Teachers often don’t get enough credit for how much they do for the world. Teaching one child a curriculum is challenging, but teaching an entire classroom is amazing! It takes a lot of patience, love, and determination to be a teacher. And every teacher deserves to be praised for all their hard work.
After all, they are shaping the future generations of the world. Their hand in our children’s lives is essential to teaching them valuable knowledge and skills that they will need for the rest of their lives. Here are some great Teacher Appreciation Week ideas for you and your children to use during this year’s celebration.
In this article, you will find:
- What Is Teacher Appreciation Week?
- When Is Teacher Appreciation Week?
- Tips for Celebrating Teachers
- Teacher Gift Ideas
- Activities for Teacher Appreciation Week
The teachers genuinely care for your child, and teachers play a huge role in the person your child becomes when they are older. This week is a great time to show your gratitude and say thank you to your child’s teacher for all their hard work during the school year. Use some of the fun ideas in this article to find the perfect teacher gifts or ways to celebrate every teacher.
What Is Teacher Appreciation Week?
Teacher Appreciation Week is just what it sounds like, a week dedicated to showing our children’s teachers the love and appreciation they deserve. This tradition started in the 1980s and has been going strong ever since. It’s become common to celebrate this week by giving teacher appreciation gifts to your child’s teachers to say thank you and show your and your child’s appreciation for their dedication and hard work.
Some schools choose to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day and put all of the focus on one day rather than a whole week. Be sure to check with your child’s school to see how they choose to celebrate staff appreciation.
When Is Teacher Appreciation Week?
Teacher Appreciation Week is always the first week of May every year. Your child’s school might send something home or send out an email to remind you. If not, you can add it to your calendar now to be safe. It’s best to check with your child’s school for more details, exact dates, scheduled activities, and traditions they might already have.
Even though this tradition is in May, there’s never a wrong time to show appreciation to your child’s teachers. Doing something out of the blue might be even more meaningful than during the week of celebration, so don’t be scared to perform random acts of kindness throughout the year! Any of the ideas below would work great any time of year, not just during Teacher Appreciation.
Tips for Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week
1. Make It Personal
Whichever way you decide to celebrate your teacher for the week, try to make it personal! Any gift or act of service with a personal touch means more than a basic or traditional gift.
Your kids know their teacher, so they can probably think of a way to personalize a gift. It doesn’t mean it has to be handmade, but maybe it includes the teacher’s name, favorite color, a favorite treat, etc.
2. Try Something New or Different
There are a lot of basic or common ways that teachers are celebrated every year. So if you want to stand out from the crowd, try doing something a little new or different than they might be used to. Have your child help you think of a unique gift their teacher would like. Try thinking outside the box, whether a practical gift or a thoughtful one.
Get creative with gifts or acts of service that a teacher might enjoy. Remember, your show of appreciation doesn’t have to be school related—teachers need to enjoy their time outside of school too.
3. Get The Kids Involved
A gift from the parents is always appreciated, but a gift from the kids means even more! Having your student collaborate on a gift with you or having them handle it all on their own is going to be fun for their teacher.
Another reason you want your children to play a role in teacher appreciation week is to ensure they understand what it is. It’s time for them to show their teacher how much it means to them that she has taught them all year. It’s a great learning opportunity for kids to practice gratitude, appreciation, and kindness.
4. Don’t Forget About the Other School Faculty Members
It can be easy to forget the other faculty members your child might not see every day, but they still deserve some appreciation too. A few faculty members you might want to include in teacher appreciation week are the front office workers, the principal, the librarian, the kitchen workers, the bus drivers, etc.
All of the school staff members play a role in your child’s education, and it’s important they know how valued they are. One idea to celebrate all of the faculty is to consider catering breakfast or lunch for them all one day. You can even work with other parents and see if you could set up a schedule and have lunch catered for the entire week.
Teach Appreciation Week Ideas:
1. Handle Some Responsibilities for the Teacher
It’s the end of the year, so that means class parties, graduations, performances, etc. Teachers are BUSY this time of year. Ask what you can do for your children’s teachers to lessen their workload and overwhelm. Whether that’s some volunteering, buying supplies, or coordinating activities.
Here are a few ideas that you can suggest:
- Host a party
- Help find volunteers
- Set up a party supply sign-up sheet
- Print out papers to send home
- Decorate the classroom
- Offer to volunteer for the next event
2. Give Your Child’s Teacher A Practical Gift
Gifts are always appreciated, especially when they are something practical and useful that your child’s teacher will enjoy. These could be things for them or their classroom. Gift-giving is also a great way to teach kids about kindness, thoughtfulness, and much more.
Here are a few gift ideas of practical or useful gifts that a teacher might like.
- Gift card – For anywhere! Food places, Hobby Lobby, Amazon, grocery stores, Teacher’s Pay Teachers
- Self-care kit or items
- Classroom decor
- Customized name plaque for their desk
- School supplies
- Children’s books
- Classroom games
- Customized lanyard
- Personalized stickers (great for labeling classroom supplies)
- Bookmarks
- Tote bag
- Candles
- Travel mug
- Gift-box or gift basket full of their favorite things
- Stationery
- Engraved personalized bookmark
- Sanitizer
- Nice water-bottle
- Clipboard
- Classroom decorations
- Fun printables for their classroom, like this printable summer bucket list for them to hand out to their students before the end of the school year
3. Have Your Child Make Something Homemade
Returning to making it personalized, homemade gifts from your child will mean more than something you buy. Having that homemade touch is quite special.
Here are a few ideas of homemade gift ideas that your child can make for their teacher:
- A handwritten letter that says why they are the best teacher
- A name plaque
- A cute craft
- Jewelry
- A card with a photo of your child and their teacher together
- Have your child (or multiple students) decorate the teacher’s door or classroom
- Collaborate with other students to make a thank you book for their teacher
- Have the students use sidewalk chalk or yard signs to decorate the outside of the school
- Help your child bake some treats to give to all of the staff members
- Let your kids pick flowers and put together a bouquet
- A photo book, if you can get some pictures from the school year
- A cute plant with a note that says, “thank you for helping me grow.”
- A cute keepsake
- Mason-jar gift
- A handmade ornament
- Scrapbook
- Thank you note
- Picture frame with the class photo
4. Set Up A Party for Your Child’s Teacher Or All of the Teachers
Having a party is a fun way to get everyone involved in teacher appreciation week. If you can coordinate with other parents, that’s even better. You can talk to parents before and after school at the pick-up line or write down your contact information and ideas on cards for your child to pass out to their classmates to give to their parents.
If you decide to have a classroom party, ensure the school’s permission and the setup and clean-up are taken care of. The last thing a teacher wants to do is clean up after a party that was supposed to be in celebration of them.
Final Thoughts On Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas:
No matter what you and your children decide to do to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, your child’s teacher will love it because they love their students. Use this week to spoil your child’s school teacher but showering them with appreciation gifts, acts of service, or anything that shows your gratitude for all of their hard work.
Hopefully, this article has given you a few teacher appreciation ideas of some things that teachers really want and enjoy. You and your child can work together to find the perfect gift. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
