Teacher appreciation ideas

May 2-6 is Teacher Appreciation Week and it’s time to plan your strategy! An attitude of gratitude can propel the faculty through the last weeks of school. While it’s generally not the yearbook team’s job to organize Teacher Appreciation festivities, we know there are parent contributors and class-act students who love to spread joy. 

Yearbook Donation Drive for Teachers

Treering’s donation option makes it easy for families to gift yearbooks to the school. Advisers and coordinators then share the love by distributing yearbooks to staff. Some schools even do an online auction for the principal’s yearbook. Since donated yearbooks won’t arrive during the week, make sure your yearbook team has a card or certificate to present to recipients.

Staff Tributes in the Yearbook

If your yearbook deadline is mid-to-late May, Teacher Appreciation should have coverage. Even if Teacher Appreciation Week comes after your final deadline, you can use the yearbook to showcase your on-campus heroes by:

• Leaving space for staff candids
• Interviewing the Teacher of the Year, department heads, and new members of the faculty
• Highlighting pregnant teachers with a “Future [Mascot]” module

Last-Minute Teacher Appreciation Ideas

We know you’re busy [finishing the yearbook], so here are some no-prep appreciation strategies you can do with your yearbook staff.

• Print and write a postcard (aka a social science lesson on what a postcard is)
• Hold a mini supply drive to replenish teachers’ stock⸺ it can be as simple as cracking open a Costco pack of Expo markers and sharing them among the faculty
• Compile a list of all the free food in your neighborhood so your teachers know where to grab dinner each night
• Create a hall collage with classmates by each bringing in a thank you drawing; if you start small Monday, it could create a movement by Friday
• Use an e-gifting platform such as THNKS to digitally send an  'I Appreciate You' A Latte or a You're Spec-Taco-ular Lunch. It takes seconds.
• Go social: record a video or upload a photo of you and your favorite teacher(s) using #thankateacher, #teacherappreciation, #teacherlove, #weloveourteachers, #thankyouteachers, #teachersrock, #treering
• Download photos and create a slideshow of staff members to display on a screen in the office, on your morning broadcast, or share it with the school community in the May newsletter.

What did you do? Tag us on Facebook and Instagram to share your successes.