ASK 5 - Thank a custodian!

The ASK: Thank a custodian for all of the work they do!

I am partial to this one because my dad is a custodian! I still think it's a great ASK though. We have been having midterms at my high school, so I have only been seeing my middle school students. This leaves some free time to get things done in my office! I ran a stress relief fair last May, and I had a big box filled with supplies from that. I was able to condense the boxes down into a filing cabinet drawer! It cleared out my room a lot, but that meant I had several boxes to throw out. Then, one of those big boxes had a lot of used paper that someone had sent over. So, again, I put out a ton of trash. 

When I put the trash out, I left a note on it (I really enjoy the sticky notes!):

It might not be much, but I hope it helped him to not feel like he is taken for granted. So often, we ignore the people that keep our worlds running smoothly. Take a few minutes to acknowledge that without your school or office custodian, there would be trash all over the place. I've always been aware that I am grateful to my school's custodian - now he knows too!

Considerations for Schools:

• As with any note-leaving ASK, make sure students have access to sticky notes and don't deface property
• Students can also go up to a custodian and thank him or her in person
• Students should not just leave sticky notes randomly around - then they are creating more work! Putting it on a garbage can shouldn't create any more work!

ASK 1 - Write a positive message on a sticky note and give it to a friend.

The ASK: Write a positive message on a sticky note and give it to a friend.

This ASK is very common in my life.  A close friend of mine works in the same area of the school as me, so once in a while, we write a note on a sticky note with a positive saying or cute drawing and leave it where the other will see it.  Any time I see one, it instantly brightens my day.  Last night, I decided this would be an ASK that I could try today.  I looked online for a positive quote about friendship, wrote it on a sticky note, and when I came into work today I put it on her desk.

Considerations for Schools:

• Students may not have easy access to sticky notes during the school day, so make sure to have plenty available for their use.
• Make it clear that messages must be positive!
• Teachers should know this may be happening(particularly for school-wide ASK), otherwise they may think that students are passing notes or leaving messes.
• Students receiving these notes should keep them or throw them away, not leave them for teachers or custodians to clean up.

**This ASK was inspired by Caitlin Boyle's project and books, Operation Beautiful.  I was fortunate enough to meet Caitlin a few years ago when she did an Operation Beautiful presentation at my school. The work she is doing is wonderful!