Calling all creative moms and educators...I was recently put in charge of coordinating Teacher Appreciation Week for my 4 year old's class. There are a total of five "teachers" that interact with the class (lead teacher, assistants, speech therapist, etc), and I want to be sure that they each feel appreciated. My thought is to have a "Queen for a Day" theme, and honor one of the five teachers each of the five days in Teacher Appreciation Week. I need guidance on good gift ideas, ways to solicit parent support, etc, and I need it fast! I was just asked a couple of days ago to lead this effort, and I believe the Appreciation week is May 7th - May 11th. Doesn't leave me a lot of time to decide on a direction, contact the parents, put gift baskets together, and so on. Any ideas are much appreciated!!
I taught for 6 yrs. and whatever you do, don't buy them any coffee mugs or teacher jewelry!!! Giftcards are always a great idea. Hallmark at the Summit has some cute teacher gifts, too.
Hey J., my son is only in Pre-School but, for each Holiday I always do something for ALL the teachers and those invovled in running the Pre-School. I would suggest getting the parents involved by assigning them to a certain teacher and having them create baskets for that particular "Queen for the Day" that has a theme of things she may enjoy doing. Whether it ba reading a book or going for a manicure. Add lotions, soaps, aromatherapy candles, etc. The fad these days are "all natural" items. Maybe a parent could donate or know of a business that will donate a gift certificate for something the teacher enjoys. Another idea, if time allowed, is to set up different stations of massage, facial, painting her fingernails, soft music, etc. (be creative) in each teachers class with the children. Assign parents to oversee each of these stations. Hope that got your creative juices flowing. :o) God Bless
I've been a teacher for six years now. We all like to be feed. Teachers never get to go out to lunch. Maybe you could have something special ordered in for them. We also spend a lot of our personal money on the kids and classroom. I always like getting donations. I saw in a magizine that Target had teacher gift cards. I thought of another idea. Instead of a gift Basket you can put gifts in a large flower pot. I once saw a teacher recieve a large flower pot with all the kids hand prints on it. Very cute and the kids feel like they helped.
I am an educator and the best gift that I ever got was a photo/scrapbook album. A parent cam in and took pictures of all of the students. Then each student wrote a sentence or two about me and the school year. It is TOO cute!
You might not believe this but anything helpful in the classroom will be a great gift. A lot of teacher are left with the expense of buying a lot of their own supplies. The queen for a day idea sounds great that way each teacher would have a whole day of being honored.
I work in education myself, as well as two of my sisters and my mom! I can tell you we have enough nick nack teacher things and apples! I think we all agree that gift certifictes are sure bet. Even $5-10 to blockbuster or a restaurant.
You just mentioned an idea that I love doing! I love to build baskets. A lot of times, I build them for gifts anytime of the year.
I agree with Ms Vickie's response. Get the class involved during the week! The "queen for a day" idea sounds great! The class can feel and get involved with that idea! Just make sure that you can get enough parents to do their part as far as volunteering to get food, supplies, decorating (if necessary).
Depending upon your budget, you can go with easy, simple baskets. They can involve something simple like the following:
(1) Lip Care, including a lip balm, lip liner and a gloss or lipstick, neutral colors
(2) Manicure set, everything for a french mani look
(3) Pampering set, including items like a lotion, bath/shower gel, and a body mist.
(4) A candle set, may include a mediun to large candle with a base or inside a glass jar with (optional) smaller candles to place around the house.
(5) Food set, may include candies inside of a mug or thermal cup
(6) Food set, may include items for a movie night at home with family
I can go on and on. Get the parents involved as much as you can with the gifts. You may want to make a day or two where the class can show their appreciation and let the baskets/giftcards be gifts from the parents.
A lot of these items can be found at many discount stores and speciality shops like Bath and Body Works/White Candle Barn and even Yankee Candel Company. The best time to shop for these items will be now since Mother's Day is coming up. On average, you can end up spending about $10 to $15 per basket/gift.
Once you can get the items together, get the parents to help put everything together or to label items.
And, never forget, try to have fun with whatever you decide!
Love,
J. B
Hi J.,
What if you had each parent get a little something. (candy bar, drink, small hand lotion etc.) Each teach could receive a small gift each day. OR You could also do special lunch for the teachers each day. Depending on how many children are in the class you could assign x number of parents to do the lunch each day. (those parents might even volunteer to stay with the children durning the lunch time so that the teachers could enjoy their lunch not with the children) Good luck and have fun doing this. I know the teachers will love what ever you come up with.
