Although, teacher’s like traditional gifts, allow your child to help you think out of the box.
Teacher Appreciation Week is this week. Although your child’s teacher(s) will definitely be thankful for the traditional homemade cookies or Starbucks gift card, some parents want to stand out. This is the list for them.
- Ask your kid – Very few parents actually think to ask their kid what their teacher likes. Maybe they’re into golf, or hiking, or some other hobby. Then gift appropriately.
- Beach stuff – Summer is almost here. Some sunscreen, beach toys, or a gift card to a local beach bar make a lot of sense for those of us lucky enough to live near a beach. If not, there’s always the pool.
- Subscription to an online tool – Teachers like tech toys but don’t often think to buy the upgraded package. Things like Evernote, Google Drive, and some social networking apps all have upgrade subscriptions that aren’t terribly expensive.
- Take over a task – Notice that the teacher works hard on organizing things like field trips or the class website? There’s no reason you can’t do most of the work. At least make the offer.
- Organize planning time – Some PTOs arrange to give the kids in the school some field or gym time so the teachers can have a couple of hours of quiet time in their classrooms.
- Clean up – Custodians clean the classrooms and teachers’ lounge, but they don’t organize. Volunteer to go into the supply and/or book rooms and sort everything out.
- Edcamp – Organize an informal conference called an Edcamp. Teachers come together to share ideas informally. It’s a lot cheaper than sending a teacher to an actual conference.
- Write a positive email to the principal – Just like kids perk up when the teacher reports something positive to their parents, teachers love to hear positive feedback from their principal. Make it happen.
- Chair massages – Massages are expensive, but not if they are short, localized to one part of the body, and given by massage students. Find the local spa school and make a deal.
- Arrange for a speaker – Faculty meetings are boring, but not with a professional speaker. Find someone local that can speak on topics like stress reduction or organization. It’s easier than you think and it might even be free.
- Comedian – Along the same lines as the last idea. They’re also easy to find (but probably not free). You also want to find one that can keep their bit clean.
Scrapbook – Have each child in the class write about the teacher and the school year (you might want to make a form to spur them on), then organize the results in some sort of binding.