This year we went with a new fundraising company. They offered welcome back gifts for the teachers; we requested one of the items in their catalog instead-apple picture frames-for Teacher Appreciation Week, and they agreed. Our pres.-a craftsy type person- will hand letter each teacher's name on their frame.
For Xmas we will probably do cookie jars: layer all the dry ingredients needed, attach the recipe and decorate the jars.
You can also have different mothers bake their favorite recipe and share the recipes with them.
Select a day in December and have a lounge full
of cookies.
We sponsor a program called Teacher Giving Trees. The teachers have the option to participate, as some feel uncomfortable asking parents for stuff. Those that do participate provide the PTO with a wish list containing items needed in the classroom, such as markers, colored paper, glue sticks, tissues, in-door recess games and much more. We provide the teachers a check list to give them an idea of the type of items that they can wish for. Once all the lists are received, a group of parents get together and make the trees. We use green poster board and hang the ornaments with glue. The ornmanents are made of card stock. Each ornament has an item written on it from the teacher's wish list. The number of ornaments on the tree is based on the number of students in that class. A star is placed on the top and has the teacher's name on it.
Once the trees are decorated, we hang the trees on the classroom doors. A note gets sent home to the parents from the PTO explaining the program and bottom is a tear off section that is to be returned to the teacher which gives the student permission to pull an ornament off of the tree. We also run a Holiday Shoppe for the children and many parents will visit the classrooms while waiting for their children to shop and pull the ornaments themselves. Additionally, finances permitting, the PTO will purchase whatever is left on the trees so all the teachers get their wishes fulfilled.
The parents love this program as it is a great way to help out their child's classroom, as well as easing that gift-giving anxiety. The teachers certainly appreciate the supplies for their classrooms, particularly the veteran teachers who have everything imaginable with an apple on it.
We have been doing this for over 5 years and usually get at least 90% participation from the teachers.
I have all the correspondence I send out on the program available to email if anyone is interested.
Karen Pascucci
PTO President
Earl D. Taft Elementary
Uxbridge, MA
Last year for Teacher appreciation week we made a variety of small gifts to put in their mailboxes each day. Some examples are small votive candles wrapped in the pretty mesh tied with ribbons I attached a little note that said, "Teachers help light the way to a child's future". Another was a teacher key chain that we attched a note to that said, "Teachers hold the key to unlock a child's potential", Another was a teacher book mark with a note attached that said, "Teacher's make a huge mark on a child's life". We also bought mints and put them in the mesh with ties and the note on that one was "Our Teacher's are worth a mint"...on the last day we gave them $20.00 gift certificates to Applebee's.
Last year, we made truffles that went over REALLY well. We found plastic Christmas design goodie bags at the dollar store 20/$1 which held 6 truffles each. The truffles themselves cost about $1 per person to make( we had 100 people to make gifts for--teachers, assistants,custodians, cafeteria staff, office staff). The basic recipe for the truffles is: 12 oz. melted chocolate chips,1 can ready to spread frosting and 1 tsp. desired flavoring for approx. 4 dozen. You can make larger batches as long as you keep the proportion the same. Just mix it together, chill about 30 minutes,scoop out tablespoon size balls, roll in cocoa powder, flaked coconut or chopped nuts, place in paper candy cups. A PTO mom made mini clothespin Santas that we clipped to the bags.With reimbursing her supplies, we spent a total of about $2 per person and they loved the gift.
