8 Creative Ways to Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week

Show Appreciation from Home or School with These Unique Ideas

Teacher Appreciation Week, which begins the first Monday in May, is the perfect time to show your favorite teachers some gratitude. Get extra creative with your teacher appreciation gift – here are some great ways to say THANK YOU, whether your favorite educator is teaching virtually, in the classroom, or a hybrid of the two.

The Classic eGift Card

Put an end to the guessing game of what your favorite teacher wants or needs right now and leave it up to them! Collect donations from other class parents to buy a substantial eGift card for Amazon, Target, or your local market. Email it to your teacher with a nice note and let them browse for something that makes them feel good – maybe it’s a new bath robe, maybe it’s a case of wine – either way, let them pick! Pro Tip: Collecting funds is easy on SignUp. (US and Canada only).

Local Love

It’s the perfect 2 for 1: Show some local love to your community restaurants AND celebrate your favorite teacher! Preparing three meals a day is exhausting – treat the teacher to something tasty with a round up of gift cards to order takeout from local favorite spots.

Pop-up Art

Make a Thank You sign – draw a picture or print a design to color for teacher. Get these free printable coloring pages from SignUp or (with a quick Google search) find cute, free sheets like these teacher sheets. Ask the students to pop them up all together at the end of a virtual class on a specific day during Teacher Appreciation Week and/or ask in-classroom students to hang them on the bulletin board or tape them to the front of the teacher's desk. Your teacher will be surprised and touched by everyone’s efforts. 

Student Love Letters

Handwritten notes are very meaningful! Ask each student to write a letter to the teacher about how much they appreciate them, what makes them unique, and remembering special moments. For those learning virtually, ask everyone to take a photo of the handwritten letters. Send them in batches via email or include them in a digital scrapbook. (At a later date, you can collect and deliver the real deal notes to the teacher.)

Digital Scrapbook

There are many fresh tools out there that make creating something unique and special oh so easy! Tools like Kudoboard provide a neat way to showcase pictures, messages and videos in one little easy-to-use and easy-to-access hub. Include pictures of drawings, snapshots from the field trip this past Fall, warm messages about why your teacher totally rocks – whatever you want to brighten their day and ensure they feel appreciated! You can build the Kudoboard yourself, or share access to let everyone upload their own message/artwork/video.

Make a Movie or Music Video

Skip craft time this week to create movie memories! In this digital age people make the cutest videos and movies in a snap directly from their smartphones with tools like iMovie. Enlist a tech-savvy specialist (your 4rd grader) to lend you a hand. Write, direct and star in your own movie depicting a favorite lesson or funny moment in class. Invite your family members to play roles in your movie. Or just sit down, hit record and film yourself telling your teacher why they mean so much to you.

Sidewalk Greetings

This only works for those who know where the teacher lives (small towns across the country are perfect for this), but is such a great idea! Make your teacher’s week with hand drawn chalk pictures and messages on their driveway or sidewalk in front of their home.

Pots of Love

Have your child paint a terra cotta pot – on the rim, paint or write “Thank you for helping us grow!” or "Pots of Love from [Name]!" and place a packet of flower seeds inside the pot. If your child is learning virtually, drop off the gift at the school office or the teacher's front porch.

Printable Teacher Appreciation Coloring Sheets

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