try getting the kids to write or decorate something they love about their teachers. use this to create a board or even a border in the teacher's lounge so they can see this from thier own kids or parents.

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You can have the students in every classroom make their teacher a giant card made from a piece of poster board from the dollar store. You can also buy items from the dollar store for the teachers such as pens, pencils, post-it notes, small tablets, chalk, etc.

As a welcome back gift, we bought mugs from the dollar store and filled them with candy. We wrapped them in cellophane paper and tied them with ribbon. They loved it!

You could even run a quick raffle to make extra money to buy them something nice. Our local funeral home prints our tickets for free and we sell them for 50 cents a piece or 5 for $2. We raffled off gift certificates to our local grocery store - 1st place received $75, 2nd place $50, and third place $25. We just made $2,054. Not bad and little effort. Good luck.

I did indoor plants for each staff member. I got the pots at the dollar tree and plants at k-mart it cost $2.88 (including dirt) for each person. You can also have the kids paint the pots to add a personal touch.

We had teachers express something similiar at the beginning of the year. What we've started doing is birthday cards in their mailboxes. I got a list from the school secretary and at the beginning of the week I put just a quick little card in their mailboxes. We also have a couple bags of candy like payday or take 5 and every so often we put a little note in their boxes with the candy. Something like "You're such a hard worker, you deserve to "Take 5". or "We appreciate you so much we wish we could give you an extra "PayDay".

On a bulletin board in the lounge, we have a teacher of the week. We have slips that other teachers, and administrators can fill out and then every Monday, we select a new Teacher of the Week. They fill out a paper with some of their info (favorites, hobbies, family, sayings) and it is posted. It is a simple design, with a large sun and the teacher of week in the middle of the sun and the other nominees on the points. The slips just say nominee and reason. It is an easy way for teachers to recognize the work of others and feel appreciated.

Another thing is to do little things on a regular day. My child's class had a cookie party the other day and one mom went way over in baking cookies. So the cookies I brought in, we gave to the teachers. I put 2 in a ziplock and attached a note that said "Thank you for "chip"ping in and doing all you do! We appreciate you! From PTO" The cookies were chocolate chip. We had a lot of candy left over from a PTO night and attached one piece to a die cut star and wrote on there--You are a star. During Halloween, we started a Boo! game with all the teachers. It was just a note talking about halloween, and saying, you've been boo'ed--pass it on to two people, with a peice of candy attached. One had to go to a teacher they didn't know very well, and the other to who ever they wanted. The teachers couldn't figure out who started it and had fun with it. I was even proud to find out they included the lunchroom staff and the custodians! At our fall carnival, we had a couple go above and beyond for us, so for a couple of weeks, we just went to their room and helped with whatever they needed (copies, grading, filing, whatever). Some are just happy to get a bathroom break.

If you see them making copies, offer to do it and deliver them. If you know they like coffee, take them a cup. Give them a hug. make a card that says thank you.

It isn't the amount you spend to make someone feel appreciated. It is the act and meaning behind it.

Your teachers are very lucky to have you watching out for them. I agree that Teacher Appreciation should be a year long event and not limited to one week so late in the school year. My last school had a fantastic Teacher Appreciation Committee. Here are some of the activities we did throughout the year and whether or not they used part of the budget or were done with donations:

Welcome Back Treat - Muffins, cookies, etc in the lounges. -budget
Fall Parent Teacher Conference - breakfast/soup dinner. -donations
Christmas Cookie Exchange - Parent volunteers make large amounts of one kind of cookie/candy each and bring them to school. More volunteers assemble variety platters for each staff member. Staff members pick up platters and end of last day before Christmas break. -donations/budget
Valentines Day - Candies, flowers and cards in the lounges. -budget Chocolate Covered Strawberries. -donation
Spring Parent Teacher Conferences - Same as for Fall above. -donations
Any Time of Year - Treats in lounges, Notes in mailboxes... -budget
Teacher Appreciation Week - Huge variety of things to choose from. Search these messages boards for fun ideas that have already been shared, many of which are free or very inexpensive. -budget/donations
End of School Year - Snack Box with fresh fruits, nuts, bottled water for the hot afternoons. -budget

We usually worked with a budget of $1000 for 60 staff members. Some activities were just for teachers and some include the entire staff - bus drivers, cafeteria, office staff, etc.

[ 11-11-2006, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: CrewChief ]