This year we went to doing small things to appreciate our teachers throughout the year. We have done donut day, a chocolate fountain with fruit and other items to dip (this was a huge hit), and for St Patrick's day we had a try your luck with bags of chocolate coins that had money hidden in them ($5-$50). I have my children help with decorations like the rainbow for the pot of gold at the end of it. I have been searching pintrest for ideas for teacher appreciation week and have found some awesome ideas. I can't wait to see what others post for this thread.
Our PTO provides our teachers a nice meal during both November and April to show appreciation for all they do for our kids. We also provide meals each of the parent/teacher conference days.
During the April appreciation, we take over the conference room. The teachers each take a 30 minute break to come and get a mini spa. The room has low lights and calming music. Our volunteers massage the teachers hands and/or feet with their choice of lotions. (Each volunteer uses wipes and hand sanitizer between each mini spa.) During their lunch times, they come back to the room for a finger food lunch. The kids don't miss out on instruction time, because the PTO pays for a few substitute teachers to take their classes while they are being pampered. Before returning to their rooms, each teacher is allowed to go into our "treasure box" to select items for their classroom (highlighters, dry erase markers, etc.)
On our teacher's in service day we used our school cafeteria and served salad with a variety of toppings and baked potatoes. We served sweet tea and lemonade and several different desserts. The teacher's loved the light lunch and didn't have to leave campus or pay! It was easy, fun and clean up was a breeze!
We start with a hot meal at Back-to-School night in the begining of the year. The staff is at school all day preparing and we noticed some if them were bringing bag lunches for dinner because they didn't have time to go home or go out and get dinner. So, Either families bring lasagna's, bread and salad or we get our local burrito shop to donate grilled chopped chicken, black beans tortillas and salad and they make up their own plates. We also put soap, lotion, & air freshener in ther bathrooms twice a year. They love this!! We put a bowl of organic apples or pears in the front office in the Fall and Spring, but our biggest hit is PTA pays for two or three days of free coffee from their coffee machine during Parent/Teacher Conference week! We end the year with 5th grde students taking a cart around to each teacher offering pastries, fruit and drinks so the can thank each teacher personally, before they graduate! The lower grades bring in a fruit or flower a day during the week and we do a small collection for an end of year gift! Usually a Visa gift card or something like that. We finish with a Teacher/Staff luncheon in their lounge, which we decorate, and we serve each teacher. We make it like a little cafe. They really seem to enjoy this time to mingle and be pampered! As they should be!
