Teacher Appreciation Ideas

Well friends, it’s that time of year again….springtime, which we all know brings our favorite time of year…pollen season.

Ok, well maybe not. Ha! Just had to see if you were paying attention.

Spring does bring a very special time in schools though. At some point in time, each school will have teacher appreciation. This is a time we as parents and our children can do little things to thank our teachers for their hard work and dedication.

I always loved teacher appreciation when I taught school. It wasn’t the receiving the gifts {although that was pretty nice}, it was the fact that the kids went out of their way to thank me for what I was doing for them. It made it all worth it…the long hours of planning, grading countless papers, attending meetings, holding conferences, and all those running records.

Let’s be honest, being a teacher is a pretty thankless job…it’s kind of like being a stay-at-home mama {or homemaker}. We work long, hard hours, the job is super demanding, and there are many hats a teacher must wear and juggle without having them fall on a daily basis.

Springtime is here and that means so is teacher appreciation. We’ve already had teacher appreciation week at Dallas’ school, so today I want to share a few things I sent in to help make Dallas’ teachers feel a little special each day. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful teacher and aid this year. They have helped Dallas so much in growing her confidence and she is blossoming into such a wonderful student and girl…but I may be a little bias.

Anyway, here are a few things I put together.

Let’s break them down, shall we?!

Some of these were Pinterest inspired, of course, but they were all fun.

1. We Need S’more Teachers Like YOU!

All you need is big marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate pieces.

In a small bag put in two marshmallows, two graham cracker squares, and two pieces of chocolate.

Make a card on your computer that says:

“We need S’more teachers like YOU!”

Fold over the bag and either staple or tape in close. Add your tag onto some cute scrapbook paper and attach it to the bag.

 

2. You are Truly “Note”worthy

I don’t think this one can get any simpler. I picked up these cute magnetic note pads at the dollar spot at Target.

Type and print a tag that says:

“You are Truly “Note”worthy”

Attach the tag to cute scrapbook paper. Attach the tag and some cute ribbon or embellishments using hot glue.

3. You Deserve and extra “Payday”

We all know teacher do not get paid nearly enough for all that they do. Sometimes it’s nice to give them a little extra “Payday”…even if it’s not in money.

Well, I guess you can get simpler. Put a Payday bar in a baggie, make a tag and attach it to some scrapbook paper. Punch a hole and attach tag to the bag with a piece of ribbon.

4. Sticky Note Pad Frame

This one took a little more work…well, time I guess.

I purchased a plastic frame at Michael’s for about $1.00.

I let Dallas pick out a couple of pieces of scrapbook paper she liked.

Cut the paper to the frame size and slip it into the frame.

Using hot glue, attach the sticky note pad to the front of the frame.

Now for the fun part…embellishments. There’s so much you can do. With these two I made fabric and felt flowers, used some ribbon, and hot glued them all one to make them look super cute.

Here’s how to make the fabric/felt flowers.

Cut out 6 circles in either felt or fabric. Take 5 of the circles, fold each one into half and half again and use a dab of hot glue to keep them closed. Using 4, arrange and hot glue around the flat circle. Put a dab of hot glue in the center and add the last quarter. And wha-la, you have a flower.

For these, you can make a tag that says:

“I’ve got to “stick” it to you…you’re GREAT!”

5. We “Skor’d” when we got YOU!”

This one is a lot like the Payday bar. Just put a Skor chocolate bar in a baggie.

Make a tag that says:

“We “Skor’d” when we got YOU!”

I made this tag on a baseball {since it’s the start of baseball season} on my Silhouette, printed, and cut it out.

Attach the tag to the baggie with a cute ribbon.

Easy as pie!

6. Thanks for helping us grow

I’ve done this one two ways. If you want to do something simple and just from your child, you can purchase a potted plant, make a sign, attach it to a pencil, and stick it into the plant.

That’s very simple.

This year, I sent a letter home to the class that explained to the parents that since it was teacher appreciation week, I would be happy to put a class gift together. {I stole this idea from my friend from last year. ;o)}

There was absolutely NO pressure for anyone to participate. I just let them know that IF they wanted, they could send in money to put towards gift cards for the teachers.

I then took the money collected, went around town and purchased 4 gift cards for each teacher and a plant.

I attached the gift cards to pencils and stuck them in the dirt around the plant.

I made a sign that said:

“Thank you for helping us GROW this year!”

Each teacher received the plant and four gift cards:

$10-Starbucks

$5-Sweet Spoons {local yogurt place}

$30-Shucker’s {local seafood restaurant}

$20-Target

There are so many fun things you can do for your teachers to make them feel special. They all work so hard to teach our children, so it’s nice to sometimes say, THANK YOU to them.

I hope you have a great rest of the week and find some of these helpful for your teacher appreciation week.