Tip 7: Host a virtual spirit week
Just because school buildings have closed, doesn’t mean you have to cancel your spirit week plans. Consider implementing a virtual spirit week — even if you weren’t going to have a spirit week to begin with! It’s a great way to keep school spirit up and maintain a sense of community. Many students are missing their classmates, and so seeing pictures of each other engaging in a fun, school-wide event is sure to keep “spirits high.”
Check out these examples from Spearman Elementary School and Cesar Chavez Junior High.
We especially love “Show Us Your Classroom Day” and “Bring Your Pet to Class Day” — these are super specific to our current situation, as they wouldn’t be quite as possible during normal school functioning.
“Whatcha Readin’ Day” and “I Love The Arts Day” are also great as they not only encourage students to partake in these activities — but also to share what they are doing with their peers — furthering social connectedness during a time of isolation and introducing students to new ideas.
If you do online live meet-ups with students, this will make things especially fun and further create solidarity as they can see what everyone else did for “Crazy Hair Day” or “Pajama Day.”
Both schools included fun graphics — canva.com and smore.com (Spearman used Smore) are great options for quick and easy poster design.
Make sure to share spirit week information (along with instructions on how to submit pictures — social media with a specific hashtag? Google Classroom?) via your school communication tool (or email) and social media. Tell teachers to spread the word and remind their students what day is coming up (e.g. “don’t forget to wear your crazy socks tomorrow and send a pic!”) as they communicate with their students.
K-12 Remote Tips
We send out an email with each new remote communications tip for K12. Some examples use ParentSquare, but these tips will work with any comprehensive communications tool. Sign up to receive them straight in your inbox.
We’d love to know what you are doing — what great examples or ideas would you like to share with other schools? Simply comment below or submit your tip via our web form.