perform a musical play to introduce a new student book club.
9. Patience and persistence lead an intellectually challenged child to read short sentences. Without any prompting, the whole class celebrates.
10. A fifth grader saves parents from confusion by finding a "big mistake" on a notice before it is sent out.
11. Teachers get together to help a newly hired colleague set up her room.
12. A parent sends letters of appreciation to the principal and teachers for the way a difficult situation was handled. An angel pin is included with each letter.
13. Students smile as they find their names on the "Reading Wall of Fame."
14. Student organizations take turns picking up trash on campus.
15. A teacher has a special lunch with one child from her class every day.
16. The school secretary pays for eyeglasses for a needy child -- anonymously!
17. A student and a teacher swap science fiction books because it is the favourite genre of both.
18. Forty high school students volunteer as reading tutors to K-5 students.
19. A teacher provides after-school tutoring for a child -- without extra compensation.
20. Two fifth graders conduct a peer mediation session for two third graders.
21. Teachers hand out awards to kids who do the "right thing."
22. The entire teaching staff shows up to work alongside parents at the school fair.
23. One child's mother has been undergoing chemotherapy. The student doesn't want to talk about it, but he cut off his hair to show support for his mother. The other children respect his wish for privacy -- and ask no questions.
24. A handful of students volunteer at a nearby assisted living community. They read aloud to the residents, help them clean their rooms, etc.
25. A teacher takes time after school to write postcards to parents of students who have done something special in class.
26. Children in after-school care have such fun they don't want to go home when parents come.
27. A parent makes meatloaf for the entire staff.
28. Parents stop in at a Parent Center to watch television, have a cup of coffee, or help with teacher projects.
29. Students greet each other, visitors, and staff members with a friendly "Good morning!" or "Good afternoon!" -- without being told to do it.
30. Parents, staff, and students join for a day of planting, cleaning, watering, pruning, etc. Those who can't make it provide monetary support.
31. A third grader stops to tie the shoes of a Prep student.
32. A parent stops to give the principal a hug.
33. A student offers to share his lunch with his teacher because he is concerned that the teacher doesn't get time to eat.
34. A boy stops into the office to hand out clover flowers he collected on the way to school.
35. A 9-year-old student collects trash on the playground. When a parent asks the boy what he's doing he replies, "This is my school and I want it to look good!"
36. A student rolls his wheelchair into the office to offer the principal a solution to a problem.
37. A tall teacher reaches to get on overhead projector for a shorter colleague.
38. A child brings the principal a Spam sandwich because he'd overheard the principal say, "I just love Spam."
39. Students stop at the principal's office to share with him "better jokes" than the ones he tells at Friday morning assemblies.
40. Kids drag in bags and bags of cans to recycle to raise money for school programs.
41. A fourth grader with reading problems reads to the preschool handicapped class. He says he wants to grow up to be a special education teacher!