I'm one of the cochairs for this very special event! I love participating in this week. Here is a little background: elementary school, budget $750, we will be losing about 12 teachers from this school due to redistricting.
We always go with a theme-this year's "You're A Star"
Monday: parents donate store bought breakfast items, coffee, etc, I bought large gold stars from OT- will write teachers names on it and tape on classrom door (star's dressing room). I was going to put clear contact paper on the stars and place it outside the teacher's room (stars walk of fame) but I thought the contact paper would leave a sticky residue.
Tuesday: children wear teacher's favorite color to school (no cost!)
a treat placed in mailboxes (chocolate).
Wednesday:Part donated and part funded lunch from Subway. Kids bring in homemade cards to teachers to express appreciation.
Thursday:a very big basket filled with snacks and fruit. On this day I wanted to do a carwash for the teachers. We have never done this before. We have over 55 teachers. So we could not wash all cars. The water faucet is far away. I have to say I don't think parents on the committee wanted to do such physical work. So may second choice is to have a caracture artist come and draw names for teachers to come have their caracture drawn. This would be for them to keep. The artist would be at school for 2 hours for $200.
Friday: A large luncheon with classroom coverage provided by roomparents. We buy food and make food. Only a small group of Mom's make food. (The same Mom's that do all the work for this week). Then we have give aways for the teachers- donated by parents (gift cards, donated items- gift baskets etc). The room is decorated: we will have a red carpet leading into the room, multiple stars in blue and gold (our colors) hanging, gold tablecloths, blue star spray centerpieces, I would love (or better yet have someone else) get dressed up (long dress/high heels) and interview the teachers like Rhona Barrett or Joan Rivers (think Golden Mickeys on Disney Cruise).
We have also had made a vinyl banner with this printed on it:
We Appreciated Our Teachers!
School Name.
The banner is printed in blue and gold with ribbon and stars (matches our theme but also generic for use year after year).
I also give a gift to my DD teacher for that year 0f school supplies and a nice note. Throughout the year I pick up "bargins" of school supplies (think Target Clearance and Staples) and will put supplies in bags for give aways at the lunch. This year I was able to pick up 2 label makers on a deal at Staples.
This will be a busy week for me. I have taken off work for the week except for one day.
We're buying 1 dollar frames, decorating them and then putting a small teacher appreciate poem in each frame for the teachers...that's one idea...takes a bit of work...
Our committee has to come up with small treats to leave on the teachers' desk for each day of the week during teachers app. week, we are needing some ideas for this... We have some but not enough for 5 days..
Our Staff appreciation consists of a week of food for the teacher's finished off by a gift basket. One day will be breakfasts, desserts, then soup/chili day, salad bar day, and the last day is gift baskets and snacks. Everything is donated by the familes, food, basket items (also donated by community businesses). The staff loves it. I think I'll steal the making "STARS" for the teachers. We are the "STARS" at our school - not really a mascot, but as close as we get.
GHmom;140603 wrote: To all those of you who have parents cover recess or something similar so the teachers can get a longer break, how do you handle the legal liability issues with this? I would imagine that anyone left in charge of children -- even for a short time -- would have to undergo a thorough background check, training in CPR and other emergency procedures, etc.
We did have to have one staff member present. The principal usually stayed with us, since he was involved with the planning.
JBenton;140393 wrote: What kind of gifts do you give the teachers. That is the one problem I have, is picking out a gift that would work for all the staff?
Last year for Teacher's Appreciation Week, we tried to put something in the mailbox for all staff (appr. 75) each day. Some days they were very small items with a small note (chocolate bar, gum, cards, etc.) Other days they were larger items. We, too, struggled a bit with the larger items. Two of the more popular items were a Key Chain (heart-shaped) that said "We "heart" our staff" and a Travel Mug (with tea and cookies or coffee and biscotti -- we did a little of both) that said "Thanks for quenching the thirst for knowledge!" The travel mug was the one you can customize with your own pictures.
We also had drawings for other items, and let the teachers pick what they wanted. We had hanging flowers/plants, gardening items, grilling items, wine related items, teacher supplies, as well as some donated gift certificates from local restaurants. We focused on outside items given the time of year.
