What students do on school spirit days

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

School spirit days are full of fun activities for students

What used to be known as a ?pep rally? years ago has morphed into ?school spirit days? for children in most schools today.

This is probably a good thing when you think of how often you can sneak in school spirit as opposed to a rally meant to boost a team?s spirits before a game, right? On the day when the cheer team is decked out in their cheer team gear, players wear their jerseys and teachers sport shirts in school colors, the rest of the student body can get in on the fun, too, with school spirit gear.

The best part is the school spirit and team logo stuff that is available now. Here are a few ideas to try at your next school spirit day.

Things students can do to raise school spirit

Make some noise!

School spirit is all about getting excited and expressing pride. Kids do this really well … especially when they are allowed to make noise. Chants, spirit songs, band performances, cheer leader performances and noisemakers all work to up the decibels.

Green the event

With all of the talk about reducing the carbon footprint, this idea kills at least two birds with one stone. Make your own wrapping paper using old maps, old newspaper even your old test papers. Senior school spirit days would have fun wrapping up their mortar boards for that anticipated graduation walk or even their brand new yearbook to keep it safe through the summer.

Think creatively

Contests are big with school children, so why not have a contest to figure out what kind of contests you should have?

That?s right! Ask your students to enter their best ideas for school contests and give the winners a simple prize such as movie tickets or a free coupon for a book. Some of the more interesting school spirit ideas on the internet are the ones that tap into the silliness of children.

Schools can have a shaving cream hairstyle contest in which each class takes a picture of their best shaving cream hairstyle. Another idea is the bubble gum blowing contest. Imagine a bunch of middle schoolers blowing the biggest bubbles. Limit the number of pieces of gum a student can chew, give them time to chew it sufficiently, and then see who blows the biggest bubble.

Favorite teachers work well as judges in all of these contests adding a feeling of cooperation between the teachers and students during school spirit days.

Dress up days

This year, my son?s school had a new principal who came up with the best ideas to promote school spirit and many of those days were dress up days. I mean who doesn?t love wearing something fun if given even the slightest opportunity?

They had funny hat days, team days, even college t-shirt days where the teachers wore clothing from their alma mater. The children were also allowed to wear something from their parents? college or university, or even just a school they liked. It added to the school spirit, but it also showed the students that the most successful people attend college after high school if all of their teachers and administrators went.

School spirit days are easy with a little creativity and planning. Make sure you incorporate fun ideas that your specific school population will enjoy. You can even add a donation to a cause if you would like such as the recent Japanese tsunami or even something as basic as a donation of a can of food to a soup kitchen. It is only limited by your and your students? imagination.