Principal’s Day is coming up on May 1, and you may want to do something meaningful with your students that shows their appreciation, but also feels genuine. The problem? Adding one more activity outside the curriculum can turn into a headache.
With Formative’s simple Principal’s Day activities, you can easily add a student-friendly, low-prep activity to your lesson plans to build something your students will have fun making, and that your principal will actually want to keep.
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To help your Principal’s Day activities feel authentic, go for something small. A thoughtful note, a short poem, or an invitation to visit your class are things that students can own and feel proud of.
These activities provide structure without overcomplicating your existing lessons. Assign them in Formative, let students create something meaningful, and get a ready-to-share class gift that will make your principal feel special.
A thank-you note is the simplest way for your students to show their appreciation. But it works. With a little extra structure, you can guide students to write a thoughtful note that goes beyond “thanks for everything.
With our “Writing a Thank-You Note” activity, students learn what makes a strong thank-you note. They’ll explore how to be specific, respectful, and clear. Then, they’ll draft their own message to your principal. You can review their responses in real time and give quick feedback before you share the final notes with your principal.
With Principal’s Day happening on May 1, and April being National Poetry Month, this is a great way to incorporate lessons you might already be teaching into your principal appreciation plans.
Formative’s acrostic poem starter lesson guides students through writing in this format. Use your principal’s last name as the poem topic and have students connect each letter to a quality, memory, or thought about them. After writing, students can create a decorative version of their poem offline, and you can present the full collection to your principal.
Teaching collaboration and group work skills can be tricky, so why not make it fun? Letting students figure out how to plan and run a class performance or presentation gives them a shared goal and builds teamwork.
Formative’s “Celebrating Our Principal” assembly plan gives students the tools they need to map a short showcase with skits, songs, or spoken word. They’ll choose a theme, assign roles, and outline a run-of-show activity that you can rehearse in class before taking it to the stage with your principal in the audience.
If you want something your principal can keep (and go back to over and over), a class memory or quote book is a great choice. This activity can work across grade levels and allows every student to participate with their own unique voice.
Our “Principal Spotlight” activity guides students to write about a real moment with their principal and explain why it mattered to them. They’ll focus on clear, school-appropriate responses while adding in details to make each response personal.
If your students like to do art projects or be creative, this activity is for them. Formative’s “Principal Appreciation Day: Portrait Project” activity encourages students to create a respectful portrait while choosing a style, scene, or medium they like best. After creation, they’ll also complete a short reflection to explain their choices.
Use Principal’s Day as an excuse to build real-world skills and think about the future with your students. Plus, you can encourage them to learn more about their principal, both professionally and personally.
With Formative’s “Principal Career Day” interview and discussion planner, students can map out interview questions before their guest speaker arrives. Then, they can take notes during the visit and reflect on what they learned. It keeps the conversation focused and gives students a clear reason to pay attention and stay interested during the experience.
Sometimes (maybe most of the time!) the best ideas can come from your fellow teachers. In the Newselaverse, you can find a variety of voices from teachers, administrators, and instructional coaches, talking about what they’ve done, what’s worked, and what they want to try next.
But where can you find all this great information?
In addition to checking out the Newselaverse home on our website, you can join our community by following us on social media platforms, like Instagram, X, and LinkedIn—and by subscribing to The Weekly Formative Feed email.
