Month: December 2019

December 27, 2019

The year 2019 brought My School Dance a lot of great things. We’ve grown as a company, grown as a platform, and have grown our user base as well. It’s crazy how quickly a year goes by and how much you can accomplish in that time. Many people think a year is a long time, but it goes by in the blink of an eye. Here’s some of My School Dance’s top highlights for the year:

New Features:

Right before Prom, we launched a series of new enhancements to our platform. Our first one was our Ticket Builder which allows schools to create as many ticket types as they want. Some of these ticket types could be a couples ticket, a discounted ticket, a ticket with a t-shirt, an early bird price ticket, and more. Our next new feature was the Parent Role which allows elementary schools to use our services by having the parent purchase their child’s ticket. We also created a Day of the Dance Dashboard which shows metrics of data and live reporting which is perfect for any dance planner. The last feature was how schools receive their funds. They can either get checks sent to them or use our direct deposit through Stripe. All of these features have been a game-changer for all of our current schools!

New Members:

We’ve welcomed a lot of new members to our My School Dance team that help make a difference in teacher’s lives every single day. Without all of our hardworking team members, we wouldn’t be where we are today! We’re thankful for them and all of the time they commit to helping our users!

New Users:

Our user base is continuously growing and we’re so grateful for that. We’re able to help more and more schools digitize their dances and save themselves time. There’s no better feeling than helping out our hardworking teachers. We love getting feedback from our schools and hearing about how much the platform has helped them!

Going in to 2020, we’re counting our blessings for everything we have and for everyone that has supported us throughout the years. We’re thankful for all of you and hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! See you in 2020 for Prom season! 

Read our favorite 3 blog posts from 2019 here: 4 Time-Saving Tips For Teachers, My School Dance’s Features Provide Extra Safety For School Dances, and 5 Ways To Manage Event Planning Stress!

Follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

December 20, 2019

Shopping for someone as inspirational as your teacher can be difficult to do! What can you get them that will show how grateful you are to them? The job of a teacher is one of the hardest jobs out there. They work to educate, motivate, and inspire their students. It’s important to show your appreciation for them in some sort of way. My School Dance has come up with the Top 10 Best Gifts For Teachers!

#1. Personalize it

No gift is better than one that is personalized. These types of gifts are so much more meaningful to teachers. Write down some “thank you’s” for little things your teacher has done for you such as “thank you for listening to me.” Then compile all of the notes into a mason jar and give it to them.

#2 Crafts

When students create something themselves, it shows how much they cared and put time into their gift. Create a pretty painting or wood palette design for your teacher to hang up in their classroom.

#3 Teacher Necessities

Think of all the basic tools teachers could always use more of. The practical things: office supplies, magnets, post-its, etc. Teachers run out of this stuff all the time!

#4 Caffeine Supply

Every teacher can never have enough caffeine. Whatever their favorite is (coffee, tea, pop, energy drinks) stock them up in a decorative basket. It will be a humorous, yet very appreciative gift!

#5 Relaxation

Most teachers are stressed or go through many stressful times. Why not give them a gift for relaxation such as a spa gift card, a neck massager, or nice bubble bath/lotions.

#6 Wine

Wine is always a go-to when giving gifts for teachers. They can take it home and enjoy with their significant other! You can’t go wrong with buying a bottle of wine!

#7 Tote Bag

Every teacher needs a big enough bag to carry all of their supplies, papers, and grading books in. Get your teacher a nice big tote bag. If you want to be really creative, personalize it with their name and a cute design next to it!

#8 Travel Drink Mug

Get your teacher a customized coffee or travel mug that’s based around their interests. If they like sports, have it designed with their favorite team’s logo on it. If they like dogs, get a dog print design. You can literally find a design for any interests!

#9 Giftcards

If you really can’t think of anything for your teacher, gift cards are always a nice gift to receive. Restaurants, coffee places, and experiences for them to do is always a fun and exciting idea!

#10 Favorite Things Basket

Why not give your teacher a basket full of their favorite things? Put some of their favorite snacks, drinks, pens, knickknacks, and more!

Here’s just 10 different things you can get your favorite teachers this year before the holidays! All teachers will appreciate any of these gifts. Make sure you show your appreciation to all of your teachers somehow. They deserve it!

We hope one of these gift ideas will help you out this holiday season! If you liked reading this blog, read these ones next: 5 Ways To Manage End-Of-The-Year Stress, Easy Lesson Plan Ideas For 6 Upcoming Holidays, and How To Prevent Stolen School Funds!

Don’t stop there though! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

December 13, 2019

Christmas break is quickly approaching and that’s all you’re looking forward to, BUT WAIT! You still have so much to do before vacation. How do you even begin to manage everything without stressing out a little bit? My School Dance has 5 tips for all of you teachers out there just trying to make it through until break!

Start working on your end-of-the-year tasks early on. Don’t wait until last minute to do all of that paperwork and grading.

Simplify your tasks. Set deadlines for yourself and make sure to stick to them. Break down your large projects into smaller ones so it seems easier for you to accomplish them in a timely manner.

Create a list of tasks for you to accomplish. Don’t make mental lists because a lot of times, you’ll continue piling up tasks in your head that you’ll end up forgetting a few of them.

Use your prep period, lunch hours, and after school time to get little, not so important, tasks down. This way you’re getting them out of the way and they usually don’t take as much time as a more rigorous task.

Don’t overload yourself. If you feel tired, stressed, or just need a break TAKE ONE. Get up from your desk area, take a walk, get some coffee or tea, go have a 5 minute conversation with a friend, go on a run, etc. Find some way that you can clear your mind for a few minutes and you will feel so rejuvenated.

All of these are quick, simple tips that truly will help you relieve some stress before the holiday season. Teachers are tasked with so much work that it becomes overwhelming very easily. It’s important to take some time for yourself and make sure your own health and wellness is good.

Try some of these tips out and let us know which ones you tested out! We love hearing from our hardworking teachers. My School Dance wants you all to enjoy your holiday break and take time for yourself!

If you liked reading this blog, check out these ones too: Easy Lesson Plan Ideas For 6 Upcoming Holidays, How To Prevent Stolen School Funds, and How To Create A School Dance Budget.

But that’s not all! Don’t forget to like us on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656

December 6, 2019

Brighten your student’s holiday season and enlighten them with educational lesson plans about all the holidays during this time of year, not just Christmas. Teach them about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ashura, Pongal, and New Years. There’s so many fun activities that you can do before the holiday break starts! Let’s get to it:

Christmas

• Have students investigate the Victorian period and study the history behind Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
• For theatre/art students, have them act out scenes from the play or draw characters.
• Have students create their own Christmas alliterations or poems.

Hanukkah

• Have students learn about the history behind Hanukkah, how it got started, and the different traditions that are associated with the holiday.
• Teach your class how to play dreidel and split them up into groups to play.
• Have students research different traditional recipes and attempt to make them for a food day.

Kwanzaa

• Have students do research on the meaning of Kwanzaa and what it entails.
• Split your students up into groups and assign each group one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Have them research and present their principle to the class.
• Create a trivia game based around Kwanzaa and have your whole class play it.

Ashura

• Learn about the history behind Ashura.
• Have students research a part of the holiday and give more detail about it to the class.
• Have students meditate in class or learn about the practice of meditation.

Pongal

• Have your students study the solar calendar.
• Do an activity involving everyone’s zodiac signs and relate them to the holiday.
• Learn about and make foods from the festival to sample in class when learning about it.

New Years

• Have students write about and share their New Years Eve traditions and see how they differ with one another.
• Research the real reasons why we celebrate a new year, not just the Hallmark ones.
• Have students each look up different cultural groups to see what their traditions on New Years are.

Make sure you introduce your students to all of the major holidays this season. It’s important for them to learn more about other holidays that aren’t talked about as much! Use one of our activities above for your lesson plan.

My School Dance hopes these lesson plan ideas were helpful to all of you amazing teachers out there. Feel free to read more blog post ideas from us. Here’s some you’ll benefit from: How To Prevent Stolen School Funds, How To Hire The Right DJ For Your School Dance, and 3 Keys To Effective Classroom Management.

Do us a favor and give us a like on our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest!

Contact:

Stephanie Hamilton

833-336-8656