Teacher Appreciation Week ideas

T

Tree City

Member
Tomorrow starts teacher appreciation week here in the US. (Principal Appreciation day is also tomorrow...which tbh I think shouldn't fall during the same week but I digress.)

Anyway, any ideas on what to do for this week? I actually work across the hall from my son's teacher. I know what to do for her, but my DD's HS teachers are a different story. I'd like to do something but she gave me a LOOK when I suggested she give them something. What is a teen-approved teacher gift??? And if y'all want to share other grade-level ideas to help each other out, that's cool too, of course! :)
 
How about a plain old handwritten thank you note.

As a former teacher's child, the things that my mom appreciated the most were the notes. When cleaning out the basement I found a magnetic photo album with so many of them from her 32 years of teaching. Most of the other stuff is long gone although I did find a box with some things in it. Packed away in a corner for over 30 years and she packed it away. I just got the job of figuring out what to do with it.

Especially think about those teachers that have multiple classes of students throughout the day (Mom taught 7th grade math with 6 classes per day and an average of 25 to 30 students in each class). That is a whole lot of stuff if every child gives a gift.
 
When my son was in elementary school, I made this bag topper about winning the lottery to have them as a teacher and would fill a bag with scratch offs, payday candy bars, and chocolate coins. Since elementary school, I have only done a couple of gifts for favorite teachers that went above and beyond and it's always been a gift card to a place that makes sense; health food store for gym teacher, art supple store for art teacher, etc.
 
I think a well-thought thank you note is especially appreciated and it's all that's needed. Heck, even an in-person "thank you for being a great teacher" means something... I'm not for the commercialization (and competition between moms to do the most special & creative thing) during these holidays. I've seen it get bigger and bigger since my kids were little. Of course, if the extra funds are there, a Target/Walmart GC is nice- many teachers use them to help buy supplies for the classroom instead of having to use their own money.
 
Honestly, by middle school my kids were completely horrified by the idea of doing anything for teacher appreciation week. I felt like I needed to hear them and not do anything--if no one else does (and I don't think they do) it made them stand out in a way they weren't comfortable with. If you really want to thank them, I'd do something that doesn't require your teen to hand them something in class. Emailing a gift card, maybe?
 
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I really like the idea of a thank you note mailed to the teacher at school. We never get good/fun snail mail anymore! I know how I feel when I get a hand written thank you - all warm and fuzzy!
 
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