I came up with a scrapbook idea. For my children's classes(the principal didn't want to do it, so I did it myself for my kids' teachers), I sent home a letter explaining what I was doing along with a paper titled "My teacher is special because...". All the students wrote down why they thought the teacher was special, I collected them in manilla envelopes and had them laminated and bound. They loved it!

Hello Holly and welcome to the boards! Love your teacher appreciation week ideas. I believe that I may have to borrow some of them! I had to think for a minute as to what SAHM meant (stay at home mom??)

Anyhow Holly, It's nice to see another PTA from Nevada here.

I like rocket's idea too. I had seen somewhere (possibly PTO Today) where they had redesigned the teacher's lounge with paint, new furniture etc.

For teacher appreciation week we have some really fun things planned. We are a preK-5 school.

Walk Of Fame
Create your own Walk of Fame for your teachers. Get a piece of donated red carpet or put red butcher paper down in the entry hall. Make gold stars with a teacher's name on each, and have the school meet the teachers as they arrive one morning.

Baked Goods Day - have students bring in baked goods for their teacher

Flower Day - share a flower (real/silk/homemade) with their teacher

Letter Day - Write/draw a personal letter to their teacher to let them know how much they are appreciated.

Relaxation Day - soft music, aromatherapy, 10 min. massages in lounge (contact a local massage school to see if they will volunteer students doing their clinic hours)

Ice Cream Social - After school~entire staff enjoys a sundae bar

Luncheon —

"Reel" Good Job! — popcorn bag filled with candy, popcorn, movie passes “The Gordy Review gives 2 thumbs up to the teachers at McCaw Elementary”

Bottle of Bubbles
For several teachers we had to come up with an inexpensive and fun idea, so we gave each teacher a bottle of bubbles with the message "Thanks for making our days fun." The teachers loved the gifts and had fun using them.

From Students
Candle with "You Lit Up My Year"
Give teachers each a candle to which we attached a note that read "[teacher's name], Thank you for lighting up [grade] for me this year! Signed, ___." It was a great way to end the year. (perfect from a student to teacher)

Ice Cream Basket
We included two ice-cream parfait glasses with colored tissue paper inside, an ice cream scooper tied with multi-colored ribbons, hot fudge topping, caramel topping, colored sprinkles, nuts, a jar of cherries, and a certificate to an ice cream parlor -- all in a small basket with a "You're the Tops" card.

Movie Night
I was a teacher and now a SAHM mom. I received wonderful gifts from my students each year, but one of the most creative gifts I received was a "movie night" kit wrapped in a popcorn box (from the theater). Inside were several packages of microwave popcorn, Twizzlers, Junior Mints, and Dots, and gift cards to a local video store and passes to the movie theater. It was a gift that my family enjoyed as much as I did.


special reminders
We came up with a list of items to give the teacher that had a special meaning. The kids and I had a great time thinking these up, and their teachers said they had never gotten a more thoughtful gift:
Sponge - to soak up the overflow when your brain is too full
Candle - to light a small mind
Modeling Clay - for being a great model
Smarties Candy - to help stay smart
Highlighter Pen - for being a big highlight of my life
Glue - for holding everything together
Bubbles - to keep a bubbly personality
Cup - when yours is overflowing
Marbles - to replace those lost from time to time
Crayon - to color your day
Hanger - to hang in there -- summer vacation is almost here!

I do staff appreciation every month at our school. I use lots of different things that don't cost much. Check out oriental trading company. Somethings I have done:

rulers "you measure up" or our staff rules
flashlights you light up our school
inflated globes the best staff in the world

You get the idea, there are lots of things that you can use a play on words with. Another good catalog is Positive Promotions. They have a website, too.

Candy is another way to play on words.

The best teachers in the milky way.
A whopper of a great staff.
Animal crackers "this place would be a zoo without you"

Good luck!

About 10 of us ladies went into the teachers lounge after school when the staff was gone and we cleaned the teachers lounge from top to bottom. We also, restocked all of their supplies, dish soap, hand lotion, condiments, bottled water, plastic utensils, microwave popcorn, paper plates, etc. We brought fresh flowers, new vinyl table covers. We spent $75 on those items. We even brought in someones carpet cleaner from home and cleaned the upholstered chairs and carpet in that room. We stocked magazines (recycled from our homes, but current), and left a cute message thanking them for what they do on the table. The response that we got was better than anything that we have done in the past. They loved the clean, spruced up, and stocked teachers lounge. To this day, you still hear talk in our school district about that gift for teacher appreciation week! The fun part for us was that we kept it a secret from the teachers and staff, and we brought in a nice breakfast layout for them that morning, too.

Need some ideas for Teacher Appreciation Day. I know they appreciate food trays, but I would like to do something different. Any suggestions would be great!!
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